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After 4 years of prevaricating about getting a new bike, I finally pushed 'Buy' on one of the half-price Ragley Trig frames on Wiggle.
I've always ridden gravel (with a road bias) but have done it on rigid hardtails and, as such, the whole 'gravel bike' thing has somewhat passed me by, so I have a few questions.
I'm in no rush to build the bike and am happy to hold on, waiting for suitable bargains, hopefully to have something useable for next Spring, but it would be good to know what I need.
Firstly wheel size (and I guess this has been done before) - 650b with a 2.1" max tyre or 700 with 40mm. As a casual observer of bike trends it seems that 650b are falling out of favour, but are the bigger wheels a no brainer if some 650b bargains come up? For reference I'm currently riding lightish 29x2.0".
I'm happily trundling around on a bike with 3x10 gears and kind of assumed that I'd go for a 2x groupset (GRX?). 11 or 12 speed don't make much sense to me with a 2x setup, but looking at GRX numbering/pricing (400 for 10 speed, 600/810 for 11 & 820 for 12) I'd assume that the 10 speed kit is lower quality. Is it decent enough or should I be looking at 2x11. Would I learn to adjust to a 1x setup? Also, is there any particular advantage to GRX if I could get a good deal on a decent road groupset?
There will undoubtably be many more questions - I've built a number of bikes for myself but have never had to deal with these new fangled tapered forks, internal headsets, thru-axels and full carbon forks.
I suspect to that I'll need help with setting things up. This will be my first and only dropbar bike since a Raleigh I was bought towards the end of the 1970s/early eighties. I take it I wouldn't be doing the Trig justice building it up flatbar?
Hopefully though I'll end up with something useable and enjoy the process.
You sure it's only 700x40 max? That's pretty narrow if you're going to use it off road with some decent tread for the muddier routes. on road will be fine though.
The great thing about gravel (pointless UCi world champs aside) is that there are no rules so if you want to run a flat bar then absolutely go for it!
I'm going by https://www.ragleybikes.com/collections/frames-2023/products/trig-gravel-frame-and-fork-2023 which lists this under the frame specs.
The built Trigs on Wiggle are 650b. Perhaps 650b is worth a think.
I’d go with the 650b wheel option - the more air volume you can get the better it will cope off road. If you run tyres that aren’t too aggressive then road will still be an option as I’m sure you won’t be 100% off road on it
ive got 40mm wtb nano’s on mine 700c wheels and they’re ok but the sendero’s on the 650b wheels are much more capable
re gearing - my preference is 1x. Just far simpler and easy to maintain. You still get 10/11-44T with 12x and a 40T front will give a pretty decent, all round, range of ratios.
I’ve moved my winter hack to 1x11 for that reason, albeit SRAM GX Mtb gearing, as i dont need the 52 front ring for the winter
I've got GRX 10 x 2. It's great. No worries about the quality and it has a clutch. If it's a bike you might ride on the road too, has nice close ratios on the block but a decent range with the 2x chainset. Recommended.
I’d go 650b with big tyres over 700c and 40mm tyres off road
In suspect that the frame is intended as 1x . I can’t see anything helpful on the website. It doesn’t mean you can’t have a front mech but it’ll need more thought and might effect tyre clearance.
The cheapest gearing option seems to be microshift if you can live with cable brakes. Otherwise it’s over to the big 2
If you do go 1x a wheel set with xd or microspline so you can run a 10 sprocket makes sense to me
Might be best to describe how you'll be using it, as that will determine tyre size and gear ratios. My Arkose is set up with 2x10 Tiagra and 37mm tyres, but I rarely do anything technical off road.
Tyre choice is so dependent on where/how/what you ride. My gravel bike and my road bike are the same thing- I’ve found something in the 700x42mm sort of region to be good for most things and have a set of 38 slicks if I want to go roadie-er.
Rocketdog’s builds always look awesome but on my personal and therefore pretty arbitrary scale are well into drop bar MTB territory and not what I’m looking for. (I’ve done the drop bars and 2.1 tyres thing and while it was a giggle trying it, for me most of the time it fell between two stools).
Which I think is a long winded way of unhelpfully saying look carefully at how other people are using their bikes and the only way to be sure is to try it.
I ran the standard 650b wheels on my Trig with 47mm tyres. Wanted to try 700c but never got around to it as the 650's were fine. Due to fashion changes there are some huge 650b bargains about so defo worth considering.
I had two gravel bikes, one with Sram Rival, the other Shimano GRX. Shimano wins that one hands down imo. I'm sure Shimano road group sets would be okay as well but GRX is designed for purpose. Flat bars are worth considering and bring the cost down significantly.
I built a trig as a flat bar with Shimano flat mount brakes (UR3000 I think) and 700x40 tyres, could go bigger at the front not much bigger at the rear, I heard 45 could fit but I'm not sure at the rear.
I already had the wheels but it did have the benefit of raising the BB a bit so less rock strikes off road.
I ran it as both 2x grx 400 with 46/30 and 11-34 cassette with tiagra flat bar shifters and 1x with 40t grx chainring (it's the same chainset for both) and and 11-46 with the 5120 mech
I did size up on the frame to go flat bar but was in between medium and large anyway.
On the question of grx levels, 400/600/800 is Tiagra/105/Ultegra in roadiespeak. Newest 12speed I’m not sure which bits are interoperable/ where it sits. You don’t need to pay the gravel tax if you buy the road stis/calipers and match them to the gravel mechs.
