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MTB Gravel Bike Conversions

Dec. 31, 2024, 8 a.m.
Posts: 1300
Joined: Aug. 13, 2017

I was out on the dropbar Krampus this morning and was asked if my bike was a 90s mountain bike, to which I replied yes it was (altho it's actually 2012) and the guy said that gravel bikes are just 90s mountain bikes, to which I replied yes they are (I didn't want to get into exact specifics so thought agreeing would be easier).  He remarked that I was ahead of the game...  which I tool as a compliment.

(That's another pint for you Cooper).

Happy New Year's all, hope you have a good one.

Dec. 31, 2024, 8:54 a.m.
Posts: 148
Joined: June 9, 2017

It sounds like he said it in the manner in which pints are truly owed. You're free to collect them for me! Happy new years, all.

Jan. 2, 2025, 11:21 a.m.
Posts: 16426
Joined: Nov. 20, 2002

Posted by: cooperquinn

(I'd also rather have a modern gravel bike - almost no matter what trails - than a 90s mtb, haha. Everything is *SO* much better now)

My touring/ gravel bike is my kids old TIG welded kona and it was fine for touring & gravel with a block pattern 1.9

but the 29" gravel bike has since come out, there is no getting around the bigger wheels have got to be better/ faster also the plethora of new tires

edit: And i almost forgot the better brakes, altho brakes on a road bike are not a big thing for me I descended 5 of the 6 cols of the TDF in the pyrennes fully loaded panniers on cheap tektro V brakes without any problem


 Last edited by: XXX_er on Jan. 2, 2025, 2 p.m., edited 6 times in total.
Jan. 12, 2025, 8:11 p.m.
Posts: 1044
Joined: Jan. 2, 2018

Posted by: cooperquinn

I would suggest that an Assegai is moderately overkill for that ride, in the same way that showing up to a bb-gun fight with an Iowa Class Battleship is overkill.

I tried that lap again today with XR4s installed - still a not even an xc tire never mind a gravel tire, but much mellower than assegai/high roller.

Obviously much nicer conditions today as well, but I was nearly 7 minutes faster up Spur 4, with a lower HR. Which is... Not nothing. I also noticed I regularly ran out of gears on the ride, which did not really happen in December.

I have almost zero time on drop bars, like, in my life. But this experiment definitely makes me interested in demoing a gravel bike and seeing what's up. Seems like steed demos them and maybe endless rent them. Endless would be handy as I could just head straight up lilooet from there. Haha.

Anyways I'm looking forward to 2025 being a year to try some of this stuff.


 Last edited by: Kenny on Jan. 12, 2025, 8:17 p.m., edited 1 time in total.
Jan. 16, 2025, 2:02 p.m.
Posts: 148
Joined: June 9, 2017

Out of curiosity, what percentage faster is that 7 minutes? 

But yeah, tires/wheels make a wild difference. For another example, pedaling up the road on Mt Seymour at the same wattage, I'm a full gear higher out back on my Element on something like WTB's Macro. It also has a 34T front ring, over my Maxxgripped Arrival's 32T. I'm 5+ minutes back from my drop-bar times by the first switchback.

Jan. 16, 2025, 6:39 p.m.
Posts: 1301
Joined: March 16, 2017

From ride with friend last September. She rides the Trek while mine is on the left. Ride what got and no desire to go back to drops ever again. Though only change will be a new set of bars by the Spring.

Jan. 16, 2025, 10:11 p.m.
Posts: 1044
Joined: Jan. 2, 2018

Posted by: cooperquinn

Out of curiosity, what percentage faster is that 7 minutes? 

But yeah, tires/wheels make a wild difference. For another example, pedaling up the road on Mt Seymour at the same wattage, I'm a full gear higher out back on my Element on something like WTB's Macro. It also has a 34T front ring, over my Maxxgripped Arrival's 32T. I'm 5+ minutes back from my drop-bar times by the first switchback.

About 20%!

Jan. 17, 2025, 11:04 a.m.
Posts: 16426
Joined: Nov. 20, 2002

Tires are the hugest IME, I swapped out the rst suspension fork, instaled Tioga city slickers on my " gravel mtn bike " and that was a fast bike

I decided a 1.25 slick is too minimalist and settled on 1.9 block pattern as the best all around

Jan. 18, 2025, 1:16 a.m.
Posts: 1300
Joined: Aug. 13, 2017

Tyre weight also makes a big difference.  I went from Schwalbe Big Bens (relatively slick tread but heavy) to the 45 WTB Riddlers which are gripper but a lot lighter (and tubeless) and the speed went up.

