Post your gravel bike

[Nobody]

@warthog

50psi in the tyre?!

Who and where was that mentioned with respect to gravel. My current bike has a 45r and 40f on it ~ 30psi each end is plenty. I will chuck a 45 or 50 on the front when it wears out if I haven’t got a frame that allows larger tyres than that by then. I am about 20kg heavier than you btw at 80kg.

First things first. Yeah that was my bad. Sorry. I was thinking of your 32mm tyred bike. It hit me when I was on a ride today, but you’d already replied. 30psi would be the same though. I got up all the hard ones today with 14psi. But I doubt I’d get up them with even 4psi more. I arrived at that pressure by testing efficacy. Not the fastest rolling, but not painfully slow either. I’m not racing or riding with anyone, so that doesn’t matter.

Yeah I used to be closer to 60 kg. But since doing a 5 day fast about 2 years ago I’m now closer to 70 kg. That messed me up. Another item of embarrassment.
Bike is 15.1 kg too. So no featherweight either.

[warthog]

@Nobody

First things first. Yeah that was my bad. Sorry. I was thinking of your 32mm tyred bike. It hit me when I was on a ride today, but you’d already replied. 30psi would be the same though. I got up all the hard ones today with 14psi. But I doubt I’d get up them with even 4psi more. I arrived at that pressure by testing efficacy. Not the fastest rolling, but not painfully slow either. I’m not racing or riding with anyone, so that doesn’t matter

I have dinged a rim previously whilst being silly with a 40mm tyre on the back at somewhere around that pressure. A bit of a jump and landed on a rock. The pressure I run is for the relatively smooth fast stuff I ride. Some climbing but nothing very steep. Almost always alone too these days. I still like to push myself a bit. That is part of the ejoyment for me, even as I continue to get slower.

@Nobody

Yeah I used to be closer to 60 kg. But since doing a 5 day fast about 2 years ago I’m now closer to 70 kg. That messed me up. Another item of embarrassment.
Bike is 15.1 kg too. So no featherweight either.despite

Your diet is still better than mine. I have 5kg of lard on board over 8k km this year so far. I should be 75kg but I eat too much.

[Nobody]

@warthog

Similarly the terrain he was riding in the video looks MTB terrain to me. I cannot see why their hardtail bike with a lockout fork wouldn’t be more versatile. Price I guess must be the determining factor.

Suspension forks are for going fast on singletrack. Which means you’re going faster when you crash (not if…). If you take it easy - which I do anyway - and pick good lines, you don’t need one. Plenty of travel in the arms and legs, and big tyres do most of the smaller stuff. Plus the rougher ride should help with bone density.

Yes, I should have bought a enduro dually - the most common MTB bike style - to ride on fire trails because it was more versatile with the same cost. But as you know, I’m not the norm and don’t desire to be - like the typical FOA user. You don’t learn as much by doing what the crowd does. I still believe underbiking is more fun. But I needed the minimum hardware to get up those steeper gravel hills and a standard 2025 gravel bike wasn’t it.

[Nobody]

@warthog

I have ordered the Ltwoo eGR groupo for the Revolt a 172.5 mm 1x with a 44t chainring and a 12s deore 10-45 cassette. Will post on here how it goes.

I’ll be interested to see how it goes. Obviously not my style, but they have plenty of other stuff on offer.

@warthog

Anyway enjoy your riding mate, and I hope it remains safe and fun.

Thanks. You too. Hopefully for many more years to come.

[warthog]

@Nobody

Suspension forks are for going fast on singletrack. Which means you’re going faster when you crash (not if…). If you take it easy - which I do anyway - and pick good lines, you don’t need one. Plenty of travel in the arms and legs, and big tyres do most of the smaller stuff. Plus the rougher ride should help with bone density.

Look I haven’t done much MTB, but I see it differently. Suspension improves comfort and traction. Falling off is the result of a mistake. I would take the suspension for less fatigue and more comfort and a greater reserve of traction. Perhaps you could also run less tyre pressure too with the suspension absorbing some of the shock load. Speed is a choice. In the 25k+ km on my gravello I have been on the deck once. No hands and eating at the wrong time on a high crowned road. A mistake I wont make in future.

