Gravel Bike set-up

[Clancy]

Building up a Salsa Vaya, first bike with this type of geometry. I know exactly how to set up my road bikes as far as handlebar drop, but as this is my first venture into building a gravel bike I don't know what's ideal in positioning the bar height to saddle height - what the goal is in terms of positioning. I've seen some gravel bikes that have the bar either level with the seat or minimal amount of drop. I'm using the Ritchey Neomax that have a slight flare to the drops. I do want a more upright position.

Although I know this has a lot to do with personal preference, but generally what's the idea in positioning on a gravel bike vs a road bike?

[spoonrobot]

but generally what's the idea in positioning on a gravel bike vs a road bike?


Saddle high enough to put out good power without killing your lower back from all the extra bumping and bouncing around.

Handlebars high enough to get good control on loose off-chamber downhills while being forward enough to maintain maneuverability and steering feel without putting too much weight on the front wheel and increasing washout risk.

I recommend starting with a high-handlebar and going down as the bike will feel like garbage when you're too high and it's easy to find the sweet spot by going down 5mm at a time.

Best bet is to look at how cross bikes are fit as they encounter a lot of the same riding considerations and then go from there. Gravel fit is sort of like MTB fit right now. There's no big money in it so there aren't any self-styled experts trying to set tone and grab chunks of the knowledge base for themselves like in road cycling.

FWIW my gravel bike is set-up the same as my road bike except the saddle is 5mm lower.

[adub]

I'm roughly 1cm less reach and 1cm more stack

My saddle height is the same, same saddle as well.

[charliedid]

Start with bars just a bit higher ( 1-2 cm) than the saddle so that you are really comfy in the drops.
Works for me (about 1CM) I like the Salsa Cowchipper on Touring and Gravel bikes. Good control and very comfy getting to drops. I also ride a much wider bar on gravel and touring bikes than a reg raod bike.

[livingminimal]

I'm roughly 1cm less reach and 1cm more stack

My saddle height is the same, same saddle as well.

That's where I am.

[thirdgenbird]

That's where I am.

Me too.

Same bars, saddle, levers and tape. 1cm less drop, 1cm less reach.

[kingpin75s]

I have your old Eriksen setup for gravel as I rode it at the Almanzo 100 this past year.

I keep the bars close to saddle height and run 44cm bars with the Salsa Cowbell and Cowchipper (mentioned above) both as excellent choices. They are short and shallow and have some flair. Easy access to the drops and comfortable for distances while still giving good control. I also prefer a 100mm stem vs. 110mm for gravel.

Good luck with the setup! The Vaya's are nice bikes.

[simonov]

I'm roughly 1cm less reach and 1cm more stack

My saddle height is the same, same saddle as well.

This. It's what the builder recommended and it works perfectly. When I ride the bike on the road it feels a little high at first, but I get used to it quickly. On dirt the more upright position feels very good.

[CiclistiCliff]

Building up a Salsa Vaya, first bike with this type of geometry. I know exactly how to set up my road bikes as far as handlebar drop, but as this is my first venture into building a gravel bike I don't know what's ideal in positioning the bar height to saddle height - what the goal is in terms of positioning. I've seen some gravel bikes that have the bar either level with the seat or minimal amount of drop. I'm using the Ritchey Neomax that have a slight flare to the drops. I do want a more upright position.

Although I know this has a lot to do with personal preference, but generally what's the idea in positioning on a gravel bike vs a road bike?

If you're not doing singletrack and dumb trails, set it up like the road bike. If you're going to be hopping logs and dumb things, a little higher stack and you're golden.

[bewheels]

My opinion, the answer is..."it depends".
- How are you off road skills?
- What is your comfort level on non-paved surfaces?
- What type of non-paved surfaces are going to ride on? 'Gravel' can mean a lot of different things depending where you are.

For example: I am quite comfortable on non-paved surfaces and ride my normal road bike set-up on everything. Same geometry, same fit, etc. I ride everything from New England style single track (slowly and for giggles) to steep dirt roads (fairly quickly) to rail trails on this set-up.

With that said, I don't have 12cm of drop on any of my road bikes to start with (more like 6).

So again, it depends...

With that said, the seat position relative to the BB should remain the same.

[Tandem Rider]

I first rode a road bike on gravel in the 70s, used my regular bike because it was all I had. Now I have a bike I train on in the off season, it's exactly the same fit as my road bike, for obvious reasons, 50% of it's miles are gravels, trails, river fords etc. I can't imagine changing up my position and trying to get equal performance without getting injured. If your normal position is efficient and pain free, it will be the perfect position for gravels and trails. It's skills, not position that keeps you from crashing. You don't need or want a widerbarsshorterstemlongercranksspecialseatpost to ride trails. Enjoy the adventures on your new bike, off pavement is a blast! :)

[Jgrooms]

^ I guess all the years in winter base on my mtb, with longer cranks, lower saddle, short stem & diff bars were useless? Must have been lucky avoiding the obvious injury ;-)

The idea that all your bikes have to be same position to "maximize performance" is silly. Relax Francis, have a little fun.


