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I have a new shape trek emonda and its currently sat looking sorry for itself. I don’t get the time to use it much for it’s intended purpose of climbing hills. It covered around 500 miles last year.
I like the bike and the way it rides but I think its the wrong bike for me.
Around me are canal paths, shitty tarmac and old railway lines. I think i’d be better served by a gravel bike and two wheelsets.
I want the racy feel of the emonda in a gravel bike. I’m currently looking at the cervelo aspero as a replacement as I think it will fit the brief 28c road tyres on 50mm rims for road and whatever it comes with for gravel.
Anyone else done similar? Or have the aspero and can comment.
I run 35mm and 50mm tyres on 700c and 650b wheels
The frame and fork are nothing special
But it really works for me. Steering seems fast and that adds to the fun of steering round routes etc.
Not all gravel bikes are heavy, carbon frame sets like On One Free Ranger and Boardman ADV 9.0, for example. With their supplied wheels, you could easily run as thin as ~28mm and up to ~50mm with the On One.
Don’t think every gravel bike is equal. There is grountain bikes and groad bikes and every type of g inbetween.
Sounds like your looking for something at the more groadie end of the spectrum so something like the cervelo aspero, new specialised crux or the new giant revolt would be up your street (the 2022 revolt is much more responsive, a little steeper and more lively, much more roadie feeling)
Don’t think every gravel bike is equal. There is grountain bikes and groad bikes and every type of g inbetween.
Sounds like your looking for something at the more groadie end of the spectrum so something like the cervelo aspero, new specialised crux or the new giant revolt would be up your street (the 2022 revolt is much more responsive, a little steeper and more lively, much more roadie feeling)
Stop using such grevolting portmanteau words.
Around me are canal paths, shitty tarmac and old railway lines...
honestly, sounds amazing.
Throw a little singletrack into the mix - when you feel like it - and you've got your own little corner of heaven.
Yes, get a gravel bike, immediately.
Been looking at swapping my defy for a Giant Revolt for this very reason, and the fact that the roads are seemingly getting worse and worse for careless driving!
The new Specialized Crux will do that for you. Pop some narrow tyres on and it's very near road bike performance, it ain't heavy...and tyred as intended its a great off roader. It could easily make a road bike redundant, though you may want to add a double ring up front compared to the stock options. The price is something to get thy head around but probably just about worth it given how good it is.
I have a road bike, fat bike, mtb and a cheap gravel bike (Arkose)
Since I bought the Arkose a couple of years ago a quick look at Strava shows its pretty the only thing I've ridden.
Round here (Brighton area) almost everything can be accessed by a gravel bike on 650b 47mm and faster than a mtb in most cases as some of my strava times show. Its way more fun to mix it up with road and offroad - leads to longer more interesting rides and gets you out to new areas.
I love mtb and if I lived in a proper mountainous area I'd have nice full suss and a nice road bike but in 75% of the UK a gravel bike is what you need.
I'm just about to add a faster gravel bike to my fleet, probably titanium and keep the arkose for commuting
I have a Sonder Camino AL medium with Rival 1 on 700c.
Comming off an Orange 5 onto a gravel bike was easier than I thought.
My riding has changes to flowly trals and moorland hacks out intersperced with road section.
Having purchased a second set of wheel with road tyres it gives me choices.
For me its been nothing but possitive and is close to only needing one bike (for me at least)
My rides now include bothy trips, single track adventures as well as road sportives.
I'm a happy lad
"I want the racy feel of the emonda in a gravel bike."
This sounds like a cross bike to me.
How do you quote on this site?
@endoverend. The crux looks a good candidate. The price is a bit up there. I was looking at the 3k mark and a spare set of wheels for road for <1k.
The crux takes me instantly out of budget.
Around me are canal paths, shitty tarmac and old railway lines…
honestly, sounds amazing.
Throw a little singletrack into the mix – when you feel like it – and you’ve got your own little corner of heaven.
Plenty of this sort of this around my way and it's ace on the gravel bike. Riding further and more often since I got my Ragley Trig. Makes riding from my door more fun and means I save the MTB for when I have time to travel.
"The crux looks a good candidate. The price is a bit up there. I was looking at the 3k mark "
Sigma have the 2021 model (comp) in stock in 54 and 56cm for £3600.
I ran a GT grade with two wheel sets for ages. The factory wheelset with 35mm gravelkings for gravel duties and a lightweight wheel set with GP4000 on for the road work really well.
Planning to do the same at the for my new bike but the cost of another wheelset, tyres and and SRAM cassettes is making my head spin.
The Sigma Crux is the previous generation model, not quite the same thing. Wouldn't expect much discounting on the new one as it's only just come into stock recently at many places in UK. Look on the bright side, whatever you get now will save you 10% compared to if you wait another year...or few months the way things are going.
