Turn Your Road Bike Into A Gravel Bike | GCN How To
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 6. 06. 2018
- You don't need a gravel bike to go off road, Si talks you through the small modifications you need in order to get the most out of your road bike when riding gravel. (Bees not essential!đ)
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Ever wanted to take your road bike off road and explore some trails, but been unsure about making any changes to your set up? From tyre width to frame tape Si discusses the small changes that will make your road bike ride like a dream when hitting the gnarmac.
Have you made any changes to your bike in order to ride on gravel? Let us know in the comments below đ
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Leave us a comment below! - Sport
Have you modified your road bike to go off road? Let us know đ
no i havn t wish i could do modified
I modified my mountain bike to go on road, does that count?
Did the HONC with 25mm Gatorskins and Mavic Asksium wheels. I wish I could fit fatter tyres but I survived.
I've actually done the reverse, I have a second set of wheels for my gravel bike with road tires 28mm. I have a dedicated road bike but when I travel I always take my gravel bike with both sets of wheels so I can do gravel/adventure rides then just swap the wheels to do a road ride or join a local group road ride.
Double sided pedals... Oh Matt...
When Zipps are your "second less expensive wheels". FeelsBadMan.
Nike on a Bike I was gonna comment that toođ
Yeah I was like đ€
I made a comment about running Alexrims DA28s which you can get sometimes for less than $50
If Zipps were my spare wheels I would just go out and buy a gravel bike rather than change half the components on my road bike
same feeling man, poor af
But I thought the whole reason for riding gravel was to buy yet another bike....
That's what I did, but I had to sell my road bike to fund the gravel one as I already owned 7 other bicycles and couldn't afford number 8. But my gravel bike is just as capable on the road and the wider tires are great on local rough roads.
@@MAGAIVER you got any to spare? Lol
@@0741921 it's up to ten bikes now, just cant get enough of them. Latest one beeing a proper vintage Italian road bike, a Bernardi with Columbus SLX tubing and full 9 speed Campagnolo groupset. Found it for a good price on a facebook group.
@@MAGAIVER you MUST give one to me lol
đ€
It's unbelievable, this channel covers every single doubt and curiosity that came to my mind đČ
4:28 Si says "Invest in a second less expensive set of wheels" and then pulls out a set of Zipp 30 wheels. Less expensive... right... :P
In proportion to the other zipp wheels they are a bargain though :p
@darkrainne 679 Yeah me too. Riding on Prime wheels baby.
Si, such a roadie...those are the tightest "baggie" shorts that ever existed đ
Kudos to Si for getting through your exposition. All those flying critters zooming by, and landing on me, would have driven me bonkers. Your new title: Lord of the Flies.
6:37 Si's riding over a MEADOW screaming "graveeeeeel" :D
Beautiful build!! I am glad to see others building gravel bikes too!!
Looks exactly like my 2019 Trek Domane which I've just converted to gravel. Having 32mm tires (WTB Crosswolf) with decent knobby tread makes it so much more fun to ride on gravel than my heavy aluminum MTB. Glad to see that I did the same thing Si suggested which is put the gravel tires on a separate set of aluminum rims which can hold up to rock strikes better than carbon. A bonus of this setup is that it has turned this bike into my foul-weather bike--I can zip through downpours and corner with impunity.
You answered all my concerns!! You guys ROCK!!!!đȘđŒ
My favorite video of the channel yet. I will be doing two centurys in two days on gravel this fall and this video filled with humor and quality content helped me out quite a bit!!!
Awesome! Let us know how it goes!
Great ! The trick to lengthen the derailleur is so expert and welcome !
I did this to my flat bar Boardman Hybrid and I now ride it on CX tyres off road via my local country park to work. I even ride it around Sherwood pines on the red route (which is tame for a red). I dont ride road tyre setup quite as much now because its more being able to switch terrains easier. And when on the road with intermediate tyres (Kenda small block 8) it's still quick off the mark and handles well on tarmac. Highly recommended.
I converted my trashed Hybrid into a Gravel Bike. Stonking 700cx42 tyres and wide dropped bars make a fantastic off-roader.
Great advice. A gravel or cyclo-cross bike can be even more versatile. A bike can do anything if it has enough tire clearance. I have a Lynskey Cooper CX with 4 sets of wheels: Stan's Iron Cross 700c with 40mm tubeless tires for gravel and 'cross, 700c carbon rims with Schwalbe Pro One 28mm tires for road, Stan's Crest 650b for MTB trails and gravel and some tubed 700c wheels for loaded touring. I have done a road century, gravel grinder and MTB trails all in one weekend. It's fantastic. One bike to rule them all! Oh, and the new Ultegra R8000 mid-cage (GS) rear derailleur will handle any cassette from 28t to 40t when paired with a 46/34t chainrings. Those are the combinations I run.
