Dylan Johnson's Felt Breed Carbon — a controversial gravel race bike with... mountain bike tyres

American pro gravel racer and YouTuber Dylan Johnson revealed the gravel bike he'll be racing on in 2024 earlier this week, and it's definitely opened a can of worms in the comments section of his social media feeds and beyond. 

Numerous concerned Johnson fans are pondering potential lost watts because he's chosen not to go with full internal cable routing, while others are mortified by the saddle fore-aft. With this new bike, Johnson has waved goodbye to Factor as his bike sponsor and will now be seen aboard a custom-painted Felt Breed Carbon. This is hardly surprising given the bike has been made for fast gravel racing, but it's Johnson's setup that has sparked a lot of discussion about... well, pretty much everything on this bike. 

In his Instagram post introducing the new race weapon, Johnson didn't say much about the bike. But when we contacted him he told us the main selling point for riding the Breed Carbon is that it's one of just a few gravel bikes on the market that is race-focussed and can fit 50mm (or wider) tyres. 

"The industry has gravel tire size wrong", says Johnson.

"Whenever I test tires I always come to the same conclusion, wider is faster and the current crop of lightweight XC mountain bike tires are usually faster than their gravel counterparts. I’m not saying I’m never going to use a narrow gravel tire again but I find myself gravitating towards wider and wider tires every year."

Johnson adds that he won't rule out swapping to narrower offerings later in the season, depending on the conditions. 

The tyres on Johnson's bike are Schwalbe Thunder Burt 2.1in (51mm) when measured on the Reynolds G700 rims, which are 25mm wide internally.

"They have been tested to be one of the lowest rolling resistance off-road tires on the market, lower than almost every gravel tire available. Again, I'm just testing them for now and may opt for something different come race season", Johnson says. 

It's evident that this bike was launched in 2022, just before the 'lets-integrate-everything' home mechanic's nightmare started filtering through to endurance road and gravel bikes, because you can see the cables looping into the frame at the front of the bike ("Those exposed cables are costing you .274 watts," one commenter said). 

> Best gravel tyres

While Johnson is an advocate for more tyre width, when it comes to cargo mounts he's very much in the less is more camp. The Breed Carbon doesn't come with any 'unnecessary' mounts – there are four bottle mounts and that's it. No fork mounts, no top tube mounts… nada. 

The speeds in elite gravel racing have increased every year, so aerodynamics have started to play a bigger role in the sport. The Felt bike that Johnson is riding is a testament to this, crafted with aero-shaped tubes and the Coefficient RR (Road Race) Carbon Handlebar. It's narrow and slippery-looking and looks like it will allow Johnson to adopt the 'puppy paws' position at races like the Unbound, where aero bars are now banned for pro riders. 

One of the contested aspects of Johnson's new bike is the way it's been set up. Seeing super long stems and forward-slammed saddles is hardly uncommon in the gravel scene, with Lachlan Morton's Leadville setup just one example. Like the other pros, Johnson seems to have thrown out the bikefitting handbook and gone for what works for him. That means the aero handlebar is paired with a very long Enve stem, which seems to be alleviated by a dramatically forward-placed saddle. Is it comfy? 

Johnson says: "The saddle and bar position of the bike is a bit jarring to look at, I know, but I run my saddle that far forward just because that's where it needs to be for my femur/tibia dimensions. The stem is a 140mm enve aero stem and the bars are 36cm Coefficient RR. This is for getting into an aero position.

"If I was prioritizing comfort I'd probably put a 110mm or 120mm stem on. The bars actually put the hoods in the same position as a normal bar would even though they are oddly shaped. I'm just experimenting with them now and they may or may not be on my bike come race season."

The geometry of the Breed Carbon is also suspension and dropper compatible, which means that for those gravel races that are titled mountain bike races, Johnson could throw on a suspension fork. Finishing up the bike, Johnson has a Shimano GRX 810 gravel drivetrain spiced up with a CeramicSpeed rear derailleur, Quarq Dzero crankset (172.5mm cranks, 50/34t chainrings), Silca bottle cages and a Wahoo computer.

"I prefer Shimano over Sram for gravel because Shimano's chains are slightly more efficient. Their 2x also works better in my opinion and 2x is more efficient than 1x as well," Johnson says. 

It's likely that once the season starts we will see Johnson's setup slightly altered, but as it stands it already looks pretty fast. 

How do you think Johnson will do on his new Felt in the 2024 gravel season? Let us know your thoughts about this bike in the comments below and also, remember to check out our previous Bike at Bedtime features.

[Photos courtesy of Taylor Farman]