The Warlock picked up the 2021/22 Editor’s Choice Award in the Adventure & Gravel category from the folks at Road.cc.
“The Warlock is light, fast, and extremely versatile, capable of handling road, gravel, and many types of more challenging off-road trails. It is an absolute hoot down rocky bridleways, fire road trails and trail centre singletrack, with handling that is nippy enough to remain inspiring without being too twitchy. “
Jim Clarkson spent some time getting to know the Warlock and came away impressed. He built himself an XC orientated big tyre bike using mostly MTB components.
Road.cc put the Warlock on their curated Recommends list of outstanding bikes and cycling equipment.
Gary Walls from UK Gravel Co. spent some time on a gravel spec. Warlock and came away impressed. Over the test period he tried numerous wheel & tyre configurations.
Fearless Select Double Butted Chromoly Steel Tubing
Tapered Carbon Fork Ready geometry
Bike packing & touring ready chromoly steel fork.
Run 700 x 47c / 650b x 58c (2.25″) tyres
Continuous cable routing
corrosion resistant ED coated frame & fork
Replaceable derailleur hanger
Mounts for carriers & mudguards, 3x sets of cargo mounts
grime proof forward facing seat collar
As capable shredding single track as it is crossing continents, the Warlock is the award winning do-it-all frameset for riders who push their gravel bikes a little further.
Big tyres and geo leaning towards the progressive side means it’s built for tackling technical trails and rough terrain over longer distances, covering ground that might be out of bounds for more road & cross orientated gravel machines.
It accepts tyres up to 58mm in 650b (around 2.25”) and up to 700x47c. There’s continuous cable routing throughout and flat mounts make it compatible with the latest hydraulic road braking systems. It comes equipped with all the eyelets for the racks and cargo cages you’ll need for longer adventures.
There’s also dropper post routing if you need it- super useful for those steeper descents. Fit some fat and fast rolling off-road tyres and rack up those cross country miles. To get your hands on a Warlock please use the form on the purchase page. The Warlock frameset includes the front fork, front & rear through axles, seat collar plus stainless steel bolts for the bottle mounts and the 3 sets of cargo mounts.
To get your hands on a Warlock please use the form on the ordering page. The Warlock frameset includes the front fork, front & rear through axles, seat collar plus stainless steel bolts for the bottle mounts and the 3 sets of cargo mounts.
frameset specification
| Tubing | Fearless Select Double Butted Chromoly Steel. Internal E.D coating and powder coat paint |
| Dropouts | Rear: 142 x 12mm thru axle. Front: 100 x 12mm thru axle |
| Tyres | 700 x 47c, 650b x 58c (27.5 x 2.25″) |
| Brakes | Flat mount fitting. Front: Fork has clearance and is rated for rotors up to 180mm (Hope RX4+ Flat Mount Front +20). Other flat mount braking systems are limited by standard Flat Mount spec (160mm). Rear: frame has clearance for flat mount or post mount calliper + adaptor up to 160mm. |
| Seatpost | 30.9mm. Dropper post routing |
| Headtube | 44mm- tapered carbon fork compatible |
| Headset | Supplied 404 Type 2 Fork: Top cup- ZS44/28.6, Lower Cup- ZS44/30. Tapered fork: ZS44/28.6 top cup, EC44/40 lower cup |
| Front mech | 1x dedicated |
| BB Shell | 68mm width. BSA/English thread |
| Chainring | Shimano GRX – 44T, Sram Wide – 42T, Sram Non-wide, Hope RX- 40T |
| Fork | Straight blade 4130 Chromoly Steel. 404mm A/C. S & M size frames- 52mm offset, L & XL- 48mm. Mid-blade rack mounts, eyelets for mudguards and carriers, 2x sets of cargo cage mounts |
| Colours | Cool Grey, Faded Olive |
Big Tyres
Wide as you can get with short gravel bike chainstays that clear 1x road chainlines without resorting to a yoke or plate at the BB junction. Max recommended tyres give 4-5mm clearance at the tight clearance areas- the chainstay dimples and fork crown.
Maximum recommended tyres are 700 x 47c or 650b x 58c. Front tyres are restricted by height giving safe clearance for a 47mm tall tyre. Slightly larger 700c gravel tyres may be possible if you use a rim with a wider than 20mm internal diameter rim which may reduce the tyre height a little. Fork crown clearance is the max you can get with a lighter weight unicrown design whilst keeping the geo compatible with ≈395mm A/C carbon forks.
650b/27.5” tyres are restricted by width. Max safe width is 58mm giving 4mm clearance. Measurements were made using a 650b rim with an internal diameter of 25mm.
1x dedicated
Big tyres, nice geo and front derailleurs don’t mix. Opting for 1x specific freed the Warlock up for some progressive design choices; short chainstays, inline seatpost geo, neater cable routing without empty cable bosses nor excess drillings and braze-ons on the downtube. As of 2020 all three major component manufacturers now offer comprehensive 1x drive chain solutions plus there’s a wealth of aftermarket Narrow Wide chainrings & cassettes meaning pretty much every possible gear combination is covered, every piece of old 2x kit can be repurposed.
