Gravel/Bikepack nerds enter...

[mall walker]

how big / would you mail it?

[HellgateBasement]

Good question. It's a 54. I don't really want to deal with shipping but I'm driving LA - Steamboat this coming weekend. I would consider meeting you somewhere along the way if it's the right size and you were serious about it.

[climberevan]

Well, I succumbed to the N+1 fever and added a gravel bike to the stable. It's very fun. Must I grow a mustache now?

[plugboots]

Must I grow a mustache now?

Yes.

[Gerome]

My Giant Advance roadbike is carbon and has disc brakes. Is there any reason I can't put the largest gravel tire that will fit (probably 28 or 30) and call it a gravel bike?

[springsproject]

My Giant Advance roadbike is carbon and has disc brakes. Is there any reason I can't put the largest gravel tire that will fit (probably 28 or 30) and call it a gravel bike?

I did that with an old commuter that I had, was able to run up to a 35. It worked fine for certain conditions like smooth gravel roads, but I would often find myself in terrain where I needed a little more rubber and killed a few tires.

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[Peruvian]

My Giant Advance roadbike is carbon and has disc brakes. Is there any reason I can't put the largest gravel tire that will fit (probably 28 or 30) and call it a gravel bike?

We did this with my wife’s Spesh Roubaix. I squeezed Gravel King tires - 32 front, 28 rear on there and she rode it for over a year that way. We found a Kona Rove ST with 650b x 47 tires for her recently and she is so much happier and comfortable on rough roads, loose gravel, and trail.

Your idea will work for proof of concept, but ultimately you may find you want a true gravel bike.

[davjr96]

Anyone seen or had any experience with this? https://www.poseidonbike.com/collect...35715148415127 Looks like they just started shipping and initial reviews are pretty decent so far. Definitely a budget option and I'm pretty compelled.

[geomorph]

My Giant Advance roadbike is carbon and has disc brakes. Is there any reason I can't put the largest gravel tire that will fit (probably 28 or 30) and call it a gravel bike?

Depends on usage, but should be good to try out at first. My "gravel" bike has 32c tires on it right now. But my use is typically 40% garbage pavement, 25% good pavement, 25% dirt roads, and 10% jeep trails/easy singletrack. The higher the percentage of rough stuff, the bigger tires you'll want.

[kathleenturneroverdrive]

My Giant Advance roadbike is carbon and has disc brakes. Is there any reason I can't put the largest gravel tire that will fit (probably 28 or 30) and call it a gravel bike?

For sure. No reason you can't max your tire size and go ride what you want. But if you care about speed your geo and especially your tires will make you slower the worse the roads/trails get. Can you run tubeless? That'll help a bit, but if you're a bigger guy even tubeless on a 28/30 isn't doing you all that much to smooth things out. That said you aren't going to die. You'll probably just have fun.

[TrueNorth]

My Giant Advance roadbike is carbon and has disc brakes. Is there any reason I can't put the largest gravel tire that will fit (probably 28 or 30) and call it a gravel bike?

Try it. The wider tires will expand the range of road surfaces you can ride comfortably, and you may like them better for riding pavement too. If they fit your frame, I really like the Continental GP 5000 tubeless tires in 32c for mostly road riding with some light duty gravel and singletrack thrown in.

[Gerome]

Thanks for the replies! Sounds like I should give it a try.

[chaka]

Thanks for the replies! Sounds like I should give it a try.

definitely! as others have mentioned there are some geometry differences between traditional road frames and 'gravel' frames (namely gravel frames tend to have slightly slacker HT angles and longer wheelbases) but you are 99% likely to have fun regardless. Can also adjust your cockpit a bit to compensate. enjoy.

[jamal]

Yeah absolutely recommend the biggest tires that will fit unless you have a really good reason otherwise (racing time trials with deep aero wheels for example).

I had a year of no road bike and used my cx bike for everything, and bought a set of clement 32mm slicks for it and that was great. Fast enough to keep up with the fast road ride but then had enough volume for the dirt sections. Not quite enough for deep gravel or really rough, rocky forest roads but you can at least make it through that kind of stuff. Now I just roll 40s on that bike most of the time.

And it's cool that many disc road bikes will fit that big of a tire now. A tire that actually measures 28mm is borderline too big for my 2015 supersix evo.

[Dromond]

Try it. The wider tires will expand the range of road surfaces you can ride comfortably, and you may like them better for riding pavement too. If they fit your frame, I really like the Continental GP 5000 tubeless tires in 32c for mostly road riding with some light duty gravel and singletrack thrown in.

