Eyup,
So I took delivery of a new gravel bike (sonder Camino) this week and I've a few bits and bobs to do to it before I get it out in the wild.
First thing to say is that this'll.be used mainly gravel with the odd road ride. My plan is to swap in a second set of wheels set up with slicks for the road.
Anyway
Question 1
Road tyres. It's come with 45mm gravel tanwall tyres on it and it looks the shizz.
I'd ideally like some slicks similarly wide, hopefully tan wall, and the only thing I can find that seems to fit the bill are panaracer gravel king slicks.
However.... I've had those tyres before (thinner width, with tubes) and they were absolutely atrocious. If you glanced at them wrong, they punctured. There seems to be a version (TLR+ I think) that has some kind of puncture protection but I'm still very very skeptical.
Any other recommendations that would fit the bill? I could sacrifice the tan walls and/or go a bit narrower than 45 if it'll open up good choices.
Question 2
I need some nice big mudguards to fit the nice big tyres. Looking for fixed guards that can take some abuse off-road and not fall off or break.
Any recommendations?
So far I like the look of the sks edge AL, or kenesis do some similar flat alloy ones. Unsure if they are suitable for gravel abuse though (?) being alloy they are also a bit heavy maybe.
Bonus question 3
It's got 1 x 13 speed axs xplr on it. 10-46 cassette.
40t chainring, which I think is too small for the occasional road ride and I don't need such a low gear on gravel (at the moment my lowest gear is 1:1 on my current gravel bike and I find it fine).
I'm thinking of going up to a 44 probably but wondering if 42 might be enough.
Thoughts?
Sks edge al mudguards with schwalbe g-one all-round
SKS Edge Al are good (but don't think they'll cover a 45cmm tyre, unless there's a bigger version of the 'guard.
Also, they have quite a flat/square profile, so depending on fork clearance, may not fit snuggly under the arch of the fork and clear the tyre.
Otherwise, they're great, have been rock solid on my SS gravel bike (and on a previous SS gravel bike)
Cheers, I think they do a wide 56mm sks one
Hmm, looking at the profile of the fork arch I really doubt whether the 56mm sks edge will fit under there. Are they a very squared off as they bend around?
The Kinesis fend off wide look similar but are a bit narrower at 50mm and also are more chamfered - better chance they'll fit i think. Might go with them
You could do Pirelli P Zero 40mm slicks, or a GP5000 AS variant comes in 35mm.
I spent the summer running 40mm GK slicks tubeless, TBH they cut much too easily in nice weather if a bit of flint gets near them, Vittoria sealant seems to have helped a bit but they are still far too delicate IMO.
I wouldn’t trust them in winter conditions and I will be looking about for something similar but more robust for next spring. Currently I am fancying Schwalbe as I’ve had good luck with them on tubeless MTB and Gravel wheelets.
I’m not ruling out tubes (TPU) on the road wheels, but I’m sold on the big volume/supple road tyre thing now.
Pirelli cinturato either Evo or allroad also look like options
I have a Camino from a couple of generations ago (about 4 years I think) and run edge al56s. They fit ok but I did have to do a bit of bending to get them to fit at the BB/chain stay interface.
My main problem with them on the Camino through is that the rear creaks/rattles quite a bit. I think it's to do with the position of the fixing point on the seatstay bridge and the mount for the guards. I even swapped out the plastic mount for a metal on and it's still noisy. If you do fit something and it's quiet I'd be interested to hear what!
To add, I'm also running cinturato all roads and they are pretty good on road for something that isn't a proper slick. Am due to put the guards back on this weekend so will try and take a photo if I get round to it
Portland Design Works do a wide mudguard as well, available from Condor Cycles. Been happy with mine on road and gravel mine are 55mm wide.
Rattle free.
Lots of spares and bits available so you fit really well with a bit of patience. Once fitted well, they are easy to remove and put on again as well. Quite costly but they do last.
Depends on how sloppy or MTB your gravel riding gets. I've got the last gen Nukeproof Digger with clearance for 47mm tires. Shoulder seasons were okay with Ass Saver stuff (Win Wing was okay until it bent out of shape). Proper slop season is MTB Crud Catchers: seatpost mounted and downtube mounted.
For tires, how about Specialized's Pathfinder Pros? You can get them in 50s with tan walls.
I've got the standard blacks in 47 and they are fine for road and regular gravel off roading. Head up steep, loose surfaces and the lack of bite in the centre tread has them spinning and losing traction.
Came here to say Pathfinder TLR, 45c in tan wall. I like my older pros
Q1 - I have 35mm Conti GP5000ASTR on my gravel bike's road wheels (although now use them on another bike). I would have gone 40mm if Conti did them that big, I think PZero's are the only other ones I'd try but hoping Conti launch a 40mm version before the current ones wear out (to be fair I think 35 is actually fine, I run them at 50psi and they're comfy with a lot of grip - I'm just curious what 40's would be like).
