Gravel Bike Help.

DMan said:
I can always get a different kit. So do you think there would be that much difference between riding the hoods on a drop bar bike and the bar ends of a flat bar road bike?
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yes, drop bars much quicker on the flat or long gradual descents, on a 5-6min segment im close to 30sec quicker on the drops - the overall bike is lower at the front so significant aero savings - if you're not chasing KOM's, or other people the hard tail is still the way to go - with mostly up/down im quicker on gravel on a hard tail then the 2 gravel bikes ive had, not to mention the 2 cyclocross bikes (both setup single speed but don't hold that against them)..climbing is just as quick, and i make big gains on the downs on the hard tail
PS i had the drop bar version of the giant gravel bike, everything was ok but just not enjoyable to ride,
 
DMan said:
I can always get a different kit. So do you think there would be that much difference between riding the hoods on a drop bar bike and the bar ends of a flat bar road bike?
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Yeah, it's different alright. Flat and going up the drops are more efficient for sure. Going down rougher tracks ... well, you can guess. Isn't the bike trying to kill you part of the appeal of a gravel/CX bike?
 
DMan said:
I can always get a different kit. So do you think there would be that much difference between riding the hoods on a drop bar bike and the bar ends of a flat bar road bike?
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You already have a mountain bike just buy and stop procrastinating ;).
 
creaky said:
Isn't the bike trying to kill you part of the appeal of a gravel/CX bike?
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It's a fine balance between not breaking you and not breaking the bike. With mtb, it's usually chuck the bike and save yourself, hence most of us prefer burly rigs.
 
Calvin27 said:
It's a fine balance between not breaking you and not breaking the bike. With mtb, it's usually chuck the bike and save yourself, hence most of us prefer burly rigs.
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Yeeeeep. Like I said, I'm chasing comfort for my shit roads here. And the opportunity to explore a bit more than I can on my roadie. But not bush bash
 
Ben-e said:
Gorgeous bike!
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TBH i’m not sold on steel as a frame material, have a 853 steel roadie, my ful carbon race bike is still prob more comfortable, my steel kona unit was nice, but still nothing special compared with other frames i’ve ridden, tyres , seat/seatpost probably make more diff imo
 
Daniel Hale said:
TBH i’m not sold on steel as a frame material
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Everyone has different experiences.

Up until I bought that IndyFab, the only other steel bike I had was a cheapish.... back in 2009 Vassago Bandersnatch, back when 29ers were sledged and called clown wheels.

It was cheap steel but felt amazing. Just after that I rode a Niner One9 singlespeed for a couple of years, it was the Easton Scandium frame, I loved the geo of that bike but it was unforgiving on chatter, yes it was fully rigid but I knew it could feel better. I fancied a few gears and made a decision to buy that IndyFab in the Niner geo.

I've had many HT bikes in Carbon, Ti, Alu and IMO there is no material as forgiving, comfortable or feels as nice as steel.

If you are racing at the pointy end, yeah its definitely carbon and speed over comfort.
 
silentbutdeadly said:
add insult to injury with @ozzybmx spam
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More spam... cant even remember where this bike went. Obviously sold but no idea where or to who.

The same Middleburn cranks are on my indy fab with the same SKF ISIS BB, 10 yr guarantee, now 11yrs old.

Definitely old, Nov 2009 and I'm still on Shimano pedals.

364345
 
ozzybmx said:
Everyone has different experiences.

Up until I bought that IndyFab, the only other steel bike I had was a cheapish.... back in 2009 Vassago Bandersnatch, back when 29ers were sledged and called clown wheels.

It was cheap steel but felt amazing. Just after that I rode a Niner One9 singlespeed for a couple of years, it was the Easton Scandium frame, I loved the geo of that bike but it was unforgiving on chatter, yes it was fully rigid but I knew it could feel better. I fancied a few gears and made a decision to buy that IndyFab in the Niner geo.

I've had many HT bikes in Carbon, Ti, Alu and IMO there is no material as forgiving, comfortable or feels as nice as steel.

If you are racing at the pointy end, yeah its definitely carbon and speed over comfort.
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My favourite bike of all time, was a DMR Trailstar LT, in chromoly. I ran a 100mm fork on that thing, would have thought it was unforgiving.. totally the opposite. It was comfortable, compliant and responsive. Carbon and alloy bikes don't come anywhere near as close to that rigid riding quality, not even Ti, as I understand it. Obviously there's the weight penalty though, but steel frames are becoming lighter. I totally agree though, one man's trash is anothers treasure

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Calvin27 said:
I actually went back t o2x for the graveller. 1x chain life is rubbish and I can only afford that on my mtbs. Also the FD is less of a pain in gravel bikes/roadies. There isn't like a gazillion things happening that part of the frame and dropping chains is less frequent.
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Ben-e said:
I have noticed the trend for going back to FDs, it all depends on your style of riding I guess.. but with the bigger range cassettes, it's more viable to do 1x.

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Little point of interest, the long cage versions of the current R8000 Ultegra and R7000 105, along with the parallel clutchy RX810/RX600 GRX models have clearance to run with a 42T large sprocket, and carry enough chain to also run 2x with a 14T chainring difference, without needing hanger extenders. With a 16T chainring difference (road compact or mid-compact chainring set) you need to cut the big sprocket back to 40T due to chain carrying capacity.
 
The Duckmeister said:
Little point of interest, the long cage versions of the current R8000 Ultegra and R7000 105, along with the parallel clutchy RX810/RX600 GRX models have clearance to run with a 42T large sprocket, and carry enough chain to also run 2x with a 14T chainring difference, without needing hanger extenders. With a 16T chainring difference (road compact or mid-compact chainring set) you need to cut the big sprocket back to 40T due to chain carrying capacity.
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This is essentially what I'm doing but with a 1x. GRX rear mech, 38T x 11-46. Personally, I can't see the point of running 2x with such a range. I'll walk up that hill otherwise haha.

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@DMan If you're still looking for a bike, I'm selling my Large 2016 Bombtrack Audax. I'm a bit taller than you, so you would probably need a shorter stem. It's more on the road side of gravel as it's the Audax before they changed to 650B, but I run 28mm tyres on it and it goes well on country roads around here. Shoot me a PM if you're interested.
 
The Duckmeister said:
Little point of interest, the long cage versions of the current R8000 Ultegra and R7000 105
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I didn't make much of this until I was searching for a RD for grx400 10 speed online and they seem a bit scarce. R7000 would have the same ratio I believe and is also clutched?
 
R7000/8000 aren't clutched; the GRX 400 (10-sp.)/600/800/810 are the clutchy ones, and all the same derailleur geometry. Tiagra 4700/GRX400 run on the same pull ratio as 11-sp, so you can sub in a higher-spec derailleur. Not possible with any previous-generation 10-sp. shifters.
 
Instead of starting a new thread I kick start this one off again, been thinking of getting a gravel bike for commuting from Southern Cross to work then hit up some of the Yarra trails and bike paths the long way round to one of the train stations on the way home.
Just wondering if anyone has any ridden the Merida Silex, looking at this in particular as it has a reasonably high stack and I’m not that flexible any more. Some of the reviews call it a gravel bike for mountain bikers but I take reviews with a grain of salt, just wondering if anyone has some real world experience with one?
 
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