One Bike to Rule Them All

[Paul Ruinaard]

3 hours ago, bozzopi1 said:

Gravel bike is not meant to replace mtb or road bike. But it will do 70% of what mtb can do and 90% of what road bike can do. It will also take you on adventure when you need to have one or even to work and back, if that is your thing. It won't cost you arm and leg for maintenance. It will save you space and money, coz u can have one bike instead two. That is the main thing about the Gravel bike. I done many mtb races with mine and I done them equally well as any other xc mtb. I done many road races with my Gravel bike also. I just change tires from 29x2.2 to 700c 28mm and ride on road. That is the whole thing about the Gravel bike. It is one bike that can reasonably well do everything you put in front of it, and save you some space and money while doing. Coz not all of us can have or want to have N+1.

IMO gravel bikes are like double cab bakkies in reverse. People drive them because they aspire to a lifestyle and want to go offroad over weekends and the like - camping etc with all sorts of accessories. But as cars they are not really comfortable. However they spend 90% of their life on tar and commuting. 

If you put the right tyres on them you can go in to remote areas and if you bush kit them then they become very impractical for day to day use.

Gravel bikes are the same - they are really limited if the terrain gets rough when you need some suspension and an MTB does better, and limited on road. You will always be swapping tires and rims which is admin. You will always be under geared for serious road riding and have high rolling resistance. Off road your mates on an MTB will be much less limited than you when it gets slightly rough.

BUT: gravel is a new trendy thing, like fatbikes. More marketing and hype than technical merit in them but hey they are catching on. I have built and ridden a  CX bike on and off road and sold that for the above reason. Great fun but other than that no real benefits,  and then again two years ago built and entry level gravel bike with spares i had lying around.  I still have it. The thing is it is neither fish not fowl and eventually you will find an MTB does stutter bumps better and a road bike does road racing better.

IMO gravel will go the way of fatbikes when people work out they aren't really much more than a mental image of adventuring down a dirt road, so there is never going to be one bike to rule them all - more like another reason to build a bike and have another one on the wall. Mine sits on my Wahoo.

[DJR]

How do you know my cars and my bikes so well?!????

Edited July 6, 2021 by DJR

[Nico van Loggerenberg]

I tried this too and loved it. A gravel bike with 3 wheelsets:

• narrow, aero road with road tyres
• 700c gravel with 40mm tyres
• 650b with 2" XC tyres

BUT

I have enough space and patience for 3 bikes, so why wouldn't I have them? I love bikes. The more the merrier. There is no point restricting myself to just one when you enjoy the maintenance and the variety

[Stretched@Birth]

4 hours ago, bozzopi1 said:

We are based at Tedderfield Airpark. Eikenhof 

I'm in Alberton, so just down the road.  Will give you a shout and come and take one of your bikes for a spin.  Were you not at Grumpy on Friday afternoon collecting some parts?

[Baracuda]

4 hours ago, MTBeer said:

I see okes coming down from the Blockhouse on Table Mountain (for the up-country guys, it's a high speed rocky jeep track) on Gravel Bikes, getting the sht shaken out of them, and I think to myself "why?"

That was me doing a lap of the mountain From Camps Bay to Newlands, I really don't enjoy the dodge bit through the City, Salt River etc. I rather go up the back side of Signal Hill, past the cable way, down below the Block House and through. From the tar to Rhodes Mem is not great, but better than Salt River alone.

I really wish the City or Parks Board would tar / pave a section from Rhodes Mem to the end of the cable way road. It would be fantastic for commuting and cut out the dodge sections.

 

Edited July 6, 2021 by Baracuda

[Mongoose!]

Life's too short to only have one bike...or ride with "training wheels"...????

[MTBeer]

12 minutes ago, Baracuda said:

That was me doing a lap of the mountain From Camps Bay to Newlands, I really don't enjoy the dodge bit through the City, Salt River etc. I rather go up the back side of Signal Hill, past the cable way, down below the Block House and through. From the tar to Rhodes Mem is not great, but better than Salt River alone.

I really wish the City or Parks Board would tar / pave a section from Rhodes Mem to the end of the cable way road. It would be fantastic for commuting and cut out the dodge sections.

 

Do you have a hipster beard?

no! Please no tar! Rather sort out the dodge sections. That would benefit more people.

[bozzopi1]

2 hours ago, Mountain Bru said:

Didn't you say your gravel bike has 2.4 tyres on it... Which is awesome! But at some point it's dangerously close to just being a hardtail with drop handlebars. 

