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I'm seriously considering getting a gravel bike for something a bit different. Not interested in full roadie so I reckon gravel would do it. Bridleway, out with the kids, forest tracks, maybe pop to the shops?
Anyway, my main contender at the minute is the new Calibre Dark Peak that's due within the next few weeks. For £500, I reckon it'll do what I want, I ride Calibre already so know they are good bikes (this would be my 3rd!) and if I dont use it as much as I'm thinking I will, it's not a massive amount of £££s.
What I'm unsure of is, the brakes. It comes with cable discs, and I think I'd prefer hydro's (so other brand and more £££).
Does it make a massive difference for a gravel bike? And therefore have to look at other bikes? Would it help to up size the rotors and stay with cables?
I've also looked at the orange RX9 in my lbs, but at £1500 it's a price hike!
Any help/advice appreciated, and in true STW style, feel free to recommend what you ride!
Addendum: price/availability/when work sort their crap out and raise the limit dependant, I may look at cash buy or C2W as well.
Cheers all
Cable discs are absolutely fine I’ve used them on a Cannondale gravel bike, then bought a Salsa Vaya and put on trp/hd brakes which are great and you can upgrade later very reasonably if you need to.
I have cables on mine, as it's a few years old now, and they do the job, they work... They're actually really bad at the moment because there's no pad left and they're probably contaminated with all sorts, but that's another story. You get used to it, don't you.
In some respects though, whilst they might not get hammered so much as they do on an MTB, for what most people use them for, you don't get the same secure grip of the levers on a drop bar bike, which can make the best performance desirable.
And there's just the fact that hydros feel better, require less maintenance, etc. And cables are rare now, the tech is there, it's not like there's a lack of choice.
I think the Boardman has hydros at around 1k.
The RX9 is a lovely bike, but Orange are not really a value for money company. Buy if it's definitely the bike you want, but you can get more for your £ elsewhere.
For gravel bikes I'd look at Evans Pinnacles Arkose
https://www.evanscycles.com/pinnacle_b/cyclocross-bikes-category
Halfords Baordmans
https://www.halfords.com/bikes/adventure-bikes/?prefn1=brandname&prefv1=Boardman
and Decathalon
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/C-2604907-gravel-and-touring-bikes
You could also try Planet X. They often have bargains, but you have to pick your moment as their prices go up and down all the time. ACurrently their decent bikes seem overpriced to me, often they seem like absolute steals.
Anyway, I'd splash out for hydros if I were you, they're a lot less hassle.
If you have used proper mountain bike hydraulic brakes then you will find cable ones rubbish. Yeah, they work, but compared to proper brakes they are pants. I had some on my first road bike - basically the longer rear cable had more stiction / friction than the shorter front, so they felt unbalanced. Took some faff getting them to work well, you could feel the stretch.
Now I've a set of proper hydraulic brakes on my new road bike, which really are one finger jobs I cant believe I put up with cable ones for so long.
Trek do there checkpoint range which are great bikes also look at cyclocross bikes do the same job and lighter depends how steep your trails are if you can I would get Hydro brakes over cable anyday.
Thanks for all the input guys, will defo look at those links/brands suggested.
Was the only thing stopping me with the Calibre, which is a shame as my bossnut was ace, and my current Triple B is all the bike I could need!
I’ve just built up a Sonder Camino AL from Alpkit and am really impressed. It’s a very adaptable bike and rides well on anything between 25mm road tyres to 2.1 MTB tyres. They do a cable disc one for £950 or hyd at £1200. IME cable discs are not that great when compared to the performance and one finger power of hyd. Especially when trying to hang on down a bumpy track and brake! Having said that a mate has the TRP HyRyd and gets on ok with those. Personally I would go for the hyd if you can stretch to it as it generally works out a lot cheaper than trying to upgrade at a later date.
Edit: there was a great review for the Camino on STW a couple of days ago.
I'm fine with trp spyres. The back is weak but that is because I need to swap the cable. Decathlon pads are better than the originals.
Descending you should be on the drops any way and its then much easier to brake
I have ( relatively cheap) cable discs on my charge filter, they work fine, but definitely lack power compared to the hydro discs on my other bikes.
It’s worth bearing in mind that (smaller tyres) you will have less grip of course, so it could be considered a moot point.
I’ve fitted a larger 180mm rotor on the front, which improved things to ‘good enough’
I, personally, wouldn’t double my budget to get hydros.
Looks like the Calibre dark peak has Tektro MD-C550s which are basically TRP Spyres. Spyres properly ajusted are great brakes and will stop you fine. Not as good as hydros but better than bb7s
Looks pretty similar spec to my bottom end Spesh Diverge and a lot cheaper. Cable discs are OK, they will stop you and I would suggest are adequate for the uses you have in mind. I agree they are not as good as hydraulic and my next road or gravel bike (or upgrade to this one) would be hydraulic discs. But for your use and that price I would find that hard to resist.
BTW I got 2x Diverges (his 'n' hers) brand new, stock clearance for just over £1000, so look around at offers - though in these pandemic times that might be a long shot.
Thanks for the extra posts guys. I'm mainly of 2 minds as I don't want to spend loads on something I'll use less than I think, but at the same time, I dont want to wish I'd spent more to get something that little bit better! might go down the Calibre and bigger rotors route and see how I get on.
(That plus a lot of places seem to be sold out of pretty much everything!)
The Calibre looks like amazing value .. let us know how you get on.
