5 Things I Wish I Knew as a Beginner Gravel Cyclist
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ก.ค. 2024
- Let us know in the comment sections what your tips for new gravel riders would be
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RE-UPLOADED
coz premiere pro decided to delete half my video, here it is again!
If you fancy watching this on multiple devices all the way through that would be great k thx
Okay, watching the full version on two devices ☑️☑️
YAY 5/5 Thanks Francis
Random question: What is that extended tube underneath the top tube on the Scott bike?
@@hobbescalvin416 frame pump!
I find the Spesh Pathfinder Pro 40mm is the best for me. I can go to gravel, mud, snow and pop back on the road. Very versatile. I’m sold on tubeless for my Pathfinder tires. Tubes for my road bikes.
Currently in the market for my first gravel bike.
Have watched more than 50 videos on the subject and this video...is by far the best.👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I rode a mountain bike trail in Ireland on a gravel bike. Fantastic fun but tough on the hands coming down without suspension.
Slow tight bends were tough too. Had a ball though. When I first turned up, I asked the bike shop that was hiring bikes, was the course suitable for a gravel as I was the only one, and his reply was ‘I’m sure you will let me know when you get back down’
I’ve added both a red shift handlebar vibration reducer and a seat post vibration reducer. Added a little bit of weight but the enjoyment factor is greatly enhanced
I second the Redshift stem suspension recommendation. Changed my gravel bike experience. No wrist/hand pain on 85km/ 1200m elevation rides. I'm going to test it on longer distances shortly but it's pretty obvious it's a game changer 👍
Which trail in Ireland did you go to - Trailriders in Ballyhoura by any chance? I'm in the market for a gravel bike to replace my roadie as my main use is commuting and it's got way too little compliance for the city centre roads - they're a mess right now. Now I'm thinking of trying it on some trails when I get one.
@@aidanoconnor7299 yes it was indeed Ballyhoura. If you are thinking of running it with a gravel bike, I’d consider only with some sort of front suspension as it was really tough on the hands coming down. Fine going up but painful coming down. Either way, you’ll have a blast, it’s a terrific facility
Did a 5500km bike trip (sleeping in a tent, so quite a lot of weight) all around Sweden last year and ran tubeless - when it worked it was great. But I had several situations where sealant failed to seal small holes or the tire flew off the rim and that was an absolute nightmare: Spent so much time deflating, refilling with sealant and reinflating with often no success. Putting in a tube without a water hose around is just a pain - sticky tubeless milk everywhere. Still got stains of the dried milk on my frame to this day.
Might have been the kind of sealant (muc off) but I’d prefer just changing tubes when I’m on a long distance ride than having to fear this ‘ultimate failure’ when the sealant doesn’t work.
"Still got stains of the dried milk on my frame to this day". Sorry dude are you Monica Lewinski ?,asking for H a friend of mine 🤔
Should be tubes for distance, ask any tourer,
I don’t do rides like that but I’ve rarely had problems like that with road tubeless. Dynaplugs and decent tyres have left me needing a phone call once (sealant had jammed the collar screw) and a tube inserted once in maybe 5 years. / 40,000km.
Congrats man, amazing video. Informative, dynamic and quite welcoming for the ones thinking about starting on gravel bikes. Cheers!
Tubeless 40mm Goodyear Peaks on my gravel bike are a god send for the 'gravel' we have here in the UK. Tyre choice is so important, I've spent a lot of time (and money) trying to find the perfect combo, but I think I'm finally there! Nice video, Francis. Informative as always!
Especially because thats a road bike with Big tyres lol
Exact same experience for me on road v gravel tubeless. More trouble than it’s worth on the road bike - the sealant just squirts out everywhere, you get covered in it and it doesn’t even seal the puncture. Love it on my 650b chunky gravel tyres though.
Great vid - would've been super nice to see some footage of the two tyres in action that you mentioned!
I come from mountain biking, so have years of running tubeless with no issues. Really enjoy gravel and bikepacking these days. I run 700C x 38mm slick for mixed riding and swap to 650b x 55mm “medium tight” knobbies for bikepacking, single track and muddy or rough gravel. Tubeless Rene Herse tires on an OPEN WI.de. Rode the Oregon Outback trail from California to Washington state on an unsupported 380 mile long route. Very fun trail with all types of gravel and the 55mm were great - cushion and grip!
