I raise you the Continental Speed King II in 650bx2.2" :)

I raise you the NS Rag+ (don't know why it says "coming soon" I've had mine for two years). 27.5x2.2"

https://www.norco.com/...uminum/search-xr-a2/

Norco spec that tire size on all models from this one up

That looks like a 38mm g one bite. I’m riding a 53mm size in 650b

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

You will have to forgive me lack of tech speak:

That looks like a 38mm g one bite.?

https://www.norco.com/...uminum/search-xr-a2/

Down in the geometry they spec max tire size

okay. here's what i see. yes, you can put a 650b on there, and you can spec it with that. but i have 2 concerns. first, i don't see that the spec changes to a larger tire size when you choose the 650b. second, what i think i see is that the largest tire you can put on that bike is a 47mm with a 650b. you can put a 2.1", which is 53mm, on a 26" wheel if you spec that. however, that's not a 650b. a 650b has a bead diameter of 584mm. a 700c is 622mm. a 26" mountain bike wheel is 559mm. that 559mm wheel is not the wheel the cool kids ride.

but maybe i'm still misreading.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

It is not an easy read.

Ah I see, if you get the 650 you can run the big tire otherwise its a max of 40. And thye don't offer 650 on anything but the smallest frame.

Giant and I think Trek offer up to 45 though

Some one has done the work though.

https://bikepacking.com/...x/650b-gravel-bikes/

The Diverge https://www.specialized.com/...?color=290949-175289

Claims to be able to fit 650 or 700 wheels

Yeah...but 2.2" is a bit bigger (56mm?) than the ~50-55mm Slowman mentioned, and probably only fits in hardtail MTBs...

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

my gravel bike, the OPEN WI.DE, will take up to 57mm i believe. but this is tough, because gravel bikes run road crank and Q widths (150mm +/-). this is 25mm to 30mm narrower than MTB, and this is why it's hard to get gravel bikes to have enough tire clearance for 50+mm tires while also enough chain stay clearance on the outside to accept a road crank. for example, one thing my bike gives up is the capacity to run anything bigger than a 42t ring on a 1x rig, but that's fine, because i'm running a 42t now and i'm thinking of going down to a 40t as it is (this is what makes SRAM's 10t, 12sp, 10-50 a nice shift system).

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Yikes. That is MTB terrain in my book, but my MTB is still a hard tail.

This discussion has been interesting because people seem to have really different views on the use case for a gravel bike. I am lucky in that I live next to the foothills. If I turn right out of the driveway it is just technical single track (I.e., MTB). Go left and it is out to the plains. That is just gravel roads and mild smooth double track if you are out in the middle of nowhere. I suppose that is why the 650b option seemed necessary to me.

That specific spot, sure. But that patch was barely bigger than what you can see in the photograph; the vast majority of the gravel was reasonable. Some was even quite smooth stuff like this:



And roughly half of the 79 miles I rode that day were on paved roads.

Sorry dude, that's MTB terrain. I don't care if it's a "road".

That was a short patch of that stuff, barely longer than what you can see in the photograph. I wasn't saying that my whole rides are like that, I was saying that >40mm tires are handy for minimizing risk of equipment damage if you're sometimes rolling through patches like that.
I was not using that photo as an example of my "roads with chunky aggregate that aren't technical" comment.

Obviously if you have a ride that has surfaces like that representing a large fraction of the total distance, you're going to want some serious travel.

I think I'm might also be riding a "gravel bike of the future." I'm on a 2020 Salsa Warbird. Bought it with 700x42 wheels but just got a set of 650's. Currently running 47's but I think it can go up to 2.1 (53?). I haven't done it yet but I'm also putting 32's on the 700 wheels as my second setup.

it sounds to me like you are set. 2.54 x 2.1" = 53.34mm

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Completely agree. I have the GP Pro - it's awesome. I love this bike.

I just upgraded to the 2020 Pivot Vault from my Niner BSB (which technically is a CX bike), because I wanted to run wider tires. Based on the reviews, the Pivot seemed to check all of the boxes that I was looking for and had the type of handling I like. I've had no trouble riding 700x45s on it (they say max is 47, but you might go bigger on a 1x system. I did learn you want something like the GRX FD though for tire clearance. I've been running Panaracer Gravelking SKs 650x1.9 (measure at a little over 2) with plenty of clearance. The 650s at 2" are downright fun and much more confidence inspiring than 700x32s!