Jan. 20, 2025, 8:36 p.m.
Posts: 148
Joined: June 9, 2017

I didn't love the Riddlers, but tires are a very personal choice. I did find them grippy, in the sense that they wore out a lot faster than I anticipated!

Jan. 20, 2025, 11:44 p.m.
Posts: 1300
Joined: Aug. 13, 2017

Posted by: cooperquinn

I didn't love the Riddlers, but tires are a very personal choice. I did find them grippy, in the sense that they wore out a lot faster than I anticipated!

They do seem to wear quick.  I'm tempted by the Reaver though as something a little faster rolling but maybe for summer.  Gravel tyres are so location and use specific.

Jan. 29, 2025, 10:07 a.m.
Posts: 1044
Joined: Jan. 2, 2018

I've been looking at a few frames with geometry that should allow either a flat bar or drop bar setup (I'm kinda hedging against the possibility I can't stomach drops, but also I am thinking these bikes are mostly suspension corrected for 100mm forks, so I could run this thang in full gravel mode with rigid and drops, full xc/90s MTB mode with flats and a 100mm SID (probably require a 70mm stem, but that's okay), or any of the other combos).

It sounds fun but the bike Lego involved in terms of shifters and brake levers seems... Shitty. I wish GRX 12 speed had the same pull ratio as XT.

Seems like eagle mechanical with a modded road shifter would work, or really AXS makes the most sense since dropper and derailleur are just.. done.

I am actually thinking putting a good set of mechanical discs on might help as well, although with the drops the cables are inside the bar wrap? So that means undoing that, or have two sets of cable/housing that stay with the bars, which is maybe not the end of the world.

Any hacks here or is this just a lame plan of an indecisive mountain biker who can't embrace change? With AXS and replacing cable/housings wholesale I think it could be a ~1hr job which is not bad. Just requires batteries, and $$$.


 Last edited by: Kenny on Jan. 29, 2025, 10:09 a.m., edited 2 times in total.
Jan. 29, 2025, 11:38 a.m.
Posts: 1433
Joined: Dec. 4, 2002

Kenny, Wolf Tooth Tanpan will enable running Shimmy road shifters with a Shimmy MTB derailleur. I have GRX 11s shifters hooked up to an SLX rear derailleur so I can run MTB cassettes and get the gearing set up for the big/ugly ups in dirt.... 5yrs on this bodge and it's been solid all the way👍

Jan. 29, 2025, 12:22 p.m.
Posts: 1044
Joined: Jan. 2, 2018

Posted by: Ned

Kenny, Wolf Tooth Tanpan will enable running Shimmy road shifters with a Shimmy MTB derailleur. I have GRX 11s shifters hooked up to an SLX rear derailleur so I can run MTB cassettes and get the gearing set up for the big/ugly ups in dirt.... 5yrs on this bodge and it's been solid all the way👍

Thanks! Looks like with the "in-line" version of the tanpan, that'd be reasonably seamless. Appears that there's a conversion kit for SRAM road shifters to give them the right pull ratio for eagle MTB derailleurs as well, that could do the job.

Jan. 29, 2025, 3:25 p.m.
Posts: 148
Joined: June 9, 2017

"Any hacks here or is this just a lame plan of an indecisive mountain biker who can't embrace change?" Umm..... you possibly have your answer, hahaha.

I really think you'll swap this back and forth less than you think. Even the easiest ways to do this (AXS), you'll be faffing with brake lines and all kinds of shit. I can totally understand the indecision (I almost built up my first gravel bike with flat bars), but I'd pick one and run with it. If you hate it, you can switch. But I doubt you'll be swapping back and forth more than once or twice...  

I've used the RatioTech conversion kit to combine Force 11spd shifters with Eagle RD/cassette. You're _definitely _not swapping that back and forth regularly. And while I'm always drop bars on the gravel bike, I do swap RD/cassette sometimes if I need more gear range (I'm usually on 13spd XPLR, but if heavily loaded I'll go 12spd Eagle), which is a 5 minute swap.

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