Q2 - I was using SKS Chromoplastics on my gravel bike for road rides but didn't want something that close for off-road rides so took them off for off-road rides but that ended up being too much of a faff. Ended up moving those to an all road bike I have and just use an ass saver on the gravel bike. I'd look at SKS Speedrockers though for a set to use for both types of riding, obviously not as good as full length for wet road rides but should be close enough.
Q3 - I have 13sp XPLR to on my gravel bike, I don't find I spin out on 40x10 (I tuck in on fast descents and don't ride with fast roadie groups though), I definitely have needed the 40-46 though! If you're determined to go bigger I'd go 44t, I don't think you'd notice enough difference with a 42t. I'd give the 40 a chance for a few rides though and see how you get on.
Ultra wide square profile guards were a bit of a nightmare on my Free Ranger.
The rear needed cutting down (asymmetrically) to just a thumb width to get into the chain stay bridge / BB area. Someone with more inclination to more engineering bother on a Saturday afternoon might have found a more elegant solution.
The front I ended up cutting off behind the fork crown and then making a bracket to go under the fork crown (only a boss on the rear) to mount the cut off piece ahead of the crown.
It all worked but be prepared for a spot of pain in getting there.
Hmm, looking at the profile of the fork arch I really doubt whether the 56mm sks edge will fit under there. Are they a very squared off as they bend around?
They are indeed a very squared profile - they'd be improved by being more shaped to more closely follow a curved tyre profile IME. Saying that, they're by far the best of the SKS/cheaper mudguards I've used offroad: very little rattle, even at the MTB-y end of gravel riding. 56mm Edge AL worked well with the Clement X’Plor MSO 700x50 I used, which sized up around 53mm wide on 25mm internal rims.
Also, already mentioned above are PDW Full Metal Fenders. I wanted wider tyres on my Cascade so replaced the Edge AL 56s with 29x2.5 PDWs with 29x2.2 RaceKings. Pricy but solid and similar lack of rattle to the Edge ALs. Slightly rounder profile (the flat top isn't as wide as the SKS, with the sides/wings being longer) so might work better for tighter clearance frames.
Cheers all, spent yesterday after deliberating what to do.
Mudguards. I've ended up going with boring old sks chromoplastics, really because they're a known quantity, not spendy, an I know I can get parts for them
The Portland design works look best for sure however they're getting on for 4x the price of the chromoplastics, heavier, and I'm unsure about future parts availability.
Kinesis were closest after that but the front guard looks a bit of a bodge with the crimp in the wrong place, and again heavier and unclear on parts. Reasonably priced though.
Gearing. Went out with standard 40t and it seems bang on for general gravel riding. I also appreciated the lower gear for one of the steeper road climbs I usually have to stand up/grind on. I could sit and spin a decent cadence. I did find the limit of the top gear a couple of times on fast road descents.
Think I'll probably leave it with the 40 on for now, and see how it does on an actual road ride.
By the way the 1x 13 speed works well from road sections I did yesterday. Lower down the block it's very close ratio. In lower gears there are a couple of bigish jumps, but I think it's acceptable given overall much simpler system and really nice to not have to do any shifting at the front.
I've got Kinesis Fend Off on my Camino. They fit nicely and look good but they do rattle a little bit on rough ground. I mainly use it for commuting so not been a problem. There is maybe an easy fix.
Tyres wise I've stuck with the Goodyear Connectors that came with it and replaced like for like when worn. Seem fast enough on the road and good offroad. Perhaps I should look for a slightly slicker profile as I am 75% on the road but I haven't yet as I don't think it would make me any quicker!
Love the Camino, very glad I went for it.
Yeah I was very impressed with it yesterday. It's great on gravel (a lot more confident descending than my previous pickenflick)
I also found it fine on the road - felt nimble enough, a bit slow rollig based on gravel tyres but I think I'm going to be very happy road riding on it with faster tyres (I'm saying that as a dyed in the wool MTBer rather than a dyed in the wool roadie though)
Sorry for the delay, went to head out and fit the edge als this evening and gave up, realised I'd not tried them with these tyres and my ortleib quick rack and ended up giving up.
Regarding the front fork, not really noticed it before but your right, they are very square and don't fit that well. Overall I'm guard shopping again
Regarding the front fork, not really noticed it before but your right, they are very square and don't fit that well. Overall I'm guard shopping again
This is a fundamental problem with those that you'd think SKS would have addressed by now. I've got a Specialized Diverge that has quite a normal looking fork crown and the fit meant 56mm ones sat far too low to clear the tyre or have the bracket reach the bolt hole. 45's fit but not enough room for a 40mm tyre plus mud.
I've ended up with a WinWing but would much prefer a proper set. I've also spent a small bloody fortune on mudguards in the last few years!
- I think I'm going to go with the Sonder defender guards, should hopefully fit the Camino look a bit more like the sks chromoplastics in terms of fit and adjustment which whilst ok I never felt was the best
I think I'm going to go with the Sonder defender guards, should hopefully fit the Camino but look a bit more like the sks chromoplastics in terms of fit and adjustment which whilst ok I never felt was the best