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what bike for gravel?

25K views 31 replies 26 participants last post by  skinewmexico 
#1 ·
Signing up for some 100 mile gravel road races(rides). I'm 50 years old but do alot of road and mountain biking, also just bought a Salsa Mukluk this year and riding snowmobile trails to stay in shape.
My Question is what should I be Looking forr as far as frame material, wheels, style of bike more of a cyclocross or touring bike?
I am 5'6 and 160 pounds, Right now I am looking at a Masi special, Kona Major Jake, and a Motobacane titanium cross bike.

Any advice or help would be appreciated,thank you in advance. And as for the Motobecane, I been down that rode and had no problems with Bikes Direct and my lbs also got business with the parts i swapped out and maintance of that bike and my other bikes.
 
#9 ·
Andrea138 said:
Whatever road bike you have now +25c hardcase tires.
this. or maybe 28 if you really feel you need it.

Pic from a gravel road race. Most of the guys were on cx bikes.


I was on my regular Cannondale road bike with 25c tires. 87 miles, no flats.
The trick is to pump the up hard so they don't pinch flat.

 
#10 ·
^
for dirt roads that tame I might road tires too. Or more likely some tough touring tires in the 32mm range.

Dirt roads to me usually means national forest/fire roads which get way nastier with bigger rocks and potholes, as well as being in the mountains so fast and curvy descents where you want cornering traction.

So the answer is just "it depends." I'd look at what other people use for the specific races.
 
#12 ·
I believe a CX race bike is the best race bike for gravel.

I disagree with the guy who said that 25s or 28s are fine- the early season gravel races around here often have fresh gravel and/or large chunks of rock on them. I run 28s all the way up to 44s depending on the situation.

I'd want a bike that clears 40s at a minimum unless you are going to try to get by without buying a "gravel" bike and a road bike. Of course, your gravel bike should also make a great cx bike.

I had a Vaya for a while this year (you can see two of us in the dk200 special issue of xxc on them) and honestly prefer my dedacciai fire aluminum frame I'm now riding.

my 2 cents
 
#14 ·
I don't race but I ride gravel a fair bit. I have a Masi Speciale CX which I use for gravel and I like it. Most of the time I use 32c Panaracer Pasela TG tires which are probably not the best ones but work fine for me.
 
#15 ·
if the race is long enough you'll need more than that anyways- cambelbak bladder in a jandd frame bag works great! I also have the profile design dual cage setup that mounts to the seatpost. You can also just add a mount either by drilling or with an add-on.

This is a good point, but don't let the number of bosses determine your bike choice either... we'd all be on Fargos
 
#18 ·
KenS said:
Hard-packed? Use a cross bike
Loose or fresh? Use a mountain bike
I would base my bike choice on how loose was the gravel. I would want a bigger tire on loose small gravel.
^^^ This is the answer. I do LOTS of dirt & gravel road riding and it ranges (the same piece of road; different times of year) from hard-packed dirt that could be ridden ok with a regular road bike with 100psi 25mm tires to stuff that my mountain bike won't handle. When the roads are newly graded they're just about impossible to ride until some packing occurs.

So before the OP's question can be answered, the road conditions have to be factored in. And those, for me anyway, are a big moving target.
 
#19 ·
Mike TV said:
visit my home wheelbuilding site for Newb motivation.

"In most cases it is best to build standard wheels - standard wheels, but good ones - and not yield to fashion, folklore, or advertising." - Jobst Brandt. <!-- / sig -->.
Great looking site. I'm becoming inspired to build a wheel.
 
#21 ·
2silent said:
I disagree with the guy who said that 25s or 28s are fine- the early season gravel races around here often have fresh gravel and/or large chunks of rock on them. I run 28s all the way up to 44s depending on the situation.
In my gravelly experience, 2silent is totally correct -- the type and size of tire to choose is road condition dependent. In mid-MO, our gravel ride/races cover roads with everything from finely crushed limestone to rivers of golfball-sized rocks. I used to ride regular cross-bike racing tires, but lots of punctures later (the chert in our limestone makes little arrowheads that go right through tire casings), I have moved toward puncture-resistant 700C touring tires. I happen to like Contis -- their touring 700X32 and 700X37 tires work well for me (Touring Contact, Country Ride, Top Contact), but any of the big brands have similar models.

I personally think that tire tread pattern makes little to no difference on gravel (those little rocks are pretty squirmy), especially compared to tire volume and tread footprint, but that's just my take on it. Knobs do look cool.

Have fun on the rocks!

Dale
 
#22 ·
I did my first gravel ride/Fondo/race last march, I rode a cross check with 28MM gatorskins, worked well for the course, smaller smoother gravel and pavement, about half and half for about 80 miles, running a 48/39 front ring and a 12-26 rear 9speed, decent wheels, carbon fork w fender mounts I found on craigslist for cheap, didn't even take off the rack and fenders for the ride, and made it up some big hills just fine, along with keeping up in a fast pack on the flatter road sections, not super light, especially with rack and fenders which I should have taken off, but light enough, good easy geometry and it's a bike I've ridden since about 2001 when it started out as my SS cross racer, so it is really familiar ride to me.
 
#25 ·
#26 ·
Both are nice carbon framed bikes ... have you considered a Ti frame?
Titanium Cyclocross Bicycles | Road Bikes - Motobecane Fantom Cross Team Titanium


Why not the Fuji?
Save Up To 60% Off Cross Bikes - Cyclocross - Fuji Altamira CX 2.0 Cross Bikes



also in the $2000 range is this Wilier:
2013 Wilier Cross Carbon/SRAM Force/Rival Complete Bike - Competitive Cyclist



The latter has a 50/34 crank (the Fuji has 46/36). I'd prefer 50/34 for gravel but either will work.
 
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