Cheers Tom!
Great upgrade for road bike to gravel conversion is a Canyon VCLS 2.0 seatpost and carbon handlebars that have flex in them. They absorb bumps and vibrations much more than alloy parts. Also they are much less expensive than whole carbon fibre frame, but offer much more compliance.
As always, I do it the other way around, I use a crosser on the road with 28mm tyres, MTB pedals and shoes, then gravel is no problems, road no problems and walk no problems, without forking out for road bike stuff too.
I converted my 1989 GT Avalanche to drop bars a few weeks ago. Rides like a dream. Was a fun conversion. Hipster Drop 26er! I do own a GT Grade, so I already have a proper gravel bike.
I always use MTB pedals and shoes on my road bike. Much easier to clip in, much easier to walk around when taking breaks.
Same here. However I admit they are more heavy.
Same here but i have noticed that you need to have stiff shoes so you wont get hotspots on longer rides.
Yeah, me too. It was the setup that my LBS created for me when I first decided to "go clipless" and I didn't know the difference between MTB pedals and road pedals. Five years later it's just my normal shoe setup. And I can walk straight!!
exactly. I don't understand the reason why people use road pedals other than they're just slightly lighter. MTB pedals win hands down
@@timothysuprapto6226 Power transfer on the pedal is way more efficient on road shoes and clips because they are designed to stay on the pedal under almost any circumstance, MTB ones are designed to get off quickly when needed and that makes the clip way more wobbly and therefore loosing quite a bit of power on the pedalling. (I do say that while owning a TT bike, a road one and a mountain bike one)
I started with a 2016 Trek Crossrip - so it was already a bit more compliant. Mods: 11-36 cassette - which needed 1 extra chain link and b-screw adjustment to work with the Shimano 105 GS RD; 35c Conti Double Fighter tires; DT Swiss R24 Spline rims; upped the rear disc to 160mm, slowed by Tekro HY/RD cable actuated hydraulics. Have taken this set up on nearly every terrain.
@gcn âi could potentially be waiting for a life timeâ for the beard hahhh love it
My road bike has mountain bike pedals year long!, i often need to walk and bonus, my shoes are compatible with the spinning classes for winter time :D
Hey Simon, you'd also need to lengthen your chain if you were jumping up on the cassette size, otherwise some serious gear crunching is coming. The best solution though would be to increase your road setup to a 28 or 32 and then keep the gearing the same for both setups.
If clearance is a problem due to fork height or rear triangle, then go for 650B w/ disc instead of 700c. This works as the diameter of the wheel is smaller = height is reduced. This does NOT work when with of the fork or rear triangle is too narrow. I can fit pretty much 2 inch plus 650B when anything bigger than 700cx35mm will not fit on my bike.
Also, notice that the smaller diameter of wheel+tire also means the gearing ratio is instantly easier/lower as well. Solves two problems with one wheelset & cassette!
I bought my first roadbike a few weeks ago, I have been loving the cycling so far. That also means I discovered this channel and probably have been watching it a bit too much, since I dreamt about it last night haha :')
PS no need to say I love your channel
Welcome to road cycling, you're going to be hooked! Glad you're enjoying the vids.
Paint on this Trek is just mind blowing! I like it more than my Domane SLR.
Enjoyed the video even though I'm over 3 years late. Following most of your advice I have installed 33mm Panaracer Gravel tyres to a spare set of wheels and added an 11-34 cassette. My winter road bike is a 2018 Specialized Roubaix with Futureshock suspension currently with a mix of Shimano 105 and Ultegra including hydraulic disk brakes. The cassette is a 11-32 so not much of a change to move to an 11-34. The Roubaix is quite a robust bike and great on rough roads so I was hopeful that it would handle the challenge. I haven't changed my pedals yet. My first gravel/dirt/sand/mud/tarmac ride was this afternoon and I was surprised how well the bike coped and how much I enjoyed it. After 22 miles (probably 15 non-tarmac) I definitely agree that changing the pedals to spds is a good idea. Not sure how I'm going to cope with the constant re-indexing of the gears every time I swap the wheels over. Something for me to look into.
WOW those 35's fit with room to spare! The Domane is such a beast
Yep. Great bike. That's how endurance road bike should be. Every time I see endurance labeled road bike with 23c or 25c tires I die a little bit inside.
