Snow, Rain, Gravel: Bikeanalytics Bright Midnight 2026

This year marks the fourth edition of The Bright Midnight, a bikepacking race that covers 1,100km and 20,000m of elevation gain through the impressive landscape of Norway.

Organizer Justinas aka King of Chaos is himself a very successful ultra-racer and has packed the route with a lot of love and challenge. And if you believe the reports of the participants, it’s not just the nature, but also the community and the local population that make the race a great experience and adventure.

291 participants took to the start this year and have been on the road since Sunday. But the weather hasn’t made it easy for them so far – temperatures around freezing, snow and rain are also driving up the DNF rate.

The Bright Midnight is therefore not just a gravel event, but a hard challenge for both people and equipment in one of the most beautiful regions on earth.

And I want to honor that with one of my Bikeanalytics.

For this reason, I took a look at the overview of bikes and equipment from the Bright Midnight on Dotwatcher.com and also did my own research on Instagram. In total, I was able to evaluate 45 bikes – that’s only a fraction of the participants, but it already gives a good overview of what’s being ridden in Norway. And it also helps with preparation for the Bright Midnight 2027.

Now the data in detail:

Frame: Gravel dominates, carbon leads

The Bright Midnight is a gravel race, which is why the majority naturally competes on gravel bikes. There are also a few monster gravel bikes and two who set off on MTBs.

When it comes to material, it shows here – as with other ultra races – that carbon is the first choice for frame material, followed by steel.

Cockpit: Drop bar, aero bar and (almost) no hub dynamo

And the high proportion of gravel bikes naturally also means a high proportion of drop bars on the handlebars. Only 7% are riding with a flat bar. 77% have mounted an aero bar, which makes sense on this route and provides the necessary relief.

Bright Midnight suggests that it doesn’t really get dark. Light is therefore not much of a challenge. Only 20% are therefore riding with hub dynamos, perhaps also to guarantee a power supply and not have to rely on batteries.

Drivetrain: Sram beats Shimano

For the drivetrains, I expected a tie between Sram and Shimano. But Sram is ahead this time – also because of the many electronic drivetrains that were ridden.

The share is very high at 65%. The majority is Sram AXS and I only saw two Shimano Di2.

When it comes to drivetrain models, however, Shimano GRX leads ahead of Sram Force and Sram Red. But there were also some mullet combinations of MTB rear derailleur and road shifters.

Cassette & Crank: 1x, small chainrings, 13-speed on the rise

As for the gearing, the majority ride 12-speed cassettes. But you can already see clearly that 13-speed is on the rise in the ultra-gravel space.

For cassette range, the most mentions were for the 10-52 and the 10-46. The latter is mostly used for 13-speed.

For the crank, 1x drivetrains dominate at 69%. I would have expected otherwise.

The most mentioned chainring size is 38, followed by 36. This is probably also due to the considerable climbing, meaning smaller chainrings are chosen here relative to typical gravel bike standards.

Wheels & Tires: Schwalbe G-One and 45mm are the winners

Among tire brands, Schwalbe clearly leads ahead of Continental. Behind them come Hutchinson and Pirelli.

The high Schwalbe share also shows up among the most mentioned tire models: the G-One is the Bright Midnight tire.

I was curious about tire widths: 45mm was chosen most, followed by fatter tires at 50mm and above.

As with the frame, the preferred rim material is carbon.

For wheels, 700cc (28″) naturally dominates. I counted everyone as 29″ who either stated it themselves or was riding with wide tires.

Navigation: Little data, but Garmin leads

I naturally also wanted to evaluate navigation. However, the data here is very thin. What I could gather was that Garmin was used ahead of Wahoo and Coros. But that’s a currently typical picture in ultra races.

Bags & Racks: Tailfin territory

When it comes to bag brands, the Bright Midnight is a Tailfin race: 42% rely on the bags from the Brits, followed by Apidura. Also pleasing is the third place for Cyclite, which is enjoying growing popularity.

Since I noticed at the Trans Balkan Race that the rack is making a comeback, I also took a closer look here: 29% were riding with Tailfin racks and a total of 38% had a rack (including Tailfin).

Bike brands: Canyon leads, but surprisingly diverse mix

When it comes to bike brands, I was surprised how diverse the field actually is. Canyon leads with 13%, followed by Orbea. Behind them come Mason and Trek. I would have expected more Rose Bikes, especially in the gravel segment, but the sample size is probably deceiving here.

Who’s riding? Nationalities and average age

Finally, a look at nationalities: the Bright Midnight is evidently very popular among Germans, followed by Norwegians. The average age, by the way, is 39.6 years.