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Nov 04, 2024

2025 Specialized Crux DSW alloy gravel bike review: simpler times  - Escape Collective

It’s strange to think that it was barely five years ago that just about every big brand offered a well-priced and well-equipped aluminium bike that mimicked the company’s more premium carbon

It’s strange to think that it was barely five years ago that just about every big brand offered a well-priced and well-equipped aluminium bike that mimicked the company’s more premium carbon offerings. Fast-forward to today, and those options are oddly slim.

Specialized was one such brand to have offered nice aluminium bikes aimed at cyclocross racing that doubled as solid and sporty gravel/all-road machines, but the Crux E5 disappeared in 2019 and had been missing since. After a long hiatus, it’s now returned as the new Crux DSW, and quite simply, it’s a metal copy of the company’s gravel/CX carbon race machine.

The Crux DSW Comp is priced at US$2,600 / £2,300 / AU$4,000 for the complete bike (or available as a frameset). I’ve been testing it since June and it’s time to share my thoughts and experiences of this enjoyably simple option.

The short of it: Specialized’s latest aluminium race bike for gravel, all-road, and cyclocross endeavours. Good stuff: Incredibly simple to work on and maintain, a frame worth upgrading with easy and wide-open part compatibility, good tyre clearance, well-balanced geometry for racing purposes, SRAM Apex mechanical does the trick. Bad stuff: A little stack height would broaden its appeal, cut-outs at bottom bracket let dirt into the frame, stock components lead to a stiff ride, the one complete bike option doesn’t represent stellar value, crummy headset, toe overlap in smaller sizes with bigger tyres.

The Crux was previously the Californian company’s dedicated cyclocross platform, with recent years seeing the model fade into being more of a do-it-all thing for gravel racing, all-road, and cyclocross.

The existing carbon Crux – which the Crux DSW is modelled after – shares a lot in common with Specialized’s Aethos road bike. Simplified tube shapes and bare-bones features work to provide a bike that prioritises low weight, easy ownership, and smooth ride quality over details such as integration and visuals-led aerodynamics. For example, the Crux is one of the few premium race-oriented bikes on the market to not hide hoses/cables through the headset in favour of simpler servicing. That low weight and simplicity has helped to make the carbon Crux a popular pick for not only those into gravel or cylocross racing, but also some riders who wanted what was effectively a wider-tyre and subtly more relaxed version of the Aethos.

The Crux DSW makes no significant changes from the Crux’s simple design, and from afar, you’d be hard-pressed to pick the metal version from its carbon sibling. The relatively narrow tube shapes offer a similar almost-round and traditional-looking visual without any obvious efforts made toward aerodynamics. The top tube is formed into a diamond-like shape that intersects at the head tube. The seatstays are elegantly thin, while the chainstays are impressively narrow in profile. Up front sits a full carbon fork (50 mm rake for all sizes) that is identical to the top-tier Crux (approximately 400 g).

There are modular cable routing ports on either side of the down tube, with options for electronic or mechanical, 1x or 2x shifting, plus the ability to run a dropper post. Like that cable routing, the regular 27.2 mm round seatpost, external seatpost clamp, standard 1 1/8″ stem, and English threaded bottom bracket are all items that we took for granted in the early 2000s and I eagerly welcome back today. Meanwhile, a SRAM Universal Derailleur Hanger (UDH) is a modern addition that keeps the Crux DSW compatible with just about every rear derailleur, new and old (the UDH interface is required for using the latest SRAM Transmission and Red XPLR AXS derailleurs).

Standing for D’Aluisio Smartweld, the DSW in the name signals some fancy details in the aluminium frame construction. While a road bike like the Allez Sprint DSW employs a special head tube lug for greater stiffness and integrated cable routing, the Crux DSW keeps things simpler, with the only unique detail being the double-butted and D-shaped down tube that is hydroformed (molded) as a single piece with the bottom bracket area. The design is said to improve stiffness in the lower part of the frame, and it gives a large area for the chainstays and seat tube to be welded to. The English threaded bottom bracket shell is then welded within this formed down tube, with cut-outs visible from the outer shell that exist largely for fixturing during the welding process.

There’s no denying that the welds seen at each tube junction offer plenty of material support and should stand the test of time. Still, they’re the least pretty thing about the frame. It’s a story of function over form, and they remain the big giveaway that you’re looking at an aluminium version of the Crux.

A 56 cm painted version of this frame is claimed to weigh 1,399 grams, an impressive figure for an aluminium frame that, Specialized claims, sets a benchmark. Still, it’s a fair bit more than the approximately 825 g figure of the existing Pro/Expert/Comp Crux carbon frame.

