On Friday, the fourth edition of the Trans Balkan Race (TBR) started: 1,380km with around 30,000 metres of climbing await the participants.
I have a bitter-sweet past with the TBR: I failed in the race itself and injured my hand nerve, which is still with me today. But I was also physically and mentally not up to this bikepacking race beast back then. Instead, I was able to do a wonderful tour through the Balkans, reaching my destination in Montenegro and meeting lots of new people along the way. You can read about my Trans Balkan Tour here.
I was all the more pleased that Bikepacking.com now also appreciates the race in the Balkans and has dedicated a ‘Rigs of Trans Balkan Race’ article to it.
I used this again as the basis for the first Bikeanalytics Trans Balkan Race. And what I am particularly celebrating is that the Trans Balkan team set up a photo booth for the bikes on site, where all participants who wanted to could have their bikes professionally photographed. A great idea.
Evaluation of the Trans Balkan Race 2025 bikes
I was able to analyse 49 bikes based on the Bikepacking.com article.
And that the TBR is a mountain bike race is something even the organisers say.
That’s why the majority are travelling by MTB. However, there are a few intrepid riders who actually travel by gravel bike. There are also drop bar MTBs (in my opinion, this fits in very well with the race) and one with a fine titanium cargo bike.
As with other ultra bikepacking races, carbon is the favoured frame material, followed by steel and titanium.
The majority, of course, travelled with suspension and a full 24% opted for a fully.
Let’s stay with the suspension fork for a moment: Rockshox is favoured here.
In terms of suspension travel, most have 100 mm travel on board, closely followed by 120 mm. These are the classic suspension travels on modern hardtails.
In view of the high MTB rate, it is no surprise that most people opt for straight handlebars. It is interesting to note that 55% of the participants also fit an aerobar. Looking back, I would probably do the same again, even if I could do without. But the light has to go somewhere 🙂
Speaking of lights: only 37% are on the road with a hub dynamo. That’s higher at other races: at the Atlas Mountain Race this year, 50% rode with a dynamo, at the Silk Road Mountain Race 2024 it was 53%. But in June it is light for much longer and you don’t necessarily need a dynamo.
When it comes to shifting, the majority favours SRAM, as usual, although 43% of riders are still using Shimano. With the new Shimano drivetrains coming soon, this ratio will probably change in the future. It will be interesting to see.
The SRAM GX and Shimano XT models are neck and neck. And only 8% are on the road with SRAM Transmission (18% on the Atlas Mountain Race 2025).
There are no more questions when it comes to the number of gears: 12-speed dominates. A few still use 11-speed and one is riding a Rohloff.
This also explains the majority of cassette choices with 10-52 and 10-51.
When it comes to the size of the crankset, the participants naturally react to the difficult terrain and prefer to screw 30t or 32t onto the front. Incidentally, 96% are travelling with a 1x drivetrain.
The dominant wheel size is 29 inches. And as with the other races, carbon is the first choice for rims.
Unsurprisingly, Vittoria is the tyre brand of choice, followed by Maxxis.
The Mezcal is the most popular tyre model. However, the data available is also quite small, which is why other models are not listed and only those with the highest number of mentions are shown here.
The tyre widths are also based on the terrain and many participants prefer 2.35 inch tyres.
Since this year, I have also been trying to record the navigation devices. Garmin is used by most of the participants, especially the 1040 Solar. Wahoo is close behind, especially with the Roam. Coros Dura is more and more common, Hammerhead interestingly not at all. But I don’t have all the information either.
The information situation is also rather clear when it comes to bike brands: Specialised and Canyon are ridden the most.
Choosing the right bags is often crucial: Tailfin is the most popular, followed by Apidura. These are also the leading brands when it comes to performance. Ortlieb comes in 3rd place.
Finally, some demographics:
The average age is 38 years, which is younger than the Atlas Mountain Race at 39 years, but slightly older than the Silk Road 2024 at 37.5 years.
