Gravel/Bikepack nerds enter...

[Peruvian]

yeah beats me. they’re a lot more road-oriented than what I’m gonna use it for (big gravel race and the training for that) so I’m gonna swap em. and the stock saddle doesn’t work for me. otherwise it’s pretty nice

Is that stock saddle a Brooks Cambium?

[mall walker]

the saddle in the picture is a Brooks Cambium, but I put that on replacing the stock one. the stock saddle was something I never heard of and it was not a good fit. I have some fancy (to me) parts I bought for the Ti drop bar hardtail I have on order, but the frame is delayed. so the XT pedals and Cambium are borrowed from the next bike

which reminds me, if anyone here needs a 48cm Dajia Far Bar in silver, Apex hydraulic brifters (with calipers) already Ratio converted to 12 speed with the matching GX Eagle derailleur already converted with the Ratio stuff, I’m no longer gonna use it. You can have the OEM parts too, I’m just too lazy to reverse the mod. So it’s available extremely cheap. I ended up just getting Force AXS / GX AXS for the fancy bike. I kept the Apex stuff thinking I might build a gravel bike too (out of desperation) but then found this complete and the GRX is fine by me too, hydraulic, pretty good range like 474%. bikepacking has a pretty good review of the ratio 12sp conversion kit if you are wondering.

[Dumbest Known Time]

Great Falls, MT will be home for the next 15 months for school and gotdamn there is a lifetime supply of jaw dropping gravel roads to be ridden around here. If anyone needs a riding buddy in the greater central Montana area I'm usually game any given weekend.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Great Falls, MT will be home for the next 15 months for school and gotdamn there is a lifetime supply of jaw dropping gravel roads to be ridden around here. If anyone needs a riding buddy in the greater central Montana area I'm usually game any given weekend.

Is that a Rivendell that your lady friend is riding?


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[Dumbest Known Time]

Is that a Rivendell that your lady friend is riding?


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Its a Velo Orange Polyvalent, the poor man's Rivendell. She just built it up for around town and casual gravel rides. Nice upright bars, step-thru frame for short folks and a decently long wheelbase make for supremely comfy ride. Perfect kind of bike for someone new to riding or who isn't interested in going fast or long. I think if more new to riding folks got on bikes like this instead of ill-fitting drop bar bikes then a lot more of them would stick with it.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Its a Velo Orange Polyvalent, the poor man's Rivendell. She just built it up for around town and casual gravel rides. Nice upright bars, step-thru frame for short folks and a decently long wheelbase make for supremely comfy ride. Perfect kind of bike for someone new to riding or who isn't interested in going fast or long. I think if more new to riding folks got on bikes like this instead of ill-fitting drop bar bikes then a lot more of them would stick with it.

Totally agree.


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[mall walker]

tiny little bit of two track on the terreno zeros but ordered gravelkings in 43. the bar on this doesn’t have the flare I’d like, anyone have any experience with the ritchey wcs beacon? 36 deg flare and shallow drops seems good for dirt… wondering about reaching the brakes from the drops though (GRX)

[muted reborn]

Great Falls, MT will be home for the next 15 months for school and gotdamn there is a lifetime supply of jaw dropping gravel roads to be ridden around here.

Way to make lemonade out of Bud Light. Also fun in the exact opposite way (slow vs fast) can be had by drifting around those corners in some sort of an underpowered cheap manual shitbox of a car.

Those unobstructed sight-lines are nice.

[yeahman]

Great Falls, MT will be home for the next 15 months for school and gotdamn there is a lifetime supply of jaw dropping gravel roads to be ridden around here. If anyone needs a riding buddy in the greater central Montana area I'm usually game any given weekend.

Make sure you explore up around Fort Benton and Loma. Tons of nice country up there and gravel roads for a million miles.

[Kevo]

We had an awesome weekend of gravel in the Big Holes-

[sethschmautz]

Morning commute

[VTskibum]

Bit too much adventure from last time I road my CX/gravel bike



Then couldn’t get everything sorted on my fat slick wheel set (pads, shifting, etc) so took my carbon roadie out yesterday. Climbing was fine, but carbon rim brakes w 25s don’t inspire much confidence on loose gravel washboard descents.