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[Jgrooms]

The typical gravel setup will feature less drop & a shorter stem. In addition, the frame most likely will have a shorter top tube.

In addition, most thought out gravel setups for serious miles will have a longer wheel base & slacker angles than a road bike. But of course 'road bike' is a bit generic. So not in all cases

And most riders (but no all) will have a slightly lower saddle height. Your on mtb shoes/pedals (most are) and gravel can mean a lot of surfaces. But here in KS where we 'invented' gravel ;-) you don't want to be dropped & reached like your ready for a crit. B roads are often little more than single track.
Conditions change often from smooth hardpack, to chip, to big rim bashing rocks and so on. You'll be on the hoods & relatively upright far more than on the road.

Lets just say my gravel frame is not my Cervelo, nor would I want it to be. And the position isn't the same either. Yep you can ride just about anything, anywhere, blah, blah, blah, but why would you want to?

But you can ride a rail to trail on your 23mm roadie, call it "gravel" if you'd like.



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[Clancy]

Answers as I expected, varied and some contradictory. With that said, the general theme is what I thought, that is set up with a tad less reach and a tad less drop

I've tested a few Gravel specific bikes where the bars were the type with a lot of flair, similar to the Woodchipper, and level with the seat. Found it comfortable while at the same time awkward.

I went with the Ritchey Neomax as I like the fact that there's a moderate amount of flair and of course, they're Ritchey.

The fork has an aluminum steerer with a star nut which means I don't have the flexibility of an expanding plug as used in a carbon steerer. I've not installed the star nut but I'm going to set the bars up fairly high, then fine tune. I'm guessing I can later either drive the star nut down or somehow remove it and reinstall a new one - if I need to shorten the steerer tube which I'm fairly certain I will.

Appreciate the feedback. Reassured that I'm on the right track.

[unterhausen]

mine has less reach and drop than my road bike, but I like to keep the seat height/setback the same. Same for my MTB, except obviously more upright. Going to get a dropper for that though, and possibly experiment with intermediate seat heights. Unless you have super-smooth gravel, it's going to be slower. And sanity suggests going a bit slower on descents. One of the best off-road descenders I know took a handlebar to his thigh in a crash and was sub-par for quite a while. I'd rather get down the hill in one piece.

Been thinking about going to a little more drop. I find I lose a lot of power if the handlebars are too high, and there is a tipping point. So if I can get my drop greater than that, it would be nice.

If a descent is particularly bumpy, you probably want to get up off of the saddle anyway. If you have a toes-down pedaling style, it might be worth dropping the saddle a bit.

[livingminimal]

This. It's what the builder recommended and it works perfectly. When I ride the bike on the road it feels a little high at first, but I get used to it quickly. On dirt the more upright position feels very good.

Yeah. when I got my new bike just a couple of weeks ago, I hadn't been on a cross bike in 14 months, I forgot about that upright feeling. Asked my roadie friends if I looked higher and they said nah. looks normal even on the road.

It's definitely so comfortable it has me on it a lot right now, even on the road.

[Jgrooms]

Near 9 cm. Compared to 12 on road. Short reach & shallow drop bars, so that's a factor to consider also. 9 cm is fairly large compared to most imo. I've played w 6 to this. If my bars had say a 135mm drop, I'd raised it up some.

When I'm on the hoods, its good for technical stuff. And climbing out of saddle, when you can, you need more weight on back to maintain traction.

In the drops, with arms bent, its efficient. Being able to go hoods to drops saves hands on 6 + days.

OP mentions steerer tube length. I use a Spec stem with the angle shim, so that gives you a lot of flexibility wo having to drop or lift at the tube. Just flip the stem &/or shim.

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[kingpin75s]

I've tested a few Gravel specific bikes where the bars were the type with a lot of flair, similar to the Woodchipper, and level with the seat. Found it comfortable while at the same time awkward.


Just keep in mind that the Woodchipper has considerably more flare than the Cowbell or Cowchipper. IMHO the Woodchipper is really best suited to be run as a proper dirt drop with the primary position in the drops and for aggressive off road riding. I do not like the Woodchipper as a gravel bar at all. Love it as a mountain bike bar but the tops are essentially unusable (well above saddle) when setup for proper dirt drop. A Woodchipper with the tops level to seat is a very different animal compared to the Cowbell or Cowchipper.

[joosttx]

Like others mine is a cm less drop. Everything else is the same.

[adub]

I've also double wrapped the bars on my gravel rig. I like it so much I'm going to do the same on my road bike- I've got large hands, it feels much better.

[cnighbor1]

Gravel Bike set-up
1st remove al the big rocks on the road your planning on ride\ing
2nd Now notice how smooth your gravel bike rides

[Duende]

Like others mine is a cm less drop. Everything else is the same.

Newbie at the gravel bike thing, but I too pretty much went this route. With the minor addition of lowering my saddle height just a tad based on the recommendation of my fitter who does a lot of off road / cyclocross