Gravel Bikes - Advice Needed Please

[Long Wheel Base]

Majority of the Shimano bikes will come 2x and the ones running Sram 12 speed will be 1x.

 

Some of them are also CX spec’d bikes and those will be 1x, you’ll hardly find anyone racing CX with 2x.

Hmm, these are the guys currently winning CX. What CX do you watch?

 

Michael 2x

 

Mathieu 2x

 

Tom 1x

 

Wout 2x

[Long Wheel Base]

Jeeeeezzzz how do they manage to change front gears in that conditions sometimes?

Bike changes at almost every pit stop. Some courses have 2 pits per lap and I have seen them change bikes twice on a lap before. This weekend, some of the men changed their bikes at the first stop which was after about 2 min of racing!

At worlds, MvdP was changing his bike twice a lap almost every single lap.

[Dirt Tracker]

trying to make their road/gravel/cx bike as MTB as possible

Ouch. That cuts. Does my 1 x. Eagle set up and the fact the frame is a Niner MCR from back in the day now make me an abomination to both gravel, CX and MTB cool kids. I feel like I might have strayed into the cycling equivalent of a hand shaped, PU, bodyboard with rope handles and glasses on bonzer fins.

[Grumpy4]

I have been on gravel for a while and find that riding Giba gorge single track as well as valley of thousand hills with dirt roads, single track and tar that 2x front chainrings are the best , I have a cannondale cadx 105 and more recently I have trek Checkpoint which to me is the ultimate all round bike. Cx bikes are limited in terms of tyre clearance which is not the case with gravel bikes. If I was told I could have only one bike in my stable I would choose my Trek checkpoint gravel bike.

Edited December 29, 2020 by Grumpy4

[Grumpy4]

I have ridden with a few guys with similar conversations and they swear by them and just cope with everything thrown at them , seen a few NIners around they seem to be great for conversion to gravel bikes.

Ouch. That cuts. Does my 1 x. Eagle set up and the fact the frame is a Niner MCR from back in the day now make me an abomination to both gravel, CX and MTB cool kids. I feel like I might have strayed into the cycling equivalent of a hand shaped, PU, bodyboard with rope handles and glasses on bonzer fins.

[Jewbacca]

Ouch. That cuts. Does my 1 x. Eagle set up and the fact the frame is a Niner MCR from back in the day now make me an abomination to both gravel, CX and MTB cool kids. I feel like I might have strayed into the cycling equivalent of a hand shaped, PU, bodyboard with rope handles and glasses on bonzer fins.

hahahaha That belly board could be pretty cool!

 

I always thought the Ninja face was the equivalent of a big wooden spoon. 

 

Like Wayne said, he rides mostly gravel and he loves his 1x12. This is one of those 'no right answer' threads. It's a bike. I'm 100% sure if you start with 1x you will be tempted to try 2x and vice versa. It's just one of those things.

 

I have gone 1x and 2x and prefer the 2x purely because it offers me loads of options re road wheels/gravel wheels and good IDT ratios all in one.

 

50/34 on the front with an 11-28 for road and 11-36 for gravel. Sorted

 

That said I ran 42  with an 11-46 cassette before that and it was great as a pure gravel bike. I just tended to run out of gears on the tar sections

[Dirt Tracker]

That said I ran 42  with an 11-46 cassette before that and it was great as a pure gravel bike. I just tended to run out of gears on the tar sections

 

That is the draw back. I've got an 11 - 50 on the back and might look to up size of the front ring to balance it out. I'm not looking at the bike for long days in the saddle more single track hits where you'd normally take a hardtail for a quick spin. 

[Monark]

Jewbaca that is the perfect summary... there is no "right answer". You are a legend. Ride what suits you and where you ride.

[SwissVan]

Jeeeeezzzz how do they manage to change front gears in that conditions sometimes?

Use the other hand

Can u believe that people used to race XC (before XCM was a category) with 3x

S’true as Bob

[BikeisLife]

Hmm, these are the guys currently winning CX. What CX do you watch?

 

Michael 2x

MV.PNG

 

Mathieu 2x

MvdP.PNG

 

Tom 1x

TP.PNG

 

Wout 2x

WvA.PNG

I clearly need glasses...

[Long Wheel Base]

I clearly need glasses...

Depends where you saw or heard the info. I have often seen press shoots or bike launches where the bikes equipment or setup is far from what the rider actually races. Before Wout moved to Jumbo, the bike you always saw him posing with and doing "adverts" with was 1x but he still raced a 2x and tbh as soon as the mud hits that bike it is hard to tell if he has a FD or a chain guard of sorts(Look closely at Pidcocks bike, he has a little chain keeper/guard thingy)

[The Ghost]

hahahaha That belly board could be pretty cool!

 

I always thought the Ninja face was the equivalent of a big wooden spoon.

 

Like Wayne said, he rides mostly gravel and he loves his 1x12. This is one of those 'no right answer' threads. It's a bike. I'm 100% sure if you start with 1x you will be tempted to try 2x and vice versa. It's just one of those things.

 

I have gone 1x and 2x and prefer the 2x purely because it offers me loads of options re road wheels/gravel wheels and good IDT ratios all in one.

 

50/34 on the front with an 11-28 for road and 11-36 for gravel. Sorted

 

That said I ran 42 with an 11-46 cassette before that and it was great as a pure gravel bike. I just tended to run out of gears on the tar sections

It was your comments and advice earlier in the year which helped me decide on going 2x and pretty much every ride I am grateful for it.

There are often moments when I shift and feel that the bigger jumps of a 1x would make it too difficult / easy to maintain a cadence I’d like.

[emoji482]

[Jewbacca]

It was your comments and advice earlier in the year which helped me decide on going 2x and pretty much every ride I am grateful for it.

There are often moments when I shift and feel that the bigger jumps of a 1x would make it too difficult / easy to maintain a cadence I’d like.

[emoji482]

hahaha I'm glad I was useful at some point this year!

[Eugene]

Use the other hand

Can u believe that people used to race XC (before XCM was a category) with 3x

S’true as Bob

Once the 1x hype has died down and manufactures need something new to market, 3x will be back.

[NotSoBigBen]

Changed my steel gravel bike from a 1× 42x11-32 to a 2x 44/32×11-32

 

Only managed a short rain interrupted ride this morning and even then I noticed how much I enjoyed having such a wide range of gears! Should have done it a long time ago ...

[mecheng89]

Hmm, these are the guys currently winning CX. What CX do you watch?

 

Michael 2x

MV.PNG

 

Mathieu 2x

MvdP.PNG

 

Tom 1x

TP.PNG

 

Wout 2x

WvA.PNG

Are they riding tubbies? 

 

But from the 'cross I've been watching, these guys make it look so easy. MvdP puts the power down and leaves everyone in his wake.