Ask the experts

[climberevan]

Dumb gravel JONG sizing question: I've never ridden anything besides mountain bikes and want a gravel-type bike for commuting and some dirt roads around here. Because of everything I am not seeing much in my size locally, so I am likely buying online. I get that different brands have different sizing, but I seem to fall right in the middle of 52/54 in most brands (5'9" but a short inseam, like 29"). How much functional difference is there between these two sizes? Would I even notice the difference? If so, can I make adjustments later based on the stem, etc, if one is either too big or too small?

It's really going to come down to a given brand's nomenclature, but I'd say you should be looking at a reach figure around 375-380mm, with a stack of around 570. You can adjust a bit by changing stem length and height, but you can't make the wrong size fit well and still handle properly.

For reference, I am 5'9" with average inseam but long arms and have bikes that I'm happy with that have labeled sizes of 52 (Trek road, very low and racy), 54 (Seven road, less aggressive), medium/54 (Giant Revolt gravel), and 55 (Ican gravel). My actual riding position is similar on all of them, with somewhat decreasing reach to the bars and increasing stack from small to larger listed sizes.

If your background is mtb, you'll likely prefer higher/closer bars compared to someone with a road background. Many gravel bikes will facilitate this, but most cyclocross bikes won't, as they tend to have much shorter head tubes.

[EWG]

Talk to me about bar backsweep. I got some new wide bars with 8 degrees sweep and I’m finding the outside of my hands are hurting after slightly longer rides.

Seems like some more sweep would relieve this a bit, so I’m looking for some cheap used bars to try out with a 12-17 sweep.

What’s the downside here - handling going to get a bit more twitchy?

The classic fix for pain on the outside of your hands mtn biking is to focus on making sure your elbows are slightly bent, ie you aren’t riding with your elbows locked. FWIW.

[jm2e]

When does Remy Metailler decide to wear a Full Face helmet? I mean, is it exclusively at Rampage?

https://m.pinkbike.com/news/video-ho...with-fear.html


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[Rossymcg]

When does Remy Metailler decide to wear a Full Face helmet? I mean, is it exclusively at Rampage?

https://m.pinkbike.com/news/video-ho...with-fear.html


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man that dude does some seriously sketchy shizzle, I'm constantly thinking "it's time for a full face and a neck brace"

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[Boissal]

Talk to me about tire wobble.

Recently bought some carbon wheels and put them on the bike yesterday. The tires I had on the old rims were in good shape with about 400 miles on them, I decided to re-use them. Minion DHF 2.5 in the front, Dissector 2.4 in the back, both wt, mounted on 30 mm ID rims. The front went on the new rims with no issues but I had to wage war on the Dissector to get it so sit properly and once it did it would lose air insanely fast. I eventually took it off to properly clean the bead which had solid chunks of sealant pushing it away from the rim. It sealed easily once clean (just using a pump instead of the compressor) but developed an impressive wobble in one spot, I'd say almost 1 cm of lateral motion. Looking from above the whole tire seems to be twisted, as if the sidewall had been shortened on one side. It makes no sense as the bead is properly seated all around. The wheel is completely true, the tubeless tape hasn't crept up the side of the rim or anything weird.
Could I have fucked something up when scraping the bead clean? I used a tire lever to scrape the chunks of sealant off and had to pull pretty hard on the bead, do these things stretch? I've corrected the wobble to a point where it's only about 1/4" side to side in one narrow spot and I can't feel anything off spinning around on pavement at high pressure. Ride the tire until it's bald or throw it away now before it does damage in mysterious ways?

[toast2266]

Talk to me about tire wobble.

Recently bought some carbon wheels and put them on the bike yesterday. The tires I had on the old rims were in good shape with about 400 miles on them, I decided to re-use them. Minion DHF 2.5 in the front, Dissector 2.4 in the back, both wt, mounted on 30 mm ID rims. The front went on the new rims with no issues but I had to wage war on the Dissector to get it so sit properly and once it did it would lose air insanely fast. I eventually took it off to properly clean the bead which had solid chunks of sealant pushing it away from the rim. It sealed easily once clean (just using a pump instead of the compressor) but developed an impressive wobble in one spot, I'd say almost 1 cm of lateral motion. Looking from above the whole tire seems to be twisted, as if the sidewall had been shortened on one side. It makes no sense as the bead is properly seated all around. The wheel is completely true, the tubeless tape hasn't crept up the side of the rim or anything weird.
Could I have fucked something up when scraping the bead clean? I used a tire lever to scrape the chunks of sealant off and had to pull pretty hard on the bead, do these things stretch? I've corrected the wobble to a point where it's only about 1/4" side to side in one narrow spot and I can't feel anything off spinning around on pavement at high pressure. Ride the tire until it's bald or throw it away now before it does damage in mysterious ways?