You might do a future episode on sidewalls and how supple casings can give you comfort and still keep your speed up.
Do you use the standard casing of Rene Herse? I’ve been really tempted but heard a few issues of weak sidewalls and losing too much comfort going for the endurance casing. So expensive I just don’t want to take the plunge and end up disappointed!
Thank you for the no fluff, clear as a bell descriptions 🙏
Helpful proviso about riding tubeless on roads. I like being able to up pressure a bit, since the knobs and wider tires slow me down as it is, and frequently I'm looking at 40/60 if not 50/50 paved surface. I have not decided on a tire I love so am still using tubes but that would have been an unfun discovery. Thanks again.
My experience with tubless is that the sealant seals max 3 bars of pressure, then reopens. after several days, you can pump back to 3.5bars (adequate pressure for 40mm tyre). This is verified on Schwalbe and Tufo tyres. BikeworkX and OKO Magic milk.
In 1922 my grandfather rode a non-gravel Harley Davidson on the dirt and gravel roads of middle America. When I was 7 my friends and I rode our balloon tire coaster brake bikes on the dirt trails in the woods. Today I have an EMTB, a short travel full suspension MTB, a flat bar gravel bike, a hard tail , a vintage steel road bike. Bikes change, roads not so much.
I'm glad Tony freely admits he's not normal. 😉 I mean that man is _daft_ after all ... plus freakishly talented on a bike!
I use latex tubes on the road, it’s the best of both worlds... they have amazingly low weight and rolling resistance, as well as incredible comfort and I never had a puncture - they are incredibly resilient but you do have to pump them up daily so they are no use for tours. Tubeless all the way for offroad though.
I ride an old CX bike with tubes and canti brakes! Variety of terrain, including very rocky in my part of the word. Although tubeless would probably improve comfort a bit, I have no real issues with punctures on my now-old fashioned inner tube tyres. I do 200 to 250k a week on these.
I ride an older Trek Cross. Same brakes. Have tubed and tubeless. Tubeless is more comfy. I use both
I ride tubeless on all of my bikes, mountain, gravel and road. Flatting is almost a non-issue. Sometimes difficult to set up depending on tire/wheel combo, but worth it.
I’m with you re tubeless for Mountain and Gravel. 100%. That’s what I run. But tubeless for Road is really a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist in my opinion. If you use good light inner tubes , latex or TPU, then there is pretty much zero advantage over standard tubed clinchers for weight and rolling resistance. Use also good quality heavier tyres during winter riding. I flat on a road bike around once per year on average and pinch flat even less than that, so the sealant advantage of tubeless tyre set up is minimal (and it’s a real mess sometimes anyways with all that high pressure in Road tyre even when it does seal).
@@paddyotoole2058 I think total system weight plays a part more when it comes to road and tubeless, I'm 55kg and a short-arse (so small frame) not sure what my total system weight is exactly but its going to be under 65 kg and I'm not a racer, so for me TL makes a lot of sense. I'm not deforming the tyres as much as a heavier rider just by being on the bike so I can reap the benefits of lower pressures without too much sacrifice in rolling resistance or risking pinch flats with tubes. On the other hand my 6`5, 100 kg+ riding buddy on an XXL frame, not so much. Off-road its almost a no brainier. Although ironically my MTB is my only non-TL bike but that's just because I don't ride it much and forget to check the tyres, so they go flat and the sealant dries up 🙃
@@chris1275cc on my summer road bike I’m running 28mm tyres with latex tubes at just over 70psi. It’s a pretty comfy ride. My weight including the bike and gear etc. is about 80kg. What pressure are you running your tubeless tyres on your road bike?
@@paddyotoole2058 I run just under 70 psi on my rim bike but i'm on 26 mm. On my Disc bike I run 30 mm but its relatively new so I'm still playing around with pressures, gone down to 60 ish with no issues (Both Pirelli P Zero Race TLR). Gravel I pump them up to 30 and then pump them up again when it feels squishy 😅 (WTB Venture I think but Id have to look)
I should add as well the roads where i live (Notts) are officially some of the worst maintained in the country and pinch flats where a real issue when I ran tubes unless I kept the pressure high.
