Swapping wheelsets on Gravel bike - gearing issues?

You will almost certainly need different length chains to accommodate the 8/10 tooth difference.

You may also need to re-index the gears slightly due to differences in the hub tolerances and, as you say, adjust the brakes (although you might be able to get away with shimming the discs).

You will almost certainly need different length chains to accommodate the 8/10 tooth difference.

Cheers - hadn't even thought of this - will keep both cassettes the same then.

see if your budget will stretch to having identical rear hubs.

Or getting the cassette/disc shimmed.
Swapping wheels always sounds good until you need to adjust the gears and caliper Every. Single. Time.

(Source, i had three sets of wheels set up for my race bike BITD. One set never got used, even if they would have been ideal for the conditions, because the gears needed adjusting everytime.)

I am incredibly lucky that my wheel sets (one DT Swiss, one Hunt) match spacing exactly.

I think it helps if you stick to one standard on the disks i.e. both centre lock or both 6 bolt. Don't mix and match.

see if your budget will stretch to having identical rear hubs.

Or getting the cassette/disc shimmed.
Swapping wheels always sounds good until you need to adjust the gears and caliper Every. Single. Time.

This was the scenario i feared -
Both wheelsets will be different - potentially a Mavic set with centre-lock rotors and a Hope set with 6-bolt rotors.

So the idea of a 2 minute swap dependant on my mood (off road or on-road) isn't quite that simple..

Sounds like i'd be better off with 2 bikes ;o)

either two bikes or a few shims.
You can get 6 bolt, centrelock and cassette shims. If you're willing to poke around the internet!

I've got some in a box somewhere, and a mate up the road still (occasionally) orders them. So they are available.

i swap wheels on my hardtail, different hubs.. i dont have to re index my gears or re align aclipers
im guessing if you have a 11/32 you have a 2x drivetrain. so having the 42 on the gravel wheels makes little sense

I have DT Swiss G1800 in 650B and 700C flavours.

Same hubs, same cassettes, different disc brands but I might address that.

Easy swap. Gearing fine.

im guessing if you have a 11/32 you have a 2x drivetrain. so having the 42 on the gravel wheels makes little sense

I'm thinking of going 1x11 so as someone has already pointed out - i'd need to have the same (or very similar sized) cassettes on both wheel sets.

Slight thread derailment - can anyone suggest any reasons not to go 1x11 on a gravel/winter road bike?
I'm aware i might loose some top end speed - but i'm a 49 year old, overweight leisure cyclist - so can live with this.

i wouldnt have anything except 1x personally
my commuter bike spins along nicely at 20mph on an 11x42 cassette and 42? toothe chainring
if i took it gravelling i think id still be ok on all but the steapest off road hills.. i cant see me taking it anywhere my mtb would with 32/30 x 52 gearing

Yeah, there is always the chance that the wheels will be a straight swap. I've got Easton and Hope which are identical, DT Swiss, both the caliper and gears needed tweaking, same with novatech.

I swap wheels on my gravel bike all the time, never had a problem with indexing but the brakes normally need aligning. Slacken of the caliper pull the brake on, keep it on and regtighten the caliper. Takes less than a minute.

I'm not sure you'd need to run a shorter chain either. The slackest it would be 42x11 is the same on both cassettes. Certainly try it first.

A friend had this issue when swapping from 700c road wheels to 700c gravel wheels

Brakes needed adjusting, gears were mostly ok but he did have issues as the chain weared in with the road cassette when switching wheels it wasnt as smooth with the lesser used gravel cassette

His answer was to just have one set of wheels and just change the tyres over when he wanted to go gravel riding, he still runs tubes so its a 2 minute job

His answer was to just have one set of wheels and just change the tyres over when he wanted to go gravel riding, he still runs tubes so its a 2 minute job

I did that when I only had the one bike (MTB) which I used for commuting during the week on slicks and then I'd fit the off-road tyres again on Friday night. It did become a real pain, especially on Sunday night coming back from a race, cleaning the bike and changing the tyres ready for Monday morning commute when all you wanted to do was chuck it in a corner and forget about it for a day or so while you had a nice long shower and ate all the food in the house.

So I eventually bought a road bike!

Yeah, there is always the chance that the wheels will be a straight swap

My winter and summer road wheels were a straight swap with SRAM AXS 12 sp road gearing - different Hubs, but seemed exactly aligned.

You will almost certainly need different length chains to accommodate the 8/10 tooth difference.

