There’s some good UK gravel about! Tens of thousands of miles of it.
I'm just back from a week in Dorset and the gravel bike was great for getting from A to B whilst avoiding the worst of the traffic and also great for having an explore. Still glad to be getting out on the MTB this weekend now I'm back home.
Oh balls.
Only gone and won a Colnago World Cup CX bike. Good condition and canti's but suits me as I've spare wheels for it. Coming with road Conti Gator tyres.
Recommend a CX tyre please. Prob max 35c
OP can I ask a bit more about the Scree please
I’ve been looking at maybe getting one for my wife. She has a Spesh Dolce awhile ago and after it was stolen hasn’t ridden much.
She has a Spesh Myka our daughter used to own (but never ride) but she has ridden it only once or twice but finds it heavy (31lbs) and prefers drop bars.
The more gentle side of gravel appeals to her but given how little use the bike will likely get we aren’t keen on spending loads.
So any feedback on how it might suit would be appreciated. I know the gearing is a tad high but most the routes will be flat to begin with. There is the option for getting a larger cassette in the future if the gravel bug bites.
Thanks
I've had a couple of gravel bikes now and not really managed to "gel" with them at all - I always felt like they where either a slow road bike or a bad MTB. I'm glad i've gone back to a full fat MTB now. I just find riding on roads a bit boring.
@normalman No problem. As a complete bike, the Scree is great imho.
Sure the gears are too high for all but the smoothest of terrain and as you say the Microshift cassette can be replaced with a slightly larger one for not much money. But for general riding I was very impressed.
Riding position is good and it didn't ride heavy.
For the money it is indeed a great bike.
Silly me taking the bar tape off mine has prevented me taking it back for a refund, so somebody is going to get an ebay bargain very soon - it runs out shortly.
Thanks so much. Really appreciate the feedback.
Shame I’d be looking for a size small.
Tuesday night...... simple pleasures....
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+1 on the gravel bike.
I was actually eyeing up a new TT bike 18 months or so ago, but was persuaded by friends it wouldn't get enough use (use for triathlons, but live on the edge of the Peaks so isn't a daily driver) and a gravel bike was what I needed.
After various ponderings I got a Shand Stooshie with a Rohloff hub. And since it was delivered the road bike has only had a few of outings on some triathlons where it suited more than the TT bike. The full susser has hardly been out either.
The go-to bike of choice has been the Stooshie for nearly all rides just 'getting out' (as per another post earlier I don't like the traffic in the Peaks so try to go on little roads, and they're usually knackered and full of gravel and holes anyway. + the ex-railway trails like the High Peak or Monsal trail can be used as motorways to access the Peak more easily and quickly from home than if I was on a mountain bike.
I've had my Boardman ADV 8.9e for about a year.. I use it for commuting and true none paved rides, but I never particularly loved it.. heavy being an ebike, set up for commuting with mudguards, tools jacket etc.. makes loads of noises as the guards bounce around on rough stuff.. and generally felt to fragile for anything too extreme, also set up on terrano zero tyres doesn't give much off road capability..
I was scouring Wiggles' eBay for a jump bike.. ended up winning a Nukeproof Digger RS for a steal, this has quickly become my go to bike for a lot of stuff, it's my fitness bike for solo blues and a touch of reds at QECP, the 40/42 gearing makes me put a bit more effort in rather than sitting and grinding up, and transforms the blue into something more fun, having to stay active on the bike. then last week I treated myself to a Garmin, have already planned out loads of routes.. used it once already and explored a whole area I had no knowledge about.
Nice to see the love for these bikes just keeps coming.
My replacement for the Scree is now nearly all here, just waiting for wheels, then the build will commence.
So as not to let the forum approach to N+1 down, instead of selling a power meter crankset I don't really need, I've spent £60 on a new ring for it and will use it on the gravel.
This bike had better float my boat when it gets built 😀
@fossy if you are using the cx bike for bridleslaying then vittoria Terreno dry come in 35s. Very good tyre. Fine for a bit of cx racing too if that takes your fancy.
@IdleJon would love to come and do a bit more longer riding your way, my route Knowledge peters out through the valleys.
Cheers @shedbrewed Shoved on some Decathlon Gravel Light tyres for now as thats what they had when I spent £150 on bits for the Colnago (tyres, tubes, bell, cables, pads).
They seem fine and roll well on tarmac. The wheels it came with (Fulcrum 7) have had a thorough service and rear has new bearings, and they are shod with hardly used Gators in 28c. My spare Mavics are wearing the gravel tyres and are on the bike.
My new bike (picking it up today) comes with Terreno Drys. They'll be getting swapped out asap for something more appropriate to local conditions 🤣
The only condition I've found Terreno Dry not suitable for is constant slick mud. I'll be running them from now until November probably.
As a tyre they're as good a definition of 'gravel' as anything, fast enough to still be enjoyable on tarmac, but rarely so compromised as not to be fun off road.
My gravel riding avoids tarmac as much as possible so my compromise veers towards grip. I might start with the partially worn Rutlands currently on the Amazon.
Ah fair enough, a luxury I can't really enjoy down here!
I used to have a charge filter, I replaced every single component on it, apart from the frame and fork.
It rode well, and I enjoyed the versatility, but it was heavier than my surly karate monkey, so it got moved on, and i got a cube nuroad c62, which handles like a slightly slow steering road bike, but is extremely versatile, I’ve upgraded it to ultegra di2 and I’m really pleased with it.
I still have an actual road bike, and a fs ebike as well as the aforementioned surly, but it’s the gravel bike that sees the most use.
They can do most stuff reasonably well, hence the popularity.
Another day, another mostly awesome ride (bitterly cold surprisingly knackering headwind on the way out can do one!). I never have any decent photos from the actual ride as I never want to stop and faff! Have a new GoPro though so in future can hopefully record wee montages of the good bits.
Usual mix of fast, loose and bumpy Perthshire farm tracks, am learning to ride more on the tops to save my hands but there are too many loose 90 degree corners to ever stray far from the brakes 😬
As is becoming quite a nice 'habit' on these rides, I found a whole new awesome section of singletrack. Very flat and pedally but this suits the gravel bike fine.
I still can't ride 'easy' on the gravel bike though, it seems to always demand full gas, Wout van Aert over the cobbles on *everything*. I'm definitely going to swap tyres on my Superfly 29er and see if I can turn it into a more laid back gravel bike for days when I just don't feel like smashing it on the nose of the saddle for 3 hours 🙄
A small cock-up has delayed NBD...
^^^ what you end up going for ?
@iainc - it would surely be bad luck to say any more before it's actually in my grubby paws 🙂
🤪😁😂
There ought to be a ton of older CX bikes out there offering silly value for money. The only issue with rims brakes generally is that they eat rims if you do a lot. I wasn't getting more than about 3000 miles out of a front rim around the FoD. But as that was half my years riding I could accept that. The trend to turn the gravel bike into a MTB has its virtues but isn't needed. 35mm slicks will cope with most things short of mud and a decent CX bike is nice to ride. Equally tart up that old 26er. Just found that 35mm 700c knobblies fit the rear of my old GT hardtail . Luckily it has disc mounts as the canti mounts don't match. The same size tyre fits into the Fox 32mm Float forks. Rides nicely. Now do I drop bar it?
I’ve also got a Pinnacle Arkose for the same reason (set up for commuting).
I really like the fact that I can take it pretty much anywhere, however most technical trails are more fun on a mountain bike.
Finally got my 'proper' gravel bike built up to give it a shakedown.
First ride today was hard work. I'd forgotten just how hard it is to pedal on the road into a headwind.
There seems to be an unwritten rule that one can not potter along on the road, and must instead ride at zone 4 at least. My brain remembered this from many year ago but, my legs and were less keen.
Either way, was a good ride and the bike did exactly what I wanted. Smooth and fast (enough) on road, with the ability to rattle over small rocks and off road when called for.
Obligatory picture below.
Sonder transmitter frame and forks (Large)
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It's a DIY build (by me) from frame and forks upwards, with essentially a Sram Apex 1 groupset.
Hope pro 5 + DT GR531 rims and CX Ray spokes are a bit of an extravagance but I wanted something to cope with 130KG+ and survive long into the future. Built and supplied by Moonglu.
Rounded off by 700X44C WTB Raddler tyres set up tubeless.
Have a couple of different bottle cages on the way and will finish detail off on stem / bars as I get used to it but, so far so good 🙂
Hope pro 5 + DT GR531 rims and CX Ray spokes are a bit of an extravagance but I
Nice! I'm slightly constrained in my choice of rim (needs to be alloy and rim brake) but my ideal wheel build would be my existing DT 350s on Pacenti Forza rims with CX-Rays. If I went up to 45mm tyres and ditched my current inserts I would probably end up saving weight overall 😎