I also like the Continental GP 5000 tubeless tires in 32c for mostly road riding. Still feel pretty fast, less sketchy on rough pavement or brief, mostly-packed gravel. Not a gravel tire but a more versatile road tire. Also, I've been almost entirely flat free even riding on some nasty city streets.

[sethschmautz]

Anybody running two different wheelsets on their Gravel bikes? When I bought mine this was the plan. Now I'm second guessing this plan as my 38s are just about as fast as my 25s were when I pump them up to 75-80 psi.

Not sure it's worth running a dedicated set of road and Gravel wheels when the majority of my riding is mixed...

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[djspookman]

Anybody running two different wheelsets on their Gravel bikes? When I bought mine this was the plan. Now I'm second guessing this plan as my 38s are just about as fast as my 25s were when I pump them up to 75-80 psi.

Not sure it's worth running a dedicated set of road and Gravel wheels when the majority of my riding is mixed...

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Yup.. two, almost three once I get around to rebuilding a spare rear wheel I have:
1 set @ 45 Riddlers for the all-arounder
1 set @ 2.2Ikon and 2.25 Adrent for the heavy duty adventure/ bikepack gnarly tour version (IE drop bar mountain bike)
1 set (future) to have 35's of some sort for fast gravel.

In reality I just keep the 45's on most of the time cause I have trail/ dirt/ pavement ADD.. as in; if i'm out on a route and find singletrack that I think might go somewhere, I'll make the turn and dive in. I like the flexibility to go where ever and not worry about blowing tires.
D

[chaka]

Yeah absolutely recommend the biggest tires that will fit unless you have a really good reason otherwise (racing time trials with deep aero wheels for example).

I had a year of no road bike and used my cx bike for everything, and bought a set of clement 32mm slicks for it and that was great. Fast enough to keep up with the fast road ride but then had enough volume for the dirt sections. Not quite enough for deep gravel or really rough, rocky forest roads but you can at least make it through that kind of stuff. Now I just roll 40s on that bike most of the time.

And it's cool that many disc road bikes will fit that big of a tire now. A tire that actually measures 28mm is borderline too big for my 2015 supersix evo.

as another great everything tire (except the rough). I highly recommend Schwalbe G-one allround in a 35 or 38... My choice for the last several years of mixed surface commuting and riding. Super low rolling resistance on pavement, and enough tread to rip a typical gravel path or smooth-ish fire service road.

[jamal]

I can see having a faster, smoother set of wheels/tires plus the biggest, knobbiest ones that will fit in the frame. But my nanos roll well enough on the pavement and I have a road bike so I haven't wanted a different tire. Only issue is they're a touch too big and have taken some paint off the inside of the chainstay. Need to stick with something that measures in the 37-39mm range, I think these come out to like 41-42 on the new wheels.

Considering G-ones or maybe some kendas.

[Peruvian]

FWIW - I’m very satisfied with WTB Byways. Semi-slick but seem to work well on all types of dry surfaces. If I planned on riding wet single track, I suspect I’d be to far under-tired on them. Otherwise they do everything pretty damn well.

Mrs P has the WTB Venture and I may consider them when the Byways wear out.

[Skistack]

My Salsa Warbird replaced my road bike, so I've got 2 sets. Hutchinson Sector 32's for all/mostly road, and Teravail Cannonball 42's for everything else.

The Cannonball's blow goats BTW (they came on the bike). They're getting replaced w/ something else in the 40-45 range.

[kathleenturneroverdrive]

I run the GP5000 32mm tubeless for road rides.

For everything else I run a wider wheelset that had Gravelking SS 38's for much of the summer until I switched to Specialized Pathfinder 42's. The SS is faster tire for mixed surface rides, the Pathfinder is faster, more comfortable and better at cornering on dirt.

[Supermoon]

FWIW - I’m very satisfied with WTB Byways. Semi-slick but seem to work well on all types of dry surfaces. If I planned on riding wet single track, I suspect I’d be to far under-tired on them. Otherwise they do everything pretty damn well.

Mrs P has the WTB Venture and I may consider them when the Byways wear out.

This is what I run in my Journeyman in 650b as my do it all tire. I’ve thought about getting a set of 700c wheels with slicks and putting the knobbies back on the smaller wheels.

[evdog]

Has anyone used the Salsa Anything Cradle for a front bag? Looking for something that will leave more room for cables and keep the front bag higher so it doesn't rub on the front tire when fork is fully compressed. The cradle would solve those issues, but wondering if the arms would rotate down on g-outs or long descents.

https://salsacycles.com/components/c...ng_cradle_35mm

[Iowagriz]

I've had a few buddies use them on trips without a problem. They initially dropped on g-outs, but after tightening down they didn't have problems. I'd definitely consider (obviously without carbon bars).

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