Just after the 2015 Cyclocross World Championship, we caught sight of Ben Berden's newest cyclocross bike: A Stoemper Ronny aluminum frame with a TRP carbon front fork. He would go on to use the bike at Cyclocross Tokyo in February, as well as the 2015 Sea Otter Classic, where he took second place to Tobin Ortenblad.
His cyclocross-tested Stoemper he is using for gravel races took him to a second place last weekend at the second annual Lost and Found Gravel Race [report, results]. Much like his performance at Sea Otter, his Stoemper helped him reach the podium, second place in both occasions behind Ortenblad.
Ben Berden's Stoemper Ronny Gravel Bike at the 2015 Lost and Found. © Cyclocross Magazine
"Sea Otter was my first race," Berden told us. "I don’t like hills anyways, and I’m not in shape. I’ve only been doing base miles."
His gravel Ronny was complete for the weekend with a TRP thru axle cyclocross fork we first saw at NAHBS 2015. At the same show, we also saw TRP's mod to Shimano Di2 electronic drivetrains with a 3D-printed Di2 climbing button mount to their Hylex brakes, another feature we saw on Berden's bike.
Despite having ridden two big cyclocross races on the bike, Berden was insistent that this would not be the bike he would be riding come cyclocross season in the fall. "The bike I’m riding is only my gravel bike," he told Cyclocross Magazine. "I’ll have a different cyclocross bike for the season. The cyclocross bike will be a little smaller and have a thru axle front and back."
His social media backs up his much awaited bike for the season, which looks like it will have the throwback style of the paint job he first had with Stoemper just after moving to the United States from Belgium. For his dedicated cyclocross model, he had this to say: "I think the thru axle corners better. When Nicole [Duke] told me that when I get a thru axle, it would make a big difference, and I was like 'Nah!' But when I got the bike, I noticed the difference."
Read about Berden's dual with Tobin Ortenblad in the 2015 Lost and Found gravel race report here, and stay tuned for more bike profiles from the race.
For more features of Ben Berden's Lost and Found Gravel Bike, including his use of FSA SL-K MTB 29er wheels mated with a new set of Kenda 700x35c tires, use the slider below. More info: stoemper.com
As we saw at NAHBS 2015, the TRP Hylex brakes included printed shifting buttons for Di2. © Cyclocross Magazine
