Gravel/Bikepack nerds enter...

[chaka]

yep Salsa was top of mind for me also. Give the Jamis Renegade a look as well. Kona Rove (Steel) and Libre (Al) have some nice builds in that price range too.

[dan_pdx]

yep Salsa was top of mind for me also. Give the Jamis Renegade a look as well. Kona Rove (Steel) and Libre (Al) have some nice builds in that price range too.

The Jamis Renegade looks it fits the bill really well, thanks for the suggestion!

[buttahflake]

Love my Jamis Renegade

[Peruvian]

Jamis Renegade, Kona Rove or Sutra, Salsa Fargo, Niner Steel RLT, Salsa Vaya...lots of good choices. The real trouble is finding them in stock.

Find a local shop or keep an eye on local FB MP or CL and give what you find a whirl.

Keep an eye out hydro disc brakes, plenty of adventure nipples, and a comfy geo and you will find your ride.

[Supermoon]

I'm kicking the tires on a gravel bike, any suggestions from the the peanut gallery? I have a bunch of missions in mind for this bike...in order of frequency:

-Commute when that becomes a thing again. I'm likely going to move, so no idea how far that will be, but probably not more than 7 miles one way. Will be using panniers, a rear rack, and probably fenders
-Actual gravel riding during the summer season. It will be mainly gravel roads / fire roads, and very little singletrack.
-Some winter road riding when the weather doesn't suck because my road bike is probably going to stay on a trainer all winter
-Loaded touring, primarily road, for the hypothetical day I can get away for a week or two

I own a road bike for Fredly endeavors and an antique hardtail that is mainly a bar/grocery bike but I can use for mellow singletrack etc. I rent fancy MTBs if I'm somewhere with a trail network, so the road and MTB side of things are covered pretty well.

I'm partial to steel but not militant about it, and am agnostic about the # of chainrings. I'm not usually this finicky, but a pressfit bottom bracket in my road bike has been a huge PITA this summer, so I'd prefer to avoid them. On budget, I'd want to stay under $2,500 and even better if $2k was possible. I've looked at the Surly Midnight Special and Straggler and they could be possibilities, and I love the idea of a Voodoo Juju but it's out of my price range.

What else should I be looking at?

I do almost this exact same thing on my Journeyman. Went for less aggressive tires and went tubeless which has been great for commuting. Put a rack and panniers on the back plus fenders pre-COVID. Going to get some 700c wheels for it at some point.



Edit: if you fit a 57.5 would let you take it for a spin.

[atree]

I picked up a midnight special this spring and have been loving it. Looked at some of the others mentioned too and I’m sure I would have been happy with all of them. Looking back I was way overthinking the search.


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[dan_pdx]

I do almost this exact same thing on my Journeyman. Went for less aggressive tires and went tubeless which has been great for commuting. Put a rack and panniers on the back plus fenders pre-COVID. Going to get some 700c wheels for it at some point.


Edit: if you fit a 57.5 would let you take it for a spin.

Thanks for the offer of a test ride! I probably need the next size down though, I'm just over 5' 10". I have to say the pricing on the Journeyman is attractive, did you buy it in town? If so, which shop?

[dan_pdx]

I picked up a midnight special this spring and have been loving it. Looked at some of the others mentioned too and I’m sure I would have been happy with all of them. Looking back I was way overthinking the search.


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Haha, fair point that I'm probably guilty of overthinking, any of these bikes would probably be perfectly capable of doing what I want. I'll have it for a long time though, so I tend to agonize :-)

[Supermoon]

Thanks for the offer of a test ride! I probably need the next size down though, I'm just over 5' 10". I have to say the pricing on the Journeyman is attractive, did you buy it in town? If so, which shop?

I worked at the downtown REI last winter so got it through them. They can’t stock them to the floor but can order them in. There are a couple other shops in town that carry them as well.

[kathleenturneroverdrive]

It's not the coolest choice, but if finding a bike in stock ASAP is really important I'd look at the Checkpoint AL5. At least in my neck of the woods it seems like big brands are easier to find in stock right now. Checkpoint ticks all your boxes other than the BB.