[John_B]

Any tire advice for me? I've got a single speed Fuji Feather that I use for commuting. Where I live there is a bunch of chip seal and gravel on the shoulders so I'd like to feel a bit less sketched out than I currently am with the 25mm Conti Grand Prix that are currently on them.

I'm a complete road bike jong so here are a couple of stupid questions. How low of tire pressure can I go without being an idiot? It seems like I have a decent amount of clearance do folks think I can get away with 32mm tires or is that dumb? Or am I just too used to mountain bike tires and I should just man up and stop worrying?

[VTskibum]

Looks like you could get away w/ 32s from that angle, make sure to check the chainstay as well. As for the confidence, definitely a difference in comfort and therefore confidence on chipseal and gravel, but could be a bit slower rolling. It's not a massive difference especially on chipseal, which I run road bikes all the time. There are lots of variations in gravel, many of which are perfectly fine on road bikes that we all did for decades, so YMMV.

On a tubed 25, lowest I'd ever consider running is probably 70psi @ 160lbs. Ran my tubeless 25s yesterday at 60/65 for a gravel/dirt road ride, but that was probably as low as I'd go on purpose on a carbon road rim. I have ridden home after stan's sealed a puncture on probably 40-45psi a few times.

[Dee Hubbs]

I use the SRAM TireWiz App for pressure suggestions. When I plug in my 188lbs body weight and 16lbs bike weight, for 700x25 tires its suggests 73/76 psi (F/R).
I comfortably run 70psi tubeless on my carbon wheels when riding on gravel. Checking my Strava from this morning I hit 38mph on the downhill gravel section on my 25s at 70psi.
When I change the app to 32's (same weights) it suggests 51/53 psi.

[bagtagley]

I like the Kenda Happy Medium which I believe comes in a 32. Kinda like the WTB Riddler but better, IMO.

[mall walker]

just wanted to say, the GRX stuff is smooth. a few times I’ve shifted and it’s quiet enough I had to look down to see that the chain actually moved

[Peruvian]

Any tire advice for me? I've got a single speed Fuji Feather that I use for commuting. Where I live there is a bunch of chip seal and gravel on the shoulders so I'd like to feel a bit less sketched out than I currently am with the 25mm Conti Grand Prix that are currently on them.

I'm a complete road bike jong so here are a couple of stupid questions. How low of tire pressure can I go without being an idiot? It seems like I have a decent amount of clearance do folks think I can get away with 32mm tires or is that dumb? Or am I just too used to mountain bike tires and I should just man up and stop worrying?

My wife had luck with Panaracer Gravel King slicks on her road bike. She could fit a 32 up front and a 28 in the back. She ran them around 70 psi and they held up well.

[chaka]

just wanted to say, the GRX stuff is smooth. a few times I’ve shifted and it’s quiet enough I had to look down to see that the chain actually moved

agreed. great having that clutch too.

[chaka]

John B- I'm a big fan of Schwalbe G-One Allround for what you describe, the 35 would be great I get. Just don't pay retail. And, if you could care less about weight and don't need/want tubeless, the Marathon is a great commuter tire with enough tread to feel just fine on chip seal and light gravel path. I ran them for years, they last a looonnng time. Cheep.

[Peruvian]

[greenmachine]

Considering a 3t exploro for road (mostly ) and gravel . Anyone have experience with it ?


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[mall walker]

ritchey beacon comp and 43c gksk+… cannondale says the topstone will take up to 42c. looking at the clearance, at least 45s will fit front and rear, and the front might take as high as 47. though the 43s should be sufficient for my needs… that bar is super comfortable in the drops, massive improvement over the stock. and not bad from the hoods either, just a little different feel.

[alive]

Nice setup. Those bars look great for the down, but not to great for the crit races. Ha. What is the width listed on those?

No Expeirence with the 3T, but solid reviews for road and gravel. Not the best tire clearance though, so limited to the narrower tires. Think this is available with Ekar which would be cool to try out.

[mall walker]

The width at the hoods is listed at 44, at least that’s what I ordered. pretty sure the shop gave me a 46 (they put it on sight unseen), and I’m fine with that too. I guess I could measure. Quite a bit wider at the drops, and shallower. For me, where “race” really means “participate and try to finish”, it’s great. We’ll see how it does on some easy singletrack… the grx hrd brakes are probably better than the tektros on my POS hardtail