Brilliant video , looks of good insight for someone getting into gravel bikes!
Tyre choice is the hardest part of my life. My MTB spends most of the time on hardpack gravel jump tracks, but when it gets muddy in winter god I need more than an XC/DJ tyre. My cyclocross bike does double duty as longer road ride bike, and gravel/XC bike so picking what to put on that means I'm either slow on road, or need to walk more off road. I tend to go with slicker than I would want, knowing it's faster on road and I can always walk. One day I'll have 2 wheels for every bike...
WTB tubeless on Hunt Gravel wheelset, lovely and comfortable ride and great grip.
Gravel - what my mates and I used to do as teenagers in the UK on our normal road bikes back in the late 70s before specific road bikes, mountain bikes and gravel bikes were categorized. Basically anywhere we could get with our bikes and still pedal them. 🚴🏻😳
Can I get an amen! But the industry can't live off sweet memories from summers spent. They need revenue and they make up whatever for that.
Well I've been trying that approach for a while on 700 * 25c road tyres as I've only space for 1 bike (plus the two bikes for my kids and one for the wife) but I'm switching to a gravel bike when I find the right one in my size. It's seriously uncomfortable using the high pressure road tyres, it's wrecking my wheels and I've ended up with too many punctures. To be fair, the lack of comfort I can get over as it's only once every month or so that I go off-road but having to deal with damage to the rims, punctures and tube replacements isn't worth it. Can't go wider due to rim brakes. Also, I'm asking for an accident any time I try to use my brakes skinny tyres going down a hill that's with either dirt or loose gravel. Great fun though!!!
Pretty much always ridden tubless on my 'allroad' bike, only ever had one bad puncture which eventually sealed once I put some air in the tyre. I run quite high pressures too.
Great video! I definitely recommend tubeless. I went tubeless and will never go back!
Here in America we love’s us some dirt roads and the terrain can be anything from small finely-crushed limestone to big chunky “driveway” rocks.
Either way, I’ve found that running tubeless negates any issues one may encounter.
Also, being able to run a lower tyre pressure gives more performance advantage.
Keep up the great work!
If I'm right I think gravel bikes originated in the US because you have a far more extensive network of dirt roads used regularly by cars, trucks etc. so in my mind at least they are still essentially road bikes but a lot of us hadn't noticed how specialist modern road bikes had become over the years. Its interesting to see how road bikes now routinely take up to 32mm tyres. You'd have been laughed off the club run in the 1980s if you turned up on a bike that took such fat tyres and I remember regularly using 19mm tyres. Thankfully no more, move to fatter tyres is much more sensible IMHO!
Growing up in Michigan, USA, "gravel" roads were just called dirt roads. Gravel is a buzzy buzzword around here.
Yes sir, I’d say the same here in Ohio, USA.
More like sand
this is full circle completely awesome.. people buy a light bike and then load it up w 20lbs of junk..lots of gravel events look like mass bike camping trips. Silca pumps used to be history and it's looking like a comeback!! like cyclocross and mountain bike racing..sure you start in a group but then it's solo punishment w nothing or nobody to draft off of until you finish!! I love watching footage of guys and gals dropped in the 1st few feet that ride alone for hours until they finish.. and the best thing about off road.. little to no coasting so suffering never stops until you do
I started non paved in 2015 on my Trek Madone with 28mm tires..too.much loose stuff. Got a Spec. DIVERGE IN 2016, then Crockett Cross shortly after. Added a Salsa Vaya 2 yrs ago. Mid 70s now. Ride daily 30 to 50 miles. Wide tires. Tubeless. Mud wheels ..mostly Panaracer Gravel Kings work well here in Mich. Only suspension is Red Shift stem
Nice video
As an ex Nineties & Noughties Mountain Biker I treat my gravel bike, when riding on the hoods, like riding with bar ends, only you can actually cover the brakes?!! Winner!!! Tech is loads better too. Running tubeless tyres is a massive boost too. I love mine but I am closer to 60 than 50 these days!!! 😁 Can’t risk broken bones any more hence the switch to Road/Gravel. There’ll be some other people like me. 👍 Great vid.
