Gravel/Bikepack nerds enter...

I see Peruvian is running the WTB Byways. Anyone else? Seem to be a pretty popular choice. I end up riding a lot of pavement here if I ride from home to the dirt like I did yesterday. Thinking I could have done more milage on something faster rolling. I would run tubeless and probably close to 40psi. I was running 39 rear/37 front yesterday on the resolutes and that still seemed too soft sometimes. I like the narrow shape of the Resolute 42s compared to most of the 650b offerings, but I realize if I go with a smoother tread I will need more width when off road to have any chance at grip.

Haven't look at a Kenda since I used to run the Happy Mediums on XC bike. This is a new offering and looks pretty interesting.

https://bicycle.kendatire.com/en-us/.../alluvium-pro/

Was just looking at those as my shop has a couple of orbea terras with them on the floor. I'm probably going to get one for the rear and then put a booster up front.

https://bicycle.kendatire.com/en-us/...l/booster-pro/

Pretty certain the 40s will both fit but it's nice the alluvium comes in a 35 and that booster in a 37. My nanos had plenty of clearance until I put them on a wider, tubeless wheel. Now it's close, like 1-2mm to the chainstay.

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Originally Posted by Iowagriz

Yes, and No... I'm on a 32x 11-46 now, will likely move down to a 30 for an upcoming tour. The reality is that I coast once I hit over 20 when bikepacking, that is my best spot for recovery.

However, when I eventually do the Tour Divide Route, I'll have a 2x. Something in the 28/36 range up front, I'll want to make time if I get a tailwind and on the paved sections.

Side note: I'll never run larger than the 46 on the back. I like the smaller jumps in a tighter cassette. I'd prefer to get back to the 11-42.

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

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I'm running 30x 11-46 on a Karate Monkey and it's fine as a trail bike/camping rig. Looking at new drop bar gravel bikes now and the 1x setups seem to be mostly 42t or 40t x 11-42 which seems fine for dirt road riding but might not be awesome for a loaded adventure. Cutthroat comes with 36t which seems closer to the ballpark for a do it all setup.

Mntlion, what are you running up front for touring?

Or just use 1x12. Shimano's "approved" double setups are only a 10t jump between rings and an 11-42 cassette. Here is that compared to xt 1x12:

http://ritzelrechner.de/?GR=DERS&KB=...45,51&UF2=2309


If you stay out of the smallest couple cogs in the little ring you can fudge that and just run an appropriately long chain so you don't break anything shifting into big-big. Like 22/38 or something and just live with not good front shifting and limitations on cross chaining. Those combos above are a crazy lowest low gear though and enough to pedal at reasonable speeds downhill.

^^ I'd love to but I'm looking at complete builds and haven't seen anything with that as an option. Most everything I'm looking in my price range at has some version of SRAM Apex or maybe Shimano GRX.

Along those lines if anyone has a 1x crankset that works with 68mm BB for sale please let me know. The damn Apex on my bike is limited to 40t as the smallest possible ring. Would like run 36t or maybe even 34t if loaded up and doing some backcountry singletrack overnights, etc.

Front rings are an easy swap and cost $50. Get a smaller one when touring and keep a larger for day trips.

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Originally Posted by Peruvian

Front rings are an easy swap and cost $50. Get a smaller one when touring and keep a larger for day trips.

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That was the plan but Sram APEX 1 is limited to 40t. Can get a 38t oval from absolute black. Really just need a different crankset that can take just about any size ring.

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Originally Posted by ticketchecker

^^ I'd love to but I'm looking at complete builds and haven't seen anything with that as an option. Most everything I'm looking in my price range at has some version of SRAM Apex or maybe Shimano GRX.

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Yeah that kind of applied more to diy and flat bars. A "gravel" bike off the floor is either going to have 2x with 46/30 x 11-34 or a 1x with like 40 x 11-42. Probably the easiest/cheapest way to do wide range and road shifters would be 2x11 sram with those 46/30 rings and a gx rear derailleur. But that's still a new shifter, spider, rings, cassette, derailleurs to get going.

Or maybe just a 2x grx drivetrain and one of those linkage things and a bigger cassette.