I'd be very surprised if you damaged the carcass just from re-installing (assuming you didn't blow it off the rim at any point in the process).

I bet if you ride it a bit it'll mostly sort itself out. Also doubt you'll notice the wobble except a higher speeds on pavement.

[Pinned]

Have you tried re-seating the bead? Push one side into the center channel and re-inflate to see if straightens out?

400mi on a set of MTB tires is amazing though!

[Boissal]

Have you tried re-seating the bead? Push one side into the center channel and re-inflate to see if straightens out?

400mi on a set of MTB tires is amazing though!

I re-seated it a few time and even trimmed the tape that was a touch wide and was creeping up one of the sidewalls. Didn't help much. I'll ride it and see.
I usually get around 800 miles out of my tires. Dual compound in the back seems to last a bit longer.

[grskier]

I found a deal on a very entry level gravel bike, that'll likely serve it's purpose in the short term for ACL rehab.... It's beyond that I've got my concerns. It has a 9 speed groupo on it now, and those don't seem as standard as 10-12 speed ones.
http://2019.devinci.com/bikes/bike_1130_scategory_269

I don't see what hub it has, but would it probably be the same hub that would accept a cassette with more gears (and range)?

Because if that's the case I could see getting it and replacing parts and actually upgrading over time. I'd even consider banking parts like:
https://www.universalcycles.com/shop...s.php?id=67778
And a decent 10 speed cassette, knowing I'd have to get a new derailleur too.

[Dee Hubbs]

9-10-11 MTB freehub are the same width. Road 9-10 are the same, with 11s being wider, but any 11s cassette over 34 teeth fits a 11 road hub.
New derail AND new shifters.

[JPaul]

Hey grskier,

Congrats on finding a bike in stock that you are interested in/like the price. Does look like it would fit the bill for ACL rehab.

Given the cassette spec'd (HG400) is a hyperglide/Shimano-splined one, it should be a straightforward upgrade to 10 speed SRAM (non-xD) or up to 11 speed Shimano MTB* cassette on those same hubs.

Note that the brakes/shifters you found is a great deal, but there are a lot of electronic bits missing to make it a functional system, likely killing the budget you saved on these, if those parts (11-spd DA Di) are even still available. I'd just bank that money and see where you are with the bike if/when it comes time to upgrade.

Good luck!


* dee hubs is correct in pointing out road vs mtb spacing can be different -> I was assuming MTB cassettes

[Dee Hubbs]

For Di2 you’ll need $125 battery, $100 A Junction, $100 in cables, $25 b junction, and $100 charger, FD and RD.

[grskier]

So, new shifters, derailleur and cassette to go up to a 10.. Freehub should be fine...
and yeah, the Di2 would need a ton more stuff too.

Where I live we have some steep hills, I get worried about too much stress on the recouping knee once I start doing the hills, hence a bit more range would be nice.

[climberevan]

I'm not sure if this info is on this thread, but I can confirm that SRAM Eagle 12s shifter, derailleur, and chain works well with a Shimano 12s cassette. GFs new bike is waiting for wheels so she's using my old ones. It doesn't have quite the magic effortless shifting under load that a full Shimano system offers, but she has no complaints.

[geomorph]

So, new shifters, derailleur and cassette to go up to a 10.. Freehub should be fine...
and yeah, the Di2 would need a ton more stuff too.

Where I live we have some steep hills, I get worried about too much stress on the recouping knee once I start doing the hills, hence a bit more range would be nice.

You could also go with smaller rings up front. I've found that as long as you have a 1:1 ratio you can grind up most anything. Most gravel bikes these days seem to be shipping with a 32 or 30 small ring up front (assuming a 2x setup).

[grskier]

You could also go with smaller rings up front. I've found that as long as you have a 1:1 ratio you can grind up most anything. Most gravel bikes these days seem to be shipping with a 32 or 30 small ring up front (assuming a 2x setup).

Yeah, this is close:
CRANKSETFSA VERO COMPACT 50/34T
CASSETTESHIMANO HG400 9S 11-32T

[kalisto]

So, new shifters, derailleur and cassette to go up to a 10.. Freehub should be fine...
and yeah, the Di2 would need a ton more stuff too.

Where I live we have some steep hills, I get worried about too much stress on the recouping knee once I start doing the hills, hence a bit more range would be nice.

if you're running a 10 speed freehub, you can still go 11 speed and use a MTB cassette.