Racy feel riding easy off-road equals..... Racy cyclocross bike.
I've got a Trek Crocket and is fantastic fun off road and a delight on road. Not even that expensive as it's aluminum.
I built my up my Crocket with a GRX groupset, as you couldn't get one like that in 2020.
The 2021 model looks flash!
I actually like how my Diverge makes fast road riding feel so relaxed. And off road it feels as planted as my Spark.
I was initially annoyed the crux-gravel came out just after I bought my Diverge but actually- I love the swat box, and now I’ve switched to 32mm conti gp5k’s it is still quick enough for me to be able to hang with the 24mph chainy.
Seem to be a few 2021 GT Grade Carbon Elite around and on sale for £1700-1800, GRX 2x10 with hydraulic discs. Add a second set of wheels from Hunt for £5-600 and you're set 👍
Agree with the CX bike comments. My only bike is a CX bike for that reason. I swapped all my components over from a road frame to a CX frame and while the road tyres were still on it felt very, very similar to the road frame. Put on some light 33c tyres and it still feels close to that but now it is great off road. I hate sluggish, slow feeling bikes so a CX bike is perfect for me.
I think the crux is just too expensive to justify. I want this to be as close to a zero cost swap as possible. The crux would mean an extra £1450 on top plus an extra set of wheels.
So it looks like the aspero it is.The choice now is apex 1 or grx600. This will be upgraded to axs/di2 in time.
Plus for the sram is cheaper by £130 and in stock.
Negative is, will 1x11 be ok for the road.
I'm not sure 1 x 11 is ideal for the road. Thats what I currently have on my Arkose and I spin out frequently plus the changes jar if you are used to a road bike. I'm looking for a fast gravel bike and it will deffo have to have 2 x 11
Personally for “fast gravel” definitely go 2x11!
I’m not sure 1 x 11 is ideal for the road.
All depends how fast you top out at and how hilly the area is. I run 40/12 and find it fine for up 25mph which is as fast as I can typically hold on the flat on the road but as mostly ride off-road I am never holding 25mph for long.
Conversely I have 40/25 as my lowest gear which gets me up all the hills where I live.
What that means is my rear cassette is 12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,21,23,25 so each change is very small and it feels great, especially not having to mess with a front mech.
All depends how fast you top out at and how hilly the area is. I run 40/12 and find it fine for up 25mph which is as fast as I can typically hold on the flat on the road but as mostly ride off-road I am never holding 25mph for long.
Most people (hardly anyone) won't be holding 25mph on the flat, 100% agree. But on the road I'll be putting power through the pedals on downhills as well. It'll be 40mph or so before I stop pedalling. I'm not giving that speed/fun away by not having a double chainset on my gravel bike. But each to their own 🤷♂️
Trek Checkpoint and set the wheelbase short. 2 sets of wheels.
I have a Crockett too which delivers but feels a bit short in the frame for long road blasts.
An update.
I was initially set on the cervelo aspero but getting hold of one was providing dificult. Plus spec for spec it was £700 more expensive than what I’ve ended up buying. With cervelo reputation for lack of quality control I didn’t think it was worth it.
I’ve purchased a scott addict gravel 30. I think its the only 54cm in the country so had to be quick. New bike day is Friday.
It has a dual ring up front and with the stock wheel set and my deep carbon rims should be all the bike I need for road and gravel.
@samuelr - how is the bike going? i'm in a similar position and am considering the gravel 30 or 20 (if I can work out if 1x will be good enough for road also!)
Cheers
Enjoying it so far. Had a couple rides on it and I’m pleased with my purchase.
I’m not getting on with the saddle but that’s personal preference
I’ve also changed the bars for zipp sl xplr as I already had them plus they are 100g lighter.
With the big 45mm tyre it was definitely harder going than a 28c tyre but again thats expected.
With a nice set of carbon rims and 28c tyres I don’t think I’m going to be missing a pure road bike.
I’m glad I have 2x on the road as I think the jumps would be too much on a single ring. I never thought I was so sensitive to cadence but it turns out I'd definitely miss the 2 front rings.
Here’s a pick as nobody likes a wall of text.
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Very nice 👌🏻
I’ve been enjoying my new Camino this week.
I very nearly went with one of these...
https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/road-bikes/endurance-bikes/endurace/cf/endurace-cf-7-all-road/3086.html
But in the end I went for a Grizl as I wanted the option of more tyre clearance (I prefer my gravel chunkier).
Thread title is all wrong! It should read:
Is the answer a new bike?
To which the answer is always a resounding YES!
(Subject to the mancave having space and S-1 not being breached).
Planning to do the same at the for my new bike but the cost of another wheelset, tyres and and SRAM cassettes is making my head spin.
A decent pair of wheels and quality tyres can easily be had for less than £500, cassette/discs are easily swapped - add in a carbon Free Ranger from On One and you're at £2k.