Any idea how big a stock domane can go with 105 direct mount calipers?
Wao, what an accurate way to say it GRAVEL!!!
Cheers from NYC
Roadlink + 40 cassette for the win! First time I've heard GCN mention this..
Si, you're skipping over the obvious solution. Build or purchase a gravel bike in secret and have a pool of lies at the ready to explain the irregular rides.
Agree with having two wheelsets, road/gravel, but a bit concerned about having different size cassettes. Slight difference should be ok, but if one has a 28 and the other say a 36 then I would think it difficult to optimise the chain length for both. So I keep them very similar and would change the chain if the difference was extreme
You didnât talk about getting a longer chain, but that is actually pretty important if you lengthen your derailleur ;)
Awesome idea! One bike in two kinds. Road and Gravel bikes!
An informative guide, there's lots of great tips in this short video............. thanks
Thanks John , glad you enjoyed it
exactly what I've been thinking of doing - and those tyres are what I have my eye on, too :)
Awesome - let us know if you do!
My Bianchi Infinito CV.. With SRAM force 1, 40 T chainring and long cage RD.. I have 2 wheel sets.. Dura Ace C35 wheelset with 11-28 and Conti 25mm tire for road cycling.. And Campy Sharmal Alu wheelset with 11-40 and Pana Racer Gravel King 28mm tire for adventure or high mountain road climb.. I use MTB pedal all the ways..
I have a cross country bike for this. In my country the terrain is either for road or MTB. Rarely place for inbetween
Hey Si, just a quick question about having a second wheelset set up with discs and cassettes already installed. I'm curious what the realignment issues might be with hydraulic brakes? Is there a bit of fussing to get them to align properly? There may be a video already about this set up.
Thanks!
Opposite conversion "gravel to road" will be much more meaningful :)
agree! doing that now.
I'm also interested in that. I want to find new wheelset for my Giant Anyroad1. I have factory 11-34cassete,32mm tire and compact crankset. That will do for gravel and dirtroad but for my road rides I would like 11-28 and 25mm tires on lighter wheels. I'm reluctant though, I have disc brakes and QR on forks. Can I achieve same braking performance on bouth setups, no squealing noise?
Tomas Kasanicky or maybe a hybrid bike
Step 1: Switch your fat knobbly tires for 25-28mm slicks
Step 2: Slam that Stem!
Step 3: Consider swapping your compact crankset for a standard one.
Step 4: Come to grips with your lack of power and stick to the compact crankset.
Step 5: Take off all the extra gubbins and ride!
My comment was in ironic meaning.
This is the video ive been waiting for!
Awesome, hope you enjoyed it!
I ran 32mm Panaracer Gravel Kings on my BMC RoadMachine 02 and it handled hard pack gravel fairly well. I was going to change out wheels from 700 to 650 in order to get wider clearance and on a budget was looking at around $700 US. In the end got a great deal on a Niner RLT9 for $800 US and running Panaracer Gravel King SK 42mm (45mm once on the bike).
Best decision I could have made. I can now ride just about any gravel road I come across and even some single track.
for years later im planing the same ...put 650b wheels .. but i didn't find much information or video about it.. it worked good ?
Hi, I'm planning to do the exact same tyre fitting on my bmc roadmachine 02. Can you be more specific on what do you mean for "handled hard pack gravel fairly well"? thanks a lot!
You can go sub compact on 110bcd with absolute black chain rings. Awesome things.
Love the "back to nature" kickstand đ
That Trek is a thing of beauty and thanks for your tips, Si, I particularly like the wheel-swap and the pedal switch, tho' I would opt for flats.
Thanks Robb, glad you enjoyed Si's top tips!
Thanks, GCN, and truly, that Trek is super nice, I like it. And all this gravel action is cool, too.
As far as frame protection I use an old bike messenger trick that's cheap, ease and down and dirty but, it works. That's right I am talking about using used inner tubes and zip ties. It works and your bike looks like it came from a Mad Max movie. No chopper here folks!
Mine is. I use my alloy set wheel that comes with my carbon bike, i put a gravel type tire on it if i want to go gravel riding. Then just switch to my after market carbon wheel set if i need to do distance riding on road.
Modified my gravel bike to go on the road!
Nice. Put the other way, 30 or 35 mm gravel tires on tarmac, what's the rolling resistance penalty?
I need more tyre clearence to do this, 23 mm is not enough. But I did put a rigid fork and faster tyres on my old hardtail mtb.
You can indeed change your chainrings, Absoluteblack makes super compact chainrings for Shimano cranks in 2 sizes 48-32 and 46-30.