Tyre clearance is unchanged from the carbon version, too. While retaining 6 mm of surrounding clearance, the Crux DSW is rated for 700 x 47 mm tyres or 53 mm (2.1″) in a 650B wheelsize. I tested a measured 700 x 46 mm tyre in the frame and the pinch point was the width at the chainstays, but there is some room to go wider if you’re not anticipating thick mud.

Such tyre clearance exists with either 1x or 2x drivetrain setups, with the latter based on 2x gravel wide setups such as Shimano GRX and SRAM Wide. For 1x (as supplied), those wide cranks will comfortably allow up to a 46T chainring, but likely not more.

Using a front derailleur requires an old-school 31.8 mm braze-on band clamp, leaving a clean frame for 1x users. While not officially approved, some narrower 2x road cranks can squeeze on. For example, a Shimano Ultegra 50/34T crankset (6800-series) still had 3 mm of clearance between the smaller ring and the frame – enough for my comfort levels. The model of front derailleur you wish to run can limit how wide of a tyre you can use (the Dura-Ace R9100 I tried left heaps of room with a 700 x 40 tyre), and if going bigger than a compact crank, you’ll also need to watch for chainring clearance (a Shimano 52/36T crank would be too close for my comfort).

Everything about the Crux’s design is bare-bones, and that extends to a lack of fender or rack mounts. Similarly, there are no other mounting points beyond the regular placement of water bottles (including one beneath the down tube). If you want to run fenders or bags, they’ll need to be strapped in place, bolted from the axles, or as Specialized pointed out to me, they have the Diverge.

Not wholly unlike other DSW bikes, Specialized keeps the Crux DSW rather limited with a single Comp-level complete bike (US$2,600 / £2,300 / AU$4,000) or as a frameset (US$1,700 / £1,500 / AU$2,500).

The complete bike is available in either the tested Satin Smoke (grey) paint or one that is near a gloss white. Meanwhile, the frame-and-fork options are available in a small handful of unique paint options with limited availability – something the company has long done with its Allez Sprint frames.

As tested, the Crux DSW Comp offers a functional but not flashy build. There’s a SRAM Apex 1×12 mechanical groupset with an 11-44T cassette and 40T chainring. The wheels feature DT Swiss G540 24 mm internal width alloy tubeless rims, laced to somewhat generic three-pawl sealed bearing hubs via 24 DT Swiss straight-gauge spokes. The aluminium seatpost, handlebar, and stem are similarly fuss-free and reliable. While Specialized provides its own Power saddle and Supacaz bartape as the touch points.

All told, my 52 cm test sample of the bike weighs 9.32 kg (2.055 lbs), setup tubeless with 60 ml of sealant in each tyre, but without pedals. It’s not a super-light build, but as I’ll get to, there are some obvious ways to reduce that figure to something highly respectable.

For comparison, expect to pay an extra US$1,200 / £1,200 / AU$2,000 to get the Crux Comp with its carbon frame. However, it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison with the carbon version also upgrading to a Shimano GRX RX820 1×12-speed mechanical groupset (10-45T cassette) and a carbon seatpost. Meanwhile the wheels and Specialized Pathfinder Pro 2BR 700×38 mm tyres remain the same.

The Crux DSW isn’t Specialized’s only aluminium-framed gravel bike. The Diverge E5 represents a lower entry point (bikes from US$1,300) with more relaxed geometry and a cheaper frame construction. Today the Diverge is more Specialized’s answer to adventure-type gravel riding, while the Crux remains the racier and more road-like offering.

A simplified and racier aluminium bike like the Specialized Crux DSW seems to appeal to many but there are surprisingly few to directly compare it against (however, there are many more relaxed geometry and heavier-framed gravel choices). The most obvious competitor is the Trek Checkpoint ALR 5 (US$2,500), a bike that sits at a nearby price with a frameset that weighs about 280 g more. It too offers cable routing outside of the headset, a regular round seatpost, a threaded (T47) bottom bracket, and similar tyre clearance (700×45 mm or 650B x 53 mm). Though currently it lacks that new UDH.

Then there are the boutique options. The Mason Bokeh ticks many similar boxes but does so with a more relaxed geometry, fender/rack mounts, and more limitations over maximum chainring sizes. In the USA there is the Blackheart Gravel AL which looks like a worthy contender, although it does run the hoses/cables through the headset. The Standert Kettensage is another alloy option with integrated cabling and an even more aggressive fit.

In the grand scheme of things that’s an impressively short list of bikes for what felt like a saturated category just a few years ago.

