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i have a lovely to me anyhoo kinesis sync ti bike in small 27.5" that is currently outfitted with slx 1 x 11 speed, hope tech enduro wheels with pro 4 hubs, a rokshox yari 150mm fork amongst the components fitted. all in weight is around 28.2 lbs.
i love the bike and have had it for at least 7 years now but my lower back doesn't love a ht any more (i have 3 other bikes currently a charge duster skinny 2010, planet x spitfire ti road bike (rim brakes) and a specialized chisel fs that i bought last year.
i love all my bikes i have to say but due to various reasons i haven't ridden very much at all (depression,laziness,bad weather,no fitness etc).
part of me is thinking about trading in my sync towards a gravel bike (would love a planet x tempest) but i know that i wouldn't get much for it now.
do you think it would be feasible to convert my sync to a drop bar gravel bike (and make it a lot lighter in the process) or should i just trade it anyways towards a gravel bike?
as above i have a bad back and any distance offroad riding a ht and i feel it now (even on the kennet and avon towpath) hence partly why i got the chisel fs (but i wish it was a bit lighter tbh as it is about 30-31 odd lbs at a guess currently).
i have to add that i don't have a lot of space for 4 bikes as i keep them in my house so any added bike will be a space problem.
apologies for the long winded post and rambling tbh i just don't know what i am trying to say lol.
I think drop bars, on bike that fits with flat bars, is unlikely to work. Adding a bad back isn’t likely to help.
But I’d still try and do something with the kinesis. I’d start with some really fast tyres. Then I’d look at some alt bars and then finally a light rigid fork. If they come long enough for a bike like that
For years my gravel/road bike was hardtail with alt bars and slicks. When i got a gravel bike it didn’t seem any faster
Alt bars for the win. And spacers to get that stack height up.
getting new bars brifters etc will cost you a fair bit, if you want a gravel bike - and you’re not sure - just sell what you have and put the money towards the Planet X
If you’re not going to ride it then flog it and let someone else ride it.
Will you be off roading on the gravel bike? If yes then you would probably be better off on the hardtail. If mainly road with a bit of unpaved stuff then crack on.
I was in a similar position with my custom built brazed steel 27.5 HT. It wasn't worth anything to sell, but as I had the frame built for me it has sentimental value. I built some 29er / 700c wheels with 25mm rims and 45c (I think) tyres. Replaced the fork for a shorter travel 27.5 fork and the wheels fit in the frame / fork OK. It's fast and fun to ride to work on, or just cruise around.
You seem a wee bit conflicted, needing to get rid of the hardtail for the back, but thinking of a gravel bike?
Some 650b bikes adapt pretty well to 29er with a smaller tyre, you don't always have space in the frame but if it were me I'd definitely be thinking about a "flat bar gravel bike", 40mm fast tyres and a cockpit made for comfort. Which would not be drop bars for me, it'd be a comfy high riser bar.
i love all my bikes i have to say but due to various reasons i haven't ridden very much at all (depression,laziness,bad weather,no fitness etc).
Based on the weather we've had since early March pretty sure "bad weather" isn't a reason, just an excuse 🙂
And as someone else said, if you've a bad back, a gravel bike isn't going to be a runner on anything other than bad roads and cycle paths.
I've an equivalent bike sat doing nothing, a 456Ti - long term plan for when I (eventually) strip it is to just mount the frame onto the wall, but I do ride all my other bikes (done nearly 2000 mile so far this year).
Sell it and buy a bike you want. 27.5 isn't obsolete - still a healthy market for it, probably moreso for a ti frame and decent components.
if it were me I'd definitely be thinking about a "flat bar gravel bike", 40mm fast tyres and a cockpit made for comfort. Which would not be drop bars for me, it'd be a comfy high riser bar.
Came her to post similar. You don't need drop bars to ride gravel - a comfy, more upright cockpit with flat or riser bar plus barends might be better for your back, swap to a rigid fork and 700c wheels with fast tyres. I previously had a titanium flat-barred 'gravel' bike built on a Titus Mutsu frame (same as Sonder Broken Road) - great fun until the frame cracked...
The flat bar gravel suggestions above sound quite sensible, but I'd just add that small-framed 650b bikes should be in a bit more demand than the larger sizes, because they can make good kids' bikes.
Bling pub bike? I totally missed the boat by not offloading all my old bikes during Covid, they're not really worth anything now so I'll just keep them all I think. Hence having a 26er Whyte 19 Carbon race bike as a pub bike (does shave off a few seconds getting there though which can be vital to getting a table on a busy Friday after work!!)