[Nobody]

But we aren’t really talking about bikes for singletrack. We are talking about bikes to ride on gravel roads or fire trails. That’s why the Kona Unit and Scott Scale Gravel don’t come with them. Just like most road and gravel bikes don’t come with them. And neither of us are gravel racing, which may benefit from suspension. Especially racing on unknown, difficult roads.
We are just talking about recreational gravel riding. Especially at the low price points of the bikes discussed.
Are you going to get shocks for your Revolt or future gravel bike? If not, your decision makes a statement in itself.

Suspension improves comfort, traction, and therefore safety at the same speed. So people generally ride them faster to the limit they can handle with the fork. People do make mistakes as we can’t foresee everything that will happen on a trail, or has happened on it since we last rode that downhill section. Stuff like washouts, fallen trees/branches, rocks shifting or rolling onto the trail. Animals running out. Crashing is a regular part of MTB riding.

It looks like Scott don’t do any suspension forks on their gravel bikes, but Kona now do. I’d say that eventually most will end up with suspension, even dual. Eventually gravel will gravitate to be a drop bar and styling exercise of a short travel dually MTB. Let’s not fool ourselves.]

Having said that, I still prefer a rigid bike for its simplicity.
My bikes are bought/build for the actual riding I do. Not for the riding I aspire to do, like most dually enduro*/e-MTB riders. Or for the image. Not that I’m saying you do these things.

• Enduro bikes are just downhill bikes that are designed to be able to be pedalled uphill to the next downhill timed event. Since most bikes bought are these type, it shows that MTB has moved to being largely like downhill skiing on wheels.

[warthog]

@Nobody

But we aren’t really talking about bikes for singletrack. We are talking about bikes to ride on gravel roads or fire trails. That’s why the Kona Unit and Scott Scale Gravel don’t come with them. Just like most road and gravel bikes don’t come with them. And neither of us are gravel racing, which may benefit from suspension. Especially racing on unknown, difficult roads.
We are just talking about recreational gravel riding. Especially at the low price points of the bikes discussed.
Are you going to get shocks for your Revolt or future gravel bike? If not, your decision makes a statement in itself.

Based on the footage shown on the Scott Scale review that is exactly what we are talking. That is the hardtail frame without the suspension fork. As I said, I would take it with the suspension fork with a lockout to increase the utility of it. With such an upright position it would be unsuitable for the gravel riding I do. With the suspension fork those wide bars and upright position may be put to some use on more challenging, read MTB, terrain. Yes price would no doubt be more though.

The gravel I am riding here has very similar elevation changes to the road riding I do, apart from the O’Keefe rail trail that has less again. I am riding a (dirt) road bike on (dirt) roads. What works on the roadie transfers across very well given the terrain is so similar. I cop a bit of wind too, so appreciate being able to lower my upper body when it is in my face.

With respect to the gravel suspension fork, a couple of riders I know who work at the local Giant shop had Revolt X bikes with a short travel suspension fork. Apparently good on the corrugations we get at times in Summer on the dirt roads here. They have now moved them on, so clearly not that good for the gravel here. Running larger tyres on their bikes than mine will fit though. I guess it helps when you work at a bike shop and can buy bikes cheaper and then sell them on. Had 3 or so bikes in the time I have had my Revolt afaik.

[Nobody]

I’m not trying to convince you that flat bar gravel is the way for you, or anyone who clearly has different requirements and different terrain.

I had a look at the reviewer’s video again and you could easily ride a gravel bike on the singletrack he showed. We’ll just have to agee to disagree on that point.

I’m saying that the bikes I modify specifically to ride on gravel fire roads are gravel, or ATB bikes, if you’re more comfortable with that term. Currently the enthusiast average of MTB has moved to dually enduro racing bikes (see my previoius post I was still writing). There isn’t that much difference between gravel and ATB IMO, but Scott are using Gravel in the name to sell more. ATB would work fine as a description also, but clearly not sexy enough for many. Kona have one semi-drop bar MTB model in both gravel and MTB sections. MTB was a marketing term from the very beginning of the sport anyway. Klunker was the original name in the '70s in the US.