Excellent advice in this video. It's well worth it to first "ride what you have" before you invest in a new bike to ride 10 miles on a gravel road.
I put two 1.9 29er tires on my road/cyclocross bike (itâs a trek 7000 series that I built up as a road bike) and they work fantastic (kenda small block pros). I also would recommend thicker bar tape for gravel because if you have no impact damping at all youâre left feeling all weird and itâs pretty unpleasant. The soft side of velcro tape is a great, almost free alternative to the 3m tape (there will still be a bit of chainslap noise). Btw Iâm 13 years so if you have any advice for me, please tell me!
Double-wrapped bar tape and/or shock-absorbing bar plugs take a lot of trail buzz out too, relieving hand fatigue and cramp
Nice although I would suggest 650b wtb byway on 27.5 MTB rims, if you can't afford Zipp wheels as a second or even first wheel set đđ
Gravel surface = reason #172 for another bike
Great video and awesome tips thanks
Thanks Owen! Have you converted your road bike for gravel?
#GCN How to. You can use 3 bolt road shoes with mountain bike pedals. If you use Crank Brothers Eggbeater or Candy pedals. Crank Brothers do a 3 bold cleat which works with these pedals. I have used them in the past and I found they were easy to use and set up.
Great video Si, Any merits in converting my mountain bike? I have lots of great off road trails close by but it is a bit of slog when on the road trying to link them up...Also, where is the cross over point for group sets? E.g. Shimano ultegra and. XT I suppose I mean what is the major difference between them. Maybe one for GMBN!
How do you know what the widest tire is that you can fit? Are there limitations based on frame and/or rims?
Watching this video from an mtb perspective is hilarious đ The frame protection cracked me up as that is pretty much standard on most MTBs today
Serious tip for those who can't afford Zipps: I run Alexrims DA28 for cx/gravel and I have literally taken that bike on a mtb trail and did jumps. The front held up nicely and the rear went just slightly out of true, not even enough to care.
fulcrum racing 5s are pretty good as well
MaGGoT583 might look into those. I've been wanting a new pair
I bought a second hand pair for 250CAD to replace the specialized axis 2.0 and couldn't be happier, really stiff but light at the same time. Also ride everyday for my courier job and they been true for almost a year now
Ayama Prantenna yeah watch out for the rim width. I think I run 17mm. Wider would be even nicer.
MaGGoT583 yeah I would probably go for second hand as well. It's a bit of investment (actually more than my whole bike cost) but I might be willing to do it
Yeah - I just picked up an old used specialized MTB in great condition for $50... can't beat that by much
Great video, well done
Thanks Nizar, glad you enjoyed it.
if you're going to buy a need wheelset anyway, mabye get a 650 set, it will help with tire clearence.
also, to protect your frame, I'm a big fan of fenders if you have space. and nice sturdy metal ones so they don't rattle as much.
Which cassette did you put on your second "less expensive" wheels Si? I'm looking for one
Thank you
If you were going to ride say 70%Road and 30% light gravel would you get a trek checkpoint with the 40c tires or a Trek Domane and put maybe 32-35c on it .
Dear guys I was wondering if you guys could do a complete road bike assembly.With all the lubs,greases,carbon grip and where to use them.I was thinking of building a bike from Sketch but scared i mit mess up the gearing and lubing.I seen loads of vids but never explain howâs much you need to use on each moving parts.
Seems like having different cassettes on different wheels is fraught with peril. Would the chain length be correct for both cassettes?
I can't believe he said "Fannypack" with a straight face. Also, that Roadlink thing sounds cool.
That was the first thing I thought of. ...and I'm American.đłđ€šđ
In my day we used to call a gravel bike, a bike :) Soon I will need to buy a tarmac bike,a concrete bike, a sand bike, dirt bike, asphalt bike and a grass bike
Medical Cannabis Spain
Wells let's see... You already have an option of buying a:
°Tarmac/asphalt bike - road/TT bike
°concrete bike - trials bike
°a sand bike - "fat" bike
°dirt bike - any MTB bike
°grass bike - Cyclo-cross bike.
And just in case you want to ride indoors on wood, you can get yourself a track bike too.
Ha! I agree. Really, you can already get the sand/snow bike (fat tire bikes) and the dirt bike (mountain bike), and the cyclocross bike could be called a grass bike, from the few events I've seen.
