Contemplating a cheapish gravel bike

[Dan Lotus]

Morning,

I am exceedingly lucky that my parents live in south east Spain, and even more lucky that they provide me with a bit of garage space to keep some bikes.
I currently have 3 road bikes over there, for me, my partner and our daughter.

Last time I visited I fitted a wall bracket which took two of them off the floor, so by my man maths that now means there is room for one more ;-)

I've only road ridden over there, but there are a lot of interesting looking gravelly type roads out there that would be quite interesting to explore.

Being practical, a drop bar bike would be my preference, as it would make a good guest bike when we have friends/family come over who want to ride, the downside there is that a cheap gravel bike (new) will not come with hydraulic brakes, and my experiences with mechanical discs is really poor, both in terms of braking performance, and having to adjust them frequently/having them rubbing the rotors.

Are hydraulic drop bar bikes any cheaper now than they used to be, and or are mechanical discs any better than they used to be?

I did have a brief look on fb marketplace over there (How I sourced my daughters bike) but there is not much on offer nearby of a gravel bike theme.
Decathlon (a local store to them) could be an option, as I suspect the cost and risk of flying over with a bike would cancel out any initial savings, and I don't see me driving there any time soon.

 

[si_c]

Good mechanical disks are really good, they don't have the feel of hydraulics and can be harder on the hands if braking a lot, but I go back and forth in my own mind about which I prefer. FWIW my "nice" bike has hydraulics, my winter bike which gets a lot more use, has TRP Spyre mechanical. It's on balance more reliable - but setup is more fussy - I can easily just grab it and go for a ride after it's been sitting for months and know that the brakes will work fine, I always check the hydraulics before riding after a while to make sure they don't need bleeding.

Depending on the bike, I'd be happy to spend the money on a mechanical disc bike and then upgrade the calipers to TRP Spyres or Hy/Rds (hybrid hydraulic/mechanical) and upgrade all the cabling to good quality compressionless.

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

Adv 8.9 was/is £960 at Halfords, for grx400 hydraulic brakes.

 

[biggs682]

Why not just use an older steel MTB with no suspension be much cheaper and just as much fun

 

[EckyH]

Why not just use an older steel MTB with no suspension? It would be much cheaper and just as much fun.

This could be an alternative if a flat bar bike with rim brakes suits.

Decathlon (a local store to them) could be an option, as I suspect the cost and risk of flying over with a bike would cancel out any initial savings, and I don't see me driving there any time soon.

I don't know which kind of gravel you plan to ride. If it's not the rough stuff, then this bike could be good enough: https://www.decathlon.es/es/p/bicic...aris-2x8v-edr-af-gris/343180/c200c200m8771990
As far as I know there is a rule in the EU how to specify tyre clearance on bikes: There has to be at least 4mm space between the tyre and frame or fork. With some luck 40mm wide tyres will fit, because frame and fork are specified with 38mm tyre clearance.

When I "inspected" the bike in the local Decathlon store the other day I had to admit that it is a fairly well built bike.

E.

 

[Dan Lotus]

Thanks for the replies.

The reason I was erring away from a flat bar mtb, much as I love them, is that it would be useful to have another bike there that could be used by friends or family when we want to road ride.
I often use my own gravel bike here for road riding/commuting etc, so in that case I would ride the heavier and slower gravel bike, and give a visitor my nicer road bike.
I wouldn't fancy covering 100km on a flat bar mountain bike, and I couldn't justify the space/expense for two sadly.
That Boardman is a serious deal at that much, and with those ratios - mega deal, it's just the logistics of getting it out there, though I suppose there should be a way to get it into a bike bag - I do have a bag, though no hard box, but it would be a one way journey, so actually a hard box makes no sense 🤡

I guess it would just be around whether it would make it in one piece or get damaged.
I did pop into the local Decathlon, and thought I saw a gravel bike with mechanical discs for ~520 euros, but no sign of it on their website, so perhaps a local discount, or ex display perhaps.
That one linked looks, ok, but I guess bargains are far and few between these days.

 

[fossyant]

I know of someone who bought a lightly used gravel bike from a shop local to his place in Spain. He's running road tyres (all though chunky) as the gravel is quite hard compacted and fine to ride on. Lots of gravel I believe, so I'd look second hand at a bike shop (ex rental) or grab something from Decathlon. Wouldn't worry about cable discs, they work well if set up properly. Usual advice of making sure they don't get contaminated applies to all disk types.

Flying a bike out might cost you about £60 one off.

 

[si_c]

Flying a bike out might cost you about £60 one off.

That was my thought, also if buying a bike, presumably it comes in a box which could be used for a one way flight easily enough.

 

[fossyant]

That was my thought, also if buying a bike, presumably it comes in a box which could be used for a one way flight easily enough.

Yup. But may have to take the hit if something falls off and breaks in warranty if a UK bike. It's why no-one I know, if cycling abroad for a week, doesn't take a bike. £60 return for your bike and the 'fear and panic' or £130 to hire and pick up one locally and hand it back.

Travelled with my bike once, never again, but that was in the 90's. Bike was fine, but the faff. Airport 'lost' the bikes for two hours on arrival.