with 2 sets of wheels.

Anyone done it and thought it was bit shit?

Not using my road bike half as much as I used to, was thinking of selling and getting a gravel bike with 2 sets of wheels, for road and off road.

Appreciate anyones experiences

Can’t give you a full response but can give you this.

I went through this late last year, sold an Evil Following that was never getting ridden and a Tarmac SL6 I was using regularly.

Now own an Open UP – with carbon wheels and 30c tyres it’s feels pretty similar in speed to the Tarmac and is more comfortable. Just swapped from SPD SL to SPD and found that a bigger jump in feel than the bike. Have got knobblies ready for when I can be bothered to get around to ordering a second set of wheels.

What I would ask is; why is your road bike not getting ridden? If you’re riding MTB instead then not convinced what you’re solving for (ie will a gravel bike with road wheels make you ride more road than a road bike? Probably not).

Depending on the riding, it’s not that far fetched to do this with one set of wheels.

I just got rid of my winter road bike (Trek Domane) as I liked riding my gravel bike so much more (Whyte Saxon Cross). I use a ‘fast’ winter bike for club group rides, while the Whyte was the bike I’d reach for if I was going out on my own. I started taking the Whyte on club runs when the weather was bad and roads covered in debris. It was actually faster, more comfortable and I did not puncture (tubeless). I expect I’ll struggle to keep up in good conditions as its all a bit heaver.

So I picked up a Freeranger frame from On One and spent the weekend swapping stuff over from the Whyte. The result is great – very light, loads of clearance. Probably wont bother with two wheelsets, at least initially, as I bagged a lovely set of DT 1501’s which are pretty light and Gravelkings dont seem to have that much rolling resistance.

A mate did this quite happily for about 18 months – 2 sets of wheels set up with the right disc rotors and cassettes and appropriate tyres, two minute job to swap and go.

Only thing that made him change back was a ridiculously discounted Ti road bike that was too good to turn down

Agree with the above, the second set really has to be at the grippier end (WTB Raddlers in 44 and 40c in my case) to be worth it.

YMMV, I don’t race at all and rarely group ride.

Depending on the riding, it’s not that far fetched to do this with one set of wheels.

Yep, some 30c slick gravel tyre would do fast road and gravel. Not so good in mud though.

Did this last year. 43mm gravel tyres and 25mm road tyres on two sets of wheels with identical hubs. More speed / less grip and comfort as expected. Pinch flatted the 25s bunny hopping a cattle grid in the arse end of Glen Lyon. Not clever to assume that the gravel bike is anything other than a road bike if it’s got 25s on. Lesson learned; new 35s purchased and going on once temp and road surfaces improve.

What I would ask is; why is your road bike not getting ridden? If you’re riding MTB instead then not convinced what you’re solving for (ie will a gravel bike with road wheels make you ride more road than a road bike? Probably not).

Riding more MTB, still like getting out on the road bike but not as much. Ill still keep my mtb but use the gravel bike for commuting etc, but keep a set of wheels with slicks on for the odd occasion.

My Diverge did this for while, it does everything well enough for me. I did then buy a proper roadbike again second hand for £400, its a bit faster and a bit more fun on dry fast roads. Diverge is now a mud guarded up winter road bike and a summer gravel bike. Dont do winter gravel got a mtb for shitty conditions.

I’ve got a PX Tempest with a set of Open Pros with 38mm Gravel Kings (slicks) as my ‘road’ wheels and some 2.1″ XC tyres on 27.5″ wheels for proper gravel. I use both sets regularly, and swapping is very easy – no brake or gear adjsutment needed. Maybe I’m lucky in that respect. I’ve found I’m using the mtb much less now – most of my rides from my door are a bit tame for a 160mm FS bike, but ideal for a chunky tyred gravel bike.

I’ll probably swap the GKs for some 28mm road tyres at some point, as the GKs are crap on anything remotely rough or muddy anyway, and quite draggy on tarmac.

I’ve got a new Diverge and it’s pretty much killed off my endurance road bike. So, yes, I think your idea is feasible. There would obviously be a bigger gulf between a super-light or aero pure road bike and a gravel bike that might merit both. But for me the Diverge is near quick and capable enough for most of my rides that take in some road.

i have a singular kite disc with 2 wheelsets, one more chunky and 40/42mm tyres and another with 38mm road tyres. same cassette and discs all work ok. The main issue i have is i use mudguards for commuting but when i go proper gravelly i prefer to take the guards off… thats a faff, wheels bit is easy! still have a nice road bike but thats mainly on a turbo unitl summer and a full sus for mtb action in the deep dark woods

Yes. Have an On One Pickenflick with 2 sets of Hunt wheels, one with 30c slicks, the other with 42c gravel tyres, both 700c.

I’ve never been much of a roadie however, so can’t really compare to a really light road bike. But the Pickenflick does the occasional tarmac-only ride well enough for me on the handful of occasions per year, but the bike is set up in gravel mode for 98% of its use.

Yep, I do this. I’ve got a dodgy neck (disc problem) and have my gravel bike set up with a much more upright position. I run 42mm gravel kings on one wheelset and 32mm gp5000’s on the other. Very quick to swap them over. My Di2 Scott foil hasn’t been outside since April last year (it’s stuck on the turbo due to this neck problem). I think it’s a great approach and I don’t feel like I’m losing out on much speed Vs a true road bike.

