I bought an OBED last April. I love it, use it for road and gravel with two wheelsets. I'm not sure if you know but you CAN use both 650 and 700 wheels with the frame - the options just are for what wheels come with it.

I'd recommend spd pedals and mountain shoes for versatility - you'll definitely want the ability to walk easily when you end up on single track exploring the back trails. I got a shockstop stem and seatpost that I love for the trails. You can just wear normal road gear for all your riding.

I ordered the same model and am waiting on delivery. I already have a gravel bike (Cannondale Topstone - which will now be my indoor trainer bike) and use SPD pedals. I started with some old mountain bike shoes I had, but upgraded to some Shimano RX8 shoes and really like those. They are very light and have a carbon sole. I'm not sure how great they would be for long hike-a-bike sections, but I haven't encountered too much of that type of riding so it's not a big deal. As far as apparel, wear whatever you're comfortable with. The Obed comes spec'd with good Panaracer GK 43 tires that will work great for gravel, and it sounds like you've got a great second, road wheelset already so go enjoy the new bike!

Also I got bont riot tr+ wide shoes that I love. But I have super wide feet and bont fit me best. Stiff soles are fine for mild to moderate hiking.

Finding shoes is seeming to be as difficult as the bike :/. I am torn as to what to get that would be good if I need to walk around but also provide some waterproof features that aren't over 150 bucks. Those Rx8s look sick, but I can't spend 250 on a high performance shoe. The Fizik x5 looks good, but im curious if it may be to breathable for the winter? I also saw some Scott MTB Elite shoes that look alright, but seem a little bulky. These decisions are killing me lol.

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check out the Shimano XC7. They are stiff and great for gravel, road, cross, etc. I have a pair of the 5 or 6s? (older model). You might be able to find them on sale. Can't recommend enough.

The RX8s go on sale quite often. I got mine for $187. I imagine they’ll be on sale sometime around Christmas.

Welp, I just got an email on the date the bike was supposedly to be delivered that GRX components aren't keeping up with industry demand and they can't get any until mid-February. . . So the deal went to get it before Xmas if you order by black friday to now almost 5 months later :/

Has anyone else encountered this with other brands? I am slightly annoyed (pissed) and want to keep myself in check as it through off all my plans for the winter.

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The are not alone in having parts issues, especially from Shimano from what I understand. From what's I've heard it's been a bit easier getting SRAM components though.

I've been discussing building up a Salsa Cutthroat with GRX Di2 with my local shop but we won't be able to even seriously consider starting until at least February both from a frames perspective and getting the groupset. It sucks but I'm pretty patient and can wait.

I picked up a basic pair of Specialized Sport Mountain Bike shoes a few months ago at The Bicycle Chain here in Apex. For the price (I think they were around $100), they work perfectly and are somewhat waterproof. I say "somewhat", because no shoe really is - if I were to ride on a day like today at Umstead, I would also wear Showers Pass socks. It will be hit or miss with stock at our LBS's, so don't rely on their website count. Call first!

Hit me up when you want to ride Umstead. Whenever I ride Umstead, I ride my 650b wheels with WTB47 Byways, for a more comfortable ride. A buddy of mine and I ride up from Apex/Cary via the Black Creek Greenway or we start from North Cary Park. If we ride the White Oak Greenway from Bond Park area to the ATT, I ride a 700x32 wheelset with Panaracers, because this route is more road based.

I will def. hit you up. Ive been trying to figure out a way to meet some others especially during these times. I have been riding umstead on an old Trek 1200 with a triple Sora 8 speed on 25mm tires. THe bike is 20 years old and is worn thin. Ive been having mechanicals almost every ride so I decided to invest in a legit bike to go deeper into gravel. Shoewise, I decided to go for some Fizik Uomo's and get more of what I want instead of settling this go round and lusting for other bikes or gear lol.

Sooo, guess I'll be underbiking umstead until March :/

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At least you got an email. I got tired of not hearing anything from them and texted yesterday and got the same story. I'm pissed because I actually sold one of my bikes assuming that I would be getting the Obed in December (as per their advertisements), but now it looks like it won't be until late February at the earliest. I get that they are somewhat at the mercy of Shimano, but don't advertise to order by a certain date to get a bike by Christmas if you know you're not going to be able to fulfill those orders. I'm not sure if the email you received mentioned it, but they offered to upgrade me to the Di2 for an extra charge. I had previously debated getting the Di2 but I don't want to spend that much extra for the groupset (need to save for those Zipp 303s). I imagine they have a number of pissed off customers after this promotion that won't be getting bikes for Christmas.

Fuck no, they sent me an email saying i could downgrade to the 1x for 50 dollars less. I was like, "that sucks. . . but im not settling for a 1x at the 600 level."

I actually sent them an email yesterday morning and immediately was forwarded the original order confirmation that said the 15th so I was excited thinking any minute now I would get a new bike!!! Then i get an email at 4pm saying that wasn't happening.

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there is a silver lining to this. i'd like to talk you out of one of the spec decisions you've made, and now we have some time.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Im def listening. Was it my wheel choice?

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yup! a lot of bike designers either design for a specific tire radius or, if they didn't, you can back-calculate from their geometry the tire radius the bike is best suited for. tire radius - the wheel axle to the outside edge of the inflated tire - impacts steering, BB height and shoe overlap.

in my opinion, you bike is best suited for a tire radius of about 345mm. this means a road wheel with a 28-30mm tire in 700c and a gravel wheel with a 47-53mm tire in 650b. so...

a lot of people think that like wheels are 700c road and 700c gravel. no. like wheels are the two options i just named above.

beyond that, i think we should consider what your groupset should be. can we go back to the beginning and rethink this? (should be fun!)

