Real life experience with 1 bike - two wheelsets?

[sparky33]

Originally Posted by MattTuck

I've recently been digging the Crumpton Type 5 All Road bike, which is billed as

My Firefly #831 is nearly identical in concept to the Crumpton T5 A R there. Same 383 a-c Whisky fork, road geo, short chainstays, same clearances. This is a roadie’s all-road bike. With 28s and mid depth wheels, it feels like a road bike. With 650b it tackles mild gravel well. If that’s your range, then it works beautifully. For Upper Valley riding...perfect.

That said, you would be underbiking on chunky gravel or rocky rooty trails...because tight geometry, roadie position, road gearing and tires. Does that matter?

A degree slacker here, a couple centimeters taller there, a burlier tire, lower gearing....that’s a different kind of all road gravel bike that doesn’t relate to your road bike with a just a wheel&tire change. I guess I’m saying that having a couple wheels set is actually a good idea if you are content with the variations it allows.

[spoonrobot]

It's kind of a pain in the ass compared to just having two bikes. Even with the rotors shimmed and matched spare chains there's always some little issue that needs to be trimmed up before the bike is ready to ride. Add in tubeless and you've got another thing to keep track of.

I race crits on 700cx38 and then when that season ends go to 700cx44 knobbies for gravel racing. When I go on the road for work I take the bike and both wheelsets but when I'm home I just have another bike that wears knobbies all the time.

If you have the money and space, a second bike is far superior.

[colker]

Originally Posted by merckx

Back in the day everyone had one bicycle, and two pair of wheels. One pair was a set of MA40s for training. In the shoulder seasons I would mount a pair of Michelin Hi-Lite 28c cross tires on them and ride the local dirt roads. This was in the 1980's. Most steel Italian framesets accommodated tires of this size. Otherwise, the MA40s would be the standard training wheelset. The other pair of wheels were a pair of tubs. These were usually GP4s, or GL330s. They were mounted for competitive events. This is all that was ever necessary. We were happy to have one good machine, a couple of wheelsets, and a good pair of shoes.

Long horizontal drop outs do the trick, right?

[merckx]

Originally Posted by colker

Long horizontal drop outs do the trick, right?

If what you mean is that it was not a one-trick-pony, you are correct.

[Ken Robb]

Originally Posted by sparky33

A degree slacker here actually a good idea if you are content with the variations it allows.

Jeez, I thought you were referring to a recent graduate who is unemployed.

[ariw]

Originally Posted by Kyle h

I hear awesome things about the Allied AR for this purpose. I have a set of “road” wheels I use on my Firefly AR and on my Parlee Chebacco I had before, which have tubeless 30c tires and while it makes for a nice road ride, it falls flat quickly on fast road rides. The AR bikes just look a bit absurd with 25 or 28 tires which is why I’ve never ran them but I’m sure that would help a bit.

Following this because I have been thinking quite a bit about a Chebacco with 2 wheelsets as a backup road bike and gravel bike.

-Ari

[Kyle h]

Originally Posted by ariw

Following this because I have been thinking quite a bit about a Chebacco with 2 wheelsets as a backup road bike and gravel bike.

-Ari

The Chebacco is an absolute rockstar of a bike. I came across a Firefly Ti-Carbon with an almost identical geo which is why I sold it. I had mine specd with 43c Gravelking SK on HED Belgium rims for gravel and it was an awesome setup that did Belgian Waffle Ride, Old Growth Classic, MonsterCross and a bunch more gravel events in PA and the mid-Atlantic region. I race bikes with a main C1-2 group and honestly, those group road rides were really where I’d suffer on the Parlee. I ran the Spec Roubaix Pro on the road which roll fast but gearing and the position are too big of a limiter here in Western PA. I have a soft spot for the Chebacco and would recommend one without hesitation. If you’re road riding is less dick measuring and more chill you could easily get away with it on the Parlee. A set of mid-depth carbon wheels and 28s would make a really nice compromise.

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by sparky33

you would be underbiking on chunky gravel or rocky rooty trails...because tight geometry, roadie position, road gearing and tires.

I don't disagree, but I will point out that there seems to be a fairly populous and active contingent of gravel riders (at least in my neck of the woods) whose entire raison d'être is to push the envelope of what kind of terrain you can ride on a drop-bar bike.

I asked a friend why he didn't just bring his full-squish 29er on some of the super-gnarly singletrack rides and he said "that would make it too easy."

I think some cycling enthusiasts measure the satisfaction they got from a ride by how challenging it was...the whole "Groadie" movement seems tailor-made for those folks.

[sparky33]

Originally Posted by Ken Robb

Jeez, I thought you were referring to a recent graduate who is unemployed.

I should have been a degree slacker. This job thing is a lot of work.

[Hilltopperny]

I believe it can be done by those of us who don’t have a need to be the fastest, don’t race competitively and don’t do regular fast paced group rides much like myself. I have three wheelsets for my Drifter and truly thinking of selling off all of my road bikes to try this out for at least one year.