Great video! Made me look for tubeless. Thanks for share it.
planning on getting my first gravel bike and have set my eyes upon the Sunpeed Kepler. My first reason for even thinking of getting a gravel is because its good on all kinds of surface. The streets where I live dont exactly have properly made tarmac. My 2nd reason is well, its fast. I can get to school faster with it than my mountain bike.
Gravel riding is awsome, especially on a faster style bike like my Kanzo Fast or your Scott. There is lots of gravel in the south of england though, most notable in Dorset and mile upon mile on Salisbury Plain.
complete edition ... like that.
Great content - thx.
I use my gravel bike for commuting. Before I went tubeless I had 3 flats in a week. The roads in atlanta are awful and littered with glass and trash. I went tubeless a year ago. One time since then, I heard hissing from my tire after I finished a ride. I spun the tire a little bit, it went away and I haven’t had a problem since. I’ll NEVER EVER go back.
Currently cutting the difference on my 650b setup with slime tubes. Yes it can be more trouble if i go low pressure, but im on paved trails 80% of the time with my ride. They cost more but with fast rolling tires it is less trouble than worrying about punctures that strand you out in the bush.
I always ride tubeless on my road bike. I had problem putting on a tyre ONCE and once a tyre got cut up on something loaded inside my car... And "sealant" and "inside car"... Yes it was like you imagine.
Thanks for a good vid. I just subscribed. I come from Iowa, USA where we have thousands upon thousands of miles of legitimate gravel, and yeah, it's all about having fun.
Same here in the Belgium, Luxemburg, German area, so many gravel roads with steep inclines. However, no fun taking a gravel rig on mtb technical terrain.
I'm new in cycling 🚲 and got a gravel bike, the fun to be had is immeasurable. My only regret I not riding earlier
Loved your spirit and the info!
I've just picked up a Boardman ADV 8.9 a couple of weeks back, my only prior experience of cycling has been city bikes, hybrid bikes and mountain bikes. I wanted something that can handle the riding I do on my mountain bike (lots of muddy woodland paths, rocky farm roads, bridleways etc) but can also join up that sort of terrain effectively on the road. It's been really enjoyable so far, I haven't found myself under-biked yet for the terrain I tend to ride but I can cover much more distance without being knackered. I now breeze up hills that I struggled on before (Scotland is very hilly!) and I think my body is getting used to the riding position. Gonna stick with tubes for now but I might give tubeless a bash once my factory tyres are bald.
interested to know your gearing? In the Highlands myself so, yes, all my rides are hilly! Toying with getting a gravel bike and will definitely be getting something with a lower gear than 1:1 which is what a lot of bikes seem to offer. That's far too close to a road bike for my liking.
@@NikTheGeek the Boardman ADV 8.9 has an 11/36t rear cassette and 48/32t front chainrings. In 32 front and 36 rear that gives you a ratio of 0.89. The default for the Shimano GRX400 drivetrain is actually a 46/30t up front which would give a bottom gear of 0.83 - I don't think this is actually necessary unless you intend to put a lot of luggage on the bike. I ride with just a water bottle and top tube bag and I very rarely find myself in the bottom gear, things are generally steep enough that you're better off walking by that point.
Great tip on the 650B’s!
I rode one of the first mountain bikes of the 80's!! I assure you it was swimming in concrete!! Triangle brakes I change with the knob on the steering wheel with the lever without release!! 😂😂😂😂
Most frames and wheels have a significant amount of compliance in them, depending on the model. When the Pinarello Dogma K8 came out, lots of people made fun of it because the full carbon F8 had more vertical compliance than the K8 had with an air shock in the seat stays.
I'd make fun of it because it's vomit-inducing ugly like any Pinarello made in the last 20 years.
@@einundsiebenziger5488 that is entirely matter of taste. I happen to think most modern bikes look rather elegant and clean by comparison to the K'nex bikes of the 2000s and earlier, as if someone was able to design them with more than a child's level of engineering prowess. That, however, is my taste.
Really helpful video, thanks 👍🏼
Inner tybe everywhere, mtb, road, and mx, except my cbr, one spare, air pump and no problem other than vibrations, i like to ride over 50 psi at mtb, cos im loco.
Thanks for the video, very informative!
