Gravel Grinders as Road Bikes

[huckbucket]

^^
Nice. Mr. Tuffys or an tough tire like a gatorskin? How bad was the gravel and would you do slicks (28's) again?

[Flea]

Maxxis Re-fuse 700x28 with tubes at 85-90 psi. Amazing tires. About 3000 miles on current set. Zero flats. You run yer tires hard enough you'll never hafta worry about pinch flats. Just lay off the brakes and FLY thru the rough rocky chunky stuff. Some areas were very rough. I always go 28's.

[Flea]

This is what 16 miles of my 40 mile (RT) commute to work looks like. Rough. Could do it on cross tires but that would be cheating

[bodywhomper]

I used to really enjoy the slick 33's that I ran on my commuter. They were ok on dirt, but felt pretty sketchy on very loose small gravel that exist on the roads around me.

Are people running randonee/touring bikes as their do everything bike? Aren't they the original 650B?

[jamal]

I found a crack in my road bike frame and have been using my cx bike on the road for the last few months. It's fine, but not quite the same- I can still hang at the fast group ride but it makes it a little harder since it is higher up/less aero, a little heavier, and has shorter gearing. Also not as good at absorbing bumps and road noise despite being carbon. And being a cx race bike you do notice the higher BB and steeper headtube when you're bombing down a fire road or something. Combined with the shitty canti brakes it can be a little scary.

Pretty much the only good thing about riding it on roads vs an actual road bike is that I can roll around on big tires. I have some clement stradas in 32mm and they are nice. Also have 27mm 320tpi vittoria open paves, so compared to those and gp4ks I don't like the maxxis refuse much.

I am trying to sell it to get one of these:
http://www.konaworld.com/private_jake.cfm

Aluminum, but mostly has parts I like, is more relaxed, and fits bigger tires. Should be a lot better at riding around in the mountains compared to a race bike. And then next spring I'll have to put together a new road bike.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

While I've done many miles on gravel, dirt and singletrack on 28 mm tires, it's so much nicer with a lightweight, supple cased 32-35 mm tire. Even on rough pavement. Wider tires are more comfortable and have less rolling resistance given the same psi.

[teledad]

I hate the high BB of cross bikes on the road, not much fun on fast corners.

That's old school (basically a holdover from the toe clip days), a lot of modern CX frames aren't any different from a road frame in BB height (aside from tire differences). As an example mine (Stevens Carbon Team Cross) has a BB drop of 70mm, which has pretty much been the standard for road racing frames for at least 30 years. The head angle angle is a little slacker (72 instead of 73) and obviously a longer wheelbase to fit bigger tires but otherwise it's very similar to my road bike.

[robrox]

Endurance/cross/gravel grinder...

Dang, that's a huge array. I admit to riding my Rudge and Raliegh Sports into the woods..carrying extra indicator spindles (jic), so riding on some plush VT dirt roads is no biggie on a pure road machine. Nevertheless, I went with a Spec Secteur (I could not afford the Roubaix) because it looked like just the machine for my style of ride anyplace that looks interesting.

After a couple of years the Secteur needed an overhaul. Probably still under 5000 miles but there are some things that bug me about the Sora groupset it came with. Since all the wear parts needed renewal anyway, I jumped on the Tiagra 4700 bandwagon. I took the bike to Belmont Wheelworks and worked on the details with Kevin. Hopfully it will be ready on Thursday.

I am leaving the brakes (BB5 disc set) as they are (new pads if needed) but the rest is going to be Compact Viagra with 11-34 cassette and the long cage rear derailleur. Meaning, no worries "getting up" even on Lincoln Gap

So to the OP, yes, you can use a GG for Road, but if you are going to do a lot of road, consider Endurance instead of GG. Even 25C can handle nice dirt but 28C loves dirt

[huckbucket]

I am leaving the brakes (BB5 disc set) as they are (new pads if needed) but the rest is going to be Compact Viagra with 11-34 cassette and the long cage rear derailleur. Meaning, no worries "getting up" even on Lincoln Gap

Hmmm ... "compact viagra?" I thought the whole purpose of viagra was to make things less compact.

[robrox]

Hmmm ... "compact viagra?" I thought the whole purpose of viagra was to make things less compact.

...well, the crank arm is 175....

[gravitylover]

This thing really intrigues me https://otsocycles.com/pages/warakin. I'm marginally allergic to riding on pavement but this looks comfy. Thoughts?

[Flea]

Looks like a nice ride, but for half the money you can get a well equiped Kona Jake the Snake and put whatever tire you want on it. Mines been getting the absolute shit beat out of it year round for 5 years and it's a perfect bike with great geo, and a nice 105 kit with ultegra rear der.

[ticketchecker]

My carbon roadie has barely moved since I got this. Goes to Acadia for ripping around carriage trails and the park loop road in glitter dreamz style

[Flea]

Dig the color!^^^^^^

[robrox]

Warkin...cool looking and probably nice to ride but the new Jake or the new Cross Check seem like better investments. Still, I do favor the endurance category if road is more than 75% of the riding.

