Transbaviaans - Mountain Bike or Gravel Bike

[Johan1983]

Simple question

 

Transbaviaans - Mountain Bike or Gravel Bike?

[Prince Albert Cycles]

16 minutes ago, Johan1983 said:

Simple question

 

Transbaviaans - Mountain Bike or Gravel Bike?

Wat wys die uitslae 😇

[HdB]

My rear end took a beating on the hardtail, don't think I want to add smashed wrists and severely chafed palms to the list of injuries...

And in terms of the winners - they shaved only a few minutes off their time on full-suspensions from last year, in probably better conditions this year. At the top of Bergplaas they only had 30 seconds or so on the next team, only on the smoother last section that they took a lot of time.

Personally I'm saving for a full-suspension, can always put a 36T or even 38T on if the plan is try try and go fast.

[peetwindhoek]

Arno du Toit’s comment after winning on a gravel bike: "It’s a bladdy hard ride on a gravel bike! But it is fast!"

[Spinnekop]

If you want to win, gravel.
If you want to enjoy.  MTB.

My 2c

[KingZA]

HT MTB with Dropbars is the perfect weapon!

[Skubarra]

1 hour ago, Spinnekop said:

If you want to win, gravel.
If you want to enjoy.  MTB.

My 2c

This ^

You will likely be faster on the gravel bike but the ride will be much harder on your body so you need to be used to ride that type of terrain on your gravel bike.

Did it on a gravel bike in 2024, on the day we only saw 2 other teams on the starting line with gravel bikes so we certainly felt like fish out of the water before the start 🙈

For long sections we were pulling groups of mtb's, they couldn't go faster than us but we also struggled to drop them. Surprisingly for me the gravel bikes were faster through the water crossings, often we would look back after a crossing and the mtb's were 10 meters behind us pedalling like crazy to catch up.

Through the reserve we were a bit slower on the rough terrain, up MAC & fangs I struggled because my gravel bike had limited gearing (something that I since fixed). The downhill after Bergplaas I was passed by a few mtb's but we caught them all again shortly after the downhill.

On the day I felt we were faster on the gravel bikes than we would have been on mtbs, but overall not by as much as we would have liked (or relative to the beating our bodies took).

So for me its still a bit of a toss-up, I don't see gravel bikes dominating the field anytime soon. Think most people will still opt for mtbs.

  

[MongooseMan]

Did it this year on a gravel bike.

Couldn't have built a much more comfortable gravel bike, 2.1" tyres, front suspension, etc.

I went in (naively) looking at the route profile and thinking the first 100k would be gravel bike heaven. It was not. Rutted, rough, all the things. And the bigger descents were a big issue, I was being dropped properly by my MTB-riding team mates (yes, some of that is skill, but some of it is bike too).

By the time we go to Bergplaas I removed my gloves to find 2 massive blisters.

Funnily enough, the second "half" (from Bergplaas) was perfect for a gravel bike. Long stretches of rolling smooth gravel. But by then the damage was done. Finished in 12:50.

I wouldn't do this race again on a gravel bike. You can, but the first half just isn't fun.

[nathrix]

Monster Cross could be another option with 2.35 front and rear?