Has anyone built a Gravel bike using a retro frame

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Definately not retro:.

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The sort of riding I do would probably be classed a "gravel", I don't do technical stuff with jumps, down hill runs and as I don't have a car, I don't do purely off-road rides. I will generally ride on quiet country lanes with the occoasional detour along a bridleway or a track through the woods when I come across one.

I previously had a rigid, steel 90s MTB and a 2007 carbon hardtail, both fitted with semi-slick tyres because all my rides involve a fair bit of tarmac.

I've been hankering for a drop bar bike for a while, but given that some of the roads I ride are pretty rough and I like getting off-road when the opportunity arises, I didn't want a full on, skinny tyred race bike with a super low front end, limited tyre clearence and no provision for racks or mudguards. Cyclocross bikes also have fairly race-y geometry, and limited tyre clearance and a lack of rack mounts, etc.. I also considered some more traditional tourers, but none of them really inspired me.

When gravel bikes started appearing I was immediately interested as some of them had all the features I was looking for.

I really like it, it's definately quicker on the road, or at least it feels that way, and I happily ride it off-road everyhere I previously rode my MTBs. It's lighter than my MTBs too; it's actually lighter than the steel road bike I had back as a teenager and used for time trials and club runs.
 
Exactly my kind of riding - a bit of everything on a versatile bike. I have a personal dislike of driving to a ride - I want to ride our from my back door. Even taking the ferry to France I prefer to ride to the port (fortunately that's only 20 miles).

Maybe we can invent a whole new biking genre: Exploro? :LOL:
 
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Modification or up-cycling/re-cycling is a great idea for using an spare frame, I didn't have one so I bought a Prestige framed Ridgeback a couple of years ago as a project - took/take much of my inspiration from another forum to decide to go down the gravel bike route.

Currently figuring out what components to use, the Ridgeback was virtually unused and came with a Deore LX gruppo

I shall follow this thread with interest though.

Rk.
 
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I’ve got to say I’m quite liking that, love the left had shifter for the dropper. And I’m really not a fan of the drop bar look.
 
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The issue for me with fitting drop bars to an MTB would be the reach and stack. I'm quite short, but even for my height I think I have short arms, so frames with short top tubes and tall head tubes fit me best. Most 90s MTBs are the complete opposite of that - long and low.

On my 90s rigid MTB, even with flat bars, I swapped out the more typical 100mm+ stem for an 80mm stem and had several spacers underneath it to raise the bars to roughly the level of the saddle. Some of the bikes I've seen on this forum, have the bars 4 or 5 inches below the saddle, they might be OK for those of you with more gibbon like proportions, but would be instruments of torture for me - see any of Mike Muz's bikes. :D
 
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xerxes":25q1kdpx said:
The issue for me with fitting drop bars to an MTB would be the reach and stack. I'm quite short, but even for my height I think I have short arms, so frames with short top tubes and tall head tubes fit me best. Most 90s MTBs are the complete opposite of that - long and low.

On any bike with drops, the hoods are 50-60mm at least in front of the stem and so need one around 30-50mm shorter.
The reach issue is why I said that low-mid-range early 90s frames are best, as they are more upright. Try drops on a 1999 Kona Explosif and you are just about in the Superman position. :facepalm: :facepalm:
 
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hamster":3ect94tg said:
. Try drops on a 1999 Kona Explosif and you are just about in the Superman position. :facepalm: :facepalm:

It's more "Aero" though innit! :cool: :LOL:
 
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