There are six sizes available, all with unchanged geometry from the existing carbon version. With its roots in cyclocross racing, and a UCI-approved sticker on the seat tube, the Crux DSW continues to take a relatively performance-focused approach to its geometry and fit numbers.

Many gravel bikes on the market today offer stack and reach figures that are closely comparable to endurance-type road bikes of old. Meanwhile some gravel race bikes look to more closely emulate the position of a performance road bike. The Crux DSW slots in somewhere in the middle, offering a touch more stack than its Tarmac/Aethos road race bikes, but remains notably more aggressive than its Diverge gravel bike, Roubaix endurance road bike, or Allez Sport entry-level road bike.

The Crux’s reach figures also run just a few millimeters longer than a traditional road geometry, and Specialized make up for that extra length by equipping shorter stem lengths throughout the range (for example, a 54 cm comes with a 90 mm stem). Again, the fit is still one that will best serve the better-conditioned and flexible, but it’s not extreme. As is always the case there will be riders that want something even longer and lower, and those that want something shorter and taller (arguably catered for by the Specialized Diverge). While I ideally want 10 mm more stack as I’m somewhat between sizes (I’m 168-170 cm depending on my posture), I do think that Specialized is striking a decent compromise given the intended racing audience of this bike.

The big thing to keep in mind is that the Crux’s standardised component fitments make it one of the easiest and most affordable bikes to customise from a fit perspective. There is a 40 mm stack of headset spacers given as stock for adjustment purposes, and swapping out stem lengths or bars doesn’t get any simpler. Either way, please consider whether a different bike with a more upright fit is better for you (too many cyclists ride bikes that are too long and low for them).

Prior to writing this review, I fielded questions from potential future owners and it quickly became clear that there was a huge breadth of what people wanted the Crux for. Many were asking about its use as a pure road bike, others see it as being a do-it-all dropbar bike, a few wanted to know just how big a tyre it would take for rough gravel racing, and then there were questions over whether it’s still good as a dedicated cyclocross race machine.

A bike as potentially versatile as this one has the impossible task of balancing the demands for running skinnier road tyres through to the largest gravel tyres that can fit. Smaller/skinnier tyres increase the handling speed and lower the bottom bracket, while bigger-volume tyres do the opposite. Here the Crux offers a bottom bracket drop identical to that of its road race bikes, while the trail figures are comparably longer (more stable) to those in Specialized’s road race bikes that sit in the mid-to-high 50s. It’s positive news for those wanting to run the Crux as a road bike, or gravel racers seeking increased pedal clearance with bigger tyres, but again, there are compromises to such a balancing act.

Quick handling, decently light, simple ownership, and generous tyre clearance – it’s little wonder that a bike like the Crux DSW seemingly appeals to many. Still, there are some realities about how versatile a single bike can be. Whether the racier fit is right for you is one important consideration, but you should also consider how you want to use the thing.

A frame must meet strict wheelbase limits to meet UCI approval for road or cyclocross usage. Recently, we’ve seen a split between gravel bikes aimed at tackling rough terrain and those that want to retain the road-bike-like purpose. Bikes for excelling in rough terrain, such as the BMC URS or Santa Cruz Stigmata, have gone beyond the UCI’s limits in favour of greater stability and no risk of toe overlap with the front tyre.

By contrast, a bike like the Crux DSW is still holding onto its traditional racing roots, and while not nearly as anxious as cyclocross bikes of old, the Crux is still unapologetically a race bike in its handling characteristics. It’s a bike that feels eager to change direction with little input and rewards those with the skills to use it. Related to this, and while the front wheel is placed a little further forward, it’s still not enough to avoid toe overlap on smaller sizes (at least with a 40 mm measured or bigger tyre).

Avoiding toe overlap is an important consideration of mine when seeking a bike to tackle rough and sometimes technical gravel, and that’s one reality to consider if looking to max out the given tyre clearance of the Crux DSW. It’s for this reason that I consider the Crux DSW to be a better all-road, cyclocross, or wide-and-open gravel option than it is a pure do-it-all and wide-tyred gravel bike.

It has been a little while since I last rode the carbon version of the existing Crux, but it offered a memorable ride. Specialized wasn’t willing to share stiffness figures to confirm my suspicions, but to me, the Crux DSW and its slender tube profiles are deceivingly more rigid than the lighter carbon sibling. Some may read that only as a positive, but to me, I’m strongly of the opinion that bikes with some flex (but not too much!) are superior on imperfect surfaces through aiding in comfort and control.

Stiffer it may be, but the Crux DSW is still no jackhammer to ride. Up front you still have the same fork as the carbon version and there is a tiny amount of detectable flex through the frame’s longer tubes. Still, this bike is chatty about the terrain you’re on, and as I’ll come back to, a lot of that has to do with the components.

