Show us your Gravel Bikes

[wiredfool]

Got this to see if the whole wider tire thing worked for me. 7500 miles on -- this is probably it's best config with a 650x42 on it.

 

[highlandsflyer]

Yes, they often run really close to the tyre. In my experience the tyre deposits clayey clag on them and that gets transmitted to drivechain, eventually (often pretty quickly) bringing everything to a standstill. It's why a lot of cross racers ran 1x before it was a "thing".
This is my favourite bike ever but it's pretty much a dry conditions only ride. It hardly clears 33mm tyres and soon clogs to a halt in the clag.
View attachment 887475
I don't like marketing guff, but I can see that a gravel bike can be a useful, adaptable, durable, all conditions, fast bike that allows you to cover distance at speed and explore the rougher stuff too - mixing it up however you like.

What you want is one of those new Clay Bikes. I've seen all sorts of solutions for keeping clart off your front mech, but binning it obviously wins. Agree 100% the sound of blocks grinding rims is painful to anyone with an ounce of mechanical sympathy. Notwithstanding the impediment to their function. Something quite exhilarating about unpredictable braking though.

 

[wynne]

I've already built my prototype silt bike...

 

[M_Chavez]

fast bike that allows you to cover distance

But they are slow AF compared to a road bike...
Life is a game you can't win

 

[M_Chavez]

Found another modern rando frameset:
New Albion Privateer.

Looks nice, but it looks like it's $380 for the frameset in the US and £650 ($860) in the UK.

WTF.

 

[bikeworkshop]

We can buy Soma cheaper retail + shipping from the us than trade here in the UK.
Nice frames, much nicer tube set than surly at similar price.
Oh and you don't need a beard to ride one! ()

don't sell many somas now (fogcutter was a fave)

 

[M_Chavez]

I often despair at UK retail prices.
When I was building up my PX Spitfire, a pair of new 10 speed Campy Veloces was £80 from Germany and £140 to buy from the UK.
I mean, I'm no retail expert, but £60 for packing & posting a parcel is a bit steep, even if you hire a solicitor to do the post office runs for you.

 

[bikeworkshop]

The German price won't include vat, and its probably the same retail in Germany as trade price to the UK retaler tbh

So sell at 140 = £24 vat, trade 80, margin £36 sounds about right.

It costs us £2 a minute to have the shop door open

 

[M_Chavez]

It was after VAT at the time, but admittedly, it was on big sale at the German retailer.

Feel your pain re open doors - I used to have a wee woodwork side business in addition to my day job that I ended up closing because keeping the door open ended up costing 4 times more than before brexit. I know we're buggered, but knowing it doesn't mean that I wholeheartedly agree with it

 

[wynne]

But they are slow AF compared to a road bike...
Life is a game you can't win

Depends on the roads you're riding. Judging by strava, my gravel/cross bike is often faster than my road bike on lots of "road" sections round here. Admittedly, it's not a run of the mill cross bike. It's pretty highly specced, with some very fast wheels. But there again so is my road bike.