Gravel Bikes

[Coastal]

Those are some awesome routes!

[Wandering_About]

Did a 50 mile ride on Friday, maybe 5-10 miles of pavement, the rest gravel or dirt. About 3250ft of elevation. A couple pics from the ride.





Did 30 miles on pavement on Saturday just to keep the legs moving. Will be a few days now before I get to ride again.

[kennethsime]

Did a 50 mile ride on Friday, maybe 5-10 miles of pavement, the rest gravel or dirt. About 3250ft of elevation. A couple pics from the ride.

Did 30 miles on pavement on Saturday just to keep the legs moving. Will be a few days now before I get to ride again.

Looks gorgeous!

I would kill for uninterrupted gravel like that. I think I could maybe link up 30 miles in the parks district here, but there’d be a whole lot of pavement between the trails and a lot of other users most days.

How do you like your bike computer? I’m looking around for a good phone mount to see if I’ll use it, then might think about a computer.

[Wandering_About]

One of the benefits of living in Nebraska is thousands of miles of unpaved backroads. The riding opportunities are practically endless.

I'm using a Garmin Edge 830. Really like it. I only use it for navigation and recording rides, I don't have any other stuff like heart rate monitor or power meter. So I can swap it between bikes with zero complications. It was awesome when I did Gravel Worlds (the 75 mile version) last year, programmed in the course and it gave me directions the whole way. I don't use that feature often but it's great when needed.

[Wandering_About]

Wanted a shorter ride tonight. Got just over 14 miles in. All gravel or dirt from my house, since I live a few miles from any paved roads. I found all the hills, about 1460ft of elevation gain in those 14 miles.

[kennethsime]

Wanted a shorter ride tonight. Got just over 14 miles in. All gravel or dirt from my house, since I live a few miles from any paved roads. I found all the hills, about 1460ft of elevation gain in those 14 miles.

Rode a similar distance yesterday myself!



We have a real spacious parks district in the East Bay hills here, and I've been trying to come up with a nice 15-20 mile casual loop to ride on the weekends. Somehow, I keep getting lost, and doing heinous climbs up single or double track, or descending over roots and rock gardens. Yesterday, I rode with a guy from the local gravel group who was riding 32s, and he was definitely in over his head.



The 54mm/2.1" Gravelkings did pretty well on pavement, fire roads, doubletrack, gravel, and ok on loose dirt. I definitely don't feel as confident as I did on my 2.35" knobby Kendas, and I think I will eventually go back to a bigger, knobbier tire on this bike. I did have the tires inflated to 40psi, and I'd like to try 34-35 on these same trails.

[Wandering_About]

That looks like a great ride! Wish we had trails like that around here.

Are you on 700c or 650b wheels? With 650b wheels and 2.1" tires, I run tubeless and never more than 25psi. If things are really rough I'll go as low as 16psi front/18psi rear. Tubed you won't be able to go that low, and of course rider weight makes a difference (I'm only like 170lbs). Keeping enough air in the tires to keep from hitting your rims is also a consideration, but if you're riding rooty stuff often you already know that. But going as low as you can for the rough stuff is where fluffy tires on a gravel bike is so much fun.

[kennethsime]

That looks like a great ride! Wish we had trails like that around here.

Are you on 700c or 650b wheels? With 650b wheels and 2.1" tires, I run tubeless and never more than 25psi. If things are really rough I'll go as low as 16psi front/18psi rear. Tubed you won't be able to go that low, and of course rider weight makes a difference (I'm only like 170lbs). Keeping enough air in the tires to keep from hitting your rims is also a consideration, but if you're riding rooty stuff often you already know that. But going as low as you can for the rough stuff is where fluffy tires on a gravel bike is so much fun.

650bs! I'd like to try some 700s at some point down the road.

I'm a "healthy" 225, and while I haven't actually weighed my bike, the manufacturer quotes 30lbs. At 255 combined, I guess I need a little extra support, lol. Still, I think my next ride will be about 35psi, and then I may try going lower from there if the terrain permits.

[Bloke]

I'm a "healthy" 225

[kennethsime]

...

Oh bloke, you slay me.

