extreme gravel bikes for shredding

[RudAwkning]

Originally Posted by bicycletricycle

do you ride this on long rides or on the road some? I guess what I am trying to figure out is, why this and not a mountain bike? Just curious, obviously you don't have to even have a reason

cool bike.

Basically....N+1.

I have an Ellis Strada Fango, but lack of dropper and its road-ish geometry made it slightly less playful than I wanted. A bike like this allows me to ride comfortably to the trailhead and still, as you say in the Subject line, "shred". I personally hate riding my mountain bike on pavement. It's inefficient and I hate the wear that it puts on a pair of $180 tires! And I'm not gonna lie. I like the pucker factor of "underbiking" on occasion.

This bike will also double as a bikepacking rig too. Tons of braze-ons. I've equipped it with a titanium rear rack and Revelate Nano Panniers for a super light weight off-road touring rig that takes all the weight off the front (I don't like running a huge drysack up front) and still allows me to use the dropper. If I decided to do something more ambitious like a part of the Tour Divide, I'd grab this bike and put a Cushcore in the rear for insurance.

I've since upgraded the stem to a 60mm ti...because vanity!

[RudAwkning]

Originally Posted by bicycletricycle

I try to be very flexible when it comes to judging bicycles. I like all kinds of bicycles and in general I find the strange ones the most interesting.

however

that bike is hard for me to look at Oh well, hopefully it works great for the person who rides and even if it doesn't bicycle knowledge will still be expanded.

The bike was more of a POC. Mike Levy at Pinkbike wondered what it would look like if he took the numbers that have changed in HTA and STA in the last 10 years and doubled them for a "look into the future".

It's all very tongue in cheek, but I love the fact that they did more than just speculate.

Amazingly enough, he had Yoann Barelli jump on this bike and end up with a faster time on the same run than with his race rig. Chalk it up to "He was already warmed up from his first run." or "He's a pro...he should be able to rail that course on a Penny Farthing", but the numbers are still very telling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5cVPy2NbL4

[dem]

I ride lots of inappropriate things on my gravel bike.. but I also ride a lot of pavement on my gravel bike. So yeah, no thanks to super slack geo. It is absolutely miserable on the road. Plus that implies heftier, tougher tires.. which are also miserable on the road.

If literally all your bike touches is dirt, I've no idea why you wouldn't get a 29er hard tail except maybe to say you did it.

(I sold my FS mountain bike because I hate driving my bike to trails, I'd rather ride there.. plus the south bay area trails are all pretty smooth, there's really only 2 places that require a mountain bike at all!)

[RWL2222]

I ride a flat bar ‘rigid’ setup on easy or intermediate-ish rooty, rocky trails like in the vid below and have seen several new fat tire drop bar (ftdb) bikes out there. This vid from the Peter Verdone site is how I picture what will eventually happen to most ftdb style riders. If you go off-road, I think most people me included, find themselves underbiked, unless they’re on a full-on mtb. All it takes is coming around a sharp corner or fallen leaves covering a “feature” then, oops...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RxUgE4VS8uM

[bicycletricycle]

That low pivot on the back stood out as well. Sounds like that rider would b fast on anything.

Originally Posted by RudAwkning

The bike was more of a POC. Mike Levy at Pinkbike wondered what it would look like if he took the numbers that have changed in HTA and STA in the last 10 years and doubled them for a "look into the future".

It's all very tongue in cheek, but I love the fact that they did more than just speculate.

Amazingly enough, he had Yoann Barelli jump on this bike and end up with a faster time on the same run than with his race rig. Chalk it up to "He was already warmed up from his first run." or "He's a pro...he should be able to rail that course on a Penny Farthing", but the numbers are still very telling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5cVPy2NbL4

[.RJ]

*raises hand*

I put this together over the summer. In short - its hilariously awesome on gravel, and can mix up a little road and singletrack no problem. This was kind of a thought experiment on whether I'd like the idea or not, and there's some things I'd change - but - I dig it and i'll do a custom steel version next year to fix those.

[.RJ]

Also - https://bikepacking.com/news/2021-devinci-hatchet/ - this looks pretty rad and pretty close to what I'd build in steel.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by dem

So yeah, no thanks to super slack geo. It is absolutely miserable on the road. Plus that implies heftier, tougher tires.. which are also miserable on the road.

A lightweight 29x2/700x50 cruises along just fine on pavement, surprisingly.

[Netdewt]

I rode a Ragley Blue Pig all summer with a 64º hta. My "road" and gravel bike is a Surly Pack Rat with a 74º hta.

The Blue Pig is fantastic on the trail. It inspires tons of confidence on the technical stuff. I'm totally on board with the slack for mtb/trail bikes.

On an allroad/gravel bike, I don't see the point. We all know the bike industry will try anything. Maybe it would help you on singletrack every once in a while?

The Nordest Super Albarda is a slack gravel frame, 68º hta.
https://nordestcycles.com/en/product...-albarda-frame

[bicycletricycle]

Originally Posted by .RJ

A lightweight 29x2/700x50 cruises along just fine on pavement, surprisingly.

I got some RH 700x50 ish big huge tires, I like them. They feel pretty good on the road. Not so slow that they are annoying buy different people have a much higher bar than me on this sort of thing.

[MarinRider]

I went this direction with my gravel bike this year. This is the result with 55mm tires and 48cm Gravel bar. Stem ended up being a 65mm.

[bicycletricycle]

that is a cool bicycle, how does the steering feel? the drawing shows it having a relatively "normal" saddle set back. Does the front end wonder around when climbing?

Originally Posted by MarinRider

I went this direction with my gravel bike this year. This is the result with 55mm tires and 48cm Gravel bar. Stem ended up being a 65mm.

[jbay]

Originally Posted by MarinRider

I went this direction with my gravel bike this year. This is the result with 55mm tires and 48cm Gravel bar. Stem ended up being a 65mm.

As you know, that will fit me to the mm.

How’s the handling?

— John

[cabriggs]

Originally Posted by bicycletricycle

I try to be very flexible when it comes to judging bicycles. I like all kinds of bicycles and in general I find the strange ones the most interesting.

however

that bike is hard for me to look at Oh well, hopefully it works great for the person who rides and even if it doesn't bicycle knowledge will still be expanded.

That Grim Donut is a joke. I mean that literally, as in, they designed it jokingly. If you read the articles and watch the videos you'll see they took the previous 10 years' worth of geo changes and changed things that much more to forecast the next 10 years. That they got someone willing to build the frame surprised them as much as anyone, I think.

Anyway, I found it entertaining.

[bicycletricycle]

When I looks at a pole or similar downhill bike that is not a "joke" it doesn't really look much different. From a distance these new fangled stretched bikes all look crazy to me.

Originally Posted by cabriggs

That Grim Donut is a joke. I mean that literally, as in, they designed it jokingly. If you read the articles and watch the videos you'll see they took the previous 10 years' worth of geo changes and changed things that much more to forecast the next 10 years. That they got someone willing to build the frame surprised them as much as anyone, I think.

Anyway, I found it entertaining.