I ride tubeless on my road, gravel, trail and fatbike. Road; confort. Gravel; grip & confort. MTB; grip & small bump absortion. Fatbike; weight saving (especially with studded tires), grip on snow and ice. Common for all; no (or very rarely) flats. MTB & Fatbike; without a tube the tire have the shape it's designed to have instead of being rounded by the tube. On the roady anf gravel, the confort is enhanced by the fact that at the same pressure, the tubeless tire have a thinner wall (tube being absent) hence the added confort by the more supple sidewall. I just can't figure out why I'd go back to tubes!!
I don't have a gravel bike yet . But I converted my xc mtb to a drop bar. Might never look back, I need to ride more miles on it to fully say I'm never looking back lol
Very informative video and to the point
Ive always added some glitter to the tubeless milk, helps seal a little bit bigger hole and when it does explode you look spectacular
Probably one of your best videos.
I've been riding tubeless on my road bike for +10k now and I absolutely love it! Only flatted once, after 6.5k on a single set of tyres without changing the sealant once. I ride the Zipp 303s, they are quick, comfortable and the low pressures allow me to do some light gravel riding too! I'am riding a Scott Addict RC, so it's really cool to see that you're riding the same brand.
What tire make/model/width are you running? I’ve gone through roughly 500 usd worth of tires in the span of a year and a half from tubeless shortcomings. Mostly s-works and schwalbe 25-28mm for me. I’m back on latex tubes the past 3 years until things get better lol
@Ryan TF Try Orange Seal Endurance
@@tome1389 I'm also a big fan of orange seal.
@@th0m orange seal + continental tires (gp5k). Haven't had any issues with 25-28 over thousands of miles
A mess to fix. I hit a big hole it popped the seal. Glad to have a tube
you don’t need the same tyres front and back - they’re doing a very different job. Fast rolling on the rear and nobbly on the front gives you best of both worlds.
New road rider, thx for the info about 650b tires .
Gracias por los consejos!!! 👍🏻
Road tubeless was junk when I tried it. Off-road I use tubes, I can't afford multiple sets of wheels or to change the sealant every time I change the tyres.
Oh, and while 650b and 700c might be the most common on new, expensive bikes in the West, 26" is still be far the most common wheelsize worldwide.
come on out to western Canada. Alberta and British Columbia are full of beautiful gravel fire and logging roads!
I can see my Wilier Jena there :) what a bike. always tubeless here !
Oh thank goodness..... That was like an end of season cliff hanger! 😜
👀
I fell hopelessly in love with the Scott Addict in this video last year when I was looking for my next gravel bike; I had to have it. Then I saw the price tag 😬
Tubeless all the way. Also on the roadbike! You just have to use a good tyre and rim combo. The best are GP5000 TR S and Pirelli P Zero Race 😉
agreed! it's all about having the right combo and running your road setup at a lower pressure. I use GP5000TL and Enve wheels on my road bike. 62psi in the back and 58psi on the front. Never have issues with sealant spraying and not plugging a puncture. You also need a good sealant, Stans race sealant is great, but it does dry up quicker.
I have a gravel / winter bike but I don't do much gravel riding (I need to spend some time trying to find good trails near me). I have a 650b wheels but the issue I have is finding suitable tyres - since my frame is a bit older it doesn't have the clearance of true gravel bikes so max I can fit is ~40mm. I have Schwalbe G-One Allround which have a very light dimpled tread so are great for winter roads and very light tracks / canal path. I don't think they'd be very good if thicker mud or big rubbley gravel tracks. I run tubeless on this and my road bike (700x28) and I really notice the difference comfort wise having lower pressures. It's a bit more of a faff getting setup (I really should get a compressor) but for the last 2 years has been maintenance free (apart from topping up sealant every ~6 months).
1:04 Bro, that's a straight-up mountain. I refuse to ride in traffic (seen too many traumas vs vehicles at work) so gravel for me is the unpaved roads out in the middle of nowhere. Biggest obstacle is a puddle or grassy patch here and there.