Gravel bike....early 80s pre shock mountain bike with drop handlebars...hahaha...Gravel bike...Newest marketing tool for selling bikes....hahaha
n + 1
Medical Cannabis Spain a gravel bike is just a ride everywhere bike
I wonder, do you have to change anything about your bike fit when converting your road bike to a gravel bike? It seems like the âaggressiveâ geometry seems uncomfortable (especially for your forearms) and the terrain may be better navigated in a different position.
How about a good seat post like the Specialized CG-R et al. to improve the ride.
GCN Show are getting better and better every day...!! Super nice outdoor footage...!! Great issue once again...!!
So by the end, how big were the tires used ...??
Thanks Wrangler Cycling, glad you enjoyed it!
if you're going to put SPD pedals on Road bike, go Shimano A600. almost feel like SPD-SL with all the benefit of SPD shoes
I want to do a few weeks trip, few gravel sections. I will buy new tyres, but I wonder if I should go for 28 or 32 and smooth or not smooth :D
What baggies are they? I've been struggling to find anything non flappy.
Can use that tape to protect your crank ends as well. Does the job just as well as the special made plastic ones.
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the adition of tanus armor to your tires or the solid tanus insurts can make gravel easy
I am new to biking and picked up a gravel specialized diverge comp. I've noticed on inclines, my speed is slower than it should be, can I go the other way and out road tires on the bike to decrease friction and increase speed? If so, what wheels would you recommend? Thank you!
I dit not convert my Lapierre to gravel mainly because of tyres width (challenge grifo 33mm don't fit) BUT, I made something quite "funny". I bought an old steel frame frome the 70's, I polished it, painted it (blue motip 54350) put vintage decals on it. It is equiped with a 44t front and a 11/36 back, cantilever brakes, and it is amazingly soft on gravel roads compared to my carbon Lapierre, which I don't fear to break anymore :) (Sorry for my terrible english, but I love GCN ;)
Hi, nice video. Is there any chance of mounting tires wider than 28 mm with rims brakes? My bike is a Scott Speedster 10 2018. Greetings from Argentina!
If you want a taste of gravel, Cumbria county council appear to be turning half of the back lanes around Kendal into gravel tracks. A few weeks back they paid done lovely new smooth tarmac on a few of the lanes. They've now paid chippings over the top. For added fun, they've chipped a few steep twisting descents that were already a nightmare of potholes and cracks. Now you can't see the potholes and cracks as they're full of gravel đ
6.09 -> you are my hero
Pretty cool, Si! Like others, I'll go the other way, though. I'll get nicer wheels and Conti 25s for my Diverge, change my MTB shoes and spds, for road pedals/shoes, ditch my fanny pack and cargo shorts in favor of a 3 pocket jersey and lycra shorts. Maybe aero bars! Geoff
Hello, I have a Giant Contend 2 road bike. I commute on rather regular road with occsional small potholes as well as brick sidewalks. I'm afraid bcause my stock tires as so smooth. In the case of rain im afraid of slipping. Any advice as to if I could settle with my stock tires and wheels or should I change it? If so, what kind of tires do you recommend? Thank you in advance
I have 32s on my Canyon Endurace, with ample clearance. Thinking a set of 650b might offer me chance to run something like a 38.
What about the chain length if you're swapping an 11-28 cassette for an 11-36? Can you get them both working on the same chain?
How do I know the widest tires my wheel can use?
When he says 32mm is enough for tackling rough terrain and Iâm sitting up here with my fat bike and 100 mm of pure knob
do you have to change your chain every time you switch out your wheels with the different cassette sizes?
Might be a silly question but doesn't the chain need to change if your changing from a 11-28 to a 11-40 as the 2nd will require a longer chain length?
yes
The new ultegra r8000 medium cage mech will work on 11_42 mtb cassette use the 1.85mm spacer on your road hub
What about the groupset? Can we use shimanoÂŽs road groupsets (even the entry level ones) in a gravel road?
i have an old scatante that was a aluminum road bike and just switched out the tires. should i have changed the cassette too? im riding road and compacted DG with some dirt road.
@6:30 my MET helmet locks underneath my chin which is uncomfortable. how to lock it from side, can I modify it or need to buy a new one?
For me,I just have to fit 26mm Panaracer GK slicks on my bike (refer to profile picture),and I can happily roll on gravel at around 30-ish kph.
Does anyone have any experiance with suspended seatpoasts? Especially the CaneCreek eeSilk and eeSilk Plus.
I unfourtunatly can only mount 30mm tires so there is not much suspension and the ride is fairly hard & uncomfortable. I would love to use my roadbike still for some somewhat fast (but also not uncomfortably) road stretches and the occasional gravelroad... :)