[Wandering_About]

Odd bunch this morning. Went on a ride with a couple friends. We were chasing a friend who is a triathlete, who was riding his TT bike. My other friend was riding a bike set up to ride a bit of the tour divide route soon, 650bx48 knobbies and 36t chainring (and a frame bag!) and I was riding my "fast" gravel bike on 700x35c and 42t chainring. Obviously the two of us on gravel bikes eventually got dropped. I held on for close to 25 miles, then turned around and joined the other gravel bike rider to suffer the 15-20mph headwind back. Got 50 miles in myself.

[Bloke]

Odd bunch this morning.

[Wandering_About]

Odd bunch this morning.

Hey where'd you get that gif of us???

[Wandering_About]

Well I got a DNF in a gravel race today. Attempted my first gravel century, but quite a few things went wrong and my body gave up. I did make about 67 miles, which is still my biggest ride of the year so far.

Believe it or not, this is Nebraska.

[kennethsime]

Well I got a DNF in a gravel race today. Attempted my first gravel century, but quite a few things went wrong and my body gave up. I did make about 67 miles, which is still my biggest ride of the year so far.

Believe it or not, this is Nebraska.

Late to the party here but wow, congrats on the ride! DNF or no, that sounds like a **** of a day.

[kennethsime]

Well, I've been riding the Redwood 1-2x/week for the past few weeks. Overall, I think the Redwood is more Rigid Drop Bar MTB than it is Gravel Bike, but it's fun for the stuff I've been riding.

Yesterday, I did a local MTB trail, which is famous for its climb: nearly 1,000 ft. of elevation gain in just 3 miles. I had to hike a bike in two sections, where the roots + rocks were bigger than 6" and I couldn't find a clean line. Climbing all that elevation made for a sweet drop down on pavement, and I was able to hit a new top speed of 51mph. Not bad!








The bike itself is coming together. Last week, I got an informal tune-up and fitting done at REI, and I finally feel like I have it dialed in. I do want to pickup a PNW Coast Suspension Dropper, and maybe one of those redshift suspension stems. I also want to move back towards a chunkier tire, I think. I lost traction a few times yesterday, first in wet mulch + dirt under heavy braking, and then in loose dirt with large rocks around. I'm thinking of the Teravail Sparwood or the RH Umtanum Ridge.

I think I want to move to a 700c wheelset, but I'll wait until Fall or Winter at least for that. I know that 650Bs are cush, but the tire clearance on the Redwood means I can still fit nice comfy tires on it.

Long-term, the more I ride the Redwood, and the more I see other folks ride more nimble gravel bikes, the more I think I want to try something else. Ultimately, the geometry is pretty relaxed, and the bike is more MTB than Gravel bike. Maybe I'll throw a suspension fork on it and make it a nice XC hardtail?

[Wandering_About]

Well I got a DNF in a gravel race today. Attempted my first gravel century, but quite a few things went wrong and my body gave up. I did make about 67 miles, which is still my biggest ride of the year so far.

Believe it or not, this is Nebraska.

Late to the party here but wow, congrats on the ride! DNF or no, that sounds like a **** of a day.

Thanks for the kind words. I think a serious lack of sleep due to rotating shift work schedule was most of my issue. But I rode pretty strong until about the last 15 miles when I bonked.

[awa54]

Great discussion!

I have two gravel bikes, neither of which retains its original setup...

The most "gravelly" is my first year Cannondale Slate Ultegra, which now wears flat bars and "adventure" front rings. It started life with 52/36 rings and 11/28 cassette, which in Vermont is more like pavement gearing if you're a sport rider. Now it has 46/30 rings (FSA Energy) and 11/34 cassette, with a clutched long cage Ultegra rear mech.
For those who don't know the Slate, it was a largely ill-conceived early attempt at a gravel bike, with 650b wheelset and a Lefty "Oliver" fork that sports a whopping 30mm of travel. The net result was a lousy road bike and a mediocre trail bike rolled into one fairly expensive package... after my extensive mods, it weighs in at 21 pounds and is a fabulous dirt road or hardpack rocket (not that I'm particularly fast), with OK trail manners, in spite of decidedly un-slack (by MTB standards) geometry.

