Dwn
Senior Member
I’m mulling over a bike decision and would be very interested in views from anyone who has done any gravel biking.
Since retiring a few years ago, most of my cycling has been done on the road, with occasional forays onto cycle paths / canal paths. For the latter, I’ve been using a Triban RC500 road bike. This started off with flat bars but I hated them so much, I had the LBS fit drop bars and for the sake of economy they fitted bar end shifters. I also changed the tyres to 35mm Schwalbe G One Speed.
Recently though I have started to explore fairly gentle paths (not even slightly ‘technical’ and would like to do more of this. I’ve found though that on loose gravel the current tyres don’t give great traction when hills are involved.
I’d like to do more off road (but not mountain biking) and my dilemma is whether to buy a gravel bike or further adapt the RC500. If I buy, the budget is £1000.
My dilemmas are:
1. Will that budget get me something better than converting my existing bike?
2. I can add 38mm, maybe even 40mm, gravel tyres to the existing bike but don’t know if the wheels (Fulcrum Racing 6) are up to the trials of rougher pathways. I also have some doubt about the bar end shifters - much less easy to change on the fly than the brifters on my road bike. I could change them I guess, but the costs are then starting to mount up.
Any thoughts on this?
Since retiring a few years ago, most of my cycling has been done on the road, with occasional forays onto cycle paths / canal paths. For the latter, I’ve been using a Triban RC500 road bike. This started off with flat bars but I hated them so much, I had the LBS fit drop bars and for the sake of economy they fitted bar end shifters. I also changed the tyres to 35mm Schwalbe G One Speed.
Recently though I have started to explore fairly gentle paths (not even slightly ‘technical’ and would like to do more of this. I’ve found though that on loose gravel the current tyres don’t give great traction when hills are involved.
I’d like to do more off road (but not mountain biking) and my dilemma is whether to buy a gravel bike or further adapt the RC500. If I buy, the budget is £1000.
My dilemmas are:
1. Will that budget get me something better than converting my existing bike?
2. I can add 38mm, maybe even 40mm, gravel tyres to the existing bike but don’t know if the wheels (Fulcrum Racing 6) are up to the trials of rougher pathways. I also have some doubt about the bar end shifters - much less easy to change on the fly than the brifters on my road bike. I could change them I guess, but the costs are then starting to mount up.
Any thoughts on this?