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

If I'm reading your original email correctly, then yes.

The way I read this you already have carbon wheels and you spec'd the Obed with 700c so you could put the carbon wheels you already have on the Obed. Now you'll have two 700c wheels - the carbon ones and the one's that come with the Obed.

That's not necessary. Instead, spec it with 650b wheels (love my 650x47 on my Warbird) for your gravel rides and then when you want to ride on the road, put your 700c carbons on. It's what I did initially but now I find myself more and more just riding the 650's on the road. They are so nice and plush. For anything but fast group rides, they are fine for me. For that though, I ride my pure road bike.

Yeah, I realized that once I placed the order, but thought I could work with the 700s. I was also trying to stay within a budgetary constraint and switching to 650s was 350 more I believe. I guess in thinking of me then purchasing another wheelset down the line, this could be cheaper, but its also my first foray into gravel and I am not keen on what is considered a good wheel and then the costs associated with them (I am just aware of carbons on my tri bike costing an arm and a leg).

As for my riding, I wanted the 2x to have a better range of gears to work with and also considered this being doubled with a road bike for a good while as my aforementioned road bike is 20 years old with equally old and cheap components. I also am a notoriously cautious buyer and oftentimes get buyers remorse upon getting most things over 300 bucks so just went with it and got something more in the middle without trying to overthink to much and miss the deal.

Edit: i realized I also made the mistake of forgetting these are disc brakes and my old carbons won't work (:

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well, good. well, bad, not good, but good that you're getting a chance to rethink this, and maybe we can help out a little to plan this more thoroughly.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

With apologies to Dan, who knows a lot more about this than I do, I just wanted to offer another perspective. I bought an Obed in October (I was lucky and only had a 3 week delay) and like you, went with the 700c wheels for cost savings. I have found the wheels pretty fast and the 700cs roll well and can still tackle the gravel without much problem. Tubeless makes it easy to lower the pressure and roll over stuff pretty well. I do want to get some 650bs as I have had a chance to ride a gravel bike with them and it made tackling the rough stuff much more fun.

Dan's recommended set up is best. 700cs with a road tire for the road and some chunky 650bs for gravel fun. But just know that if you have to stick with your current set up while you wait to upgrade, it will still be a lot of fun.

Assuming this is mostly going to be a road bike for you, I would get the 700's that the bike comes with since they are $350 cheaper and then find a set of 650b wheels you actually want (unless you want the Arch's) at a later time. You can pick up an equivalent 650b wheelset for $430-$650 (either through light bicycle, farsports, Spinergy, Boyd, Hunt, or DT Swiss). That's only $140-310 (remember you have to buy tires) more than opting for Obed's offering and you'll have 3 wheelsets opposed to 2. Use the Sun Chargers as a mixed terrain wheelset, trainer wheelset, or sell them. You can absolutely ride them with 40's, although it might not be ideal. You'll have slower steering (not necessarily a bad thing depending on your definition of gravel) and could have toe overlap problems, but the bike will still ride fine. You will notice the difference between 700x30's and 700x40's. You'll feel more "on top" of the bike than "in" the bike.


Edit: Saw your edit about your carbon wheels and wanted to add that you can get a set of Chinese carbon wheels for ~$650 from farsports and lightbicycle. I know everyone thinks, "Chinese carbon is going to explode on me!", but these two companies have a large customer base, US operations, offer warranty, and remember... you aren't braking using the rim so you won't have rim melting issues. You aren't getting wind tunnel tested shapes, but do you really need those if you are just riding with your friends? Reynolds AR series is a step up in price, but their warranty is awesome for the price (assuming you buy new).

my set up is 1x. but i have a very wide gear range. i'm running 12 speed SRAM, 10-50. one could also run 10-42 or so, if you keep away from really steep stuff. i run a 40t ring but i'm changing to 38t one of these days.

it's pricey, but the really great set up, in my opinion, is Force eTap AXS, w/Eagle RD and XX1 chain, the so-called "mullet" in SRAM's line. it's road from the crank forward, MTB behind the crank. and electronic. it would be nice if SRAM came out with mechanical 12sp, 10t first position 1x. i don't believe they have that yet. once that is on the market, then this will become the go-to mid-price groupset for gravel.

i have no problem running this as road gearing as well, with the proviso that small jumps (smaller than what i have here) are better for road, but the larger jumps aren't only okay for gravel, they're better for gravel. when you change gears in gravel - where i live, because of the terrain and surface - you need a bigger jump than, say, from 18 to 19 teeth. so, this 12sp 10-50 type cogset is really ideal for highly variable terrain.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I want it to be predominately gravel, but I want to keep the option of road available for the off chance I can find someone to ride with. Ironically, I am finding more people who want to ride gravel than road these days. In order to get to where I typically ride it would be road/greenway. I also really do want to bike pack. I have been obsessing about it and was a primary reason for getting this bike because of all the mounting points. My logic for not wanting the 1x for the 600 was I didn't want large gaps. I am a high cadence rider and it is nice to have smaller jumps, but as slowman mentioned, if I could run mullet protocol (or afford it really) I would totally go that route as I am thinking this would smooth out the gear range. Granted, I have been riding with an old 8 speed when I do get to ride gravel so those are pretty big jumps as it is.

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I heard some other bike brands switching from GRX builds to Sram builds. I might be upset if OBED does this now, as the lack of a SRAM option was the only reason I did not get one.

My first gravel bike (also a Warbird) was a 1x setup. I went with that because it's what all the cool kids were doing (and are still doing). But, I soon found out it wasn't for me. I also ride a fairly high cadence and really noticed the jumps on the 1x. It constantly felt like I was either too high or too low. I sold that Warbird after about a year and moved to the GRX 600 2x setup on my current Warbird and I love it.