I do have two mountain bikes that I will use for Winter and local trails as well, but for the riding I do the Drifter is really all a guy like me really needs. I really like the way it rides in 650b mode with 42-48mm rubber and with 700c 35-38s. I am having a beater set of wheels built right now with a dynamo front hub and throwing on some challenge gravel grinder pro 36mm semi knobbies. I have a set of Hed Belgium+ laced to Chris King hubs and shod with Compass Bon Jons and a set of Reynolds ATR 650b with 42mm Soma Grand Randonneurs. There isn’t much I like to ride on that I can’t use these set ups for.


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[Black Dog]

Originally Posted by merckx

Back in the day everyone had one bicycle, and two pair of wheels. One pair was a set of MA40s for training. In the shoulder seasons I would mount a pair of Michelin Hi-Lite 28c cross tires on them and ride the local dirt roads. This was in the 1980's. Most steel Italian framesets accommodated tires of this size. Otherwise, the MA40s would be the standard training wheelset. The other pair of wheels were a pair of tubs. These were usually GP4s, or GL330s. They were mounted for competitive events. This is all that was ever necessary. We were happy to have one good machine, a couple of wheelsets, and a good pair of shoes.

Truth.

[MattTuck]

Originally Posted by Bob Ross

I don't disagree, but I will point out that there seems to be a fairly populous and active contingent of gravel riders (at least in my neck of the woods) whose entire raison d'être is to push the envelope of what kind of terrain you can ride on a drop-bar bike.

I asked a friend why he didn't just bring his full-squish 29er on some of the super-gnarly singletrack rides and he said "that would make it too easy."

Yeah, I can understand that. Though I don't subscribe to that philosophy myself.

Originally Posted by Hilltopperny

I believe it can be done by those of us who don’t have a need to be the fastest, don’t race competitively and don’t do regular fast paced group rides much like myself.

Exactly. In the search for simplicity, there is something really appealing about having a "road" bike (with two sets of wheels) that can essentially handle all the roads out there; and a hard tail mountain bike that can handle the trails. yeah, you may give up some of the top end speed of a pure road racing machine, and the suspension needed to tackle the gnarliest trails and big jumps... but you cover probably the middle 90% of the terrain and use cases out there. And, honestly, it would feel good to give the proverbial finger to the bike industry obsessed with selling ever more niche categories of bikes.

But, as some of you noted, that ideal could be a mirage. If you have to spend time fiddling with calipers and alignment issues every time you switch wheels, you may find yourself not wanting to switch wheels. And then your attempt to achieve simplicity through minimalism has failed.

Perhaps n+1 > n, after all.

[sparky33]

Originally Posted by MattTuck

If you have to spend time fiddling with calipers and alignment issues every time you switch wheels, you may find yourself not wanting to switch wheels.

With thru-axles this isn't an issue if you have the same hubs and rotors on all your wheels. At the worst, you might have to loosen the caliper bolt a half turn and re-tighten to rotor alignment when changing wheels. Super simple once you get the hang of it.
Other concerns/intentions are well ahead of rotor alignment fiddly-ness in the pros/cons list.

[doomridesout]

I lived it: I had a Seven Evergreen built for 650x42 or 700x30 built in 2018 and got rid of a separate gravel bike and road bike. I ride the Seven for pretty much everything.

Overall, it’s been really good, although I might feel differently if I had the fitness to hang with the fast groups on the road. The Seven is slightly undergunned on either pure speed on good pavement or really chunky fire road. However, for the way I actually ride 95% of the time it’s perfect. I think there’s a great argument that in most places, the division between use cases between “road race” and “gravel” is not reflective of the riding you do. Where I live, most riding is mixed between tame dirt and awful pavement, including hammer rides, chill rides, whatever. If I lived in Europe with nice pavement I’d probably want a real road bike. Here, it’s great.

I will say I don’t swap wheels much. 650b slicks are so capable I leave them on most of the time.

[Hilltopperny]

Originally Posted by MattTuck

Yeah, I can understand that. Though I don't subscribe to that philosophy myself.







Exactly. In the search for simplicity, there is something really appealing about having a "road" bike (with two sets of wheels) that can essentially handle all the roads out there; and a hard tail mountain bike that can handle the trails. yeah, you may give up some of the top end speed of a pure road racing machine, and the suspension needed to tackle the gnarliest trails and big jumps... but you cover probably the middle 90% of the terrain and use cases out there. And, honestly, it would feel good to give the proverbial finger to the bike industry obsessed with selling ever more niche categories of bikes.



But, as some of you noted, that ideal could be a mirage. If you have to spend time fiddling with calipers and alignment issues every time you switch wheels, you may find yourself not wanting to switch wheels. And then your attempt to achieve simplicity through minimalism has failed.



Perhaps n+1 > n, after all.

As Sparky33 stated it’s actually not that bad even if the hubs are different IME. A simple turn of a screw and slight readjustment if needed at all is all it really takes. I am going to see if I can get away with it for this year and see how it all goes.


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