Hey Boulderites -
I’m wondering what gravel gearing you find you need or want for whatever your regular rides end up being? Not the gearing that can get you through any one day if you suck it up, but what you’d actually want for your daily/weekly activities. Is 1:1 enough, or easier would be recommended? If easier, how much easier?
Thanks!
Eric
I run a double on my gravel bike with a 35t small ring x 36t Cog. FTP between 3.5 and 4.0 depending on my Oreo Cookie: Training Ratio.
I think this works well in the area. Riding from Boulder the steepest common climb is a short section of Joder. The steepest sustained is Lick Skillet, but I don’t ride it often anymore.
Now that I think about it, there are sections on Flagstaff, Sugarloaf, Magnolia, Lee Hill (both paved) that are steeper than our gravel options.
Most riding is relatively flat brown pavement and the gravel bike appropriate singletrack is mostly relatively smooth and rolling.
I think that you want a little under 1:1 on the low end, and a little over 4:1 on the top end.
For me it’s climbs like Joder and Logan Mill that need the sub-1:1 gearing to be more than survivable. I have done them with road compact 34/34 and 1x 42/42, and it’s ok, but having GRX 2x now with 31/34 lets me control my effort more (vs letting the grade control it). I also think you want over 4:1 for coming down canyons and riding the dirt roads if you like to ride hard or go with a fast group. Obviously 50/11 was good, and current 48/11 is good. But when I had 1x with 42/11 (even tried 44/11), if I was doing tempo/going fast, my gear choice (both top end and difference to the next cog) was lacking.
The steepest sustained is Lick Skillet, but I don’t ride it often anymore.
1mi @ 14.5% with pitches >20%? Ouch, seems pretty no bueno on 1:1!
Thanks for the replies. I have 34x32 right now using a Shimano DA 11 road group. I wanted to change the chainrings from 50/34 to 46/30, which is the easiest solution, except the bike will not accept it, FD will not go low enough. Trying to figure out how to get where I need to go without changing the frameset or the entire gruppo to AXS is not easy.
I just did this gravel ride around Boulder with a 32/34.
Only trouble I had on the posted ride was going up the Escape trail coming out of Rowena but that trail was just graded and the soil was really soft.
It would be nice to have a 30 up front but I don’t need it enough to run out and change my set up. I probably will eventually.
Came across this adapter when looking for 46/30 chainrings that fit a 110bcd spider. I don’t need it since I have a clamp on front derailleur, but this may help you? There’s also a Di2 specific adapter on their store on Amazon.
Came across this adapter when looking for 46/30 chainrings that fit a 110bcd spider. I don’t need it since I have a clamp on front derailleur, but this may help you? There’s also a Di2 specific adapter on their store on Amazon.
That’s a good lead, maybe I should try it, thank you!
I use a 1:1 and can ride almost all the classic gravel stuff around here, except the Escape Route to top of Deer Trail. I have mixed results on Joder and the wall on Logan Mill. Lick Skillet is brutal for me unless it’s in great condition. Same with the steepest pitch on Balarat. But, I am much weaker than most people on this forum.
Balarat Rd. is facing the exact opposite of the earth’s rotation so that’s why it’s so difficult. 
What crankset are you running? About the smallest inner chainring you can run on a 110 is a 33T, though Praxis has a 32T with a special bolt on their cranks. Below that and you are on a smaller BCD inner chainring.
If your front derailleur could drop some and you could run a 48/32 and change the rear cassette to an 11-34, you would have a pretty great range.
What crankset are you running? About the smallest inner chainring you can run on a 110 is a 33T, though Praxis has a 32T with a special bolt on their cranks. Below that and you are on a smaller BCD inner chainring.
If your front derailleur could drop some and you could run a 48/32 and change the rear cassette to an 11-34, you would have a pretty great range.
I have a rotor aldhu, you can do 46/30 or 48/32 with a direct mount. I want to try the 48/32, but the rings are pretty expensive, will be annoyed if it doesn’t work. The other thing that can be tried and may or may not work is one of the clutched ultegra/grx rear derailleurs with 11-40 cassette or sram 11-36. What’s the recommended bike shop to help me bodge my way through this?
It’s also probably true that maybe I’m stressed about it too much … most of my unstructured riding is easy, so may end up just on the flats for gravel days like xtrpickels alluded to.
I find Zack at Boulder Grupetto to be very knowledgeable.
I’ve run the clutched Ultegra RX derailleur as well as the GRX 2x derailleur with 11-40 for years now. Lots of miles on rough gravel roads in New England, Thailand, Colombia and Cambodia with no issues whatsoever. Really no need for a bike shop if you can change out a shifter cable and properly size the chain yourself.
I’ve run the clutched Ultegra RX derailleur as well as the GRX 2x derailleur with 11-40 for years now. Lots of miles on rough gravel roads in New England, Thailand, Colombia and Cambodia with no issues whatsoever. Really no need for a bike shop if you can change out a shifter cable and properly size the chain yourself.
That’s great to know, thanks. Just reading accounts of people online that have tried it makes it seem like it may be frame dependent whether and how well it works. My bike is Di2, so I think at minimum I’d need some help w/ e-tube programming.
I just did this gravel ride around Boulder with a 32/34.
Only trouble I had on the posted ride was going up the Escape trail coming out of Rowena but that trail was just graded and the soil was really soft.
It would be nice to have a 30 up front but I don’t need it enough to run out and change my set up. I probably will eventually.
Check out my activity on Strava: https://www.strava.com/…;utm_medium=referral
Man, that’s a link-up of some climbs!
There are sections around, including the Escape route to Deer Trail, that are tough on a mountain bike never mind a gravel bike! I don’t think anyone should build a gravel bike around making them easier. Some routes you just have to be prepared for some suffering.
With that said, if you ride exclusively in the mountains then put on a small chainring 1x with a big cassette.
If you want the bike to work well on the flats and in the mountains, a 2x is the way to go and for that you’re going to be close to 1:1.