https://www.actionsports.de

They have a wheel builder where you will get weights too.

You can install the crank with some BB spacers but the front shifting is gonna be horrible if it will work at all. You won’t be able to use a mountain FD with brifters because the pull ratio is different.

Go with an 11-34 (at least) and try to find a 46-30 crankset.

It might be possible. My worry would be the smaller chanrings running close to the chainstays

That doesn’t make any sense at all, it’s the other way around. The bigger the ring the closer it gets to the chainstay. That’s why frames have a stated maximum chainring size.

We’ve never said hydros are a MUST, but when looking at complete bikes it’s worth to spend the extra $$$ because it’s not that much.

You said “i never saw the neurotic hang up people have with cable disks”, we just explained it to you. It’s because hydros are better. End of story.

I can ride my gravel bike with cable discs down steep singletrack fine too, but it would be even more fine with hydraulics. :)

Again, if you’re not on the limit of your current braking system, there is no reason to upgrade.

There is a reason why cable discs pretty much don’t exist in the MTB world and why no one argues about cable vs hydraulic anymore. Nowadays with big tyres you can tackle some pretty chunky offroad terrain with gravel bikes, makes sense to use more powerful brakes like MTBs do.

Nowadays when even road bikes come with discs hydraulics are not that much more expensive when looking at complete bikes. Upgrading on your current bike from cable is definitely not cheap sadly.

And looking around the world, drop bars on anything other than racing bikes is a rarity.

Yup, although that’s changing with gravel/adventure bikes.

Also, because of this, a lot of people also associate drop bars with a super stretched out position, because that’s what you get on a road racing bike. But with more relaxed geometry drop bars are heaven.

Other than long distance comfort (and aero, but let’s forget that word exists) straight bars are better in every way for sure. I can’t argue with that and I won’t. :)

Sorry, slight hijack, I’m trying to reduce squeal in wet conditions and was thinking about upgrading my Spyres with Swisstop organic pads and XT rotors. Did you notice any improvement in noise levels? What are they like on wet/cold rides?

Ta

Cold, not sure, I bought the pads in Spring. SwissStops are better than the stock pads in every single way, including in the rain. I’m using the e-bike pads. What I like is that they basically never fade, you will burn your rotors first.

You can still get squeal in wet conditions but at least they won’t evaporate like the stock pads.

Rotors, not sure, I didn’t use the stock ones.

For most folk they are overbraked – especially as on a gravel bike youll lose grip before you run out of brake.

Not true at all. With the right technique you can fly with a gravel bike offroad, and as I just said I constantly run out of brake power on steep singletrack because yes you can ride a gravel bike there.
Do a google search and you can find forum threads about people having problems with every single bike product ever released, including cable disc brakes. And in a lot of cases it’s because people are … very very smart. :D (not).

They’re better because unless you go with the absolute cheapest option they’re more powerful than cable discs, they self adjust, and they’re better sealed. Those are pretty dang important things.

Yes, a monkey can change the cable and housing on mechanical discs, but that’s about where the advantages end.

Again, if you’re touring, road riding, or don’t have big hills where you live, sure go with cable discs.

But for any harder offroad riding, which again is very possible with gravel bikes, especially now that we have frames that can clear 650b MTB rubber, hydraulics 100%.

Umm, not sure I understand, the same thing would happen with cable discs too. :D

i never saw the neurotic hang up people have with cable disks

Hydraulics work better, no question. It’s not even a debate in the MTB world, actually I don’t think anyone argued with it in years.

I have TRP Sypres with compressionless housing, SwissStop pads, XT rotors. I’m not sure if there is a better cable disc on the market and i’ve upgraded all the bits possible.

Yet I wish it had more power. I ride my gravel bike everywhere, sometimes even bombing down on rocky singletrack. I would also appreciate the automatic pad adjust that hydraulics have, because at the bottom of a big offroad descend I can feel that I need to pull the levers more. I’m also a bit jealous that hydraulic calipers deal with water better.

For more tame riding of course cable discs work fine.

And if you really hate road bikes, just pick up a cheap 29er hardtail, stick some narrow tyres on it, narrow flat bars and some bar ends.  It’ll be 95% as quick as a gravel bike on road, and still offer enough hand positions to keep it comfortable if you head out on any really long rides.

Didn’t work for me. I don’t care about speed, but a narrow flat bar with bar ends was nowhere near as comfortable even on shorter rides as a drop bar. Might be just me, I know that people ride around the world with straight bars.

OP, make sure you get a bike with fender mounts!

And if by converting a HT you mean putting drop bars on it, DON’T do it! :D

The new Apex 1 has asymmetric arms, not sure what’s compatible with it other than it’s own chainrings. I know there are aftermarket asymmetric Shimano chainrings but i’m not sure if they would work with the Apex.

The Rival 1 is regular 5 arm and you can also use direct mount chainrings on the Rival 1.

