coppi Posted March 28, 2017 Share So yes, you could just buy a MTB, and put narrower tires and drop bars on. Now to do that you have to change the shifters. Shifters are quite and expensive item, so you are going to push the price of final bike up quite a bit. This is why the industry is doing this. There are people want a bike with suspension, medium width tires, but with drop bars, who don't want to build the bike themselves. They want to buy a bike in the configuration that they are going to ride it, and not have to fiddle changing components. The industry is catering for these people. (Admission time: I own a gravel bike.)IMG_20170310_074832.jpgGood Stuff Gary...........don't those mudguards rattle a bit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaryvdM Posted March 28, 2017 Share Good Stuff Gary...........don't those mudguards rattle a bit? Nope - even on the gravel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butterbean Posted March 28, 2017 Share jip - but Bcd the same 110mm - so you have a huge choice of chain ringsThe new 11 speed crank of Shimano is very nice - having the same BCD for all rings Not necessarily, the chainstays might get in your way and prevent standard rings from fitting. Mongoose! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy Posted March 28, 2017 Share So yes, you could just buy a MTB, and put narrower tires and drop bars on. Now to do that you have to change the shifters. Shifters are quite and expensive item, so you are going to push the price of final bike up quite a bit. This is why the industry is doing this. There are people want a bike with suspension, medium width tires, but with drop bars, who don't want to build the bike themselves. They want to buy a bike in the configuration that they are going to ride it, and not have to fiddle changing components. The industry is catering for these people. (Admission time: I own a gravel bike.)IMG_20170310_074832.jpg Could not agree more..... Edited March 28, 2017 by eddy GaryvdM, the nerd, Monark and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mongoose! Posted March 28, 2017 Share Not necessarily, the chainstays might get in your way and prevent standard rings from fitting.I doubt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kom Posted March 28, 2017 Share Could not agree more.....The cost of that niner as it stands, if it is indeed a conversion would far outweigh just buying a second gravel grinder, albeit lower spec such as the diverge alloy. I've seen a couple on the hub floating for 12-14k. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dicky DQ Posted March 29, 2017 Share If I put road handle bars on my Epic Sworks, wouldn't it be sort of the same thing?and last year's Munga was won on? A Rockey MTB with gravel grinder bars. So they do work. Edited March 29, 2017 by Dick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy Posted March 29, 2017 Share The cost of that niner as it stands, if it is indeed a conversion would far outweigh just buying a second gravel grinder, albeit lower spec such as the diverge alloy. I've seen a couple on the hub floating for 12-14k.Absolutely, but shopping cleverly over time one can acquire all the bits needed to build up a bike. In this case, when people started "upgrading" to 11 speed, I picked up a 10 speed set cheaply. When people started going for wide MTB rims, I found a perfectly good but narrow set of wheels. When you could buy hydraulic Disk brake specific road systems, I took a set of unused cable to hydraulic calipers off someone. In fact, the bike is built up out of "obsolete" components at around a third of what "state of the art" would have cost. With time and a good idea of what you want, the classifieds are your friend. Halfdoesyn, Pure Savage, Fat Boab and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pure Savage Posted March 29, 2017 Share Absolutely, but shopping cleverly over time one can acquire all the bits needed to build up a bike. In this case, when people started "upgrading" to 11 speed, I picked up a 10 speed set cheaply. When people started going for wide MTB rims, I found a perfectly good but narrow set of wheels. When you could buy hydraulic Disk brake specific road systems, I took a set of unused cable to hydraulic calipers off someone. In fact, the bike is built up out of "obsolete" components at around a third of what "state of the art" would have cost. With time and a good idea of what you want, the classifieds are your friend.Also it's a Niner and not a Spez [emoji51] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shebeen Posted March 29, 2017 Share here's the gravel bike look from the guys who do it best! 458Exp 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shebeen Posted March 29, 2017 Share Yip here they use the camel golf bike and there are plenty golf courses in SA already using them...............check out the their websitecool - https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/164234-camel-golf-bikes/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shebeen Posted March 29, 2017 Share munga bikes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Boab Posted March 29, 2017 Share Absolutely, but shopping cleverly over time one can acquire all the bits needed to build up a bike. In this case, when people started "upgrading" to 11 speed, I picked up a 10 speed set cheaply. When people started going for wide MTB rims, I found a perfectly good but narrow set of wheels. When you could buy hydraulic Disk brake specific road systems, I took a set of unused cable to hydraulic calipers off someone. In fact, the bike is built up out of "obsolete" components at around a third of what "state of the art" would have cost. With time and a good idea of what you want, the classifieds are your friend. A shared pastime (obsession!)................ eddy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patchelicious Posted March 29, 2017 Share Absolutely, but shopping cleverly over time one can acquire all the bits needed to build up a bike. In this case, when people started "upgrading" to 11 speed, I picked up a 10 speed set cheaply. When people started going for wide MTB rims, I found a perfectly good but narrow set of wheels. When you could buy hydraulic Disk brake specific road systems, I took a set of unused cable to hydraulic calipers off someone. In fact, the bike is built up out of "obsolete" components at around a third of what "state of the art" would have cost. With time and a good idea of what you want, the classifieds are your friend.You mean patience.... and thats my down fall. eddy and Pure Savage 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChUkKy Posted March 29, 2017 Share Around Jozi gravel bike is great for road riding as road conditions are quite bad. Oh and spruit of course. Thought Spruit was downhill? Not sure whether flat or downhill, Im confused..... many a broken man on the spruit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patchelicious Posted April 21, 2017 Share https://instagram.com/p/BTIiBb-g0k-/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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