Gravel & Monster Cross Custom Bike Shootout!

[NotSoBigBen]

18 minutes ago, Bub Marley said:

This looks pretty cool. Kinda looks like a gravel bike to be honest.

 

You wanna maybe give a breakdown of what you did to get the front end lower?

As @Dexter-morgan said just a shorter airshaft .... I spend some (a lot of) time just trying things out. Had bits and pieces of fork lying around and happened to have a shorter one in my box of bits. Fitted it and that was the result.

[Wannabe]

But now it's just a hardtail with a short travel front and drop bars.... 🙊😇

[Bub Marley]

13 hours ago, Wannabe said:

But now it's just a hardtail with a short travel front and drop bars.... 🙊😇

With wider tyre clearance. That’s the key.

 

Honestly, this gravel thing is just too complicated. I’ve come to the realization that the variation in terrain and the term gravel is just far too wide and complex. You are never gonna have the best bike for all surfaces. Whichever route you ride on, you gonna be compromised somewhere. I think I’ve come to the realization now, that unless you are racing and competing right at the front, a rigid bike with smaller tyre clearance is going to be fast but uncomfortable. So for 90% of people, any form of suspension be it in a fork or wider tyres is going to make for a much better ride.

[NotSoBigBen]

18 hours ago, Wannabe said:

But now it's just a hardtail with a short travel front and drop bars.... 🙊😇

I build bikes for me, my curiosity and for fun ... I'm not too bothered about the technicalities around each discipline or type of bike

I must be honest though the only classification that hasn't piqued my interest is anything like down/up country 🤪

[Wannabe]

2 hours ago, NotSoBigBen said:

I build bikes for me, my curiosity and for fun ... I'm not too bothered about the technicalities around each discipline or type of bike

I must be honest though the only classification that hasn't piqued my interest is anything like down/up country 🤪

I have a similar setup/build, only no suspension infront, so rigid all round. Used my old HT frame and whatever I had floating around to build my "OKKIE" hybrid (it's okkie a Mtb, or okkie a roadbikie)

Yeah, I'm of similar view, I build and ride what appeals to me, not the fashionados....

 

[Mongoose!]

[Dexter-morgan]

Just a bit of feedback on my rides on the bike I built so far, we went for a training ride this sunday, took a ride from the east to Rosebank and did the switchbacks up the linksfield koppie(according to to strava it is 1km long @9% average gradient); Man, this bike is comfy, I did the climb with the 1x gears all the way up, all I can say is, I am loving the bike.

[Bub Marley]

In terms of converting my hardtail to dropbars, i currently have a Sram X01 11spd rear derailleur. I assume if i slap on either an Apex or Rival 11 speed shifters, it will work with Sram’s cross compatibility. The current derailleur is quite an old spec though. Probably around 2016 model.

 

Besides the shifters and brakes, is there anything else that would need to change? I know i need the adaptor for the post/flat mount brakes as well.

[Mongoose!]

Sram 10 speed has a 1:1 pull ratio for road and mtb. I been mixing Sram 10 speed road and mtb shifters and derailleurs for ages. works 100%. 

Not sure if it is still the case with 11 speeds

Mixing Shimano 8 ; 9 ;10 and 11 speed  mtb and road components is a minefield in terms of pull ratio's...

Fun fact:

With my very first monster bike built (can be 12 to13 years back) inspired by a thread on the old Hub (before the website crashed) I have used:

Giant XTC aluminium 29er frame and a rigid carbon fork 

Sora 8 speed (shifters and derailleur)

Mechanical cable disc brakes 

The braking was really bad with a lot of flex 

At the end the flexing was not the brake cable as many will assume, but the plastic STI levers...

Changed to Sram Red 10 speed carbon shifters and the difference in braking performance was like night and day (using the same cables and brake callipers)

 

[Dexter-morgan]

59 minutes ago, Bub Marley said:

In terms of converting my hardtail to dropbars, i currently have a Sram X01 11spd rear derailleur. I assume if i slap on either an Apex or Rival 11 speed shifters, it will work with Sram’s cross compatibility. The current derailleur is quite an old spec though. Probably around 2016 model.

 

Besides the shifters and brakes, is there anything else that would need to change? I know i need the adaptor for the post/flat mount brakes as well.

I have used my MTB calipers with Road shifter/brake levers and it works like a charm.

[NotSoBigBen]

1 hour ago, Dexter-morgan said:

I have used my MTB calipers with Road shifter/brake levers and it works like a charm.

Mechanical or hydraulic?

[Dexter-morgan]

2 minutes ago, NotSoBigBen said:

Mechanical or hydraulic?

HYDRAULIC

[Bub Marley]

1 hour ago, Dexter-morgan said:

I have used my MTB calipers with Road shifter/brake levers and it works like a charm.

So my brakes are Shimano. Drivetrain is sram. Don’t think Sram road shifters will be compatible with Shimano calipers?

[Dexter-morgan]

2 minutes ago, Bub Marley said:

So my brakes are Shimano. Drivetrain is sram. Don’t think Sram road shifters will be compatible with Shimano calipers?

I think they could be, both use mineral oil, just hope that the diameter of the hose is the same, then make sure to get the correct olive and pin insert to meet the SRAM brake levers, you should be OK.

[guidodg]

49 minutes ago, Dexter-morgan said:

I think they could be, both use mineral oil, just hope that the diameter of the hose is the same, then make sure to get the correct olive and pin insert to meet the SRAM brake levers, you should be OK.

Sram uses mineral oil? All my Sram brakes are DOT

[Dexter-morgan]

3 minutes ago, guidodg said:

Sram uses mineral oil? All my Sram brakes are DOT

Then I must apologize, I have very little experience on SRAM, I have only worked on one road bike with hydraulic SRAM and it looked like mineral oil.

Then they are not compatible.