The ButterGold is a 100mi friendly sportive of sorts, with healthy servings of dirt roadsMat Barlow
Unlike most disc road bikes, the Focus Cayo offers a long, low position. I put an SKS mudguard on hoping to minimize road spray, and an insulated CamelBak bottle to keep my hot apples-n-cinnamon Skratch hot. Both failed miserablyCourtesy Butter
The Focus Cayo Evo 4.0 Disc has plenty of room for fat tyres, like these 27mm Vittoria Pavés I put onCourtesy Butter
With plenty of washboard, potholed dirt roads and rain in the forecast, 60psi/4.1bar was the pressure for the day. (I weigh 185lb/84kg)Ben Delaney / Immediate Media
The handlebar kicks out dramatically, as is the trend with gravel bikes. The bend tips the hoods, too, and flares out the shifters. I’m not really a fanBen Delaney / Immediate Media
With ButterGold essentially being a bandit event (read: zero course markings), it’s good to know where you’re goingBen Delaney / Immediate Media
Plan A: follow wheels. Plan B: seek shortcut if a flat or lack of fitness render it necessaryBen Delaney / Immediate Media
Seven hours of rain plus dirt roads added up to one unhappy Garmin. Enough fine sand worked its way under the buttons so that they no longer depressedBen Delaney / Immediate Media
Taking apart a Garmin Edge isn’t too complicated. But there are a number of tiny partsBen Delaney / Immediate Media
This 57cm test bike has a 165mm head tube – much racier than the typical tall head tube you’ll find on endurance bikes with disc brakesBen Delaney / Immediate Media
All sorts of geometric shapes at work hereBen Delaney / Immediate Media
I swapped the Arione for this Aliante simply for personal preferenceBen Delaney / Immediate Media
Focus added its RAT axles to the Cayo line this year. Think thru-axle, with a quarter-turn quick releaseBen Delaney / Immediate Media
What do you get when you mix a bunch of knuckleheads and rainy, dirt roads? A bunch of muddy knuckleheadsMat Barlow
A number of us had disc bikes, which were as susceptible to grit as standard calipers, but noisier. By the end of the day, the squealing and squawking was comicalMat Barlow
Riding in the rain on dirt roads is fun. Cleaning up the next day, not so much…Courtesy Butter
Keeping the cables tucked out of sight and the rain’s reach is a good thing. If only the disc calipers could be similarly hidden from the elementsCourtesy Butter
The pads were completely worn off on three backing plates. And even the surface of the backing plates and parts of the springs were ground offBen Delaney / Immediate Media