The Spirit Of Gravel Riding: It was this or golfing vOv

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > The Great Outdoors > The Spirit Of Gravel Riding: It was this or golfing vOv

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

If you see a mountain lion something is very wrong. At best your warning might be getting knocked off the bike before it sinks those big ol fangs into your neck. Thankfully this is extraordinarily rare.

# ¿ Jul 28, 2020 22:21

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 09:55

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

e.pilot posted:

Just absolute lol @ using a glock 20 on a bear.

I guess if you want an angry bear it�ll work well. Maybe a .338 win man strapped to the side?

# ¿ Jul 29, 2020 01:55

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

Levitate posted:

Gonna start handing out sixes for more gun chat

Ah yes, hand out probes for something not in the thread rules. Makes sense.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2020 11:31

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

FogHelmut posted:

Is there a good sand tire besides just "wider"?

Wider and with low pressure. Essentially: a fat bike tire.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2020 15:23

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

DELETE CASCADE posted:

you're welcome, it literally is. notice that i said "cyclists who hate e-bikes" and not any variation of "cyclists who hate e-bikes being used in places where e-bikes are not allowed"

Pretty sure nobody has said the first part but go off

# ¿ Sep 24, 2020 21:14

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

There�s a lot of home brew ebikes that are just electric motorcycles where the builder is skirting around the law by putting useless pedals on there, or wink wink limiting it to 20mph. I can see why it�s easier to just say no motors than try to deal with a population that has some bad faith actors.

# ¿ Sep 25, 2020 22:18

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

frogbs posted:

This reminded me, does anyone made a semi-knobby 26x47mm - ish tire? Something like the WTB Byway? I know there are Gravelkings in 26x2.1, and Rene Hers has the Naches Pass in 26x1.8, but those are prettymuch slicks.

Kenda Kross 1.95�/49mm
Kujo Bulldozer 1.75�/44mm
Continental Tour Ride 1.75�/44mm

It would be cool if they made the Byways in 26�.

# ¿ Oct 1, 2020 13:02

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

Whose game for some relentless climbing complete with the possibility of riding off a ravine or getting struck by lightning?

This does look like an incredible ride that I�m going to try to do whenever I�m able to get back in Durango.

https://www.rodeo-labs.com/2017/12/30/risk-reward-black-bear-pass/

# ¿ Oct 21, 2020 19:23

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

I imagine a lot of those small towns on the route want the revenue but yeah, a massive group rocking up into multiple small towns several times a day is about the worst idea.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2021 11:45

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

Has anyone ridden the Allegheny National Forest roads? I�m trying to figure out how much tire I need but there isn�t a ton of info.

# ¿ Apr 6, 2021 01:36

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

Cat rear end Trophy posted:

I have been riding a Giant Propel 0 for the past year and it is great. But like any gravel bike it does run up against the its limits, especially on somewhat technical downhills and logs, cobble, etc.

So I rode my wife's 250 watt power assist bike to the dentist yesterday, and I the way back I decided to do a dirt detour on a route that I normally use to finish my rides. Her bike is built for light trail use, weighs about 45 pounds and has 700x50 Maxxis Ramblers on it, a wider version of the exact tire I have on the propel. It is about 3 miles of offroad consisting of a steep opening climb, a high speed sweeping descent, some gradual downhill to the trailhead, and a quad log barrier exit.

I was wearing jeans and leather boots using flat pedals. The climb was super easy with the power assist as expected. What I did not expect was how much better it handled on the sweeping downhill loose over hard. There is a sharp turn at the bottom and the tires just bit into the terrain and held. The entry level RockShox fork let me rip the gradual downhill, and the log barriers at the end that I normal walk over, her bike took them easily.

So goodbye Propel, it has been nice knowing you. I'm dumping you for an XC rig.

Fake edit: I'm not. Gravel bikes kick rear end in the conditions they were designed for. There is nothing like the feeling of mowing down a pack of bros riding Enduro bikes on a well groomed DG road at 20mph.

My non expert opinion is that a Giant Propel is probably a pretty poor choice as a gravel bike, but this gives me hope to use a Shiv as a DH bike

# ¿ Apr 7, 2021 16:42

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

I�m going to assume Revolt but the idea of bombing down gravel on a Propel sounds really fun as long as it wasn�t MY Propel.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2021 17:42

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

I did some WV back roads that suddenly turned to gravel on a rim braked 25c road bike, you just gotta go fast to smooth it out

# ¿ Apr 7, 2021 18:29

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

Every Rene Herse I�ve seen measures smaller if you�re concerned on fitment.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2021 22:56

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

What�s your inseam? 54 would be the more typical size for your height.

# ¿ Apr 14, 2021 14:45

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

Depending on how the hoses are routed now you might need to adjust the hose length though.

# ¿ May 21, 2021 16:11

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

Remove your leg hair to solve this problem in the future

# ¿ Jun 5, 2021 21:45

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

I�m doing a 500km/6,000m elevation race on gravel with a �majority of grade 1 roads with prolonged stretches of grade 2 and 3 and a few short sections of grade 4+�. I obviously don�t want to be undertired but I also don�t want to be rolling slow.

Right now I have Clement Xplor MSO 650x50s, or Rene Herse Babyshoe Pass Extralight 650x42s.

The Xplor is ~662g. The Babyshoe is ~373g.

I�m thinking the Xplor will give me more protection but obviously roll slower and the route has a decent amount of climbing.

I�m also open to another tire that is more robust than the Babyshoe but lighter than the Xplor. Any suggestions? They�d need to be 650b for my dynamo wheel.

# ¿ Jul 3, 2021 22:48

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

El Laucha posted:

Ordered a grx di2 group yesterday, now to forget about it for 4-6 months and hope ir just arrives as a surprise.