Again, Specialized has done extremely well to make the Crux DSW a simple bike to own and service, and that’s certainly a big part of the appeal here. Amongst the latest crop of gravel bikes, this one is a pure joy to work on. My only significant complaint about the frame design is related to the three large cut-outs at the bottom bracket shell which let dirt into the frame. This constant flow of grit will test the sealing sleeve of the bottom bracket and find its way into the backside of the headset bearings (when the bike is flipped upside down). The headset is thankfully simple to service, but I’d still suggest covering those cut-outs with some tape and I’d prefer if Specialized provided a cover for it.

Many considering a premium aluminium bike/frame like the Crux DSW will likely be weighing it up against a carbon alternative. I still commonly hear of riders shying away from carbon fibre due to fear of damaging it in a crash. Carbon frames today are remarkably strong, and while a knock to an aluminium frame is typically more visible and something you can keep an eye on, it’s also by far the most difficult of the common frame materials to repair. Many frame builders will happily repair or replace a damaged tube in a steel or titanium frame, and there are now many carbon repair specialists in the event of damage there, but finding someone willing to fix an aluminium frame is incredibly rare. This frame feels like it’ll laugh off a few hits, but it’s still food for thought.

Specialized has many dedicated road bikes, but there seems to be a great appetite for using the Crux’s simplified features and wide tyre clearance for all-road duties. With that in mind, I swapped in Shimano Ultegra C36 carbon wheels and Continental GP5000 TR 32 mm tyres (31.5 mm measured tyre width) to see how the bike behaves on pure tarmac. Those changes saw the bike’s weight drop to 8.3 kg (without pedals).

Those coming from a dedicated road bike may notice the longer wheelbase, taller fork height, or the visual of seeing the front hub forward of the bars, but that will quickly disappear from thought. The Crux feels remarkably good on the road with a quick turn-in matched with impressive high-speed stability. I experienced a smidge of oversteer when being overly enthusiastic about tipping the bike into corners, but it’s the sort of trait you quickly learn to work with rather than fear.

If I was after a single dropbar bike, one to use with both road and gravel wheels, I’d be happy with the Crux DSW. When set up with appropriate road components, a bike like this will happily hang with dedicated road bikes. That said, handling and geometry is hardly the whole picture, and the big limitation for its use as a road bike is in the gearing.

The Crux DSW frameset offers a lot to like, but the components of the single complete bike option do introduce some notable trade-offs.

SRAM’s Apex XPLR 1×12 mechanical groupset offers crisp shifts and is all fairly hardy for off-road purposes. With SRAM DoubleTap there’s just a single lever for shifting in both directions, and while there is a learning curve for those coming from other systems, it works incredibly well (as it has since its introduction in approximately 2006).

The Apex brake levers offer a welcomed widened area where your index fingers sit when braking from the hoods. The hydraulic disc brakes leave little to complain about at this price point, but they do carry a noticeably heavier lever feel compared to Shimano or SRAM’s latest Red XPLR groupset (which costs significantly more than this complete bike). Expect to need two fingers for slowing if hauling it off-road and braking from the hoods.

The most obvious complaint for the shifting will be in relation to the total 400% range offered from the 11-44T cassette. For cyclocross racing or even fast rolling gravel this is plenty, but it may prove more limiting for adventure-type gravel riding where total ranges of 460% or more have become common. Those wanting more gear range can bolt on a larger Eagle mechanical derailleur, 11-52T cassette, and accompanying Eagle chain – such a combination will work perfectly with the Apex shifters, brakes, and crank.

Running multiple wheelsets for road and off-road duties is an option, but the limitations will be most obvious in the chainring size. The given 40T chainring is good for general off-road riding, but it’s likely to be too small when swapping to skinnier road tyres and jumping into a group. If this is your desired use for the bike, then you’ll at least want a larger chainring (and longer accompanying chain), or more likely, you’ll want to swap the SRAM Apex 1x group for something like a Shimano GRX 2x.

There’s a lot to like in SRAM’s newer Apex 1×12 offering, but having 12 gears (compared to fewer) does make it more susceptible to cable quality, adjustment, and derailleur hanger alignment issues – thankfully such hanger alignment is less of an issue given it’s attached to a stiff UDH. Either way, I wouldn’t be in a hurry to upgrade the groupset.