[buttahflake]

Paris-Tours is on NBCSN right now! It’s basically a gravel race now, they totally changed the parkour for this year.

[Peruvian]

Back from a weekend doing the VT Bikepackers virtual bundle on the gravel (and more) in the Slate Valley. Goniff and I made it easy by crating a figure 8 route that allowed us to keep our camping gear, etc in the truck while riding each day with only a short ride with packed bikes from the parking lot to the campground. 96 total miles, 8200’ elevation.

Group shot on Saturday.



biggins on some Class 4





Goniff’s Trek Checkpojnt, AL5.



Also Goniff s Trek.





Making friends.

[Laps]

^^nice work! Got to get down to slatw valley to ride the mtb trails. Hear it is excellent.


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[springsproject]

Some recent Scottish gravel




















Dish gloves make for a sensible waterproof layer

[SHarmon]

Some recent Scottish gravel

What a breath taking view! How I wish I am on lockdown near a place like this!

[huckbucket]

Springsproject bringing to full on stoke. Thanks for posting!

[Supermoon]

Damn. That looks awesome. Well done

[kathleenturneroverdrive]

I need some Scottish gravel in my life. Rad photos!

[Peruvian]

Awesome pics, springs. Do you cycle in an Aquaman costume? [emoji6]

[jamal]

Did some stupid shit yesterday. went out too late, to a fairly remote spot, alone, on a cold and rainy day.









few more pics: https://imgur.com/a/cif5Tgw

Got a puncture on the way down, way up there, and decided to try to plug it. Which didn't work. And I forgot my pump and only had one 16g co2. So I rode the rest of the way down on about 8psi in the front tire, walking over rocks, going super slow. Made it to the road, got partway down, and pow, pinch flat. So, some walking and call for a ride. it was pretty dark by the time I got picked up. Having to walk all the way out from where I got the first flat would not have been good, not sure what I was thinking with that plug. I did at least have lights, a jacket, gloves, and bear spray. And some candy to eat while I walked.

It was a cool loop though. A friend/one of the shops in town is putting up a weekly "adventure route." I'd been out this way plenty of times but wasn't even aware of this loop they put up. There's some other stuff out that way I want to try out. The next one is up in the lolo pass area, might be a little snowy but it's some needed motivation to get out and ride as the days are getting shorter and colder.

[huckbucket]

Did some stupid shit yesterday. went out too late, to a fairly remote spot, alone, on a cold and rainy day.









few more pics: https://imgur.com/a/cif5Tgw

Got a puncture on the way down, way up there, and decided to try to plug it. Which didn't work. And I forgot my pump and only had one 16g co2. So I rode the rest of the way down on about 8psi in the front tire, walking over rocks, going super slow. Made it to the road, got partway down, and pow, pinch flat. So, some walking and call for a ride. it was pretty dark by the time I got picked up. Having to walk all the way out from where I got the first flat would not have been good, not sure what I was thinking with that plug. I did at least have lights, a jacket, gloves, and bear spray. And some candy to eat while I walked.

It was a cool loop though. A friend/one of the shops in town is putting up a weekly "adventure route." I'd been out this way plenty of times but wasn't even aware of this loop they put up. There's some other stuff out that way I want to try out. The next one is up in the lolo pass area, might be a little snowy but it's some needed motivation to get out and ride as the days are getting shorter and colder.

Must have been one of those days. I got two flats on Sunday. Second one was at the max distance from home of an 80 mile loop and I was dead in the water. Long walk to the road where I got my daughter to drive an hour to pick me up. I guess this is why we have kids with drivers licences.

[sethschmautz]

...Long walk to the road where I got my daughter to drive an hour to pick me up. I guess this is why we have kids with drivers licences.

Thanks for this perspective. Mine are 4,6 and 8 and sometimes I question why... good to know they have a purpose later in life! :-)

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[sethschmautz]

Fall Gravel

[huckbucket]

Couple of stellar days in western NYS

[slowroastin]

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