Gravel bikes - what do you have and where did you buy it?

[splat]

As boasted on the other thread, I collected this beauty from David yesterday.

Now to try and get it built up by the weekend...

[splat]

Smooth ground (deluxe) welds with Midnight Pearl powder coat

Internal routing for the rear brake with external mounts for the gear cables
Flat mount disc (I need an adapter to run a 160 rotor)
3 x bottle mounting points with a top tube mount
Front mech tab
and a spare hanger

 

[mecheng89]

14 minutes ago, splat said:

As boasted on the other thread, I collected this beauty from David yesterday.

Now to try and get it built up by the weekend...

Hot. 

[Nico van Loggerenberg]

16 minutes ago, splat said:

As boasted on the other thread, I collected this beauty from David yesterday.

Now to try and get it built up by the weeken

 

This ticks every single one of my boxes. Incredible paintjob too! 

[mecheng89]

Morning gravel grinders.

Has anyone ever fitted MTB wheels to their gravel steeds? I currently have the stock Shimano RS wheels with some 42mm WTB slapped on, but when I feel like busting the mould and attending a "MTB" event, I want to fit some beefier wheels (read wider tyres) to take some of the brunt.

What do you guys recommend? I understand that I'll probably lose speed with the wider tyres, but on balance, it may be faster. 

[NeverNotRolling]

33 minutes ago, splat said:

Smooth ground (deluxe) welds with Midnight Pearl powder coat

Internal routing for the rear brake with external mounts for the gear cables
Flat mount disc (I need an adapter to run a 160 rotor)
3 x bottle mounting points with a top tube mount
Front mech tab
and a spare hanger

 

Keep the build process photos coming!

[Nico van Loggerenberg]

1 hour ago, mecheng89 said:

Morning gravel grinders.

Has anyone ever fitted MTB wheels to their gravel steeds? I currently have the stock Shimano RS wheels with some 42mm WTB slapped on, but when I feel like busting the mould and attending a "MTB" event, I want to fit some beefier wheels (read wider tyres) to take some of the brunt.

What do you guys recommend? I understand that I'll probably lose speed with the wider tyres, but on balance, it may be faster. 

It's as worth a shot as anything else, mostly because it looks cool. 

[mecheng89]

40 minutes ago, Nico van Loggerenberg said:

It's as worth a shot as anything else, mostly because it looks cool. 

Your clearance at the BB looks min. 

[JulienR]

2 hours ago, splat said:

As boasted on the other thread, I collected this beauty from David yesterday.

Now to try and get it built up by the weekend...

Wow...frame looks very, very pretty. Love the paint and the Mercer logo/writing

Only thing i would change is the bar tape - the Deda tape looks great but does not feel very good and does not have much padding 

[Nico van Loggerenberg]

3 minutes ago, mecheng89 said:

Your clearance at the BB looks min. 

It's effectively zero. I'm on 47mm gravelkings in reality. 

[mecheng89]

9 minutes ago, Nico van Loggerenberg said:

It's effectively zero. I'm on 47mm gravelkings in reality. 

I'll have to ask for a spare set of 27.5" wheels to see what'll fit, I don't think 29" will fit with decent tyres. 

[Help.Me.]

I think I have read this whole thread about three times , there are some beautiful bikes on parade here and I was also thinking of going the Gravel Grinder route, I do 95% of my cycling on the normal district roads on my Giant FS 29 er. Last Saturday  doing my normal route and chatting with my friend the conversation lead to this topic again. Then whilst chatting we hit a corrugated patch which nearly threw me of my bike......The thought of getting a Gravel Bike took a sudden and huge nose dive again !! Now back to my choices. I do have an old Road bike which I am to scared to use because I think the wheels will just disintegrate underneath  me , due to metal fatigue or just old age( the wheels not me) I do the occasional road race but less so because of my old Road Bike, I am playing with the idea of getting a Gravel Grinder which can do duty as my road bike when the need is there and also do some Gravel Grinding on weekends. Now for some advice , by the way I was looking at the Rook Bikes and the 11 speed is due end off April and it fits into my "budget" I am on the heavy side 95 - 100 kg and wants to enjoy my cycling, if I feel my body aching after my weekend cycles on my Mountain Bike how much worse will it be on a bike with no suspension at all , am I just wasting my time about dreaming of a Gravel Grinder? Please talk to me clever people!!

[Nico van Loggerenberg]

7 minutes ago, Help.Me. said:

I think I have read this whole thread about three times , there are some beautiful bikes on parade here and I was also thinking of going the Gravel Grinder route, I do 95% of my cycling on the normal district roads on my Giant FS 29 er. Last Saturday  doing my normal route and chatting with my friend the conversation lead to this topic again. Then whilst chatting we hit a corrugated patch which nearly threw me of my bike......The thought of getting a Gravel Bike took a sudden and huge nose dive again !! Now back to my choices. I do have an old Road bike which I am to scared to use because I think the wheels will just disintegrate underneath  me , due to metal fatigue or just old age( the wheels not me) I do the occasional road race but less so because of my old Road Bike, I am playing with the idea of getting a Gravel Grinder which can do duty as my road bike when the need is there and also do some Gravel Grinding on weekends. Now for some advice , by the way I was looking at the Rook Bikes and the 11 speed is due end off April and it fits into my "budget" I am on the heavy side 95 - 100 kg and wants to enjoy my cycling, if I feel my body aching after my weekend cycles on my Mountain Bike how much worse will it be on a bike with no suspension at all , am I just wasting my time about dreaming of a Gravel Grinder? Please talk to me clever people!!

Your body will definitely take more damage on a gravel bike, in the sense of wrist vibrations, corrugations through the seat, potentially tension in the neck and shoulders if you experience stress from rough trails etc. Some of these you can mitigate through equipment, some is just part of the fun of a simple rigid bike. If the question is "can a gravel bike do double duty for your road races", the answer is of course yes!

[NotSoBigBen]

To my mind a gravel bike much like a single speed is a mindset thing, you either get it or you don't ...

Clearly its not a mountain bike and I know many say you can do just about anything with it but I prefer to use it for mostly proper gravel and decent jeep track ... doesn't mean that I don't get the occasional bad patch but it's generally not that long and bearable.

Yes it can be tough on the arms and shoulders and stuff but the feeling of covering a lot of ground over gravel surfaces can't be beat, to me anyway.

There are of course those infidels that use some sort of suspension fork and stuff but what can I say 😜

As an aside I'm over 60 and not far off 90kg's and I still love my gravel bike and ride them quite a bit

"THE BICYCLE HAS A SOUL. IF YOU LOVE IT, IT WILL GIVE YOU EMOTIONS THAT YOU WILL NEVER FORGET."

[Wayne pudding Mol]

5 hours ago, splat said:

As boasted on the other thread, I collected this beauty from David yesterday.

Now to try and get it built up by the weekend...

What saddle is that ? Love it

[capediver]

New Bike Day.....

Pardus Uragano full carbon with GRX 2 x 11 running 45c tyres for much appreciated comfort!!! Bars to be changed soon...

 

Edited March 17, 2022 by capediver