5:25. This is the reason I am still holding out and using tubes. I use my gravel bike for All roads. Sometimes combining 30-40km of serious unpaved fire road ( dirt double track, cobbly knobbly rocky stuff. heavy loose gravel, fine cinder track all on the same road) and then fill up to 5 BAR for another 30-40 km of paved mountain road ( big technical road descents) That said. I drop to 50psi for the unpaved bits ( sometimes a bit lower on the front) with 40mm Schwalbe mararhons. I have never had a pinch flat in maybe 3000kms of gravel road and about 90,000 meters of vertical. How do you find tubless works when filled to 5Bar ( 72psi)?
Great video! Thank you.
im a mountain biker that wants to get into gravel riding, seems so much less effort and mindless, and therefore more relaxing haha! looking at getting a kona rove
Rode PROPER gravel for the first time in France and I immediately understood... :)
Tubeless on 700c x 45 love em. Plenty of gravel here in Aus.
Your videos are getting better since you moved, and the verity is very good.
thanks Greg!
I always get ‘pinch punches’ on the first day of the month. Haven’t had a pinch flat since going tubeless.
No problem setting up and running tubeless on a road bike. Works very well.
I think you're Peter Mckinnon bikes lol. So much black, editing, and cinematography.
back to watch the second half of the video let's go
'Schwalbe Marathon Racer' instead of pure slicks and you can ride almost everywhere with them. Light (even as a clincher), light rolling and almost never a puncture. 👌🏻
Excellent vid, mahalo! I"m in Hawai'i, but setting up a second base in Arizona. My goal is 2 ride all different types of BLM roads in the lower 48.
Yay Francis found the rest of the video 🥳
Heplful video. I run my WTB Raddlers tubeless and it’s kind of a p.I.t.a. Maybe they’re not set up right but I lose some air every 2-3 days and last week one was dead flat and I had to struggle getting them beaded and all. I used tubes with liners on my other bike and had no issues with flats. May go back to doing that if my re-tape job doesn’t hold. We have a lot of thorns where I ride.
Are they tan wall tyres or all black?
In my experience, riding tubeless hasn't been worth the time and hassle! Went tubeless last year and had issues seating the tyres by myself. Went to my local bike shop where they did it for me. After a month, i got two flats in a week. The sealant never worked. I think the issue might have been my wheels, I read online other people had issues with the WTB like i did. Switched backed to riding with tubes and I never had issues with punctures, even when riding pretty hard terrain. I'm not completely closed to tubeless but i didn't see much benefits.
I’m running tubeless on my MTBs for many years so that was the obvious choice with my Orbea Terra too. I’m on my third wheel set (stock, DT G1800, Giant CXR 2) in three years and with Vittoria and Maxxis tires and Stan’s sealant I never had any issues with neither of them - all home install.
I may be the outlier, but in 7 years of riding tubeless, I've had 0 flats.
To be clear, I have had punctures that sealed with sealant, and punctures that have required plugs. But I've never had to take a wheel off during a ride.
I have had issues with a few WTB tire sets. Finally switched to Panaracers.
@@tamasvarga67 good to hear! I also got an orbea terra h30. What rim tape width did you use to seal the wheels for tubeless tires?
Where I live in Wisconsin gravel was once common, but now it’s not. Oh, there’s still plenty of it in our state, but my area has become very developed.
Rural New Zealand is gravel! I live at the end of a 10 km length of unsealed/ gravel road.
But I toured off-road Scotland in the 90’s on a rigid Cannondale mtb so rocks and technical without suspension is nothing new
I bought cx with 2 sets of tyres... One for gravel and other for road... It is superior :) with road wheel under 8 kg. With gravel ones it's 8,6.
it looks like Tony has front suspension. Those rocky trails in the video would be "rough" on a solid frame as tire pressure is the only "suspension" you get. I love the options my gravel bike offers me for more trails less traveled with less effort than a MTB but i am fortunate enough to have both. and yes, i run tubeless. sometimes a PITA to get them to initially hold air but then they are awesome.
Suspension in cx bike?
Had my road bike for 5 years and always been tubeless, over 13,000 miles and only ever one issue where it wouldn’t seal, so tubeless all the way for me
I mainly ride a gravel bike not because i want to go off road its because theres a lot of unfinished roads and a lot of cracks and pots holes on the road in my country and using a road bike wont be compatible in my town really and i still like the geometry of a road bike instead of a mountain bike soo i resort to a gravel bike
Hardtail MTB and Gravel bikes are both tubeless, I haven’t gone tubeless on my road bike yet but probably will when I have to replace my tyres.