Gravel, sand, whatever bike

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for front singles (and 1x11 setups in general). now that MTB is all 1x12… 1x11 cranksets can be had for cheaper. running XT m8000 crankset and RD with a 36T ring and 11-42 on the back. grx shifters with shiftmate. grx shifters paired with the grx RD would probably be a bit better though...

Anyone follow Ted King at all? He is in the middle of a pretty crazy gravel epic. 300+ mile 31k feet of climbing almost completely on gravel. (https://www.iamtedking.com/blog/diyg...kanza-ad-astra) It was supposed to be dirty kanza yesterday so this is his ode to it. If you are looking for some time to kill, Ted's youtube channel is also pretty entertaining.

The route was created by one of the guys at bikepacking.com. It seriously has me thinking about turning the route into a pretty awesome ~5 day bike packing trip.

Anyway here are the mrs and my gravel rigs for a bit of attention... Just picked up the cutthroat a few weeks ago and it absolutely rips
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^^ friend of mine told me about Ted's excellent adventure last night, big pull

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Originally Posted by kalisto

for front singles (and 1x11 setups in general). now that MTB is all 1x12… 1x11 cranksets can be had for cheaper. running XT m8000 crankset and RD with a 36T ring and 11-42 on the back. grx shifters with shiftmate. grx shifters paired with the grx RD would probably be a bit better though...

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this is probably my solution to these off the rack drivetrains

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Originally Posted by Whiteroom_Guardian

I see Peruvian is running the WTB Byways. Anyone else? Seem to be a pretty popular choice. I end up riding a lot of pavement here if I ride from home to the dirt like I did yesterday. Thinking I could have done more milage on something faster rolling. I would run tubeless and probably close to 40psi. I was running 39 rear/37 front yesterday on the resolutes and that still seemed too soft sometimes. I like the narrow shape of the Resolute 42s compared to most of the 650b offerings, but I realize if I go with a smoother tread I will need more width when off road to have any chance at grip.

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700c here, but I have lots of miles on resolute 42s. Recently threw on some 34 byways hoping to turn the bike into a rocket. My takeaway is that the byways are efficient and surprisingly capable on mixed surfaces. Ironically, I was consistently faster on some long stretches of pavement on the resolutes. I think the road hum of that tire is misleading, they are quite efficient on pavement and remarkable on gravel. My only beef with that tire is they don’t corner as confidently in dirt as the riddler or venture. This is obviously due to the rounder profile and less prominent shoulder knobs. Running some 45 riddlers now, but likely back to the resolute for me down the line for all purpose mixed bag PNW mileage.

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Originally Posted by ShoNuff

700c here, but I have lots of miles on resolute 42s. Recently threw on some 34 byways hoping to turn the bike into a rocket. My takeaway is that the byways are efficient and surprisingly capable on mixed surfaces. Ironically, I was consistently faster on some long stretches of pavement on the resolutes. I think the road hum of that tire is misleading, they are quite efficient on pavement and remarkable on gravel. My only beef with that tire is they don’t corner as confidently in dirt as the riddler or venture. This is obviously due to the rounder profile and less prominent shoulder knobs. Running some 45 riddlers now, but likely back to the resolute for me down the line for all purpose mixed bag PNW mileage.

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Thanks. I think I will just keep upping air pressure and see where it gets me. I wonder how much of it is just being on 650b vs. 700c as far as good roll on pavement. I think I just have to come to grips with the fact that if I want a tire that can grip and survive up a chunky fire road I will have to deal with some tread resistance on pavement. There is no tire that does it all perfectly.

The Resolutes (700x42) were on my short list as I've read that the center tread rolls well on hard surfaces but they have excellent traction when needed. They look knobby AF so I shied away, but they may be my next tire, just to do a comparison.

Good day for a ride. Just squeaked over 70 miles. Finally feel like my fitness is coming around a bit. Ride should have been faster though. Last 20ish miles was brutal headwind down the canyon.