I have several bikes. 2 with drop bars. The one I ride almost all the time now is my Specialized Diverge STR gravel bike. On road, off road wherever.
During and after every ride I think " wouldn't this be better if it had flat bars?"
Sell it AND the PX Road bike and buy a single Ti Gravel bike with an extra set of wheels/tyres/cassette for road riding. I could do all my non-racing on my Charge Freezer Ti cross bike with its two wheel sets. But I have a garage, some fixed wheel bikes and three Time Trial b(tr)ikes too.
Ref kids bike- it’s not the lowest standover frame going both on seat tube length and the upward curving top tube. (Other half has one and it could do with an inch of the seat tube!)
I'd definitely be thinking about a "flat bar gravel bike", 40mm fast tyres and a cockpit made for comfort.
I'm on board with flat bars, more-so after my 'aero bars on the 29er' experiment, but I've recently and rapidly come round to the idea that 40mm tyres are needlessly restrictive on gravel unless you're riding very smooth/very fast stuff, or like me are stuck with 40mm for the foreseeable.
I had a hardtail (on one inbred) that i put slicks on and used as a commuter. I then upgraded it to a gravel / cross bike. It didn't really make any difference. So, as others have said, if you have a bad back then using the hardtail for gravel duties might be a better option.
Add a thudbuster seatpost or a carbon one designed for damping, that’ll help too.
You seem a wee bit conflicted, needing to get rid of the hardtail for the back, but thinking of a gravel bike?
Some 650b bikes adapt pretty well to 29er with a smaller tyre, you don't always have space in the frame but if it were me I'd definitely be thinking about a "flat bar gravel bike", 40mm fast tyres and a cockpit made for comfort. Which would not be drop bars for me, it'd be a comfy high riser bar.
Very much this, you don't want a gravel bike if you have a bad back on a hard tail.
I had a GB, it was ace and opened up loads of routes I'd forgotten about as my bikes had become more gnar over the years. Only problem was that after 25km or so it would become uncomfortable. Tried various bars and stems but came to the conclusion it was the low front end (in relation to my MTB's) that was causing the problem so swapped it for an XC HT. That was more comfortable and not really any slower. Still wanted a bit more stack so have now replaced that with a carbon full suss that's XC in weight but has modern geometry and that seems absolutely spot on so far.
TL;DR, lighten up your 650b and ride it where you would a GB.
As for 650b stuff being obsolete, that may be the case but try finding decent 650b forks and other parts from the usual discounters for reasonable prices. Lack of options should mean that good condition quality parts hopefully hold on to some value for a bit yet.
thanks for all the replies 🙂
tbh i don't know what i wanted when i posted originally lol.
i would like to keep the ht if i'm being honest and lighten it a bit as i know they can be built down to the low 20's lbs. also am still attached to the bike a lot as it is my first ti bike and they don't make em any more. also lighten my fs bike too as that is def overweight atm (cheapest model chisel fs).
Flip the stem, 100mm lightweight suspension fork with lockout, 700c wheels with 45mm tyres and some flared drop bars and It'll make an excellent Gravel bike. It's 142*12mm rear too, so it actually the right standard.
I'm on board with flat bars, more-so after my 'aero bars on the 29er' experiment, but I've recently and rapidly come round to the idea that 40mm tyres are needlessly restrictive on gravel unless you're riding very smooth/very fast stuff, or like me are stuck with 40mm for the foreseeable.
Oh yeah as far as I'm concerned on performance at least narrow tyres are just bullshit, pretty much, it's just a poinless relearning of lessons we already learned years ago. But 29er in a 650b frame sometimes just requires it for clearance.
And to be fair, for some people it's the difference that matters. Like, my fatbike would be a better bike 9/10ths of the time with 2.4s on it 😉
According to Strava my new full suss with 120mm and NN/RR tyre combo is a touch faster around one of my old canal routes than my old 650b gravel bike on basically slicks.
Lighter wheels, lighter tyres, lighter forks, in that order will be job done IMO.
Personally I'd probably split it and sell it, then put the money into lightening the Chisel.
I'm as guilty as anyone of buying bikes for more niches than I need and ending up with several bikes that are all a bit heavier or older than they could be, when a modern bike would do everything they do and probably cover multiple bases. So I've set out on a bit of a plan to upgrade everything over the next few years and in the process thin the fleet down a bit by getting better bikes that overlap more.
You could rebuild the Sync with the short travel forks it was originally designed for, light wheels etc, and make it a lighter weight XC bike, but would that be enough to make you want to ride it again?