The G5-X is Colnagos third-generation gravel bike. It follows the G3-X, which Colnago admittedly described as a cyclocross bike with gravel leanings, and the G4-X, which Colnago athlete Piotr Havik road to victory at this year's Badlands gravel race in a record-breaking 36 hours and 15 minutes.Despite the bike's success, Colnagos design team, headed up by Davide Fumagalli, knew the G4-X needed an update. Gravel bike geometry has been moving at a pace, and not only with the current trend for ever-wider tyres. Plus, there are greater demands for comfort, handling and even aerodynamics.Fumagalli explains the goals for the new bike are all about balance. Colnago wanted a bike that could be raced competitively in gravel events, from 200km to the ultra-distances of races such as Badlands. Comfort through compliance and stability was a priority over the out-and-out aerodynamics of gravel bikes such as Factors Elara. While the shapes have seen some aero work and integration is smooth, the G5-X is no aero gravel racer. Warren Rossiter / Kelsey Back with the G3-X, we made a fast, race, gravel bike," says Fumagalli. "Some described its stiff character as being a crit gravel bike. With the G4-X, we improved the ride quality, the G5-X is far superior for comfort and handling.He continues: We have brought some aerodynamics to the tubing shapes and the integration of the cockpit and the fork, though we arent making an out and out aero-race gravel bike here. This is not a gravel Y1Rs, we set out to make something more of a V5Rs for the dirt. I rode a new gravel bike in Tuscany and it made me realise the best options are more like Swiss army knives than scalpels here's whyG5-X changes The seatpost is a slender, round 27.2mm diameter, opening up the G5-X to dropper-post compatibility. The G5-Xs new-found abilities are centred on a fresh geometry and carbon layup schedule to get the most out of the material's compliance and stiffness where needed.The new geometry slackens the head angle to 71 degrees on larger sizes (70 on smaller bikes), lengthens the wheelbase and lowers the bottom bracket to a large drop of 80mm. At the same time as slackening the head angle, Colnago has increased the fork rake to 52mm, giving the bike a trail of 72mm with a 50mm tyre, or 68mm for 40mm rubber. The bottom-bracket drop has increased to 80mm, lowering the centre of gravity to improve stability. Warren Rossiter / Kelsey Alongside the geometry changes, the frame and fork have lost weight, with the frame a claimed 950g for a medium (51 size) frame, down from 1,050-1,120g depending on size. The fork weighs a claimed 420g. The range-topping Red XPLR AXS model in a size 48 (small) weighs in at a claimed 7.2kg with 50mm tyres lighter than the previous bike with 45mm tyres.Fumagalli says the new carbon construction improves compliance, while maintaining the stiffness through the drivetrain that the G4-X was renowned for. Further comfort comes from the switch out of the aero D-shaped seatpost to a standard slimline 27.2mm carbon post, which also makes the G5 compatible with gravel dropper posts for further versatility.Colnago also realised the stripped-down frame design of the G4-X was limiting for some riders. The new design gains fork mounts alongside its triple bottle cages and top-tube bento box mounts. Down-tube storage and Fidlock magnetic low-profile bottle cages as standard. Warren Rossiter / Kelsey The G5-X also gains down-tube storage, while the bike come with Fidlock's magnetic bottle cage mounts and twin compatible bottles.The Fidlock system takes up less space than a standard bottle cage, providing more clearance for a large frame bag. The G5-X comes with a replacement plate for the down-tube storage cover should you want to run standard cages. The CC.01 Wide bar is based on the road bar from the V5Rs with increased flare. Warren Rossiter / Kelsey The cockpit on the two top models is the new CC.01 Wide. Its based on the CC.01 cockpit found on the V5Rs, but with an additional 3cm of flare. The 72.5mm reach is matched to a width of 40cm at the hoods and 44cm at the drops, with multiple stem-length options from 80mm to 120mm.Is 53mm tyre clearance enough? Tyre clearance is now 53mm. Warren Rossiter / Kelsey The most contentious detail of the new bike is the perhaps conservative 53mm of tyre clearance.We have 53mm of clearance with the road ISO standard of 6mm of clearance all round. Some of the other gravel bikes on the market use the mountain bike ISO standard, which reduces the space to 4mm, says Fumagalli.On my test bike, equipped with 50mm Goodyear XPLR Inter tyres, the fork had plenty of room to spare, and the rear had more than 4mm between tyre and stays.The reason for the 53mm measurement is Colnago was keen to retain 2x drivetrain compatibility.Colnago has seen plenty of customers using their G-series bikes as all-roaders, preferring a traditional double-chainring setup. The G5-X can be run with a road-going 50/34 crankset rather than just smaller, adventure-orientated 46/30 or 48/32t combinations.Colnago G5-X range details The range-topping Red AXS XPLR model is priced at 9,999. Warren Rossiter / Kelsey The G5-X is topped by a race-ready SRAM Red AXS XPLR / Zipp 303 XPLR SW wheelset / Colnago CC01 cockpit-equipped model, priced at 9,999 / $TBC / 9,200.The range starts at 5,299 / $TBC / 4,900 for a bike with SRAM Rival AXS XPLR, Vision TC45 carbon wheelset, alloy gravel bar and stem.