I m on 2.2 tyres now. 2.4 tend to feel too slow on the road so I took them out. 2.2 is just ok for everything I do with my bike. Hardtail with drop bars. ???? I think they call them now "progressive geometry gravel bikes" ???? 

[bozzopi1]

1 hour ago, Stretched@Birth said:

I'm in Alberton, so just down the road.  Will give you a shout and come and take one of your bikes for a spin.  Were you not at Grumpy on Friday afternoon collecting some parts?

That was James.

[Danger Dassie]

6 hours ago, bozzopi1 said:

Gravel bike is not meant to replace mtb or road bike. But it will do 70% of what mtb can do and 90% of what road bike can do. It will also take you on adventure when you need to have one or even to work and back, if that is your thing. It won't cost you arm and leg for maintenance. It will save you space and money, coz u can have one bike instead two. That is the main thing about the Gravel bike. I done many mtb races with mine and I done them equally well as any other xc mtb. I done many road races with my Gravel bike also. I just change tires from 29x2.2 to 700c 28mm and ride on road. That is the whole thing about the Gravel bike. It is one bike that can reasonably well do everything you put in front of it, and save you some space and money while doing. Coz not all of us can have or want to have N+1.

Very generalised but for most of the typical riding around definitely.
I've a Cotic X which is a CX bike that I've been using for gravel, road etc ... before gravel bikes were becoming more mainstream. Also on hand is a Cannondale Topstone, both bikes have their own character but I'm constantly loving how versatile they can be. NF black, van Gaalen River Trail/Concrete Road/Greek Church/River Trail and routes at Buffelsdrift have been ridden. Loads of fun. 

For me a decent gravel bike is fun and stimulating on otherwise unchallenging trails/routes for the MTB. It makes you pay more attention and apply the fundamentals like choosing a line etc .... this translates to MTB when taking it out on a proper ride. 
Plus is saves on wear/maintenance for the MTB. 

Coincidentally Sling was on my radar for a while, a colleague of mine actually pipped me to the post with a profile on you guys. Lovely to see more local craftsmanship out there, wishing you guys the best! 

[splat]

Apologies for being a bit late to the party

https://cyclingmagazine.ca/sections/gear-reviews/bikesframes/dangerpubes/

Amazing attention to detail on this do-it-all machine

[bozzopi1]

22 minutes ago, Danger Dassie said:

Very generalised but for most of the typical riding around definitely.
I've a Cotic X which is a CX bike that I've been using for gravel, road etc ... before gravel bikes were becoming more mainstream. Also on hand is a Cannondale Topstone, both bikes have their own character but I'm constantly loving how versatile they can be. NF black, van Gaalen River Trail/Concrete Road/Greek Church/River Trail and routes at Buffelsdrift have been ridden. Loads of fun. 

For me a decent gravel bike is fun and stimulating on otherwise unchallenging trails/routes for the MTB. It makes you pay more attention and apply the fundamentals like choosing a line etc .... this translates to MTB when taking it out on a proper ride. 
Plus is saves on wear/maintenance for the MTB. 

Coincidentally Sling was on my radar for a while, a colleague of mine actually pipped me to the post with a profile on you guys. Lovely to see more local craftsmanship out there, wishing you guys the best! 

Thx. You are welcomed to come and  go for a ride with me and James on one of our demo bikes.

[Baracuda]

1 hour ago, MTBeer said:

Do you have a hipster beard?

no! Please no tar! Rather sort out the dodge sections. That would benefit more people.

They likely to pave the single track below the blockhouse soon. Part of erosion management in the area.

And no I don't have a hipster beard or wear checked shirts on bikes.

[Danger Dassie]

13 minutes ago, bozzopi1 said:

Thx. You are welcomed to come and  go for a ride with me and James on one of our demo bikes.

On the Sling route... you betcha! 

[bozzopi1]

5 minutes ago, Baracuda said:

They likely to pave the single track below the blockhouse soon. Part of erosion management in the area.

And no I don't have a hipster beard or wear checked shirts 

I done that ride also and I have a beard. ???????? I think that wasthe same time when I took this photo.

[Mountain Bru]

3 hours ago, splat said:

Apologies for being a bit late to the party

https://cyclingmagazine.ca/sections/gear-reviews/bikesframes/dangerpubes/

Amazing attention to detail on this do-it-all machine

This bike is definitely the one that rules them all...... In it's own head....... ????

Thats such a good place to store a spore inner tube though. It might be heard to mount though, but I'm sure if you drill a hole through the rolled up tube and use a big washer, it'll stay in place.