Activ Bar & Fruit Paste: Review of the New Andros Sport Products

Summer is the time of year when we spend the most time on our bikes. Long rides, road races, gravel rides, racking up the kilometers… it’s also the best time to evaluate sports nutrition. A few weeks before this crucial season, Andros Sport sent us its two new products: the Activ Bars and the new Energy Fruit Paste. Rather than just giving them a quick taste test, we decided to take them where they’re really put to the test: out in the field. After several weeks of intensive testing, here’s our verdict.

By Jeff Tatard – Photos: DR

Every summer, it’s pretty much the same story. The kilometers pile up, rides get longer, races come one after another, and the days spent on the bike sometimes become longer than those spent behind a desk. It’s also the time of year when nutrition takes on paramount importance. Because when you’re riding for three, four, or sometimes five hours, every bite counts.

It was precisely at this time that Andros Sport sent us its two latest products: the Activ Bars and the new Energy Fruit Paste. Rather than just trying them once over a cup of coffee, we decided to do what we always do at 3bikes: put them to the test in the field. Where products can’t cut any corners. Several days of testing, road rides, long hours on gravel, training sessions, races… in short, the time of year when we probably ride the most.

And very quickly, one thing became clear. These two products aren’t trying to revolutionize sports nutrition. They’re simply trying to make those long hours on the bike easier.

A Philosophy That Goes Against the Grain

For several years now, Andros Sport has been taking a very different approach from many other brands in the industry. While some are piling on exotic ingredients, complex formulations, or ever-more-spectacular promises, the French brand seems to be pursuing a much simpler goal: putting fruit back at the center of sports nutrition.

This approach may seem almost obvious. And yet, it has become quite rare. Because, after all, long before the advent of gels, powders, and ultra-technical drinks, cyclists were already eating… fruit jellies, dried fruit, or fruit-based snacks. Not out of nostalgia, but because these foods provided readily available energy while remaining enjoyable to eat for several hours. It’s exactly this philosophy that we find in these two new products.

The Activ Bar: the bar you’ll barely notice

A good energy bar isn’t necessarily the one with the most marketing claims on its packaging. It’s often the one you completely forget about while exercising. From the very first taste, that’s exactly what surprised us about the Activ Bar.

Its texture is much softer than that of many energy bars on the market. It doesn’t stick to your teeth, doesn’t harden as the temperature rises, and remains easy to chew, even when the pace picks up.

On gravel rides, where you sometimes have to eat amid vibrations, pebbles, or on a forest trail, this detail quickly becomes a real advantage. You don’t struggle with the bar. You eat. And you keep riding.

22 grams of carbs… exactly where you need them

Each Activ Bar provides 22 g of carbohydrates, 137 kcal, electrolytes, and vitamins. On paper, these numbers might seem fairly standard. In practice, they’re perfectly balanced.

Today, most experts recommend consuming between 60 and 90 grams of carbohydrates per hour during long endurance events. With one bar paired with an energy drink—or two bars spread out over the hour—it becomes very easy to develop a consistent nutrition strategy.

Once again, simplicity seems to have guided Andros’ choices. And that’s probably good news.

The New Fruit Paste: A Boost at Just the Right Time

The Energy Fruit Paste bars are not meant to replace the Activ Bar. They serve a completely different purpose. For several hours, the bar provides a steady supply of energy. Then there’s always that moment when the race takes a turn: a long climb, a surge, a change in pace, or the final twenty minutes before the finish.

That’s exactly when these little fruit jellies really come into their own. Their size is extremely convenient; they can be eaten in a matter of seconds and quickly deliver the carbohydrates you need when the intensity picks up. On several gravel rides, we found ourselves saving them almost without fail for those decisive moments. And their effectiveness quickly became second nature.

The ultimate test: the terrain

You can spend hours analyzing a nutrition label. But the real verdict is always decided on the bike. Over the course of our rides, these two new products have accompanied us on the longest rides of the year—when energy reserves are running low, the heat becomes oppressive, and we sometimes start to get tired of eating.

It’s precisely in those moments that they really stood out. Because they’re still enjoyable. Because they go down easily. And above all, because they make you want to keep eating them right up until the very end of your ride. In sports nutrition, that’s probably one of the hardest qualities to achieve.

3bikes’ verdict

There are products that aim to impress. And then there are those that simply do what they’re supposed to do. The new Activ Bars and Andros Sport Energy Fruit Paste clearly fall into the latter category. After several days of intensive testing, both on the road and on gravel, they won us over with their simplicity, digestibility, texture, and ease of use. Nothing spectacular. No hype. Just products designed to support your effort discreetly and effectively.

As the kilometers go by, you realize that good sports nutrition isn’t just about the number of carbohydrates or a list of ingredients. It’s recognized above all by its ability to fade into the background. That moment when you open a bar without even thinking about it. When you pop a fruit gel into your mouth before a tough stretch almost by reflex. When eating stops being a chore and becomes a natural instinct again.

And you know what? Deep down, maybe that’s what good sports nutrition really is. Products you stop thinking about because they do exactly what you expect them to do. All our attention can then remain focused on what really matters: our breathing, our legs, the scenery rolling by, the friends around us… and that incredible feeling of freedom that, ride after ride, leaves us with just one desire: to keep riding.

Andros Sport Activ Bar & Energy Fruit Gels at a glance…

Pros: a particularly pleasant texture, excellent digestibility, products that are easy to chew even during high-intensity activity, natural flavors that aren’t cloying, convenient sizes that fit easily in jersey pockets, a smart synergy between the Activ Bar and the Energy Fruit Gels, a good balance of carbohydrates, made in France, a fruit-focused philosophy.

Cons: a still-limited range of flavors; heavy carbohydrate consumers will need to supplement with an energy drink to reach the highest intake levels; no higher-carb version yet available for ultra-distance events.

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