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

[AB]

Really enjoyed reading through this forum. 

In the market for a gravel bike. Budget of around R20000. What do I buy? What do I look for?

Will use it as a roadbike and on my trainer and some easy gravel roads. Lots of hills where I live. Will need a groupset that will work for that but doesn't want to spin out on the road...

Looking forward to hear from you all.

 

[Spinnekop]

Been having fun on this lady for the past couple of months.

Not a bad bike at all!

[jcza]

50 minutes ago, Spinnekop said:

Been having fun on this lady for the past couple of months.

Not a bad bike at all!

Quality! Which crankset is that? 1x or 2x? 

[Spinnekop]

3 minutes ago, jcza said:

Quality! Which crankset is that? 1x or 2x? 

Switched BB axel  length to do a 1x
 Cannondale SISL2 cranks with a P2M powermeter and 12sp Garbaruk 46 chainring.
Flawless.

Can keep up with the roadies on a Sunday ride and not too bad gearing for Pretoria farm roads.
I think one might battle a little with something like a 8% gradient for longer than 30min climb.

[Wolfie1]

So the old girl got some new shoes.  2.4in recon race tires running at 1.7bar. Smoooooth as butter!! 

[splat]

On 7/7/2022 at 9:14 AM, iammjcooke@gmail.com said:

https://gravelandtour.co.za/product-category/redshift/
 

have a look at this option. I’ve read that these work really well. 

BMC are using these on some of their bikes

https://bikerumor.com/bmc-ics-mtt-suspension-stem-by-redshift/

[Jbr]

okay looking for my Xmas present at the moment, would like a race-ready bike that I'm probably going to be doing most of my training on too (so with a reliable power meter).

He's my shortlist at the moment :

https://bike-addict.co.za/collections/gravel-bikes/products/bianchi-arcadex-carbon-grx-600-11-speed?variant=43679034442025

https://bike-addict.co.za/collections/gravel-bikes/products/titan-switch-carbon-elite-2023

https://bike-addict.co.za/collections/gravel-bikes/products/cannondale-topstone-5

https://www.specialized.com/za/en/diverge-sport-carbon/p/199964?color=322115-199964&searchText=95422-6056

Edit : forgot to mention windspace has a bf sale gravel wheels for r12k so any other choice than the titan would go with that 

I think the spez is the one that I like best (design / both colours are good looking), 1x... but slightly more exepensive as well

Cannondale looks nice too, but both the Cannondale and the Titan have 2x setups that I'm not very excited about, plus the hollowgram is a bit of a mission to find a power meter for.

What bike would you go for and why ? And which reliable power meter would you put on (I might just put a xcadey crank if I can't find anything plug&play on the hub's ads

Edited November 23, 2022 by Jbr

[Jewbacca]

4 minutes ago, Jbr said:

okay looking for my Xmas present at the moment, would like a race-ready bike that I'm probably going to be doing most of my training on too (so with a reliable power meter).

He's my shortlist at the moment :

https://bike-addict.co.za/collections/gravel-bikes/products/bianchi-arcadex-carbon-grx-600-11-speed?variant=43679034442025

https://bike-addict.co.za/collections/gravel-bikes/products/titan-switch-carbon-elite-2023

https://bike-addict.co.za/collections/gravel-bikes/products/cannondale-topstone-5

https://www.specialized.com/za/en/diverge-sport-carbon/p/199964?color=322115-199964&searchText=95422-6056

 

I think the spez is the one that I like best (design / both colours are good looking), 1x... but slightly more exepensive as well

Cannondale looks nice too, but both the Cannondale and the Titan have 2x setups that I'm not very excited about, plus the hollowgram is a bit of a mission to find a power meter for.

What bike would you go for and why ? And which reliable power meter would you put on (I might just put a xcadey crank if I can't find anything plug&play on the hub's ads

What is the clearance like on the frame of the Spez?

I know in the past they had limited tire choice.

Otherwise IMHO a 2x is better around Cape Town. I was always annoyed by my old 1x setup as it never quite felt 'right' if I switched between gravel and road.

You are, however, far superior on the bike so I'm sure you know more or less what will work.

Good luck!

[Comrade J]

33 minutes ago, Jbr said:

okay looking for my Xmas present at the moment, would like a race-ready bike that I'm probably going to be doing most of my training on too (so with a reliable power meter).

He's my shortlist at the moment :

https://bike-addict.co.za/collections/gravel-bikes/products/bianchi-arcadex-carbon-grx-600-11-speed?variant=43679034442025

https://bike-addict.co.za/collections/gravel-bikes/products/titan-switch-carbon-elite-2023

https://bike-addict.co.za/collections/gravel-bikes/products/cannondale-topstone-5

https://www.specialized.com/za/en/diverge-sport-carbon/p/199964?color=322115-199964&searchText=95422-6056

 

I think the spez is the one that I like best (design / both colours are good looking), 1x... but slightly more exepensive as well

Cannondale looks nice too, but both the Cannondale and the Titan have 2x setups that I'm not very excited about, plus the hollowgram is a bit of a mission to find a power meter for.

