Swift Univox GR review

The Swift Univox GR is the gravel variant of the Univox platform, but in Swift’s own words ‘this is not a “pure” gravel bike. Rather, the geometry of the Univox platform leans much more towards road bikes, which will be a familiar joy to some, and which for many rider will be a great choice for all-season, all-road riding.

But when terrain gets more technical, the sharp geometry and lack of tyre clearance holds the Univox GR back in the gravel department.

Back in the 1800s, Manaus, which sits at the confluence of the Amazon River’s major Brazilian tributaries, was South America’s wealthiest city – built on the rubber that flowed from the Amazon’s indigenous rubber trees.

In typical style, the profiteers weren’t the locals but the European settlers, and with their booming economy came great excess. French ladies sent laundry back to Paris to get washed in the Seine (believing the Amazon too dirty); in the old part of town, inhabitants built an opera house.

The steel was imported from Glasgow, marble columns and chandeliers from Italy and the tiles came from Alsace – no mean feat given it took weeks just to sail to the next town. But perhaps most elaborate of all were the cobbles outside. These were coated in rubber to dampen the sound of horses’ hooves lest it spoil La Gioconda when the show came to town.

Manaus’s fortunes waned when rubber tree seeds were smuggled out by the English and plantations established elsewhere, but the city remains industrial. Today, one factory resident is Sense, which makes aluminium frames and components, and which forms one half of S2 Bicycle Industries. The other half is Swift Carbon, which was bought by Brazilian distribution giant Grupo Lagoa in 2018.

Swift Univox GR frameset

In the past four years Swift has rebranded to become Swift Bicycles and in so doing has revamped its range. Here is the bike leading the gravel charge, the Univox GR.

‘We developed an endurance frame that is also capable off-road,’ says Swift’s general manager, Pierre de Tarde. ‘We have the Univox Evo, which is endurance, and the Univox GR, which is gravel. But the GR is not a “pure” gravel bike; the difference between the Evo and GR is the spec.’

Of this point, the geometry is most telling. For example, a 55cm TT Univox GR shows near-identical trail to Swift’s flagship racer – 60mm versus 59mm. Tempering that for off-roading is a 77mm BB drop and 1,004mm wheelbase, but those are fairly conservative numbers in gravel, and together these figures produce a bike that feels decidedly like an endurance bike.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and the Univox has been a solid companion when local lanes are debris-strewn mud-baths, flooding and freezing in equal measure. Not territory for the average road bike, but manageable for the Univox thanks to its stable (for road) geometry and 40mm tyres.

Swift Univox GR performance

But given this road-bike acumen, the Univox felt out of its depth on anything more than basic off-road. Handling felt twitchy when things got bumpy or technical, and although the frame’s stiffness is enjoyable on-road, it is jarring off it. This can’t be offset by tyre choice – max clearance here is 40mm, which is skinny in the gravel world.

In Swift’s defence, De Tarde says the 40mm decision was based on research that showed ‘85% of riders ride normal, not technical, trails’. Fair enough, but I can’t help feeling this bike is best thought of as an endurance bike – or better yet, all-road – since calling it a gravel bike risks it being judged against criteria it can’t meet. Even then it takes more than a change of marketing tack to exploit the frameset’s abilities. 

The 1x gearing with 40t chainring and 11-42t cassette might be great for gravel, but given that I found the Univox’s natural home to be the road or civilised trails, I occasionally found myself searching for bigger gears on descents and a closer-ratio spread, things that a 2x setup offers. So I’d certainly opt for a 2x drivetrain.

While we’re about it, I’d also change the seatpost – any 27.2mm post would fit. The Univox uses a hexagonal alloy insert that can be rotated to change the effective layback. A single 3mm grubscrew then holds it in place, which means it is the sole bolt that stops the seat clamp from wobbling. Cue grubscrew loosening and saddle wobbling on my first ride.

I re-tightened it and to be fair it hasn’t come loose since, but long-term I’d worry at such a small bolt being such a fundamental part of the seat clamp assembly. I asked De Tarde about this and he said Swift hadn’t seen any issues but, I wonder, why even risk it? The ability to play around with fore-aft saddle position hardly seems worth it, and besides, the whole thing is surely heavier and just plain overengineered.

What I do like, however, are the thru-axles. They hold their own levers (secured by magnets so they don’t rattle), which pull out so you can unscrew the axles.

Swift Univox GR verdict

Still, natty little thru-axles and even a drivetrain change can’t paper over the fact that the Univox GR doesn’t quite know what it’s trying to deliver. But it is a good frameset with buckets of all-road potential, which is why I’d turn my attention to the Univox Evo build.

Swift Univox GR specifications