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"Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps"
Blog = http://extrememomentum.com|Photos = http://wheelgoodphotos.com

After owning, and selling a couple of CX bikes, I built my own Gravel bike

What I wanted: Titanium Frame, Clearance for big tires, large gear range

Frame is a 1991 Dynatec Titanium frame, which cost me $150
Groupset is Shimano GRX 800 40 tooth chainset with 11-46 cassette
Brakes are Avid Shorty Ultimate Cantilevers
Stem is Tune Titanium
Seat Post is Tune Titanium
Bars, Easton EC90 carbon 44cm
Wheels 26' DT Swiss Hugi
Tires Continental Gravel King 2.2
Weight 9.1kg (20 lb)
Saddle Selle Italia Titanium (135g)

The only new parts were the Groupset and brakes, rest was sourced from used market




Discs would have been nice, however, I can't believe how good the Avid Cantilevers are. One advantage is that they save around 1.5lb over discs. In the future, I may change the fork and have a 700c front wheel with disc brake

Bike is simply brilliant, rides nicely on road, with relatively low rolling resistance tires, according to bicyclerollingresistance.com these are the lowest resistance tires in their category. Geometry on the old MB frame is spot on. I love the way Titanium frames ride, especially on gravel, where it seems to have hit a sweet spot between compliance while being plenty stiff enough to drive power.

I've done a few gravel rides since the build, grabbed a bunch of gravel KOMs, and have no problem driving the pace when riding with friends, who are on modern CX or Gravel bikes

Would love to see more detailed pics of that fork.

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Some are born to move the world to live their fantasies...

https://triomultisport.com/
http://www.mjolnircycles.com/

The 2.2 inch continental speed King has a lower rolling resistance than every "gravel" tire tested. (see link)

https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/...ng-ii-racesport-2015

In fact the lowest rolling resistance tire ever tested is the 2.35 inch schwalbe G-one speed. 10.8 watts setup tubeless is pretty damn good for floating on a cloud of a tire.

https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/...chwalbe-big-one-2016

Wider, treadless tires roll faster on everything except a buffed out velodrome. They are more comfortable and give better grip too. Really no downsides to a wider tire for gravel. Maybe slight couple watt aero disadvantage, but I don't think your taint cares much about a 8 watt aero advantage rumbling at 25 MPH down a gravel road.

You are correct, I have the Race King, which is the second fastest Gravel Tire, the Speed King is indeed faster. As you also pointed out, double the RR of the best road tires, so losing 20W at 40kph as well as bucket load of Aero, I would guess at least another 20-30w. So even though mg Gravel bike may be nice on the road, I still need to push out 50w more to travel at 40kph (25mph). In reality I just ride a litlle slower, the Gravel bike is easy enough to ride at 32 kph (20mph), which is faster than most people ride their road bike

It's an Iconic UGLY fork that was original fit. Interestingly the Titanium fork that was fitted to the XTR spec bike is actually worth less now than the UGLY fork

I have been looking at a Trek Boone 5. Decent price à 40% off. Anyone have any thoughts about using it as a gravel bike and as a road bike with separate wheels? It says maximum 38 mm tires which kind of bums me out. I am running 40s on my current bike (Garneau aluminium gravel bike). I am thinking that a Boone 5 could be a decent upgrade from my aluminium gravel bike as well as my aluminium road bike. Cheers

CyclingTips did a mass review of gravel bikes that they further distilled into a longer-form thought exercise:

https://cyclingtips.com/...hoose-a-gravel-bike/

My Crockett has the same geometry and it rides very well on gravel, did a gravel century on it last week. I ride it all the time on road as well but haven't done any group rides as the 1x gearing is low. I'd expect the Boone to ride even better.

I have three friends who have damaged their Boone frames in cx races or practices. Two were warrantied, the third refused. Seat tube cracked on rough descents in two cases and seatstay cracked on the third when the wind sent a plastic stake against it. All cases were normal cx use that I expect any cx bike to stand up to, on that basis I wouldn't touch a Boone unless it was a huge bargain price.