What bike would you go for and why ? And which reliable power meter would you put on (I might just put a xcadey crank if I can't find anything plug&play on the hub's ads

My 2c,, having just been down the road, check for tyre clearance it makes a very big difference, to comfort on roads with corrugations , if you can 50mm or wider get that frame now (have a look at what Abdullah said about his bile on the Rhino Run and Benkys bike.

I built up a Winspace G2 with SRAM XPLR AXS, and have just put on a Quarg Power Meter.

Winspace are running stupid black friday deals at the moment

This bike is Super super lite.

Also think about gearing, make sure you can easliy change your chainring

[Jbr]

1 hour ago, Comrade J said:

My 2c,, having just been down the road, check for tyre clearance it makes a very big difference, to comfort on roads with corrugations , if you can 50mm or wider get that frame now (have a look at what Abdullah said about his bile on the Rhino Run and Benkys bike.

I built up a Winspace G2 with SRAM XPLR AXS, and have just put on a Quarg Power Meter.

Winspace are running stupid black friday deals at the moment

This bike is Super super lite.

Also think about gearing, make sure you can easliy change your chainring

I was looking at windspace but the frame looked very adventure more than racy am I wrong ? Their deals are very attractive I must say...

EDIT : well they don't have stock on my size anyways !

 

I have a XTR 12spd derailleur in the garage, is there a world were I can connect GRX shifters to it ? I know that on the XTR shifters there's a 11spd mode, but doubt that there is an option on the actual derailleur to turn it into 11spd...  Or is there any 12spd shimano compatible shifters?

 

EDIT 2 : my local shop told me Trek checkpoint ! it looks sexy, but also 9.5kg.. seems any gravel bike will end up the same weight as my MTB 🤣

Edited November 23, 2022 by Jbr

[Furbz]

As a side, i have a Size 56 and Size 52 Parlee Chebacco in stock that will be going on Black Friday Special.

this is really one of the best Gravel bikes out there

have Rival AXS, Force AXS and Ultegra di2 12s as build options

[Jbr]

12 minutes ago, Furbz said:

As a side, i have a Size 56 and Size 52 Parlee Chebacco in stock that will be going on Black Friday Special.

this is really one of the best Gravel bikes out there

have Rival AXS, Force AXS and Ultegra di2 12s as build options

I see those Parlee's in the ads sections quite often, they seem pricy for frames I know nothing about, but keen to hear about the BF deals you're planning  What rider size range is the 56 for ?

[Sid the Sloth]

3 hours ago, Jbr said:

okay looking for my Xmas present at the moment, would like a race-ready bike that I'm probably going to be doing most of my training on too (so with a reliable power meter).

He's my shortlist at the moment :

https://bike-addict.co.za/collections/gravel-bikes/products/bianchi-arcadex-carbon-grx-600-11-speed?variant=43679034442025

https://bike-addict.co.za/collections/gravel-bikes/products/titan-switch-carbon-elite-2023

https://bike-addict.co.za/collections/gravel-bikes/products/cannondale-topstone-5

https://www.specialized.com/za/en/diverge-sport-carbon/p/199964?color=322115-199964&searchText=95422-6056

Edit : forgot to mention windspace has a bf sale gravel wheels for r12k so any other choice than the titan would go with that 

I think the spez is the one that I like best (design / both colours are good looking), 1x... but slightly more exepensive as well

Cannondale looks nice too, but both the Cannondale and the Titan have 2x setups that I'm not very excited about, plus the hollowgram is a bit of a mission to find a power meter for.

What bike would you go for and why ? And which reliable power meter would you put on (I might just put a xcadey crank if I can't find anything plug&play on the hub's ads

Why don’t you get some Mtb power pedals and kill two birds with one stone? Or assiomas, I do gravel with mine but to be honest I don’t recommend it. 

[Furbz]

1 hour ago, Jbr said:

I see those Parlee's in the ads sections quite often, they seem pricy for frames I know nothing about, but keen to hear about the BF deals you're planning  What rider size range is the 56 for ?

Heres some reading for you

https://bikerumor.com/parlee-chebacco-xd-le-review-new-sky-ridge-carbon-gravel-wheels/

https://parleecycles.com/why-parlee/

Parlee is a ultra high end brand based in the States - their claim to fame being the first frames to sub 900g and 800g respectively.

They also have been building fully customised bikes for years - as in measure you up, take notes on what you like for ride feel and fit and customise everything from tube lengths to any angles you can think of.

The pricing of these bikes historically is what has stopped these being available in RSA

unofficially they have been raced at the top end of the cycling world - painted as other brands...

(this was when weight was THE thing)

as for sizing - the best is to give me your Inseam measurement to get an accurate initial sizing - PM me and we can have a look at it

 

Edited November 23, 2022 by Furbz

[Jbr]

25 minutes ago, Sid the Sloth said:

Why don’t you get some Mtb power pedals and kill two birds with one stone? Or assiomas, I do gravel with mine but to be honest I don’t recommend it. 

I might yeah.. my MTB PM is so unreliable I barely look at the data anyways...

[milky4130]

1 hour ago, Furbz said:

As a side, i have a Size 56 and Size 52 Parlee Chebacco in stock that will be going on Black Friday Special.

this is really one of the best Gravel bikes out there

have Rival AXS, Force AXS and Ultegra di2 12s as build options

must I wait until Friday for the price of the 56cm?