Edit again: if you like flat bar, just do that. MTB stuff is cheaper and easier to work on than roadie gear.
Get two sets of wheels, 700c & 650b, preferably on the same hub (DT Swiss may be your friend).
One more light MTB oriented, one more road riding on gravel oriented.
Thanks. I currently run a Singular Swift which I love but I ride virtually exclusively on road & the Swift is heavy and tends to fatigue me fairly quickly when climbing.
I want something more road oriented that will still cope with tracks & bridleways if require.
Merlin have some deals on DT Swiss 650b wheels that I might need to investigate. I assume that 650b wouldn't be a handicap on the road. Can only really justify single set of wheels.
ps feel free to point me towards any bargain wheels.
Rocketdog’s builds always look awesome but on my personal and therefore pretty arbitrary scale are well into drop bar MTB territory and not what I’m looking for. (I’ve done the drop bars and 2.1 tyres thing and while it was a giggle trying it, for me most of the time it fell between two stools).
True, I do ride anything I'd ride on a XC MTB but I do that on a bike with 700x42 tyres not just on the one with 2.1 mezcals. Both do have a dropper though.
I like the bike to be versatile so if I see some interesting off road when I'm out exploring I can ride it knowing I'll probably survive! Making the bikes more tarmac orientated seems a waste of opportunity and I might as well have a one dimensional road bike
I assume that 650b wouldn’t be a handicap on the road.
It might a bit. It'll only matter if you're riding in a group or looking for max speeds though, if those are not an issue for you no problems.
IMHO the benefits of a gravel setup are being able to cover ground quickly on and off road. If you try and make it ‘capable’ off road with fat tyres and 650b then you’ll just be making a nerfed MTB with a position that sucks for descending while making it substantially worse on the road. Your Swift already looks great for MTB-lite, if you want something faster road sections and the ability to go on tracks a gravel bike is perfect. It looks like Rocketdog up there has the opposite view though!
So for me, 700c, 35-40mm ish tyres with a minimalist tread pattern (I like Schwalbe G-ones).
I really like my 1x GRX (812) setup - I got it in a great deal (from Merlin IIRC). Looks cleaner to me and the ‘gaps’ in ratios don’t bother me in the slightest. I run a 42t front which is about right for me, though it’s easy to spin out on downhill road sections, and if you need an easier ‘crawler’ gear than 42x42* I’d probably go 2x. People coming to gravel from the road tend to default to 2x from what I’ve seen. I’m sure that’s good too.
*Actually thinking about it, can you put a bigger cassette on 1x GRX? Mine is ‘only’ 11-42 SLX.
Actually thinking about it, can you put a bigger cassette on 1x GRX? Mine is ‘only’ 11-42 SLX.
Yes, got 11-51 on mine with the same rear derailleur as yours
regarding 650b wheels - the Trig will be 142 rear axle, not boost 148. (Gravel has largely settled on 100/142 front and rear). So if the deals are on MTBish 650s, check they have the right hub...
Ok I remember the swift thread now. I find 47mm 650b tyres a good compromise. But I’m usually on the road between bridleways. If I was riding the road with the odd bridleway then maybe 700c would be better. But it’s not a huge difference on the road
It partly depends on how fast you ride. The faster you go the the more the aero drag off the bigger tyres matters. Luckily I’m really slow. So bigger tyres are great for me
If your not in a rush I’d try hanging looking around for 29er wheels on eBay. No one really wants rims narrower then 30mm internal any more so you might find a bargain new or used. Just check they can be end capped to fit your new frame
Sorry, I seem be thinking out loud and have spread myself over 2 threads but basically I've been riding gravel for years on hybridised hardtails. I'm a keen cyclist but have no skills whatsoever and have never ridden anything more off-road than a bridleway. For the last couple of years the Swift has been a road based bike. I may keep the Swift but I wouldn't want on-road and off-road bikes so the intention would be for the Trig to be an only bike.
4 years ago today I had a big heart attack out riding which damaged my heart, I went on to have 2 more, promised myself a new bike, but never got one. I ride a couple of times a week for enjoyment & heart health, it keeps the weight down and hopefully will keep me alive for longer.
The Swift is heavy (29lbs+) and I don't drive, so I ride from home. My rides are basically road rides into Wells and a climb onto the Mendips, then basically I ride home. In my younger, healthier days I made it right across the Mendips, down the other side & back up and home; I couldn't do that now on the Swift.
I want a bike that will get me up onto the Mendips with enough to spare to explore before coming back - basically to increase my range for similar effort, but I'd also want it to be able to withstand being bumped down a rough bridleway through local nature reserves and allow me to explore interesting tracks and trails on the Mendips. I don't need off-road technical finesse or Strava beating road times, just something nice and comfortable.
I get the feeling that either size would be fine but that 650b & 2" tyres wouldn't compromise my range significantly over 700c.
As above, no rush and a lot will depend on what deals pop up but I've got learn before I get the Trig built.
I've had 700 and 650 on gravel bikes over the years, fwiw I use 650s all the time now. About 70% lanes / 30% tracks in summer on G-One Speed 50mm, 95% lanes in winter on WTB Byway 47s. They're fine on tarmac, handle the rough bits of the lanes really well and are better on the bumpy tracks. imo it'll never match a good rigid 29er off-road on anything tricky or fast but the 650s help close the gap a little with no real downside for the road use the bike sees.