Grant Fondo
Guru
- Location
- Cheshire
Gravel Bike suitable for touring.
- Thread starter Spiderweb
- Start date
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Grant Fondo
Guru
- Location
- Cheshire
Nice low gears that one. a great deal too
It's also an excellent bikepacking bike
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Deleted member 1258
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I like that.
All the gravel, bikepacking and touring sub cultures were combined years ago. The french had the fat tyred 650b cyclotouring bike ,back then lots of roads were gravel especially the mountains . Rural roads and RF tracks in the forest. The massive bar bag supported by a front rack was probably a result of the front wheel not being dished . The French were ahead of the curve, once the car was affordable touring by bike fell away. Nothing wrong with modern fat tyres i am running Mezcal 29 by 2.25. They have good reviews. Tyre clearance is more about chainstay and bb width as a post above said. Buying a bike is a learning curve ,has anyone bought the perfect bike as a first bike.
Grant Fondo
Guru
- Location
- Cheshire
I'm ridiculously biased of course, but some of these old rigid MTB's make great tourers .... canti brakes are shocking compared to modern discs though 
OP
OP
Spiderweb
Not So Special One
- Location
- North Yorkshire
I’m a little confused, the description and images suggest a 1x but the detailed spec says a 30/46 chainset?
DRM
Guru
- Location
- West Yorks
This, I have a Marin Gestalt 2 Gravel bike that Marin says will take maximum 700x35 as the front derailleur arm is very close to the tyre, it's currently on Fulcrum Racing 800 Disc Wheels fitted with Vittoria Terrano Dry 700x33, which actually inflate to something like 35.2mm on the rear rim, the front derailleur arm is very close to the tyre, I believe fitting a 650b wheelset would allow a 47mm wide tyre to be used.
As for touring use 1x forget it, too many steps in the gears, perhaps something with GRX 810 groupset with a double 48/31 up front and 11-32 on the rear, also bear in mind luggage fitting, do they want panniers, or going bike packing style with frame bags? I think saying I want a gravel bike can be a real head scratcher as some are like strong road bikes, and at the other extreme are drop bar MTB's, the Marin Gestalt 2 like mine has mudguard fittings, would take a rack & Panniers, but is supplied with a Tiagra Groupset 50-34 and 11-32 cassette, and is nearer the road end of things, perhaps a smaller crankset would suit, and the drops are flared but not excessively
chriswoody
Legendary Member
- Location
- Northern Germany
I've so far rode just under 2000 km of loaded touring on 1x equipped bikes and I can't say I've ever noticed a problem with gaps in the gearing, overall gear range though, that is an issue. Like I mentioned up thread, I did soon realise after my Slovenia trip that a 36 tooth chainring married to a 10 - 42 cassette was a little too much for my legs, so I now tour on a 28 tooth chainring married to the same cassette. This is a problem inherent to Gravel bikes though, without entering the realms of mullet drivetrains you are always going to struggle with the fact that the largest cog available on the back will be about 42 teeth, so by going to a 28 tooth chainring for the front, I'm sacrificing a little top speed for climbing ability which I think is a fair compromise.
In May I rode 130 km around the Harz mountains with a friend on a Canyon Grizl that was equipped with a GRX 2x drivetrain and it was interesting to compare. For the most part we were evenly matched neither of us struggling, though he was having to use his front shifter a lot to keep in an optimal gear. Uphill I was leaving him behind with my much lower climbing gear, but coming down the Brocken was the only time I really noticed a difference, on the tarmac he was averaging 55 kph and I was topping out at 48 kph. As soon as we hit the gravel downhill though we were both evenly matched and it was only our courage that was keeping us from going quicker.
The original post mentioned searching for a gravel bike that is also suitable for touring and 1x is going to be featuring a lot on modern gravel bikes. If that touring is predominately off-road then I really see no problem with using a 1x drivetrain. It all depends on the needs of the people looking for these bikes, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss 1x though.
Question for Merlin maybe?
Though I do love a 46/30 and 11-42 on my gravel bike while loaded
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OP
Spiderweb
Not So Special One
- Location
- North Yorkshire
That sounds like perfect gearing for what they are wanting to use the bikes for.
Mine is a mullet drive train, so not stock. There's a thread somewhere on here about the conversion. Fairly easy to do
T4tomo
Legendary Member
Merlin lifted decriptions and pic etc stuff off Orro site, which says "pictures may vary to spec"
