New gravel groupset for " hipsters"
Moonbiker
Posts: 1,706
Comments
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Moonbiker wrote:
I have to say, Im still struggling to find a gravel use case which is a pain because id like to buy this and build a "gravel" bike.
i could always enter one of those massive US gravel races. Then id have a need and a holiday
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Yeah, group looks nice, but I'm not aware of enough gravel roads in the south east of england to make it worthwhile for me to invest.0
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TimothyW wrote:Yeah, group looks nice, but I'm not aware of enough gravel roads in the south east of england to make it worthwhile for me to invest.
There's at least a couple of hundred meters of gravel roads in Beckenham
Like you there's just not enough of this kind of terrain around to make me lust after a gravel bike at all.0 -
I thought hipsters rode garish fixed gear bikes with no brakes?
Forget the Gravel label; that's just for 'Mericans who have billions of miles of actual gravel roads. Just think of it as more flexible gearing options.
Up to now if you wanted lower gearing on a drop barred bike it was a triple chainset*, a MTB cassette and RD**, or one of the rare and / or expensive super compact chainsets often requiring a proprietary BB.
These replace the last of those with hopefully cheaper and freely available Shimano options, and open up a world of other bits and pieces to go with them. All to the good as far as I'm concerned. If I do raid my pension to buy a Mason Resolution frameset to build up in retirement I might just treat it to some of this stuff.
* on my summer bike
** shortly to go on my winter bike which already has a 46/36 CX chainset0 -
keef66 wrote:I thought hipsters rode garish fixed gear bikes with no brakes?
Forget the Gravel label; that's just for 'Mericans who have billions of miles of actual gravel roads. Just think of it as more flexible gearing options.
Up to now if you wanted lower gearing on a drop barred bike it was a triple chainset*, a MTB cassette and RD**, or one of the rare and / or expensive super compact chainsets often requiring a proprietary BB.
These replace the last of those with hopefully cheaper and freely available Shimano options, and open up a world of other bits and pieces to go with them. All to the good as far as I'm concerned. If I do raid my pension to buy a Mason Resolution frameset to build up in retirement I might just treat it to some of this stuff.
* on my summer bike
** shortly to go on my winter bike which already has a 46/36 CX chainset
This ^^^^0 -
There's an astonishingly large amount of "gravel" in SE England.
I bought one 18 months ago with expectations of doing the same loops again and again, but there's an absolute ton of options.
Not necessarily that easy to find, but they are there, be it bridleways, gravel tracks, singletrack, parks, fields, all sorts.
It's bloody good fun too. And there's no traffic.
This shows some of them, but probably only about 5% of the rideable "gravel" (if "gravel" = anything rideable which isn't a road).
https://gravelmap.com/#@51.189331174985 ... 8,9,hybrid0 -
cgfw201 wrote:There's an astonishingly large amount of "gravel" in SE England.
I bought one 18 months ago with expectations of doing the same loops again and again, but there's an absolute ton of options.
Not necessarily that easy to find, but they are there, be it bridleways, gravel tracks, singletrack, parks, fields, all sorts.
It's bloody good fun too. And there's no traffic.
This shows some of them, but probably only about 5% of the rideable "gravel" (if "gravel" = anything rideable which isn't a road).
https://gravelmap.com/#@51.189331174985 ... 8,9,hybrid
Just had a look at my area (SE London + Kent) and nearly all of the marked "gravel" is tarmac roads in decent condition. Nothing you need tyres wider than 25mm for.0 -
If I want 'gravel' riding I just ask my Garmin Touring to plot a circular road route for me. At some point it will send me down a badly rutted farm track or an impassable footpath, often with no way out without retracing my steps.0
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Its also for CX racing not just gravel.
Most importnaty thing I reckon is how compatible with other shimano stuff it will be, if things like, cable pull, chainlines, BCD, BB, have changed, or can you mix & match with existing shimano parts?0
