Surly Grappler & Marin Gestalt | The History of Dirt Drops & Modern Off-Road Bikes w/Drop Bars
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- čas přidán 10. 07. 2024
- Every bike in a store today exists within a lineage of other bikes. The changes in frame geometry, for example, are often to address new niches and needs within the audience of riders.
In this video, we are looking at the history of dirt drops -- drop bar handles on mountain bikes -- and how they relate to two seemingly dissimilar bikes, the Surly Grappler and Marin Gestalt XR. Owen will guide you through the history of mountain biking, the reasoning behind the choices made when bringing drop bars onto mountain bike setups, road bars on off-road bikes, and how exactly these two bikes share so much DNA, while seeming so different at a glance.
Chapters
00:00 - Intro
00:13 - Surly Grappler and Marin Gestalt XR
00:48 - Why these bikes?
01:58 - How Marin describes the Gestalt XR
02:53 - How Surly describes the Grappler
03:49 - History of drop bars on mountain bikes
04:02 - Marin County, California & WTB
05:09 - Hand positions and setup
05:40 - John Tomac
06:01 - "The Dark Era"
06:50 - The Salsa Fargo and dirt drops in the 2000s and onwards
07:32 - Off-road bikes today
08:32 - The Grappler and Gestalt XR in the dirt drop lineage
09:20 - Conclusion
10:02 - Owen makes a dog angry
Get your own:
Surly Grappler: www.ucycle.com/surly-ghost-gr...
Marin Gestalt XR: www.ucycle.com/marin-gestalt-...
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Big thanks as always to Leland Whitty for the tunes!
Images used:
WTB photos from their own archives,
RM2 bars photo from unknown magazine,
John Tomac Big Bear photo c/o Patty Mooney on Wikimedia Commons,
John Tomac racing photo c/o Joe Papp on Wikimedia Commons,
Salsa Fargo image from their own archives,
Velo Orange Cigne Stem from Velo Orange,
Salsa Woodchipper Bars from Salsa,
Steve Potts custom bike c/o Nick from vintagemountainbikes.com (www.vintagemountainbikes.com/...) - Auta a dopravní prostředky
Thanks Owen and Urbane! 7 years ago y'all got me riding the Don with drop bars on my modified Brodie Unibomber! Still love that bike. Busted the chainstay last year, maybe it wasn't rated for trailer pulling, but I got it welded back together. Here's hoping for another 7+ years! Cheers!
Those Brodie's are a blast! Happy we could help convert you to the dirt drop lifestyle :)
Stargazer! Non sus corrected, finest Tubing.
I bought a Ghost Grappler and really wanted the drop bar to work. It didn’t. Drop bars are great for fast bikes, but GG’s are slower bikes and rolling over a rock garden or other such obstacle with narrow drop bars is somewhere between not fun and terrifying. I love the frame and the versatility, but mine has Ritchey Kyote alt bars on it--it’s a non-suspension corrected rigid steel 27.5 bikepacker/off road tourer/cruiser/trainer, with alt flat bars, and I love it.
Well your point about "narrow" bars might be a little dated- there's Loads of great *wide* options for drop bars, dirt drops and flared drop bars on the market! If it's not your thing that's totally fine but I personally *love* technical riding with drop bars! Different strokes for different folks!
@@urbane-cyclist Agreed. We all need to do it our way. Surly encourages that. But the stock Cowchipper bars on my large came pretty narrow, and I did not want to pursue other, possibly wider drops.
Maybe 🤔 get an xc trail bike Eg Merida big 9
I’m a gravity Mtb guy who’s gravel curious. Love that these come with dropper posts! Would the Marin be a good first gravel bike for me? I have amazing river trails out side my house 🏡 but my yt Jeffsy feels to couchey 🛋️
Local gravel ride is 1/3 road 1/3 gravel 1/3 all weather single track 50km loop
I would suggest doing some test rides to make sure you like the ride quality! But the Marin Gestalt XR is *almost* bordering on some modern Cross country/XC trail geo. This means it might feel like it leans towards a modern rigid mountain bike with drop bars...that being said I think it would still feel like a fun challenge on single track trail but still loads of fun out on the gravel and road. And of course many other gravel offerings from Marin would lean a little more towards traditional gravel/road such as the Nicasio 2 which I think would be a good comparable to test against. And if you want to have something a little more familiar (AKA flat bars) the DSX series would be a nice option too!
Do drop bars work with decent front suspension in practice though? Shouldn't have watched your videos because now my 'adventure' bike looks boring as a slab of wood compared to these...
Drop bars absolutely work with suspension forks. I do find drop bars are a huge matter of rider preference and are often quite polarizing. There are some great groups on facebook if you wanna see some fun alternate setups like "Drop Bars & Knobbies"- not a ton of suspension but lots of cool builds there! Salsa Cycles has even offered the Fargo stock with suspension forks in the past. But the reality is most bikes that have legit suspension are designed around a flat bar setup as a more traditional mountain bike (therefore a longer top tube), so if you want to run drop bars and suspension you probably would need to adopt a shorter stem to account for the added reach of a drop bar and drop bar levers. The other challenge if you are considering converting an existing bike is making sure all your shifting and braking either can be adapted correctly or choose some new parts that will work with drop bars and your existing frame! Another option if you are converting a bike from flat to drop is the Surly corner bar- which isn't exactly a "drop bar" but gives you a similar ergonomics but can fit standard "flat bar" shifters and brakes! Hope that helps and sorry to fuel your bike lust! -Owen
Didn't mention Ogre or Gorilla Monsoon?
For historical context, the Gorilla Monsoon was fairly late to the party (only came out ~2018 while something like the Fargo was out about a decade before) and as far as I know the Ogre has only (?) ever been offered as a flat bar stock option. All the drop bar bikes I've seen were DIY monstercross builds, which we did touch on bit! The Gorilla Monsoon is a great option, and although the tire clearance for a drop bar is very unique, it would be a little more akin to a "traditional" - AKA road lineage - of geometry, while the Gestalt and Grappler fall in line more with mountain bike oriented progressive geo. Think super long top tubes and a slacker head angles! That is why we chose to focus on them for this video. Thanks for your comment!
@@urbane-cyclist 💯
😪😪😪