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He’s competed in cyclocross at the highest level, been selected for the French national team, and now watches the races from the Eurosport booth. But when Anthony Colas steps away from Steve Chainel and his microphone, he now turns his attention primarily to the trails. Having qualified for the 2025 Gravel World Championships in his category, he has found in his ENVE MOG a bike that perfectly suits his new riding style: high-performance, comfortable, stable, and built to take a beating. It’s a bike that doesn’t try to impress Anthony. Above all, it aims to give him confidence.
By Jeff Tatard – © Photos: Anthony Colas
“Of all the bikes I’ve owned, this is my favorite. ” Yet Anthony Colas isn’t the type to get excited about a bike simply because it’s new or more expensive. His experience has taught him otherwise: a good bike is, first and foremost, one you stop thinking about while you’re riding.
His MOG is built exactly with that in mind. Not to win a weight contest. Not to line up trendy components. But to go fast, for a long time, everywhere, and, above all, with that feeling Anthony keeps mentioning when he talks about it: confidence. Welcome to 3bikes’ Bike Check #002.
What? What kind of bike do you have?
An ENVE MOG 2025 in size 52, which Anthony has owned since last September. The build is very personal, since some of the components come from his previous bikes.
The drivetrain features an 11-speed Shimano XTR, paired with an Ultegra crankset and a 4iiii power meter. Unlike many current gravel setups, Anthony sticks with a double chainring: 48/36 up front and an 11-32 cassette in the rear. He also tested 175 mm cranks before switching back to 170 mm, which he prefers.
The wheels are one of the bike’s most recent upgrades: ENVE SES 3.4 wheelsets fitted with Chris King hubs and Sapim spokes. As for tires, Anthony uses two different 50-mm profiles: Schwalbe G-One R Pro up front, which has deeper tread, and G-One RS in the rear, which offers better rolling efficiency.
The cockpit is currently all ENVE. The original seatpost, however, didn’t stand a chance against its owner’s preferences: Anthony replaced it with a Darimo, paired with an older Selle Italia SLR carbon saddle. The build thus combines recent components, tried-and-true parts, and very personal choices.
Why? Why this bike?
Anthony was introduced to the MOG through a friend of his, Étienne, who has been riding this model himself for several years. “He eventually convinced me that this bike was made for me.”
At the time, Anthony was coming off a Cervélo Áspero, whose performance he appreciated, but whose tire clearance was starting to limit his riding. Fitting 45 mm tires was already becoming a challenge. He wanted more freedom without turning his gravel bike into a tractor.
The MOG can handle tires up to about 50 mm and even larger, depending on the setup. Anthony now rides 50 mm tires with plenty of clearance around them.
But tire clearance isn’t the whole story. “I was really looking for a bike that was efficient, but also comfortable.” And, above all, stable. He mentions this word several times. Anthony appreciates the MOG’s geometry, particularly how the front end handles. When the terrain gets rough, the bike doesn’t require constant attention. “It’s a really stable bike that’s pretty forgiving. It’s a bike that inspires confidence.”
The road? He does own a dedicated set of road wheels, but he almost never uses them. These days, his playground is clearly gravel.
How? How did you build it?
Anthony doesn’t single out any one “miracle” part around which his bike is built. What he loves is the bike as a whole.
The wheels, however, are the upgrade that has impressed him the most recently. After riding Zipp wheels and experiencing some bearing issues, he switched to ENVE SES 3.4s. “Ever since I switched to ENVE, I’ve been really, really happy with them.”
Another detail he cares about: his CeramicSpeed bottom bracket. He knows full well that some will consider the performance gain negligible. He’s okay with that. “It might seem a bit trivial to some, but I find it runs pretty smoothly. And I’m a bit obsessed with it!”
His next project is already set: replacing his current handlebar-stem setup with an ENVE monoblock cockpit. He’d made the same modification on his Áspero and was surprised by how much it affected the bike’s overall handling.
And then there’s a much less spectacular detail that Anthony loves: the built-in storage in the MOG’s down tube. Under the bottle cage, a small hatch hides most of the repair kit.
The multi-tool and TPU inner tube are thus tucked away inside the frame. On the outside, all that remains is a Dynaplug on the top tube and a CO₂ cartridge with its valve near the bottle cage. A small electric pump rounds out the setup. No saddle bag, almost nothing sticking out, but enough to get home if things go wrong.
So what? How does it perform out on the trail?
“It just rides itself!” Anthony begins with a laugh. Behind that phrase, his MOG has one particularly interesting quality: it seems to perform just as well during short, intense bursts of effort as it does when the hours start to pile up.
Anthony cites the 6 Hours of Cergy, raced as relays of about fifteen minutes at full throttle. At the other end of the spectrum, he mentions rides and races lasting five or six hours. Same story. “You never get tired of riding this bike.” Responsive when you need to accelerate, comfortable as the day goes on, and stable enough when the terrain gets more technical—in his view, the MOG has no weakness significant enough to call the project into question.
When asked to give it a rating, Anthony hesitates—mainly because he doesn’t claim to have tried every gravel bike on the market. Then he settles on: 9/10. “Of all the bikes I’ve owned, this is my favorite.”
And coming from a former international cyclocross rider who knows pretty well how a bike performs when you start pushing it hard, that statement carries weight.
What if it gets stolen tomorrow? Would you buy the exact same one again?
This time, no long pause. Yes. “Clearly, for now, I’d buy it again.”
Anthony is curious to see the next generation of gravel bikes—and especially the potential widespread adoption of 32-inch wheels, which he’d like to try. Right now, that’s practically the only innovation likely to seriously pique his curiosity.
But even then, he immediately qualifies his statement. “I think I’d keep my MOG anyway, because I’m very, very happy with it.”
In the end, that might be the most interesting answer from this Bike Check. When someone who loves analyzing gear so much isn’t really looking for his next bike anymore, it’s probably because he’s found the right one.
Anthony’s Bike CheckAnthony’s ENVE MOG is a decidedly personal build, designed for efficiency, comfort, and above all, stability.
A few words from Anthony: “It’s a bike that inspires confidence.” What does he love about it? The bike’s overall balance and its versatility on gravel terrain. What annoys him? It’s hard, for now, to get him to point out a real flaw. What would he change tomorrow? The cockpit, with the upcoming arrival of an ENVE one-piece combo. And if he had to start all over again? He’d buy the same one. |
Same concept. A different bike.
One bike. Four photos. Four questions. Four answers. Bike Check, the 3bikes series that’s less interested in what a brand says about a bike than in the reasons why its owner chose to ride it.
=> To learn all about the components on Anthony’s bike: MOHAWK’S
=> And here, if you want to check out all our other Bike Checks: All Our Bike Checks
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