Took the FM316 out to my local hammer-fest (100% tarmac). Here's the
Strava activity. 11mi/18km commute to and from. Received several compliments and inquiries, which is always gratifying

For comparison, my previous gravel bike was an
Ari Shafer (M). Same touchpoints, same wheels (45mm deep, 50mm tires w/ Vittoria liners) which gives a good isolated assessment of the frame. It came in at 19lbs/8.6kg (w/ pedals), about 5% lighter.
The FM316 has a smaller trail (-10.5mm) and considerably less wheelbase (-39mm) so it's no surprise it felt much more comparatively like a road bike. What surprised me is how supple and less harsh it felt given the more aggressive geometry.
The bike also "feels" fast. Even with 50mm tires w/ liners I had no problem handling surges. This ride has quite a number of stop lights (19 tonight) but still averaged 22.1mph/35.5kph needing just 199w/263NP (I'm 70kg) and a low RPE (tapering for race on Saturday).
IMO the "aero" designation is well-deserved. To illustrate, here's a 36s segment on a slight decline (only -2.3% avg) where I did 0 pedal revs and *passed* other riders on road bikes in full slipstream. Notice the uptick in speed using 0 power:

Sure, I was partially tucked but still impressed how much more quickly I gained speed while others soft-pedaled, in-draft, on faster road tires. Again... I'm on 50mm w/ liners!
The true test will be on actual gravel this Saturday. I hope to get some drone shots on trails after the race.