As for the cream, don�t know why I never dated to try it before. Also discovered that applying it directly to the spots you know will be giving you trouble is much better than bathing the bibs in it. I�ll probably won�t be riding anything over 100km without it now.

And the knee stuff was my own fault. I suspected that the seat post had slipped 2-3mm after day 2 so being the idiot I am I started messing with its height. At first it helped, but during day 3 it started to get worse, so I kept messing with it and by day 4 I could barely walk. The knee is ok now after 4-5 days, seems like I didn�t get to an injury level.

After checking photos I took before the ride, the seat post hadn�t actually slipped.

Throw a piece of electrical tape around the post where it enters the frame. Easy way to see if it slips because it�ll bunch up the tape.

# ¿ Dec 6, 2021 14:18

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

Oldsrocket_27 posted:

Does anyone here know how close to printed size gravel kings run? I tired throwing some Kendas that claim to be 28m on my road bike to test it off road, but they actually measured nearly 32mm and rubbed a smidge on the rear brake bridge. I've been tempted to pick up some GKs, but I don't want to bother if they're going to run big too. The rims I'm running are internal width 19mm.

38 GK SKs measure at 38.49mm on an 21mm ID rim here.

Checked some Kendas I have - 1.95� tire is at 2.074� on a mystery rim.

# ¿ Jan 24, 2022 17:10

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

HenryJLittlefinger posted:

Southern Wyoming would be good too if it�s not too windy.

This is like wishing for a pony!! Must be nice though if you�re going west to east.

# ¿ May 18, 2022 12:45

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

HenryJLittlefinger posted:

Are Co-op frames any good? I know they�re using the same frame mfr as Giant now. I see co-op gravel bikes pop up lightly used in CL/FB marketplace at pretty good prices, and if the frames aren�t too bad I�m thinking about getting one as a base for a gravel build.

I�ve got one. It�s fine, never had an issue.

# ¿ May 22, 2022 13:24

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

Dumbdog posted:

Does anyone have any recommendations for bib shorts with storage thar aren't too expensive.
Also I think the spirit of gravel in yorkshire riding stuff that great needs a mountain bike but you couldn't ever be arsed to ride your mountain bike to? I'm jealous of all the mega gravel roads you all have in the states

The Voler cache bibs are very nice, not sure what the budget it. I�ve bought some AliExpress cargo bibs from Spexcel and they�re alright, I wouldn�t take them on any super long rides but for a few hours they�re fine.

# ¿ May 22, 2022 20:53

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

Bottom Liner posted:

Speaking of, for folks that have power meters and metrics on road and gravel bikes, what's the general equivalent of speeds for say smooth hard pack gravel vs road? 20-30% more effort for the same speed? Like, 20mph pace on asphalt with road tires would be X on good gravel? I'm guessing 15ish, going by my own effort (I'm also on 2.6 tires so there's that).

Like hardpack gravel treated with mag chloride? Probably a barely perceptible difference in my opinion.

# ¿ May 27, 2022 03:49

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

FogHelmut posted:

How many sets of tires must I own?

I'm probably signing up for the Tour de Big Bear Dirty Bear gravel ride next month. I've got a set of Gravelking SS and a set of WTB Resolute.

I know the WTB Resolutes are brilliant and confident on any kind of dirt, gravel, sand, rocks etc. Especially on the descending switchbacks and tight corners coming down Blackstar Canyon, for example. They're fine on straight pavement, but absolutely terrifying if you're trying to do any kind of aggressive cornering on pavement.

The Gravelking SS are great on pavement and hard pack, but not effective in deep sand, and you have to corner carefully on dirt, but they're otherwise adequate.

This race is 50 miles, 4700' of elevation gain, and half dirt and half pavement. Unfortunately it's got aggressive descents and cornering on both the dirt and pavement sections.

I might have to stop swinging so far in either direction and just go with something that's a bigger compromise. Maybe the Gravelking SK. Is mixing a front and rear beneficial at all?

How big are the GK SS tires?

I know the Resolutes only come in the 42mm size, and I wouldn�t run them for something with that much pavement simply because they�re not all that quick and you�re going to put a lot of wear on them. I loved them for really bombed out gravel but doesn�t sound super useful here.

Something like a Spesh Pathfinder or Byway might get you more middle of the road.

# ¿ Jul 11, 2022 14:42

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

gohuskies posted:

Tour de France 2020, stage 20 time trial, the course is a generally flat 30k then 6k of climbing. Pretty much all the riders do it all on their TT bike, Tadej Pogacar rides the flat section on his TT bike then does a bike change to a lighter climbing bike with the follow car, wins the stage and gets the time he needs to leapfrog Primoz Roglic and go from 2nd to 1st place in the Tour. Maybe he still wins without the bike change, but maybe not. So it's a real thing.

There was a recent race a bit to the south of me in Bend, OR, that included several surfaces and had two categories, one for riders who did it all on one bike and one for riders who swapped bikes at aid stations (and another for relay teams). https://www.racethebestofboth.com/ It sounds like it was a cool race.

Most riders changed bikes for the final climb including Roglič

# ¿ Jul 11, 2022 23:16

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

FogHelmut posted:

Any advice for crossing streams with large loose river rocks on the bottom? I tried going balls out and I just sank and lost all momentum. Filling my shoes with cold water was a nice break from the heat though.

How high is the water? If you�re not racing I�d just take off my shoes/socks and do a CX shoulder carry. Always seemed dodgy to try and send it unless I can see the bottom and it�s solid.

# ¿ Jul 25, 2022 14:54

Literally Lewis Hamilton: Feb 22, 2005

I did some race pace on Saturday. 275w normalized for 3 hours @ 61kg. Never quite chased down the guys in the lead group but got 6th overall out of 500ish. My time this year would have been a CR any other year :negative: