NBD - Plus advice for gravel newbie

When there's a slight climb, don't drop a gear, stand up and pedal.

Brakes should improve with a bit of use, certainly to the point where grip is the limiting factor not the brakes.

Get a dropper post 👌

Enjoy, you’ll be surprised what you can get it down with a bit of practice.

Are those grx brakes? If so they should be excellent, I can single finger lock up easily on mine, they’re as good as deore imo. Have they been bedded in properly?

Don’t sweat everything else, few rides and you’ll soon learn anything you need!

Enjoy 😊

Ride with elbows bent, not locked out, straight-arm style. Your arms are your suspension. Yes, you may need to build up some core body strength to help you stop taking all of your weight onto your hands.

I'll echo the responses about your brakes.

Personally, I'd not have the bars/shifters set up like that, but give it some time to find what you like.

Try using a different finger (middle one) for one-finger braking than you would on your MTB.

Agree with some of the above - off-road on as gravel bike is really good for your corse as you spend a lot of time in not-quite-sat not-quite-stood hover position.

And yes - when you get to a climb, the best tactic is to absolutely tonk at it stood up full gas, as the bike will respond so differently to an MTB which generally prefers the sit and spin. Enjoy, its good fun.

Agree with the comments that the grx brakes are plenty powerful but the tyres limit it compared to MTB with all that extra grip (imho)

For me, again imho, too much flare on the bars make the hoods/brake levers less natural in feel

Nice bike and enjoy the options it opens up

So what advice would you all give to a gravel newbie coming from a mountain bike background?

Don't assume you can go places your MTB will go and it'll be 'fun', gravel bikes are great at what they are intended for. While they can be fun on technical off-road trails, they aren't particularly good at them when compared to a MTB.

If your going to upgrade anything, get a dropper, it'll improve the off raid experience and also provides different sit positions when doing really long miles.

I assume OP hasn't ridden a road bike. I did the opposite, years and years riding road and MTB, then got a CX bike. Lovely and quick off road, but I forgot I couldn't take it where the FS goes. Ended up walking.

So what advice would you all give

Cut the grass. If its not your grass, cut it anyway 😉

Nice bike too BTW 😁

I'll also echo bedding in brakes. My Diverge has Tiagra's and they needed a decent amount of bedding in. Really powerful once done though.

Get on the drops for anything technical or downhill. This might need bars raised or a more road oriented helmet.

llama

a more road oriented helmet.

That's a good point, a peak is no help at all

My 'do it all bike' takes me on rides that are totally different from what I would take the mountain bikes on. Don't take a gravel bike to the local trail centre or similar - take it on gravel rides, on tours, to places and spaces that it is more suited to.

(That said, QECP Red on mine was one of the funniest rides I have been on....)

Personally, I’d not have the bars/shifters set up like that, but give it some time to find what you like.

That does look weird but also seems to be what is intended.  I'd be tempted to rotate the front of the bars upwards a little if it feels uncomfortable at all.

The Bar / Brifters do look awkward.

GRX brakes are great once settled in.

I find traction the limiting factor on most climbs I can pedal up - spinning with weight forward works better for me than stood-up stamping on the pedals, I run file-tread 40mm tyres though...

Get some miles under your belt and take it from there 🙂