For 1x GRX stuff, the recommendation is to use MTB cassettes anyways as you can't get road cassette cassettes with those big ranges.

Can get some decent range with a 1x11...

[scrublover]

So, new shifters, derailleur and cassette to go up to a 10.. Freehub should be fine...
and yeah, the Di2 would need a ton more stuff too.

Where I live we have some steep hills, I get worried about too much stress on the recouping knee once I start doing the hills, hence a bit more range would be nice.

Been using the Sunrace 11 speed cassettes for a while now, with SRAM shifters and derailleurs. Works great. IMO, their 11-46 spread is better than SRAM's. They also have an 11-50 if you want a lower "granny gear" without messing with your chainring size.

[schuss]

Does anyone have a good campy derailleur adjustment guide? My roadie is campy (used set) and I have it on a direct drive trainer, but just cannot get it to adjust to not be chunky - any thoughts? It's old chorus (2000's) on a newer cassette that looked compatible. Really just looking for it to function so my trainer bike is functional, so if buying a new one is better, definitely willing to do so. Unfortunately the trainer (Direto) makes it hard to eyeball the chainline, so I may have done it a bit wrong.

TLDR - help an idiot adjust or fix some bad derailleur action on a trainer bike.

[Canada1]

My wife just had a nice 4 mile rocky downhill walk due to a Nobby Nic center knob falling off. She was not amused.

After three tries with schwalbe, I’ll never go back. Hell, my kid probably weighs 130#’s and he tore the knobs off their tires.

[Canada1]

My wife just had a nice 4 mile rocky downhill walk due to a Nobby Nic center knob falling off. She was not amused.

After three tries with schwalbe, I’ll never go back. Hell, my kid probably weighs 130#’s and he tore the knobs off their tires.

[plugboots]

I re-seated it a few time and even trimmed the tape that was a touch wide and was creeping up one of the sidewalls. Didn't help much. I'll ride it and see.
I usually get around 800 miles out of my tires. Dual compound in the back seems to last a bit longer.

Did you ever get this sorted out? I destroyed a tire once because when I was taking it off the rim with a tire iron the rubber actually slid on the bead inside the tire. So it’s hard to describe, but the rubber was kind of piled up in one area and thin in the other because it slid. Maybe this is your problem?

[Boissal]

Did you ever get this sorted out? I destroyed a tire once because when I was taking it off the rim with a tire iron the rubber actually slid on the bead inside the tire. So it’s hard to describe, but the rubber was kind of piled up in one area and thin in the other because it slid. Maybe this is your problem?

I haven't fixed it completely, it's better than it was after re-seating a couple times, trimming the tubeless tape, and aggressively massaging the tire. I wonder if I managed to stretch the bead on one side when installing the tire... I thin I see what you mean about the rubbers slipping on the bead, I think I may have noticed when I cleaned the bead of sealant residue which prevented the tire from sitting properly. I didn't notice anything weird but maybe scraping the bead did some damage. Oh well, gonna take it to St George for 4 days and when I get back it probably will be time to trash the tire anyway.

[Roxtar]

After three tries with schwalbe, I’ll never go back. Hell, my kid probably weighs 130#’s and he tore the knobs off their tires.

Believe it or not, they finally got it right.
I'll start out by saying I was with you 100%. The older Schwalbes wore out just looking at rocky trails. The more recent ones shed (knobs) like a St Bernard in July.
However...
The new "Super" series are actually amazing. They sent me a new NN to replace the old one (One thing I have always said about Schwalbe, their customer service is excellent) and I've used that tire for a few months through some of the gnarliest technical, sharp rock infested trails New Mexico has to offer and they literally look like new. Knobs not only intact but not even worn at the edges.
You know that popping sound when your rear tire runs through a sharp rocky notch; the one where you can just picture the knobs flying off?
Nothing.
Perfect.
And this is with the lighter weight Super Ground version.
I know, "Screw me three times..."
But seriously, they really do work.

[teledad]

Does anyone have a good campy derailleur adjustment guide?

Campy's tech manuals are pretty good, assuming this is 10-speed look here: https://www.campagnolo.com/media/fil...ev02_07_16.pdf

The only tricky part (relative to SRAM or Shimano) is that the "B" screw (H in that manual) is in a different (non-obvious) location. Also Campy recommends adjusting that screw last while for Shimano/SRAM you generally adjust it first.

Campy tends to be pretty sensitive to chain length, so that's one place to look (especially if your trainer cassette is a different size than the one on your wheel). This shows how to get the proper chain length: https://www.campagnolo.com/media/fil...ev00_09_16.pdf