EDITED TO ADD:
If road is the principal part of the riding, lose the knobbies. There are some nice tires out there with good dirt handling but much safer road handling. I have some road worthy 42c(f)/40c(r) on my hybrid (lugged-frame Tk-750 w/Deore), "aggressive directional tread" is the most that can be said for them, they don't even have off-center knobs. They have never made me want knobbies on ST or gravel. When I got them I almost went for thinner versions but do enough ST on the thing that fatter seemed wiser.

Since my carcass is all done racing, I dare not even look twice at Cross bikes....

[Flea]

Bought my Jake with the intention of using it for commuting in all weather, doing centuries, and riding mixed surfaces. Bike came with 700x33 Maxxis knobbies and they were great for singletrack, did 100 miles at Kingdom trails in a weekend with the bike. KT was actually fun on a cross bike where the place kinda bored me on a MTB. Even rode Moose alley on it with the avid shorty canti brakes and never wanted disc brakes. But for road and gravel the 33's were very meh. Been running 28's for years now even on singletrack. And they fly on road/gravel.

[alembical]

I have put around 3,000 miles this year on a carbon Ridley X-Trail, which is there version of the gravel grinder bike. I love it. I have a road bike and a couple cross bikes as well, but haven't ridden them much. Mine has Ultegra, Hydro-disc, thru axles, fits 40 width tires, full quick mount fenders, and I like it a whole lot. A little heavier and less agile than a true road bike, but considerably better than a cross bike on the road, which I did for years and most people seem content with. I commute with it and either run Continental 4000 at 28, 4 seasons at 32, or the Continental Gravel Grinders at 38 depending on the need. I run 25s on my road bike, but this with 28s is not any noticeably slower.

Only problem with these bikes is that it is almost a requirement to have 2 wheelsets, which get expensive when you factor in cassette, rotors, etc..

Any specific questions, let me know.

[Flea]

I have put around 3,000 miles this year on a carbon Ridley X-Trail, which is there version of the gravel grinder bike. I love it. I have a road bike and a couple cross bikes as well, but haven't ridden them much. Mine has Ultegra, Hydro-disc, thru axles, fits 40 width tires, full quick mount fenders, and I like it a whole lot. A little heavier and less agile than a true road bike, but considerably better than a cross bike on the road, which I did for years and most people seem content with. I commute with it and either run Continental 4000 at 28, 4 seasons at 32, or the Continental Gravel Grinders at 38 depending on the need. I run 25s on my road bike, but this with 28s is not any noticeably slower.

Only problem with these bikes is that it is almost a requirement to have 2 wheelsets, which get expensive when you factor in cassette, rotors, etc..

Any specific questions, let me know.

Why are 2 wheelsets required?

[alembical]

Not required, but if you are going to have a bike like this, it only makes sense. The appeal of these bikes, to many, including myself is the ability to do a fast group road ride on day and then ride trails the next. Switching clincher tires is fairly quick and painless, but after the 100th time, it just gets a little old. Add the fact that many of us are running tubeless setups with sealant, and then it becomes even more of factor. If you had a large enough quiver of bikes where this was a dedicated gravel road bike, then one wheelset might be fine.... but likely not really. I should have prefaced this by saying that I have 3 sets of wheelsets for my cross bike and multiple pairs of snow skis depending on conditions as well.

[huckbucket]

Switching clincher tires is fairly quick and painless, but after the 100th time, it just gets a little old.

Just mounted tubeless cross tires for the first time today. That wasn't fun.

[alembical]

... and mounting them is easier then unmounting a pair with still liquid sealant, cleaning things up and then remounting another pair.

[Flea]

Not required, but if you are going to have a bike like this, it only makes sense. The appeal of these bikes, to many, including myself is the ability to do a fast group road ride on day and then ride trails the next. Switching clincher tires is fairly quick and painless, but after the 100th time, it just gets a little old. Add the fact that many of us are running tubeless setups with sealant, and then it becomes even more of factor. If you had a large enough quiver of bikes where this was a dedicated gravel road bike, then one wheelset might be fine.... but likely not really. I should have prefaced this by saying that I have 3 sets of wheelsets for my cross bike and multiple pairs of snow skis depending on conditions as well.

Ah i see. Ya i roll the other way. I manage a surf shop yet only own one board that i ride 200+ days a year in all conditions, one pair of skis for all conditions and one cross bike with 28's for all road, commuting, and dirt where i'm not on my MTB. I just like things super simple. Works for me. Different strokes.

[buttahflake]

He's right, you're wrong.
It's that simple, Rog
Two sets makes perfect sense
Tubeless 38-40, for class six roads and snowmachine trails.
And some 25 clinchers for the road
Call it good

[Flea]

There's really no right or wrong. Personal preferance is all. I ride my 28's where many folks feel the need for full squish and a droppah post. Whatevs.

[buttahflake]

There's really no right or wrong. Personal preferance is all. I ride my 28's where many folks feel the need for full squish and a droppah post. Whatevs.

so core