GT Grade AL/105

[jimo746]

Didn't know where to put this, as it's a road bike but also an off-road bike.

Anywho, I'd been wanting another road bike, but couldn't justify getting a pure road machine as it probably wouldn't see a huge amount of use, I just like my off road riding more than road riding.
The new fangled Gravel bike genre seemed to fit my bill, stick slicks on for road rides, or cyclo-cross tyres for some off-road fun.
I've had it a few weeks now and it seems to suit me, on the stock 28c tyres I can comfortably keep with friends on road rides, and some 30c cx tyres make off-road rides not just possible, but a real blast :mrgreen:
it can probably handle 90% of the terrain that I'd ride on my retro mtb.
Not that I'm going to be getting rid of my retro bike! But my Singlespeed 29'er hardtail is going to have to go. N+1 and all that :roll:

I'm impressed with the brakes, TRP Hy-Rd, cable actuated hydraulic disc brakes, and the 105 11 speed groupset is a solid performer (think of XT for mtb).

Much more riding this to come...

 

[cherrybomb]

Re:

That's cool.

I love my, I suppose it's a, gravel bike. Like you, I replaced a road bike with it as I wasn't doing as much tarmac stuff and wanted something a bit more versatile.

I need to take mine to Sherwood Pines for run round the black route.

 

[Sketchyxup]

Re:

Its amazing what this type of bike is capable of with the right attitude, i've got a Saracen Hack and use it for daft mtb stuff, CX racing and even take it out with the fast road group on a Sat morning. It now lives with WTB Cross wolf tyres which are about as good as its gets imo, they stay on all the time now because they are set up tubeless and I cant be doing with the messy faff to change them.

 

[jimo746]

Re:

I have some Schwalbe CX Pro 700x30 tyres set up tubeless on the original wheels at the moment, and the original 28c road tyres now live on a set of Chinese ebay carbon wheels for road use.
I found that I had to run the CX Pro's at fairly high pressures (50psi+) when riding off road or else I was burping the tyre and nearly rolled the tyre off the rim once! Perhaps I was trying to do a bit too much on the bike, but I'm now looking at a 5lightly bigger tyre. I did try the WTB Nano 40c but it just wouldn't fit the frame/forks, which was a bit disappointing for a "Gravel" bike.
So for now I've settled on some 35c Kenda Happy Medium which I'll get set up tubeless.

 

[cherrybomb]

Re:

I'm currently running Schwalbe CX Comps with tubes, but have some Stans tubeless CX tyres to try when I get round to buying some more Gorilla Tape.