Carbon full sus drop-bar gravel bike experiment?

[Fatal Swan]

So I've got this nice Cannondale Scalpel, to my mind as good as it gets on 26" wheels: https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/cannondale-scalpel-sub-20lb-full-sus-26er-build.427637/ It weighs 9kg, give or take.

But as much as I love the bike, I don't ride off-road that much anymore and when I do it's fairly sedate tracks in good weather and I mix it up with riding on the roads there and back. (Lately it's spent quite a lot of time on towpath type rides with the children.) I've no interest in trail centre type stuff etc nowadays. I've been thinking of a gravel bike (of course) and now that I ride mostly on a road bike, I'm used to the position of drops/hoods and road STI levers. But I'm not sure I really want to go back to riding rigid off-road having made the leap to a lightweight full suspension bike that feels like riding on a zippy, floaty, sofa. And the gravel bikes I see are nearly all a fair bit heavier than my full sus Scalpel too.

At the same, time I've been thinking for a while about updating the Cannondale's 3x9 XTR/Dura Ace drivetrain with something 1x11 flavoured. No real reason for that other than dipping my toes into more modern waters.

You see where this is going. It seems a bit crazy but the more I think about it, the more I think it could work pretty well and replace potentially two bikes that I don't really need with one that I almost already have. I've got two great sets of lightweight 26" wheels, light gravel and knobblier MTB tyres, even some grippy winter slicks. The Shimano calipers I already have will work with Ultegra or GRX 11 speed STIs. And I'm short of a project. Someone talk me out of this??

 

[Frankenorange]

Do it! Do it! Do it!

 

[Fatal Swan]

Right then, 15 minutes in the garage last night and I've found a spare drop bar and a pair of probably not working STI levers. Not to use, but to pop on and test the positions.

The look is actually not too bad. Clearly the issue is going to be the reach to the hoods is way too long. I've got a 100mm stem on at the moment and if I give this a go it's going to need to be swapped out for something like a 50mm I reckon.

 

[Fatal Swan]

Right, I think this might actually be happenening soon... I've got hold of a proper modern gravel bike for the first time and after the first ride I'm not really in love with it. Maybe I gave it too much off-road to do in its first ride out but most of the time I just wished I was on the Cannondale with it nimble handling and comfy gentle bounce. It was also nothing special on the road, just like a heavy road bike I guess. It made me think the gravel conversion is actually the sensible thing to do. I've since got a cheap flared gravel bar and a short stem so I can see if the reach works. It's pretty much there, I would still not mind being a tad less stretched, but maybe a bar with less reach would do it or I can move the saddle a bit forward.

I had a GRX 1x crankset lined up to go on it but after trying it I've realised the axle is too short (must be narrower BBs on road bikes?) so I'm going to have to use proper MTB one. I've decided to commit to 1x11 anyway regardless of whether it ends up with drop bars or not...

 

[Mod-Master]

Looks real mean. Good job

 

[synchronicity]

I'm not convinced. Reach looks very long. Possibly with a compact bar and zero offset seatpost?
The parts you are whacking on there now are heavier.

But I kinda liked the way it was set up before. Namely, a very light dual suspension bike.
(my duallie weighs in at a comparatively porky 12.8kg in comparison)
3x9 still has closer/tighter gear progression than 1x11.

If it were my bike I would simply throw some lightweight bar ends on there to give you more hand positions and swap the tyres over for something narrower, lighter (if possible, cause the original tyres look pretty light as they are).

 

[Fatal Swan]

I'm not convinced. Reach looks very long. Possibly with a compact bar and zero offset seatpost?
The parts you are whacking on there now are heavier.

But I kinda liked the way it was set up before. Namely, a very light dual suspension bike.
(my duallie weighs in at a comparatively porky 12.8kg in comparison)
3x9 still has closer/tighter gear progression than 1x11.

If it were my bike I would simply throw some lightweight bar ends on there to give you more hand positions and swap the tyres over for something narrower, lighter (if possible, cause the original tyres look pretty light as they are).