Some cheap square taper stuff, Shimano Metrea (not narrow wide), and much more expensive options like Rotor or Praxis Works.

Yup, MTB cranks will have wider Q factor since they were designed for 73mm BB shells (if we are talking about threaded stuff), and they will usually come with a 32T max chainring. For example for SRAM you can get a 38T direct mount but you will have to buy it separately. If you get a non boost option I think the chain line might be okay. But, I don’t see the point.

Or you could get some kind of Shimano double and convert it with an aftermarket ring like Wolftooth.

I would just go with SRAM. I have Rival 1 and it’s great. You can read some bad stuff about GXP but I haven’t had a problem yet and I love how easy it is to remove or install the cranks.

“too thin?”

Nope.

Do a google search and you will see pretty much any speed chain can break. Don’t draw any conclusions because it happened to you once.

This is like the “my carbon frame broke = every other carbon frame will break too” etc.

This season i’m probably going to just ride my current bike, so not buying a new bike right away.

To be honest I don’t know what I would prefer. My mountain biking experience is with an old 26 full suspension 5+ years ago and a 26″ dirt jumper.

I think for my style of riding a 29er would be more ideal, but then in the gravel/big tyre drop bar world you have people riding centuries on 650b x 47-50 tyres so… And then there are the plus tyres i’m very curious about, although the Zero can clear a 2.8 in the back.

I’m also getting a license so that will open up more options where I will ride for sure.

Now at least I know that there are great options, the best would be to somehow test some bikes.

A frame or fork is easily replacable too. :D I want a GX Eagle groupset for the range, which for me matters a ton, it plays a big part where and how I can ride the bike. Good brakes never hurt. A decent wheelset is very noticeable.

The point is, I don’t want to upgrade, I want to buy a decent complete package the first time. Yes, I can always upgrade and it’s easy, but it also costs money. I could also just save up for longer and get a more expensive bike, but I don’t want to.

Both the Bird Zero AM and the Sonder Transmitter have very nice frames IMO, and on top of that a great build kit for the price. On paper both frames would do everything I need, probably even much more…

I’m not sure about the Titus.

The Bird Zero AM boost 2018 is around 200 pounds more expensive, but I get better forks, better brakes, better wheels, better tyres. It’s also thru axle and uses boost which can’t hurt.

Yeah it’s “just” aluminium and the Titus is Ti and that’s ballin as hell but i’m also a bit afraid of cheap titanium, although that might be really stupid.

I built my last bike from the frameset up with all new components, and while building and customizing is fun it’s also a financial disaster. Right now I really want to go for maximum bang for buck right out of the box.

Go with the Alivo.

I can’t guarantee but it should help. :D Worked for me. This position also feels a bit more natural IMO.

Yup, same thing for me too. +1 for moving the cleats back.

I would probably go with an expensive kit, specifically the Jagwire Pro. It’s compressionless housing. I just switched from regular Shimano SLR housing, running TRP Spyre cable discs. The difference is really really big, well worth the extra money.

If you don’t want to spend that much just get stainless cables and cheaper Shimano or Jagwire outers.

Where is the hot spot?

A full suspension would awesome but too expensive with the components I want.

I live in Hungary.

Yup, I kind of ignored after sales support. I work on my own bikes but good warranty is never a bad thing.

The Stif Morf looks great, I would love to try a steel hardtail like that, but I can only find it with one build kit that costs 2200 pounds, bit out of my price range.

I still think the two best options are the Bird and the Sonder, I just need to decide if I want to go with + tyres or not.

And yes, probably an XC would be best for this kind of riding, but for some reason i’m really really interested in these “hardcore hardtails”. :D

If the Enduras worked for you I would stick with them, you can buy them separately. I use them too, and despite how basic and thin they are I can ride in them for 3.5-4 hours without any discomfort. I also like that they’re much less annyoing when walking compared to liners with thick pads.

They have a more expensive one too:

https://www.endurasport.com/product/singletrack-liner-short/

Damn I need to test more stuff. Sadly no local trail centre or demo days.

I’m just not sure if 650b+ would be ideal on stuff like hardpack or asphalt segments. I need to ride these too, sadly I don’t have a car yet to get to the nice offroad segments. :) I’m not racing anyone tho.

I checked Cotic, they look great, but compared to some other brands the bang for buck ratio is not that good. The website Says the Solaris is no longer in production.

I think Bird wins. The Zero AM Boost 2018 looks awesome, and the one with GX Eagle costs 1612 pounds.

You get a RockShox Revelation RC, GX Eagle groupset, Guide R brakes, DT M1900 wheels, a few different options for nice Maxxis tyres, and a not bad RaceFace finishing kit. You can upgrade or change things like bigger rotors or a dropper.

The “Sonder Transmitter GX Eagle Revelation” looks great too but I have a feeling 650b+ would be a bit overkill for my needs.

In terms of geometry the Bird Zero AM is a bit overkill too. :D

I’m not defending Hunt but I don’t understand the logic.