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Originally Posted by Whiteroom_Guardian

I see Peruvian is running the WTB Byways. Anyone else? Seem to be a pretty popular choice. I end up riding a lot of pavement here if I ride from home to the dirt like I did yesterday. Thinking I could have done more milage on something faster rolling. I would run tubeless and probably close to 40psi. I was running 39 rear/37 front yesterday on the resolutes and that still seemed too soft sometimes. I like the narrow shape of the Resolute 42s compared to most of the 650b offerings, but I realize if I go with a smoother tread I will need more width when off road to have any chance at grip.

Haven't look at a Kenda since I used to run the Happy Mediums on XC bike. This is a new offering and looks pretty interesting.

https://bicycle.kendatire.com/en-us/.../alluvium-pro/

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Just went to Byways on my Journeyman. 650x47s set up tubeless. Running close to 40 psi normally.

On pavement they are about 20-30% faster than my knobby 2.1s that I had prior. No grip issues so far, but I don’t normally ride anything loose.

For those Strava users, the latest update to their route finder differentiates between dirt and paved roads and also has a feature where you can modify a route to use as much non paved surfaces as possible. The route finder also now shows heat maps - this makes mixing in singIetrack and dirt roads too easy. I have yet to find a resource that maps out dirt roads and trails so well.

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Originally Posted by HankScorpio

For those Strava users, the latest update to their route finder differentiates between dirt and paved roads and also has a feature where you can modify a route to use as much non paved surfaces as possible. The route finder also now shows heat maps - this makes mixing in singIetrack and dirt roads too easy. I have yet to find a resource that maps out dirt roads and trails so well.

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Are you building routes on Strava and then exporting them to a secondary computer like a Bolt? Realizing I have to finally sack up and get a real bike computer that I can see/access/use with relative ease while riding. Phone is just too cumbersome.

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Originally Posted by HankScorpio

For those Strava users, the latest update to their route finder differentiates between dirt and paved roads and also has a feature where you can modify a route to use as much non paved surfaces as possible. The route finder also now shows heat maps - this makes mixing in singIetrack and dirt roads too easy. I have yet to find a resource that maps out dirt roads and trails so well.

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That feature might be what gets me to subscribe. It's been lacking in the mapping world for a long time, and Strava's abundant user data it's prob what's required to crack the nut.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T707A using TGR Forums mobile app

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Originally Posted by Whiteroom_Guardian

Are you building routes on Strava and then exporting them to a secondary computer like a Bolt? Realizing I have to finally sack up and get a real bike computer that I can see/access/use with relative ease while riding. Phone is just too cumbersome.

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I have a decent Garmin gps I use to export a gpx file to when I make a route. I don't do it often as I find it a PIA to be constantly checking a gps but its handy if you want to put together a big route in an unfamiliar area.

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Originally Posted by climberevan

That feature might be what gets me to subscribe. It's been lacking in the mapping world for a long time, and Strava's abundant user data it's prob what's required to crack the nut.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T707A using TGR Forums mobile app

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The new subscriber features are well worth the $60/year. Lots of nice little tools to analyze rides and they've really stepped up the route finder and heat maps.

There are a few other websites that have attempted to map out gravel routes but Strava's version just kills it.

I haven't tried the new strava route builder stuff. The ways I'll usually get myself a route to follow is to look at trailforks if where I'm going is on there or take someone else's ride off strava and crop the part i want.

When I need to make a track to follow, I've been happy with caltopo for that as it will follow most roads and trails on a topo map and also let you overlay a 2nd map with a slider, so you can easily go from looking at topo to looking at imagery to make sure a road actually exists or to follow a road that exists but isn't on the map. Garmin base camp works ok as well and I like it for editing gpx files. double click on a track and a window opens with all the points, so you can select and delete a bunch.

I have no need for the post ride analysis, heart rate, KOMs, etc. that Strava offers, but really like to be able to create a turn by turn route that I can use in airplane mode on the bike. I've found using gravelmap.com allows me to create good rides in ridewithgps.com which I then use the phone app with a wireless earbud to tell me where to go and when to turn.

The gravel option in Strava could get me to reconsider where I spend my $5/month though. Any chance it includes class IV roads/jeep tracks/etc?

FYI gravelmap.com has a pretty simple and easy route builder which you can export a GPX file from.

If anyone has a wahoo bolt or similar they want to sell please PM me.