I like everything about the new gravel trend, in theory lighter and faster than tourers or adapted MTBs, more upright geometry and better tyre clearance than CX bikes, hopefully doesn't feel too much slower than my road bike.
Problem is, I don't get on with disc brakes, which rules out virtually every bike on market except obscure custom Ti aaaaand... obsolete, heavily discounted Kinesis CX1 framesets on Merlin!
So with that, may I present what is effectively a CX bike from 5 years ago but with fatter tyres, higher bars and wider gearing (oh, and a suspension seatpost due to recently lower back surgery).
The tyres are placeholders until I can afford some Challenge Gravel Grinders, which happily will save 200g per wheel, a useful saving over the 10kg total.
Wheels are handbuilt, suspect I won't bother in future, I used to be able to knock up a decent set of wheels with minimal fuss but this time round, for no reason than my own hesitancy and general life-stressiness, it took me several attempts before I got them up to tension and nice and even. Very pleased with them now, Pacenti UK have been great to deal with. Sub-1700g for 28 spoke 2x with Sapim alu nipples.
For the same money I could have got a very nice disc braked Orbea Terra or Giant Revolt, but both came with component compromises (heavy cheap wheels, annoying proprietary seatposts) and of course I didn't really want discs!
Final lesson learned though is that I no longer have the time or patience for odd custom builds, off the shelf all the way from now on! I don't even feel it's a remarkable enough bike to warrant a new thread, but I needed closure dammit! Lol.
Looking forward to a summer of exploring some big remote highland landrover tracks...
Finally an excuse for that sugar skull headset cap I've always wanted...
Kwick Tendril - I like those
They've never let me down, pop on and off ridiculously easily, nice supple sidewalls, no flats. 585g per tyre though...
Nothing much wrong with that. Roll on summer
You'd not be upright for long riding near me using those tyres!
What's your issue with disc brakes?
Have used them to good effect on some local rides, only fright I got was on steep wet grass. I don't go looking for crazy steep tech descents, forest roads and landrover tracks mainly, I have an MTB for the mud and gnar.
As for discs, I think I just have a weird braking style or riding habits, but for the 6 months of the year when I'm doing long, steady, rolling miles in cold wet conditions, the extra power of disc brakes wasn't worth the extra squeeling and rubbing when they got gritty mucky water all over them. I never really had an issue with stopping distances on my rim brakes anyway. I noticed I just started leaving my disc braked gravel bike in the garage unless I really needed the bigger tyres or lower gears. As someone once suggested, good ear plugs might have been a cheaper solution 😁
I like that.
How much clearance is there for the fatter tyres? Can you get guards on?
Do canti's lack power compared to discs?
one of the reasons I like this place is thread titles like this! where else would you get Standing athwart the march of progress?
and nice bike by the way
better tyre clearance than CX bikes
Lots of old CX canti braked bikes had clearance for 40c tyres by the way (I owned a couple)
Do canti’s lack power compared to discs?
Yes and they are noticeably worse in the wet and make horrible noises as the grit gets between pad and rim but when I used to ride a bike with brakes on it I was happy with a rim brake as I don't tend to use brakes very much on gravel roads
Lots of old CX canti braked bikes had clearance for 40c tyres by the way
Quite possibly, and the CX1 frame isn't even all that impressive by modern standards anyway. All I know is my buddy's Ridley CX frame has loysy clearance for anything bigger than a 33.
How much clearance is there for the fatter tyres? Can you get guards on?
Do canti’s lack power compared to discs?
Sadly not as much clearance as I'd hoped, my 42c WTB Resolutes measured pretty much exactly 42c on the Pacenti rims and just barely fitted. The Kendas are 36c across and fit with what I consider room to spare. Could def squeeze guards in although I'd onlybe doing that for road duties and have some 32c tyres for that.
The brakes almost certainly lack power compared to discs, but I realised that in terms of overall enjoyment of my rides, brake power has far less of an impact than brake noise! Think of those long, meditative piss wet winter rides where you're just tapping out an easy pace, I don't really care if I have to brake a bit earlier or pull the levers a bit harder, I just enjoy making smooth, quiet progress, not punctuated by yowling brakes. I don't get much of the gritty scraping Kerley refers to but it would be an acceptable compromise.
TRP CX 8.4 mini-Vs with Swisstop BXP pads are the gold standard, only fitted Shorty Ultimates for mud clearance during CX season, might still go back to the mini-Vs, less fiddle to set up also