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I have a gravel bike with 40mm Raddler/Riddler but don't have enough room for a dropper with my short legs. So do I need a different gravel bike that has room for a dropper and possibly 650b?
I have a nice Canyon Dude on 4.6 Ground Controls which has plenty of dropper but feels very draggy on longer tarmac sections. So do I need to buy it some new wheels and run some fast rolling 27 plus tyres? (If I was taller I would say 29 plus but with these my Topeak Backloader would hit the tyre too soon if I dropped the post).
Ideally one of these bikes needs to do old fashioned XC, the odd 13 mile commute, occasional gravel, very very occasional long linear ride and be capable of the Jennride.
I have an Aether 7 for proper riding.
Oh, and I'm proper tight, so apart from the Aether (50th treat) whatever I do has to feel like a bargain or be achieved by selling one of the above bikes or adapting the other.
First World problems, eh...
Gravel bike as is. Sorted.
What's the brief here? Is it one bike to do the below?
old fashioned XC, the odd 13 mile commute, occasional gravel, very very occasional long linear ride and be capable of the Jennride
If so, sounds like a short travel hardtail job to me...
So do I need a different gravel bike that has room for a dropper…?
No, never felt the need for a dropper on my cx bikes
Do you not have room even for a short gravel specific dropper? A super-low profile saddle like a Charge Knife can give you an extra 10mm or more to play with, as could some shorter cranks
<Gravel bike as is. Sorted> Its not though sadly because I can't ride down steep rocky steppy sections with the saddle that high and gone are the days of constantly stopping to adjust the height.
I rode the Hathersage Alpkit ride on it with a dropper and limited the drop using a strap round the frame. From memory that gave me 30mm ish. It made a big difference on the lovely rocky section that Peak District MTB have crafted that leads you down to Cutthroat Bridge.
Not having a dropper is non negotiable, I like every ride to include something interesting. (I accept that this means different things to different people and that some people still never feel the need to drop there saddle, even on a mountain bike...)
Short travel XC is I guess what the Dude would be on different wheels. Its a nicely specced bike, how would it roll on fast tyres compared to the gravel bike?
How much of this
I can’t ride down steep rocky steppy sections with the saddle that high
Is in this
old fashioned XC, the odd 13 mile commute, occasional gravel, very very occasional long linear ride and be capable of the Jennride
My fear in making the Fatty more XC would be that a fatty specific wheelset and tyres, etc. might end up costing nearly as much as a half-decent hardtail.
Fatty!
And swap to pumped up 4" JJs they will be a lot faster rolling. Very similar to 29x3 in my experience.
If you managed to get 30mm drop, perhaps this would work with a low profile seat?
https://cyclingtips.com/2020/11/review-easton-ea70-ax-gravel-dropper-takes-you-50mm-closer-to-fun/
That dropper might work if I trim a little off the seat tube.
Kerley - most of my rides will have something like this, even if its a set of steps.
I've also asked on UK Fatbike FB and 4" JJ's have also been suggested on there so maybe the solution is as simple as that!