I run tubeless on my gravel bike and my mountain bikes, but recently it went back to tubes, because I found if I didn't use one of my bikes for a few weeks, I had to top it up with air..
Heck yeah!!
Great vid
I change my set of tires for different rides, so I cannot use tubeless. Two years riding and only 4 holes. It's ok for me.
Awesome & Thanks :)
Nice one!
I/ve been riding road tubeless for 10 years. Campag Shamals with Hutchinson tubeless, no wuckers.
I ride a steel frame gravel bike with 650b x 47mm tyres, tubeless, 2.6 bar in front, 3.0 at the back. Its always funny seeing roadies' confusion when they see me keeping up fine at 30kph.
My bike weighs 13kg. Tyres a WTB byways - perfect for road and light gravel. My FTP is a paltry 200. A gravel bike is simply just not that slow.
Although 650b will give you more clearance with a wider tire, it will not be as fast and you will end up working harder to keep pace.
The best!
I work as a bike mechanic/builder, and i still find tubeless a big hassle no benefit and i only see the bad stuff with people i ride with or build bikes for. i dont puncture that often at all on tubes and im a pretty small/lightweight man. so i might not be the target audience to be fair. in the end i prefer some lightweight inner tubes like tubilitos over tubeless
You must be a outlier, all of my bikes for the past 15 years have been tubeless. My fatbike was a legit nightmare when I ran tubes, flats every ride and using a hand pump took FOREVER. I’m a bigger dude at 250lbs and no way I’d ever go back to tubes. It’s interesting you don’t prefer tubeless.
No goatheads where you ride and you definitely don’t race.
Are you talking road, or gravel / mtb? For Road I agree there is no real advantage in going tubeless, but for gravel & mtb tubeless is definitely superior and a no brainier.
The issue I have is most of my riding will be on pavement, but first off, a lot of the pavement is in less than ideal condition, and second, it can also be "incomplete" there are several segments that are unpaved with the possibility of mud and standing water on the pavement..
Is this still reasonable gravelbike conditions?
Tubeless does not fully eliminate pinch flats but does require a harder impact to cut through a tire vs a tube
That happened to me at a gravel race. Hit a hole really hard and had a slow leak. I thought I broke the bead. After filling it twice, I put in a tube and finished the race. Later at home, I removed the tube to try to set it back up and noticed the tire was damaged just above the bead. The rim hit the tire hard enough to damage it to the point I could see the carcass. It was a strip about 1/4 inch or so long.
For me its that dirt and dust etc chews up your drivetrain. Buy the spares now, and get ready to clean frequently. My trail MTB never wears components as fast. And, compared to the first year with the gravel bike, after year 2, this last fall and winter I intentionally rode much less dirt and gravel. Also, my #2 is - a gravel bike on city streets is the best road bike for handling every road hazard, bumps, construction, pot holes, speed bumps, winter crud, rocks, and debris, and going on any street or route safely at high speeds with handling and confidence. When a car or truck swerves immediately into my lane, my road bike would not stand a chance. Ive on many occasion been saved by my 180mm front brake rotor and larger volume tires to stop on a dime. Well, 20mph to zero in less than ten feet.
If you switch to using a waxed chain you will find that your drivetrain runs much smoother won’t attract as much dust and dirt, and as a result will require much less cleaning and last far longer.
I bought a gravel bike and sold it after a few rides...it's basically an MTB on drops with rigid fork...so I'd rather have an XC 29er bike because it's more capable and more comfy to ride specially if it has a pack load of suspension....I still prefer my good 'ol Cyclocross because it's more nimble to ride - just a personal opinion... GRAVEL BIKES are hybrid bikes advertised in a very "hype" way.
My 25mm tires went from 100psi to 95psi after a puncture using Orange Seal. Normally I’d be running around 85psi, but I had just gone for a PR on a segment of smooth road. Orange Seal is far superior to anything else on the market…
Definitely the orange seal 🦭, I have always used it for the mountain bikes and last year changed my road bike to tubeless not had a problem it’s a no brainer
Hi Francis - what advice could you give me for the best handlebars for a gravel bike? How do I get comfort and control please? Thanks