The Traka 360 doesn't ease you in.
The 2026 edition hit the climbs at kilometre six and barely relented from there — 325 kilometres of Mediterranean dirt roads, singletrack and punchy climbing across the hills of Girona. Over 4,000 meters of elevation packed into a single day of racing. The kind of event where your setup either earns its place or it doesn't.
For Sergio Ramón, QO's Marketing Manager, it was a first Traka 360 — and a working weekend in every sense.
The setup
"I've been to Girona for Traka before, but always as a spectator. This time I wanted to be on the other side of it — and to do it on a setup we were still validating."
The configuration: QO GRAVA cranks at 165mm, paired with a 44T prototype Direct Mount chainring and a 10-50 cassette. A 47mm chainline purpose-built for wide rear spacing. Carbon arms reinforced with KevTex at the tips — Kevlar fibre integrated into the impact zones where gravel terrain hits hardest.
It's worth being specific about why 165mm and 44T at Traka. The Girona hills reward compact crank lengths in technical sections, where shorter arms give additional ground clearance and faster cadence out of tight corners. Paired with a 10-50 cassette, the 44T covers everything from high-speed open gravel to the kind of steep, rocky climbing that finishes riders in the final 100km.
"I didn't want to go conservative on gearing. 44T with a 10-50 cassette — I had every ratio I needed, from the fast open gravel to the steep stuff in the final climbs. I never once thought I needed more."
On course
The technical descents were where the setup was put to a real test. Mud, rock, pace — the conditions that expose a chainring's true character.
The GRAVA chainring uses a Smart Tooth narrow-wide profile: alternating tooth widths that grip the chain on every link cycle, eliminating the need for a chain guide in most 1x gravel setups. In rough conditions, where chain retention is more about tooth geometry and less about mechanical backup, this is where it either works or it doesn't.
"Some riders around me were losing chains on the descents — no chain guide. I never even thought about it. The tooth profile just held. That's when you stop thinking about the equipment and start riding."
One bottle was lost somewhere in the hills of Empordà. Sh*t happens.
From prototype to production
The 44T that completed the Traka 360 was a prototype — the last race it would ever run. The production units arrived shortly after.
This is how QO validates. Not through lab simulations alone, but by putting components into the hardest conditions the calendar offers and seeing what they do. The 44T now in stock at qobike.com is the direct result of what was proven in Girona.
The GRAVA crankset is available in 40T, 42T and 44T. Compatible with Shimano 11 and 12-speed, SRAM AXS 12-speed, SRAM AXS 13-speed and SRAM Eagle. DIN 5480 Direct Mount interface. 376g crank arms and spindle.
