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Re: Gravel Bike Porn [HTupolev] [ In reply to ]
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Nice work with the zip ties, and great pics! Locations? I think you are in WA?
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Re: Gravel Bike Porn [brando] [ In reply to ]
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brando wrote:
Nice work with the zip ties, and great pics! Locations? I think you are in WA?

Yep, Seattle area.

The first pic is on the middle of a ridge that sits west of Spada Lake, looking roughly south-ish. The top of Mount Rainier is visible over one of the ridges.

The second pic is from west of Lake Cavanaugh, on a hill that the maps label as "Mount Washington", looking toward Whitehorse Mountain.
Last edited by: HTupolev: Dec 31, 19 9:55
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Re: Gravel Bike Porn [HTupolev] [ In reply to ]
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HTupolev wrote:
I did something vaguely similar with my bike. The bolts for the small chainring aren't recessed, the heads sit proud of the ring. So if the chain dropped off the inside and I tried to shift it back onto the rings, the bolt heads would do stupid things like pick up the lower run of the chain (acting like the pins on modern big rings) and jam things up. The small chainring has a bunch of smaller holes on it, so I stuck a pentagon of zip ties in there to keep the chain pushed away from the bolt heads. Bizarrely, it actually worked.


Very impressive hack there, Sir... chapeau!

My 'gravel' bike is also an older Frankensteined road frame w/ conventional threaded BB from long before dedicated gravel bikes (and modern oversize BB systems) were even a thing, so seeing your engineering improv is dear to my heart.
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Re: Gravel Bike Porn [kppolich] [ In reply to ]
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kppolich wrote:
CX/Gravel Bike, Older Cannondale CX-9 that I painted. Force CX1, Shorty Ultimates.

Gravel/Touring Mode


How do you like those Challenge Almanzo’s??
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Re: Gravel Bike Porn [TheWhiteCarrot] [ In reply to ]
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Man that was a fun bike, but I sold it 2 years ago.
Almanzo's were flat prone, i have since gone to tubeless everything for gravel but have challenge baby limus tubs on my cx bike.
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Re: Gravel Bike Porn [HTupolev] [ In reply to ]
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Since last posting I've done quite a drivetrain refresh. Components on gravel bikes can wear a lot faster than on bikes for clean roads... I let my chain get much too long, and a chain replacement led to a replacement of both the cassette and the middle chainring.



The new middle chainring claims to be "9/10 speed." I haven't told it how many cogs it's being paired with in back, hopefully it doesn't find out.



Recently I've been dealing with what appears to be a creak with the stem. I figured I'd no nuclear on it and picked up a Nitto Pearl.









I decided to use a stem a bit longer than the old one, to fix the problem of my knees bumping into the bar tops. A shorter-reach bar can theoretically resolve this discrepancy. I might be flying a bit close to the sun on handlebar options with this, though, as handlebars with 25.4mm clamp areas aren't numerous: in addition to the long reach, the stem has a fairly short quill, placing the clamp area both farther forward and lower than with the old stem. And I wasn't intending to lower the bar ramps!

The solution? Uhh...

Um.

Well, I had a bar laying around that says "RANDNNER" on it. It's not to be confused with a Nitto Grand Raundoneur or, worse yet, a randonneuring handlebar; no, the opposite side of the clamp area clearly states that it is a ROAD CHAMPION!



I guess I'll see what happens. It has a bit of rise that raises the ramps to about where I want them, and the drop ends are at the same width as the previous bar. It's got a ton of flare, though, meaning that the hoods position is extremely narrow.

Felt fine on the road today. Have yet to take it on gravel.


Last edited by: HTupolev: Aug 8, 20 0:06
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Re: Gravel Bike Porn [HTupolev] [ In reply to ]
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Well, new bar/stem test went fine.



As hoped, hood narrowness wasn't an issue because I wasn't inclined to use them on anything seriously nasty anyway. Drops are in roughly the same location as before, and felt pretty similar to before. Knees bumping into bar tops no longer happens. And no creaking from the stem so far, hopefully it stays that way.

One seriously critical problem, though, is that this ride used up the last of my appropriately-colored beverage. And appropriately-colored beverage is apparently difficult to source during COVID. :(

//=============================

BONUS gravel bike photos (from earlier in the year).



My bike is in this photo, but it's maybe not quite as nice as the sub-15lb Warbird:



Not really gravel bike porn at all, but maybe gravel riding porn. I often think I ride gravel for the grand views, but often the road is stunning in itself.