Just to throw a spanner in the works, I’ve got a Vitus CRS2 with a set of 47mm byways on 650b WTB wheels for mixed use and a set of 700c DT Swiss CR1600 with 40mm MSC gravel (way more knobbly) for proper off road and shit condition use.

It would no doubt double as a road bike if I wanted it to, but my road bike is bloody nice, very aero and most excellently fast, so its staying 😀

I also do this on an ibis Hakka mx. I run 53mm 650b thunder burts in gravel mode and 30mm 700c pro ones in road mode. The wheels swap over with a small tweak to the brake calliper position.

Whilst I don’t do a lot of road riding, It’s easy enough to keep up with my road friends on it but

1). It’s not a proper roadie riding position so it’s a bit weird, a bit short maybe.
2) 1 x 11 has some big jumps on it compared to a road Bike. Might bother you, might not. It annoys me that I can never seem to have the right gear, too hard then spinning too fast.

It’s actually a lot of fun riding on the fatter gravel tyres and keeping up, the roadies faces are funny.

2015 arkose, I have a set of mavic askiums with conti gp 4 seasons 28mm for regular road duty and a set of hunt gravel with schwalbe 35mm gravel for the rest. To keep it simple I run the same 10 speed cassette. At some stage prob next year now I will treat myself with a 50th pressie and get new road bike but for now I’m happy.

I do. To be honest I don’t swap anywhere near as much as I expected and tend to just stick with one set or the other for a few weeks/months. Been running it on cross tyres this winter. Realistically
I end up doing pretty similar rides regardless- running road tyres and guards in winter keeps me out of the claggy mud but that’s about it.

I think you’ve either got to go all in with matchy matchy sets of wheels/disc spacing/cassettes or just swap tyres. I’d swap tyres to start with before buying a second set of wheels, personally.

I have a CAADX with two pairs of Kinesis Crosslight CX’s. One has 28c Durano’s and an 11-28 cassette, the other 37c Schwalbe G-Ones and an 11-40 cassette.

I ride 80% road on it (audaxy flavour) and it’s ace. The other 20% on gravel is also ace. I use a compact 50/24 for both and so far, so fine.

It’s my favourite bike ATM.

Im currently using a Ridley Orion (same frame as Kanzo Speed) with two wheelsets.
DT Swiss 1600 with challenge 36mm tyres on gravel,
DT Swiss 180`s built into Light Bicycle Falcon Pro SL rims with 25mm Vittoria fast tyres.
Both set up tubeless, similar cassette ratios and discs.
The drawback is im running 52/36 because im more road orientated and off road its hard work if really boggy.

Other than that a super fast wheelset transforms a gravel bike.

Sorry to be a contrarian here but….

For me a horse for a course will always be the better option given free choice. The ideal road and gravel bikes will have different geometry, different gear ratios, a slightly different position on the bike and different weights. It’s not just about tire width.

I tried the one bike fits all, and that bike was a gravelish bike. I eventually moved back to a separate road bike and the ride difference was worth every penny. Not sure how best to describe it other than a dedicated road bike just feels faster, and it isn’t just down to narrower tires.

Seems like you want a gravel bike that can handle the occasional road ride. That should be fine. But if you intend to ride the road, buy a road bike for the ultimate experience.

Fair Sola, you’re right it’s horses for courses. For me, even though cost isn’t prohibitive (mid 30s no kids), I hate having more than one bike. Then I have to choose what I want to ride, maintain them, multiple sets of shoes all of that faff. CBA with it and can’t see me owning more than one again.

For a luddite like me on tubed tyres, I just change tyres. 10 minute job with a track pump in the comfort of my own home

After getting my gravel bike and fitting decent tyres I used my road bike so little that I sold it. I have not regretted it once and really enjoy the ability to explore BW’s and tracks I come across while out. Thought about another set of wheels but tbh found Gravel Kings roll well enough not to bother. Yes, the steel Marin was a ton heavier than the carbon Cube and it did make a difference but not enough.

Saying all that, I was a terrible roadie and never got in to long distance so my comparisons are limited.

I have a 2015 GT Grade Carbon and its definitely my goto bike 80% of the time. When I ride the chain gang I use my H Sons on Hopes with 28 slicks and these are also mega on any dry track round here in Suffolk. For knarlier stuff I have some Stans with 36mm cross tyres and again it’s really nimble and fast. At the mo its got mudguards on for my winter road rides.
Cos I’m a bit of a tart I have a Spech Roubaix with DI2 and that is gorgeous, sunny and dry rides only!

If its a winter bike, how do you go about finding mudguards that fit gravel and road tyres of different widths? (Without it looking crap and working poorly)

I would also want different gearing for on/off road. One bike to do both would be a big compromise for me. But then I own 3 road bikes, so I’m definitely a horses for courses rider…

SKS Raceblades for road, take them off for gravel. If you’re doing gravel right in winter you’ll end up wet and muddy anyway.

I have a carbon cube gravel bike, and an alu cube road bike. They’re the same weight, and are about as fast as each other (ie: not very with me riding)
But the gravel bike definitely steers a little slower.
It’s definitely doable though.