So a factory wheelset that is built in Taiwan is better built than a Hunt wheelset that is also built in Taiwan? Why?

How do we know where the components that the “big brands” use actually come from, which manufacturers actually make it?

Can’t you just go to Taiwan, and stick your name on a bunch of generic components? Other than Hunt how do we know how many big manufacturers do this with some slight changes to the product? But even if they do all of this I don’t see why is it such an evil thing if the product works great in the end.

Sepcialized S-Wrap roubaix. Thick, soft, easy to install. Pair it with a fat top bar = heaven.

I don’t live in the UK, and at my one and only LBS they only work on grocery getter level bikes. So sadly trying bikes is out of the question.

I think a 29 would be a bit better for my use, to be honest a “standard” XC hardtail would probably do everything I want… But i’m really really curious about these super slack hardtails, but they’re usually 27.5. My dream would be a Santa Cruz Chameleon or a Kona Honzo but they’re sooooo overpriced compared to direct to consumer stuff.

I don’t want to build again, I have zero MTB stuff, it would come out more expensive for sure.

Thanks again everyone!

I think I still like the Bird best, maybe even the Zero AM boost.

The titanium Titus is pretty ballin although the build kit is a bit meh.

I didn’t even know half of these brands existed, awesome info.

Yup, Hunt rebrands stuff, and the wheels are handbuilt in Taiwan. Most of their alloy rims come from Kinlin, and the hubs are Novatec. Their specs and prices are pretty good tho.

I’ve been running a set of 4 Season Gravel Disc alloy wheels for about half a year. No complaints so far. Sometimes I do rocky singletrack descends on my gravel bike, and i’ve bottomed out the front tyre countless times (running really low pressures tubeless). Probably not what the wheelset was designed for, yet they’re as true as when they arrived and there are no dings on the rims.

I’m not racist, I think a Taiwanese bloke can build a good wheel too. :D

Solid options, thanks everyone!

I would love a P7, maybe the 29er version but yeah the specs for the money… The P7 29 S is 1800 pounds, you get SLX, mediocre brakes, and a mediocre wheelset.

I’ve been really really enjoying 1x ever since I built my first 1×10. A 12spd 10-50 sounds perfect  to me. I’ve heard issues about Eagle too, I don’t have any experience with it, but I have a feeling most of those problems come from setup issues. But I could be completely wrong.

Never heard of Bird, but wow their hardtails look great! Don’t want to start another 29 vs 27.5 argument, I have no experience but based on what i’ve read for mile munching a 29er would be better but still that Zero TR is a really really good option.

The Sonder looks great but it’s a “bit” out of my price range. :D

That’s not good news, i’m probably going to skip 650B. :(

Meanwhile I just went from winter mode to summer mode. Lost the fenders, and put on some bigger GravelKing SKs, tubeless for the first time. The front one is labeled 43C or 43-622, the back one is 40C 38-622. The fronts measure around 42mm, and the back one is around 39.5mm on my 20mm ID rims. Plenty of clearance at the front, at the back… The usual.

Forgot how good this thing is with some proper meat!

Also got a setback seatpost and a way too overpriced Salsa seatpost clamp instead of my “Gineyea” eBay special.

Yeah I guess the knobs on the top are the problem. It was just so weird at first because these Kendas measure narrower than the Horizons.

Probably not going to go 650B then.

I don’t get it. The Horizons fit so nicely on the picture jakd95 posted and they are around 47-48mm wide.

??? :(

Could you please measure the width of the tyres with a caliper?

Keep us updated! I would really really like to run 27.5×48 GravelKing SKs if I switch to 650B. According to reviews they stretch out to around 49-50mm.

I’m ordering 700c 38mm and 43mm GKs next week. I really hope the 38s will fit in the back. :D

I’m getting way too specific but to me there are gravel race bikes like the Salsa Warbird for example that are just road bikes with bigger tyres and a tiny bit slacker geometry.

And then there are adventure bikes that have even more relaxed geometry, taller front end, shorter reach, rack mounts, and fender mounts. And of course sometimes manufacturers mix the two to blur the line.

I would say the Plug falls more into the “adventure” category, although as always I wish it had more tyre clearance but I feel like it was an early bird back in 2015 marketed and designed more as a road/commuter bike. The 650B option changes things a lot tho.

I agree that these bikes are really versatile and fun and for a lot of people they can be all the bike you need, and i’m happy this category is trendy now so we are getting more options for bikes and parts. I also hope that the big manufacturers will soon come out with groupsets that have lower gearing for these types of bikes.

^
That’s amazing, so much room! Thank you very much for the pictures.

I think i’m going to stay on 700c for this summer with 43mm GravelKings in the front and 38mm in the back since I don’t want to throw away my wheelset that’s jut a few months old, then i’ll probably try 650b.

47mm GravelKing SKs with fenders… Sounds like heaven to me. :D

Wow that’s awesome news, can’t wait for the pictures. Thanks so much! :)