I'd think carefully. Gravel bikes are just marketing bollox really, designed to appeal to the STW demographic, many seem to convince themselves they're exactly what they need though. Drop bars are crap, unless your only aim is to cycle fast, in which case they make sense. But for the riding you describe, just build yourself up a nice rigid hardtail. It'll be more capable, lighter and the components won't be bottom of the range.
I don’t want to spend loads on something I’ll use less than I think
I thought the same when Trek/work gave me one to use for 6 months. It turned into my most used bike, so much fun riding stuff that had turned boring on the mtb as that bike made things to easy. The adrenaline rush of riding stuff you probably shouldn't on the gravel bike is very addictive. So much so I stumped up the cash to by my own & the mtb doesn't get much of a look in these days.
Yes you can use a hardtail with thinner tyres or s hybrid but that flat bar and geometry makes it too easy and less fun get a gravel bike & the only thing you'll regret is not getting one earlier
Cheaper cable brakes on our CX / Touring things.
Both benefitted from aftermarket pads, one bike has better (Jagwire) outers on now and they are also better - a shame I cant get Gore sealed brake cable sets anymore.
The CX bike has done the Ochils and a Munro summit, it's also done a couple of road tours with big steep Scottish descents, often gets loaded with 2x big Thule panniers and 14st of me - the brakes work well enough. It's the tyres that struggle...
Plus, if my gnarcorelightgravelcxtourer was as capable as my MTB, it would be my MTB...
If you have used proper mountain bike hydraulic brakes then you will find cable ones rubbish.
Got Guide RS with 203/180 on the FS and TRP Spyre with 160/160 on the GT Grade gravel bike and yeah, they're not as powerful but I'd never call them rubbish! More than enough for level of offroad XC I do on it.
Given intended use of bike
Bridleway, out with the kids, forest tracks, maybe pop to the shops?
Not sure why people are obsessing over how powerful brakes are. I would happily do all those things with cantilever brakes...
Come on kerley you'd happily do them without brakes!
I totally agree though.
As for cable brakes...
My bb7s (road and mountain)are enough to send me over the handlebars if i grab a handful. That's enough brake for general usage.
Cable discs came on my topstone, knew they wouldn’t be great after years on hydro but I really couldn’t stand them. Just not the power I wanted and was used to. Come into a corner a bit hot and need a stab of brake? Tough luck!
I threw a full grx hydro groupset at it within six months.
Caveat being that I actually use my gravel bike on hilly off road rides and easy singletrack so need the control
titusrider
I threw a full grx hydro groupset at it within six months.
Might have been cheaper and just as effective throwing a set of good quality brake outers at it.
There's nothing magic about hydraulics. Both systems transport the force from the lever to the calliper. If the hydraulic system had crappy hoses you'd get the same result as a cable system with crappy outers.
Buy that Calibre! Looks great and if you end up using it loads and and still aren’t happy with the brakes sort them later on.
Are there actually any to buy just now?
Buy my 58cm Spesh Tricross with mini-V brakes and upgraded wheels. Ride it until the 2021 bikes are available and then buy exactly what you want.
😉
Struggling to see a link to the new Calibre Dark Peak, but for something in stock, I don't know of anything that comes close to £900 for https://www.merlincycles.com/wilier-jareen-race-tiagra-gravel-bike-179193.html with hydraulic brakes.
The Decathlon 520 was absolutely spoiled by pricing it only with hideous looking cable disc brakes, they would have killed the market with a 105 tier hydraulic set for £900-1k.
But for the riding you describe, just build yourself up a nice rigid hardtail. It’ll be more capable, lighter and the components won’t be bottom of the range.
Can you enlighten us with details of a cost-effective rigid MTB, please?
Preferably one that doesn’t need to be custom built or built from parts.
On every gravel bike or CX bike thread there's always a muppet who completely ignores what the OP wants and says get a fast HT or rigid MTB.
On every gravel bike or CX bike thread there’s always a muppet who completely ignores what the OP wants and says get a fast HT or rigid MTB.
I agree. They also tend to ignore the fact that there is almost no such thing as a decent spec rigid bike. (Although Spesh have just re-invented one! 😁 )
The Dark Peak isn't out yet, expected in store in a few weeks though (got from Calibre and GO separately) so am holding off on deciding until I've seen one for real!
I did consider doing a 29er rigid, but I fancy something completely different as well, and will most likely have more road miles than I'd like!
@dukeduvet, if I can work out how to do it, I'll pm you the specs (although I think it is up on Calibre's website, not GO)
On every gravel bike or CX bike thread there’s always a muppet who completely ignores what the OP wants and says get a fast HT or rigid MTB.
this is so true, the next comment you get is why buy a mountain bike from the 90s. I feel like if you don't have one you just wont get it. Living in london my gravel bike was such a saviour during lockdown I could do like 50+ mile loops form my house out of in bridal way and all that as good as my HT 29er is massive tyres its just too slow on the road.
and all that as good as my HT 29er is massive tyres its just too slow on the road.
Yeah but you could buy less burly wheels and tyres, and swap the forks out for rigid ones, and then experiment with a drop-bar and road shifters before realising that you could have bought a gravel bike in the first place. 😁
@crazyjenkins01 just checked the spec and for what you describe all functional kit that will do the job. I’m trying to build up a Marin Gestalt but that Calibre looks tempting!
I debated converting my hard tail and retro mtb for gravel purposes but a drop bar bike for the roads out to the countryside make it best option for me.
That said I do like coticjons soda gravel bike and a good example of using what you have.