Getting back to suspension, have a look at the video on the Jones bikes site.

Jones Bicycles- The high performance Bicycle.

As for Jones’ comments on lower pressure being faster. Yes, on rough enough terrain. It’s a compromise between tyre flex losses versus vibration losses.

[warthog]

You appear to be very budget and safety focussed. Essentially you appear to have chosen what is basically a MTB without suspension because it is cheaper and has less maintenance costs and because it is less capable, so if you fall off you will be going slower and be less injured. Further the trails you ride will be more challenging because it is less capable. Is that a fair summary?

Cost is the main reason I wont be buying a suspension equipped gravel roadie. A significant cost to moderate some vibrations on corrugations is what it would amount to, for me.

I would like a MTB but cost is keeping me away. I have enough money tied up in bikes as it is and have enough safe, enjoyable riding to keep me happy without one and as you say, more likely to fall off too. My chalky bones wouldn’t cope well with that.

[Ernestra]

The closest thing that I have to a fair dinkum Gravel bike.
BMC URS EKAR !!! (What a mouthful!)

It’s very comfortable on the sort of rides that I do, although it does feel a bit floaty in the rear end sometimes, because there is an adjustable damper between the seat stays and downtube.

To me it feels a bit like the MTB that I had until a few years ago, but with drop bars and without the suspension fork.

I sold the MTB a few years before I got this one, mainly because the MTB was too big tough and heavy for the sort of riding that I was doing.

So I’m not into mountain biking. Not in this area, in the Qld NSW border area. There are small MTB parks, like Nerang or Uki.
But Nerang in on the Gold Coast, and i detest getting stuck in the traffic getting back from there . Also Nerang is very rocky, and sometimes very busy.

Uki is closer, but rather small and technical. It’s not at all rocky, which means that it can’t be used when it has been raining, which is a lot of the time !

So Gravel it is for me.

The local Railtrail is magnificent, but you hardly need a gravel bike on it, it’s quite smooth, but not too smooth.

What you do need the gravel bike for is when you venture onto some of the side roads that head off into the hills, perpendicular to the Rail Trail.

Some of these are seriously gnarly !

It’s really a local knowledge thing because what happens is that most of the side roads get graded once or twice a year.

Usually but not always they are smooth as for a period of time, but usually not for very long !

The gravel side roads that carry more cars or trucks go bad again very quickly. Especially the ones with lots of hills or curves etc.

So the side roads can be hard to predict, sometimes they are very good, and sometimes they are very bad !

The picture above was taken at the end of a forestry road. As you can probably see, it turns into a walking track.

Which is very rough and very steep for several hundred metres before it eventually links up with another bush road on the other side of the hill.

I would tend not to proceed any further with a relatively expensive bike like this, because you have to clamber up a rocky slope on your hands and knees, hauling the bike.

If you slip and drop the bike, it’s going to go bouncing down the rocks for about 20 metres.

Which is not within the design parameters of a modern gravel bike !

[Nobody]

@warthog

You appear to be very budget and safety focussed. Essentially you appear to have chosen what is basically a MTB without suspension because it is cheaper and has less maintenance costs and because it is less capable, so if you fall off you will be going slower and be less injured. Further the trails you ride will be more challenging because it is less capable. Is that a fair summary?

I bought what I will call an ATB (which typically don’t have suspension) because I don’t need suspension. Big enough tyres are good enough. I bought it not because it was cheap, but because I thought it would be the best tool for where I ride. If I was concerned about safety, then I wouldn’t ride a motorcycle more than I drive a car. Suspension on bikes for recreational gravel and singletrack riding is overrated IMO.

$3K wasn’t a cheap purchase for me. I could have got a Polygon Trail dually for the same price. But I would have been overbiked, which is less challenging and therefore less fun.

[warthog]

We are very different, but we knew that.

Your overbiked is my more capable, more versatile and more comfortable. Still, it would be boring without difference.