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Re: Gravel Bike Porn [HTupolev] [ In reply to ]
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I built up my first gravel bike recently and is porn to me. I ordered the Cannondale Topstone Lefty with GRX 1x mechanical gearing but when I saw a 12.5% discount at an online store here in Australia I ordered the GRX 2x DI2. I received it the other day and built it up complete with Absolute Black 50/34 chainrings, Cannondale SISL 2 cranks, Shimano 11-34 cassette, Deda seatpost and stem, Hylix bars (3T Aeronova copy), Shimano XTR pedals, Supacaz carbon cages and you can imagine my excitement when I saw that Selle Italia had the Shortfit saddle I ride on my road bike in purple matching the frame.

I've been in covid lockdown in Melbourne Australia only allowed to venture 5km from home so apart from a small wetland area with some tracks and jumps I can't say I have tested it to the maximum yet but I am a Cannondale fanboy from way back and love the bike. It rolls quite well on the road and eats up the rough stuff so really looking forward some fun adventures.

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Re: Gravel Bike Porn [Shambolic] [ In reply to ]
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That Cannondale is a beautiful bike. I hope you get to ride it on some good roads soon. (FY-- My wife walked by and said "It's good you are looking at bike porn, not real porn...)
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Re: Gravel Bike Porn [clayhathorn] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks. Two more weeks of lockdown here then fingers crossed. Bike porn is real porn and I keep a garage of real life porn incase the wifi drops out...
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Re: Gravel Bike Porn [Shambolic] [ In reply to ]
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This is not my bike - it was a loaner from Cannondale Canada for a 160km Gravel Ride I did this past week on a full-loop Rail Trail that is quickly gaining popularity in our area, as a thing to do.

For Rail Trails with their finer aggregate lime-stone base, I though the Topstone Lefty was a bit over-kill - it has changed my mind about what you need for gravel. Before I thought, ride the narrowest tire you can get away with. Now I'm of the opinion you should ride the widest tire you can (and add suspension). We hit some looser section of gravel, and washboard sections at speed (40 kmh) and I was super happy to be riding the Topstone with these balloon like 47mm tires and of course the front shock!

The bike fits a bit "Big". This was a size Large and I could have probably ridden a Medium. My challenge is that historically on Cannodales they are a bit short in the Reach and top tube for me, and the same was here.

<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" lang="en" data-id="a/vVpEEPF" data-context="false" ><a href="//imgur.com/a/vVpEEPF"></a></blockquote><script async src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Have not loaded up a pic here in a LONG time. TinyPic was my go to easy app - it's dead, and I have no clue how to now!! :-(


Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog
Last edited by: Fleck: Aug 30, 20 16:16
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Re: Gravel Bike Porn [Shambolic] [ In reply to ]
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Here is my Argon 18 Dark Matter. No modifications other than tires.
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Re: Gravel Bike Porn [Fleck] [ In reply to ]
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I haven't been on the wild trails yet but agree if your gravel bike is for fun. I rode down the middle of a disused railway track across the sleepers and large rocks and was doable. If you choose to race you may want bigger wheels with narrower tyres on certain courses but the the Topstone doesn't seem overly slow on the road. The guys from my shop take it on road bunch rides ok. As for fun and comfort of ride it is next level and all I want it for at this stage. You can always put a set of 700 wheels in it if you like.

As for size it didn't appear that indifferent to the 56 evo I ride so put a 110 stem on instead of the 120 I ride on the road and it feels perfect so far.

I learnt the other day use this link on here. I cut and paste your earlier link and it worked fine.

https://www.img2go.com/
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Re: Gravel Bike Porn [Shambolic] [ In reply to ]
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Sweet ride. How's the suspension?
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Re: Gravel Bike Porn [GreenPlease] [ In reply to ]
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As I've posted with me being in lockdown I can't say I've tested in all scenarios or played with the pressure in the fork but set to my weight of the sticker it is solid with no real movement on the road unless you stand up but I generally lock it out on the road. You can feel the rear has some movement but it's pretty good on the road and you don't notice so much. On the rough stuff it just takes the edge off everything making it such a smooth ride. I have a CX bike and you feel every bump and have to manage your position or how you ride over rougher tracks but this you just sit and pedal almost. I'm certainly looking forward to being out of covid lockdown and hitting some downhill more rutted stuff.

This is the article that sold it for me as I wanted a bike I could just ride from home and go on adventures and it is living up to the second last paragraph so far.

https://reviews.mtbr.com/...stone-carbon-lefty-1
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