Err... no? If a chain can accommodate a 11/42 cassette, then... 11/34 is within that range....

You will almost certainly need different length chains to accommodate the 8/10 tooth difference.

As above a 42 cassette contains a 34 tooth or similar sprocket. Both cassettes will happily run an 11 tooth sprocket. Chain length isn’t an issue in this case

To me the simple solution is to use hope hubs for the gravel wheels.

I run 2 sets of hope hubs and happily swap wheels with no adjustment

I have a GXA. I’ve owned it since last April and have ridden it a fair bit on road and off including King Alfred’s Way.

It replaced a Genesis Croix De Fer which was heavy and a bit like a tank – you’d point it at something and it would roll over it. The GXA is similar but feels a bit more nimble when manoeuvring and direct when pedalling.

I was pleased to see that it had a full carbon fork – no alu steerer. The welds are very smooth everywhere apart from the bottom bracket. A couple of people have mistaken it for a carbon bike.

I wish it had fork bottle/cage mounts and a smidge more tyre clearance. I run WTB Resolute 42mm tyres in 700C which were fine even with mudguards. I recently acquired some 650b wheels with 2.1 tyres which I really like but sit too close to the chainstays for comfort, especially on one side. Clearance is tighter on that side on both wheelsets, so there might be an alignment issue which I need to take up with Dolan. The 650b wheelset is more nimble again and I don’t get any toe overlap – I get a little with the 700C wheels. For reference I’m 5’11 with longish legs and I’m riding a 56 with 1 spacer under the stem.

I originally ordered it as 1x but changed to 2x before delivery and I’m glad I did. For me it makes it much more versatile. It means I have super low gears for loaded bikepacking without having to faff with changing chainrings. I did a bikepacking ride with quite a bit of flat road in it the other day (Somerset levels) and my companion on SRAM 1x felt like he was in between gears a lot of the time.

I also really like the sub-compact GRX chainset. The gear range is much more appropriate for big tyres than the compact that was on my Croix De Fer.

Dolan didn’t do the greatest job of assembling it. Lots of bolts were without grease and a couple of the cable port bolts are now very rusty as a result. One of the shifter cables was routed over the top of the cable guide rather than through it!

The cables/rear brake hose all exit the downtube via a rather inelegant hole that runs across the entire bottom of the downtube and it’s a bit of a muck trap.

The main reasons that resulted in me buying it were that it was in stock, the price was very reasonable, and you can amend the spec as you see fit. Dolan we’re really good about changing bits eg I ordered a GRX 600 bike but upgraded to the Ultegra disc rotors as I’ve always liked the look of them.

Overall if I could go back in time I wouldn’t have bought anything else (not that there was much else around then!)

Hope that helps. Any questions, let me know!

If you’ve a short cage mech then may need a goatlink or longer b screw.

I swap my wheels and indexing and brakes need asjusting. Hub widths are never exact and identical between brands. Same brand will be ok but not if you have say hope / hunt combination.

I had the older Dolan GXA running 42T with an 11-40 rear.

Hated the bike from day one. Couldnt put my finger on exactly what it was. And i couldnt get it set up right and always ended up with a dodgy knee no matter how much bike fit i did.

Swapped to a Planet-X tempest and never looked back. Knee pain none existent with same bike fit dimensions.

The newer version GXA looks better and I think has updated geometry so may be OK.

Cheap enough but I’d go Planet X for similar money built up.

Thanks upintheair - much appreciated.

I have a GXA. I’ve owned it since last April and have ridden it a fair bit on road and off including King Alfred’s Way.

What is it like as a road bike?
I'm looking at this as a winter road bike/lanes/light off-roader.
It'll be replacing my Arkose which i've never loved as its always felt a bit 'dead'

When I said I’d done a fair bit of road on it, that has always been on gravel tyres (minimum 42mm) so I can’t comment on it as a pure road bike – sorry if what I said was a bit misleading. It definitely feels ploddier than my carbon road bike but I’m not sure how much of that is due to the tyres. Having said that, it does that gravel bike thing of making the road bits between the gravel bits pretty fun. For me, having 2x makes that even more the case as I can run out of gears at both ends on some rides.

I’ve overtaken roadies on it, even loaded up with bikepacking stuff. It feels more like a road bike than my previous Croix De Fer did.

There is a Facebook group for GXA, GXC and GXT owners and there are a number of people using it as you describe who seem happy enough.