Tires were a journey... it came with a Cannondale specific Panaracer 42mm file tread slick that was only a "gravel" tire by dint of being able to run at low-ish pressure when tubeless... When I was running it as my road bike (still had drop bars) it wore (tubed) 36mm Gravel King slicks, then when it first got the flat bars, I ran Schwalbe G-One Allarounds (650b-40) tubeless. The tubeless thing was a pretty big fail, not because of flats, but because the biggest advantage for tubeless on dirt is the ability to run lower pressures, but with 40mm tires, the difference is vanishingly small between running 40 pounds or 45 pounds and anything below 40 leads to worrisome sidewall roll in hard turns.
Plus, the hassle of dealing with seasonal sealant change is a big PITA/mess. Then I moved on to tubed (the Panas *hated* my DT Swiss rims and wouldn't seal, even after being run tubed for a few weeks) Panaracer Gravel King SKs (42mm/1.75"), which are fast on smooth surfaces, light, near puncture proof and better than OK on actual gravel. They definitely do pick up lots of small grit and throw it at your downtube though...
I had the feeling that a harder and chunkier tread pattern would up my ride on trails, so I got a set of Hutchinson Touaregs, which have magical grip and worked fantastically well tubeless. If those were made in a 40 to 44mm width in 650b, they'd still be on the bike, but the 47mm width is too close to my stays and would have trashed the frame with extended use
Now it wears 41mm Surly Knards, which are much worse (though far from awful) on pavement than anything else I tried, but very solid on trails and dirt roads (mine are a few years old, so not tubeless, though now there's a TLR version).

The other gravel bike is a first year Cannondale Topstone 105, that got road-ish gears (50/34 and 34/11), it also got a set of 105 hubs and the same DT Swiss rims I had put on the Slate (in 700c though). It's over a pound lighter than the Slate, but most importantly, it doesn't have fork bob when I stand to climb, like the Slate did. This one wears Panaracer Gravel King slicks in 700-32.
It's a competent dirt road bike *and* doesn't give much up to an actual road bike on pavement. It does have relaxed enough geometry, though that descending is fun, rather than "exciting".
I know people ride these on fairly technical trails, with the right tires, but I really don't like drop bars for that sort of riding.

My view on the whole "gravel bike" thing, is that if you're not a racer, don't ride on flat pavement all the time and want a comfortable bike that gives you options as far as the surfaces and terrain it handles, then get a gravel bike and tweak the gearing/tires to fit your need and never look back!

Oh yeah, after riding hydraulic disc brakes and through-axle, I can confidently say that I don't miss quick release or rim brakes even a little... in fact you'd have to drag me back to either kicking and screaming! Same with three piece cranks!


Now I just have to get back in the habit of riding several times a week, I moved recently and got out of my previous routine.

[kennethsime]

Thanks for joining in AWA!

I've heard Gravel bikes compared to 80s + 90s Mountain Bikes quite a bit, I can imagine the early ones being a bit funky!

My view on the whole "gravel bike" thing, is that if you're not a racer, don't ride on flat pavement all the time and want a comfortable bike that gives you options as far as the surfaces and terrain it handles, then get a gravel bike and tweak the gearing/tires to fit your need and never look back!

I bought my Poseidon Redwood looking for an all-road bike, and I think the I got something close to a rigid drop-bar mountain bike. That's actually fine with me, I think it's a really capable bike, but a lot heavier and a lot slower than what I had in mind. Closer to the Salsa Cutthroat than the Warbird. I think most folks would do great on a more typical gravel bike like the Warbird, the Topstone, or the Canyon Grizl.

Oh yeah, after riding hydraulic disc brakes and through-axle, I can confidently say that I don't miss quick release or rim brakes even a little... in fact you'd have to drag me back to either kicking and screaming! Same with three piece cranks!

Through-axels and disc brakes are two things I never want to give up now that I've tried them. My other bike is an old track bike, and the frame is dented to **** + back and slightly too big for me. I convinced myself that I could remedy both of these problems by just getting a new frameset, but now I'm looking for a tracklocross frameset with thruaxels and at least one disc brake lol. That also means new wheels, because who the heck even makes thru-axle tubeless-ready track wheels?!

[kennethsime]

Went for my longest ride today to celebrate the 4th!




Tried to copy the Gravel Bike California Oakland Hills guide, but definitely missed a few turns.

This one was brutal. I bonked after mile 12 or so and I don’t thing I found another rhythm. I’m not sure how y’all are doing 50-mile singletrack + fire road routes, but man do I have a lot of respect for you.

Stopped at a Pump Track at the end of the ride. Monster Gravel sure doesn’t equal Dirt Jumper, but it was fun to try.