As mentioned, the Crux DSW frame feels stiffer than the carbon version, but the cheaper aluminium seatpost and handlebar make the ride more obviously harsh. If the budget allows, replacing the seatpost with a flexible carbon version would bring some big comfort gains, and similar gains would be expected in the handlebar, too. And given the completely standard fitments, you could always achieve more comfort with a suspension stem and matching seatpost. Still, given the price of this bike, I can’t help but feel a little cheated that a flexible carbon seatpost isn’t given as stock (as it is with the Crux Comp carbon).

A friend (and mentor!) of mine, formerly from the mountain bike media world, put some time on this Crux DSW and had plenty of similarly positive things to say, but he didn’t gel with that handlebar. “The skinny round profile on top feels harsh, and I found the curve from the tops to the hoods was of such a long radius that there wasn’t a lot of room to comfortably grip the top of the bar,” explained Chris Southwood. Add in the thin (but quality) bartape and it can feel like you’re grasping onto a thin edge. On the bright side the provided Specialized Power Comp saddle is likely to get on well with most people’s rear ends.

There are multiple customer reports of issues with the headsets provided on the Crux range, and unfortunately, this issue doesn’t appear to have been rectified in the Crux DSW. My test sample suffered from the headset top bearing cap contacting the frame, meaning you get both a loose headset and one that feels tight to turn. I easily remedied this with a few micro headset shims placed between the top cap and the compression ring, but fundamentally it seems that the provided upper headset assembly is either dimensionally wrong for the frame or is squishing under use. If the handlebar feels tight to turn, then speak to your Specialized dealer about a remedy (I consider this a warranty issue, and I know of at least one shop that’s going as far as upgrading the headset to aftermarket alternatives, such as WolfTooth).

My test bike arrived pre-built and with a mess of excessively long brake hoses and gear housing. This excess length is commonly given in the event a customer needs to switch to a longer stem or flip it upright. Once you’re confident and comfortable with the position then consider a clean-up of those lines.

The stock wheels will spin circles problem-free for a long time, but they too detract from the bike’s energetic demeanour. The pair of these slammed down onto my scales at 2,060 g (with tubeless tape and valves), and you can certainly feel that mass when compared to a lighter wheelset that can drop an easy half a kilogram (2.2 lbs) from the bike. Add that those DT Swiss rims are fairly chonky, and the straight gauge spokes are pretty stiff, and you have an upgrade opportunity that’ll further smooth out the ride while dropping the weight.

Those tubeless rims are shod with Specialized’s Pathfinder Pro tyres in a printed 38 mm size that plump out to an actual (measured) 40 mm width. Not unlike the geometry of the bike, these tyres are a middle-ground play well suited to people wanting this to be their only drop bar bike. With a smooth centre tread the tyres are fast enough and skinny enough to feel decent on the road, great for commuting, and OK on better-kept dirt and gravel roads. While absolutely region-dependant, my local steep climbs and loose surfaces had me wanting a tyre with a lightly knobbed centre tread and a little more volume. Meanwhile those looking to the Crux DSW as an all-road machine to ride tarmac with others should likely seek out something faster-rolling.

It’s not a big secret that I’ve long been a fan of aluminium race bikes that offer a more affordable entry into the performance world of cycling. I’ve owned a number of Cannondale CAADs over the years, refuse to let go of an old Salsa Chilli Con Crosso, and had certainly noticed the recent decline in such modern options.

The Crux DSW brings things back to a simpler, and arguably better time of bike ownership. There are no limitations over what stem, handlebar, or seatpost one can fit to the thing. You can equip just about any groupset of your choosing. Similarly, someone decent on the tools can clean and grease the headset bearings in a matter of minutes without fear of pinching a brake hose. And you don’t need to worry about that hose wearing through the steerer tube – what a novelty!

There’s a whole lot to like here but it doesn’t come at an absolute bargain. The prices on both the frameset and the Comp bike are pretty high for how simple the model is, and that puts it into the realm of other brands’ entry-level carbon options. Look past the low-value build kit, and you have a uniquely simple and great-handling bike with plenty of potential for future upgrades. And some of those upgrades (seatpost and wheels) will provide noticeable improvement. As good as the Crux DSW Comp is, I can’t help but think that if it were a few hundred dollars less, Specialized would make significant waves and force the return of more affordable race bikes for all.

As Southwood elegantly summarised, “[The Crux DSW is] not trying to be an adventure bike. It’s a gravel bike for what most people are actually doing if coming from a road background.” Indeed, the Crux DSW has successfully wound back the clock for those seeking a fuss-free gravel bike that handles and fits closer to a road bike. There’s a whole lot to like in that.

I enjoyed riding the Crux DSW, but frankly, I loved riding the carbon Crux. If you’re not set on metal and the budget can stretch, the ride quality of the carbon version is the winner.

👍Yep 👎Nope

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