I also really like the way it was before, it's the best MTB I've ever ridden. But it doesn't really suit my uses anymore, I tend to do longer rides with a mix of road and only fairly light off-road, and I've got used to the road position on the hoods. The position I've got in the latest photos with a 50mm stem is basically there, it will just be a matter of fine tweaking a cm or so to get it perfect, which I can experiment with.

I definitely very sympathetic to the issue of the big jumps between gears and it's why I've always resisted the move to 1x. Thinking about it more, what I would actually like to do is run the existing XTR crankset as a double (32-44), keep the XTR front mech and use 2x10 or 2x11 road STIs. That would let me use an 11-34 cassette and keep pretty tight spacing between gears as well as a bigger top gear than a normal 1x.

I guess the biggest issue would be getting a Shimano double STI to work for the middle-to-outer shift on the XTR crankset/front mech - I don't think it'll pull enough cable, though maybe one of those Jtek widgets would do the trick...

 

[Frankenorange]

Another option is using a friction bar end shifter for the front mech. Cheap and trimmable. For me; it feels better shifting the front with a bar end shifter. Maybe it is a Sram thing, but it always felt like the lever was going to snap when going up the chainrings. I am double not triple, btw.
I was using double taps on my thing, but gutted them and use bar ends for both mechs now. The rear is indexed but i can just smash it through the whole cassete in one hit, if i need to. I am not totally sold on the bar end for the rear but would definitely keep one for the front mech if i go back to a rear brifter.

 

[Fatal Swan]

I've been away for a few weeks so put this plan on ice, but seeing it back in the garage now I'm home has given me a bit more perspective. I am actually quite excited about this one, I've now got a standard road drop bar on it (rather than a flared gravel bar like in the photos) to check for the position and it feels spot on. I think it looks great now too, the angles look to me like it's all just meant to be...

I've also been thinking that try as I might, I just can't get excited about gravel bikes. I actually have a lovely expensive one, brand new on a C2W scheme, sitting unused and unloved in the garage. Somehow I find them too sluggish to enjoy on the road and not comfy enough to enjoy off road. (It really is like 90s MTB...) Not really the all-round fun machine I'd imagined they'd be.

It's made me realise that what I am really after is not a gravel bike at all but something a little different from my actual MTB. Basically what I'm trying to build I suppose is an all-day-comfy XC whippet that can be ridden on more or less anything off-road within reason, but with road bike position/STI shifters (hoods anyway, I'm not bothered about the drops). I think this is possibly a niche market but I'm getting confident the Scalpel is going to do it very nicely.

So I'm going to try and do this build justice and throw some some nice parts at it to finish it off this summer. hopefully I can bring it out in the region of 9.5kg or less. The spec will be as follows:

Frameset: Cannondale Scalpel 2 Hi-Mod with DT Swiss carbon shock. 1660g inc BB & headset bearings.
Forks: RS Sid XX with remote (1550g).
Wheelset: 26" Hope SP3 XC with Stans ZTR 355 (1507g).
Tyres: Kenda Klimax Lite 1.95 (345g) or S Works 2.0" tyres (410g) - maybe tubless instead
Chainset: Shimano XTR M9000 cranks with a Raptor M9000-specific 38t N/W chainring
Chain: KMC X11
Cassette : 11 speed 11-42t XT M8000
Brakes: Shimano Ultegra hydraulic disc
STI: Shimano Ultegra hydraulic disc
R/Mech: Shimano GRX RX812 1x11
Seatpost: Easton EC90 31.6
Saddle: Charge Knife Ti
Stem: PRO LT 3D Forged 50mm stem
Bar: Cannondale Escape Hanger carbon drop bar (187g)
Pedals: Xpedo Mag Ti M- Force 4 clipless pedals, 229g
Seat clamp: KCNC 34.9

 

[Fatal Swan]

Close to lift off now, I just need to get hold of a disc brake, install the STIs and brake hoses, fill them up and bleed them, fit some bar tape and we'll be there. The new photos still shows on old STI lever just so I could ride it around the car park to see if this is going to be rideable. I reckon it really, really is. The riding position is great for me, not at all stretched anymore as I'd feared. I think I might even have gone a cm too short on the stem (it's a little twitchy with the standard road bars) and I might swap out the 50mm stem for something like 70mm, especially if I can try it with an inline post.