What gearing are you all using for your gravel bikes?
Building something up for mile munching duties and was contemplating the setup.
Single or double front?
MTB or Road rear mech?
1x10 setup: 38T narrow wide chainring up front to an 11-28 cassette, 10 speed. 105 rear mech, Tiagra levers.
If you want a bigger cassette on the rear, there's this mod~:
[url= http://www.gravelcyclist.com/bicycle-tech/bike-tinkering-101-shimano-105-derailleur-hack-by-thomas-aceves/ ]http://www.gravelcyclist.com/bicycle-tech/bike-tinkering-101-shimano-105-derailleur-hack-by-thomas-aceves/[/url]
@fingerbike do you find 38 big enough? I run similar gearing in my highball but find I run out of gears on road sections.
I was contemplating a 48 up front, but there again, it is quite flat round here.
Double.
Compact.
50/34 & 28/11.
Mine is also my CX race bike and I still has my 3pks gearing on.
46:34 at the front. 11:32 at the back.
46 at the front is good for cruising gravel paths and tarmac. The 34 is a great help when things get muddy or technical. Big range at the back to help on easy stuff and also get up the last 3pks climb on the bike.
34:46 was chosen because I was already running a roadie compact chainset so just changed one ring. Starting from scratch I might consider a CX specific one or semi compact as a 36 might be more suitable for racing. Generally I race in the 34 and never use the big ring unless it is a flat dry course.
@slowjo on a downhill road section of my commute I can spin out but I live with it, otherwise it's fine, i'm prob not that fit at the mo though, so could find it an issue one day!
On 38t solely because it's the largest narrow wide chainring that superstar do, would prob get 40t if available,
Yeah, I might change the 50 to a 46 soon. I too only use the inner ring for racing, most gravel type tracks and I'm back in the biggie.
Not considered a 32 yet, but could be persuaded if I can get a Mech hanger extension to fit SRAM.. Other than that, I'm pretty much settled.
Pretty much as I thought then.
50/34 x 11-32 for a good touring / bikepacking range.
How do you find the road mechs hold up offroad?
(as an experiment) i've gone with a triple chainset, but replaced the big-ring with a bashguard.
might be brilliant, or not...
44/28 double with 12-30 cassette for me. Works nice.
44:34. 11:32
seems to everything just about right.
Tempted to try either 42:30 or a single ring set up. unsure how to decide....
I went 1x10 with 36 front /11-25 cassette. After looking at the gear ratios, this looked best for me as I tend to spin around 80-90 rpm.
Pretty much as I thought then.50/34 x 11-32 for a good touring / bikepacking range.
How do you find the road mechs hold up offroad?
My setup too.
Went Ultegra long cage at the back, no problems so far at all (about 8 months use) and it serves as my road bike too with another wheelset and 11-28 cassette.
Went Ultegra long cage at the back, no problems so far at all (about 8 months use) and it serves as my road bike too with another wheelset and 11-28 cassette.
SNAP!
Intending to do the same. Tubeless wheels for the gravel and a pair of skinnys for mixing with roadie types
50-34 and 11-32 11 speed 105. All bases covered.
Much as above - 50/34 and 11-32 which does everything from road to CX. I'm using a SRAM mtb clutch mech though which is great for CX.
I've been seriously considering 1x with a 44 front and 11-36 at the back. My calcs say that it's the same steps compared to what I have now but losing the two highest/hardest gears (ish - it's actually more like 1.5 gears) which I can live without.
I also have double compact 50 34 & 11/28 cassette.
Tbh i would prefer another easier gear for steep off roadness.
New drivetrain required soon.....
Usually single 48T x 11-34. 10 speed SRAM clutchy X9, TT500 bar end shifter. Just changed to 38T before I came out to Finland - I don't use the top one or 2 very much with CX or 29er tyres on, and more options at the bottom will be good. No idea why I didn't sling the 48T in the bag. Hey ho.
I think a double could well be in my future. I chose a med cage rear mech so I'd be able to as and when I decided to move to a double. Maybe I'll go Middleburn with swapable spiders, single and double. Or 2 shimano chainsets for half the price or less!
52/42/30....12/34 rear deore mech sora front.
Triple (26/36/46) and 11-28 9 speed. Having said that I've never dropped out of the middle and on the road I'm rarely/never out of the 46.
Depends how far allong the "gnarmac" spectrum you are:
"my roads have potholes, this makes me badas and need 29c tyres" - standard compact
"I have slicks on a CX bike" or a gravel bike in the american sense, for gravel roads - standard compact
CX - Compact if road biased, CX compact for actual CX, triple for off road bimbling.
"Monster Cross" - there's no gravel where you're going, but you still want to make it a bit more difficult than actually going on a mountainbike, you've made a bike so compromised you may as well go one further and go 1x10, whatever gear you pick will be too high off road and too low on it. Everyone else stops you and asks "why?", once out of sight, cold, your merino top is wet through and you've run out of eccles cakes (because gels aren't gnarmac), so do you and you book into a B&B.
I have 34/46 up front with a 12/27 cassette. Perfect for about 90% of my usage, north Cotswolds short steep climbs and lots of flattish bridleways/lanes. I use the bike for light touring as well and for that I could do with lower gearing sometimes, maybe 30 or 32 at the back.
Currently running 11 speed 50/34 11-32 but not happy with ratio spreads, especially lack of use of small sprockets in big ring. Going to change chainset to 30/46 and cobble together a 13 or 14-32. Give me an extra low gear or 2 for spinning up steep stuff too.
😀 Personal experience, tinas?"Monster Cross" -
My Grade came with 52/36 11-32 which is ok, but a better bet would have been 50/34 up front.
I can't spin a 52t very far down the block, so the small sprockets are pretty much unused and a 34t would come in handy on steep offroad climbs.
I did a 70 mile road sportive with some mates at the weekend at a faster pace than I would usually ride and on occasion, the jumps between sprocket sizes were a bit annoying, but under normal (less competitive,) use, this hasn't been a problem and I'm not roadie enough to fit a close-ratio cassette. 😉
Road mechs are fine off road. Anything that would break a mtb one will normally break a road one. I currently run ultegra but I'm downgrading my cross bike to 105 as things break. New 105 is as good as the ultegra on there and as mine is a cross/gravel/winter bike it gets a hard life.
1x11 on mine. 11-32 cassette with a 38t chain ring.
Seems to work for most stuff. Something a bit "spinnier" might occasionally be nice but I can live with it.
I've a compact double with an MTB cassette, though can't remember the numbers. I'm generally in the big ring, but at the middle to 'wrong' end of the cassette. I think I hit top gear once, for a few seconds then shifted down. Lower gears are fine, so think I need a smaller big ring.
Personal experience, tinas?
Yup
My N+1 Arkose came with 50:34 - 11 spd 11-32 but I'd taken it down to 46:34.
34 - 32 is not quite low enough for miserable long (SDW) climbs but the range has worked on everything else so far.
Bike gets used for light off road routes so has 32c or bigger tyres on it. - I have road bikes for road riding
my bike, 48/32 & 11-36
Susies bike, SRAM CX1 38t ring & 10-42
Get a Lindarets road link for £18 from 18bikes, then you can run an expander and a standard road 10spd mech. 1x10 here in two configs: 36 up front with a 11-36 cassette(off road), 42t upfront with a 40t expander on(gravel and hills).
tang - Member
Get a Lindarets road link for £18 from 18bikes
Stop that now you Shimano tease, it dunna fit SRAM 🙁
But SRAM is interchangeable between road/MTB so you're not tied into using a road mech.
New 105 is as good as the ultegra on there and as mine is a cross/gravel/winter bike it gets a hard life.
I'd agree, I only got Ultegra as it was the only long cage available to add to a bargainacious 105 group from Merlin. Forgot to add it's 11 speed.
Might throw on an HTII CX compact this winter if I actually get to go racing, but I'll try the standard first. Reckon I can be last on any gearing really.
28-44 with an 11-25. I live in the FoD so no hills so much is on the big ring. Nice close ratios and 28x25 will get up anything.
48/36/26 front, 11-36 rear. Covers all the bases unless overpacking, heat, gradient and beer gang up on me.
46/19
Mine is mostly a spares bin build and I opted for 1x9 with a 34t N/W ring and an 11-32 cassette as that's what I had available, knowing that it would be a bit spinny... But it is actually OK.
I do eventually intended to up the chainring to a 38t and maybe go for an 11-36 cassette if I fit 10speed or try 11-34 as cheap cassettes are easy to buy and try, but I will probably keep it as is over winter as it has plenty of bailout gears and 34:11 isn't too bad for bumbling along roads and Bridleslaying...