MTB Gravel Bike Conversions

Posted by: fartymarty

Welly is such a lovely city when the sun is out.  Better than that monstrosity in the north where I grew up.

Can't wait to see the 9er with some drop bars - I reckon it will look the nuts.

Funnily enough I ran into a touring focused buddy on the way home. He's got a wide, flared drop bar I can borrow for experiments.

Some good news for conversions, seems Shimano is releasing drop bar hydraulic brifters for CUES next year. Should make swapping between flat bars and drop bars more accessible with a good-enough groupset. I'll probably swap over once they're available, I would love hydro brakes without going GRX.

Latest incarnation of the Krampus gravel bike. I've ditched the -2 headset so the HA is now back to a stock 69.5 degrees which I quite like even with the 31mm stem.

I've been riding it a lot recently and really enjoying it.

Edit - geo wise it is feeling really good.  If I could only extend the HT down (with shorter A/C fork) and flatten the TT I reckon I would be onto a winner.  Until then I will keep riding it and look out for a frame with similar geo to what i'm after.

Some bodging to mount a shifter to my curly bar experiment. 

A test ride to tweak bar and hood positions 

A happy machine. 

I borrowed the bar to see if I want one. I'm feeling it, time to commit. Then I'll have to figure out a better shifter setup and make sure I have space for a dropper lever. 

Yay lego!

Once you go drops.... they're just so much faster and more hand positions.

What brakes are you running? I rate my GRX 10 speed shifters if you can find a used set.

Posted by: fartymarty

Once you go drops.... they're just so much faster and more hand positions.

What brakes are you running? I rate my GRX 10 speed shifters if you can find a used set.

TRP Hylex, I think they're (one of) the only brake-only hydro levers. 

Means I'll continue bodging a mtb shifter on there, but I'm happy with that.

Posted by: velocipedestrian

Posted by: fartymarty

Once you go drops.... they're just so much faster and more hand positions.

What brakes are you running? I rate my GRX 10 speed shifters if you can find a used set.

TRP Hylex, I think they're (one of) the only brake-only hydro levers. 

Means I'll continue bodging a mtb shifter on there, but I'm happy with that.

A bar end shifter or DT shifter would be sweet

Velo - hows the Drop9er treating you?

Posted by: fartymarty

Posted by: velocipedestrian

Posted by: fartymarty

Once you go drops.... they're just so much faster and more hand positions.

What brakes are you running? I rate my GRX 10 speed shifters if you can find a used set.

TRP Hylex, I think they're (one of) the only brake-only hydro levers. 

Means I'll continue bodging a mtb shifter on there, but I'm happy with that.

A bar end shifter or DT shifter would be sweet

just di2 them

Velo - How's the Grav9er treating you?

Posted by: fartymarty

Velo - How's the Grav9er treating you?

It's a winner. I took it on a scouting expedition after getting a hint of where some pirate trails might be... It was the perfect tool - covered lots of distance and surfaces, but prevented me from dropping into the things I found.

Seal, gravel, singletrack, some roots and pine needles... Good times.

Even took it for a lap of the pump track on the way past, would have liked a dropper for that.

Looking good - I'm liking the front rack - very Rando.  I need to get one for my Krampus - mainly to carry my lock but i'm sure it would be useful for other things as well.

I also love the fact you can cover a lot more ground than a mtb yet still take in easier trails.

The rack is super useful. I have a set of bigger panniers I can load up with ~25kg of supermarket shopping, or just a tiny dry bag etc on top. 

I also have a Freeload / Thule rack for the rear which mounts with straps. I've used it for overnights and it's bomber. 

Truly the ATB option.

What rack is it?