Interestingly a few months into the run of Vulture framesets it became clear that very few owners who took their bikes off-road regularly were running 2x and those that did initially were pretty swift to make the change to 1x. There’s the reduced maintenance, increased reliability, increased tyre clearance and better performance on the kind of terrain the Warlock is designed for.
404 Type 2 fork
The Warlock comes supplied with an updated 12mm thru axle version of the 404 Fork, the 404 Type 2. It shares the same 404mm axle to crown measurement meaning the Warlock is geometry corrected for carbon gravel forks. Size specific offset keeps nice handling across the size range with S & M frames coming supplied with a 52mm offset fork and the L and XL a 48mm to match their respective 71º and 71.5º degree head angles. There’s eyelets and braze-ons for low riders or carriers plus 2x pairs of triple cage mounts so it’s ready for those longer self-supported adventures.
details
The Warlock frameset comes supplied with a set of high quality machined and black anodised aluminium 12mm thru-axles and a seat clamp (please note the Hope headset, spacers and Thomson stem in some of the photos are not included).
The Warlock’s flat mount bosses are masked before painting to prevent paint build up effecting the alignment of the brake calliper so should not require facing. There’s enough clearance at the seat stays to fit post mount brakes via a post to flat mount adaptor so you can continue to use your legacy brakes or run MTB brakes & levers on flat or riser bars. The 404 fork’s hose guide is forward facing for short and direct hose/cable runs.
The front fork can be fitted with racks and carriers in two configurations; a bike packing setup that uses an above the wheel carrier along with 2x cargo cages or a traditional touring setup using low riders.
If you’re using a rear carrier without mudguard mounts there’s an extra set of eyelets inboard of the seat stays for attaching mudguards independently. Please note you may need new rear mudguard stays if you’ve already cut them to fit another bike.
In terms of weather proofing the Warlock’s seatpost slot is forward facing to prevent grime thrown up from the rear tyre entering the seat tube and the bottom bracket shell is drilled with a 4.2mm outlet on the underside to allow any moisture inside the BB to escape. These features along with the internal E.D coating should make the Warlock a long lasting investment.
Cro-Mo Steel
A bespoke mix of seamless double butted chromoly road and MTB tubing. We used a beefier MTB seat tube to withstand the rigours of dropper posts and mixed it up with road tubes to save weight. The whole package is put together with the same exceptional build quality and super neat TIG welding as the Vulture.
Inline Optimised
Ideal for droppers, the Warlock’s geo is tailored for zero and small offset seatposts. The slacker seat angle gives 10mm saddle to handlebar distance whilst adding bigger tyre clearance at the seat tube and allowing for short chainstays. Most of the extra space created for optimising saddle to bar distance is done above the effective top tube line so there’s no overall increase in effective TT length per given frame size with only a factional reduction in reach. It’s a nice balance for long torso riders that need the extra space or those that prefer a riding position further forward over the pedals.
Custom hardware
The tight space between the axle and the flat mount brake bosses required a custom dropout design. We kept the ever popular ‘Breezer’ or Wright style design from the Vulture and made a 12mm thru axle version. It ended up being a very compact and lightweight design utilising a durable rearward facing countersunk M5 bolt to attach the replaceable combined mech hanger and axle thread.
geometry
| S | M | L | XL | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Effective Top Tube | 542 | 555 | 577 | 590 |
| 2. | Seat Tube | 480 | 520 | 550 | 580 |
| 3. | Head Angle | 71° | 71° | 71.5° | 71.5° |
| 4. | Seat Angle | 74° | 73.5° | 73° | 72.5° |
| 5. | Stack | 556 | 569 | 601 | 629 |
| 6. | Reach | 376 | 379 | 385 | 389 |
| 7. | Head Tube | 125 | 140 | 170 | 200 |
| 8. | Chainstay Length | 425 | 425 | 425 | 425 |
| 9. | Standover 700x45c | 776 | 801 | 831 | 859 |
| Standover 650Bx2.2″ | 768 | 793 | 823 | 851 | |
| 10. | Wheelbase | 1018 | 1025 | 1036 | 1041 |
| 11. | Bottom Bracket Drop | 70 | 70 | 70 | 70 |
| 12. | Top Tube Angle | 13° | 10° | 10° | 10° |
| 13. | Fork Offset | 52 | 52 | 48 | 48 |
| 14 | Rider Height Range* | 166-172cm | 172-177cm | 177-186cm | 186-193cm |
* If you feel you’re in-between sizes then it’s always worth getting in touch. Let us know your height and barefoot inseam (measured in cm) and also what bike you’re currently riding. Another piece of useful info is the height of your saddle on your current bike, measured from the centre of the BB/crank spindle to the top-centre of the saddle.
As the rider compartment on a gravel bike is longer than a road bike per given size you’ll likely need a slightly shorter stem if you’re looking achieve a similar riding position. If you plan to ride mostly off-road or take your Warlock on long distance adventures then we generally recommend fitting a zero or positive rise stem.