Can You Make One Bike Do It All?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ธ.ค. 2022
- Recently with the advent of gravel bikes people have wanted their bike to be more versatile, rather than having two separate bikes. A great way to enhance its versatility is by having two different wheelsets, one for gravel riding, and one for the road. So does this really mean you only need one bike? Alex finds out!
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Would you have two separate bikes, or two separate wheelsets? let us know in the comments! 👇
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Would you have two separate bikes, or two separate wheelsets? let us know in the comments! 👇
You should have compared the gravel bike, with road tires, to a similar road bike with road tires. That is usually the key point people complain about when having to choose a bike. They often state, that a gravel bike with road tires, would be significantly slower than getting a road bike - so they opt to have two bikes instead of one.
1 gravel bike (2x) and 2 wheelsets is exactly what I got and what I started with last year as a beginner cyclist. For me it's the best of both worlds. You can shred the trails and have fun with your friends on tarmac group rides up to certain speeds like 32kph (20mph). Going a lot faster than that is where I would love to have some more aerodynamics like the rest of the bunch
I'd rather have 2 bikes (because who doesn't want more bikes?) But starting with a modern Gravel/CX/All-road frame and carefully thinking about the components, the option for the non-competitive cyclist to have one do it all bike is absolutely a viable option now days, its almost, and I stress ALMOST a no brainier unless you race or really like owing multiple bikes (which I do). Personally I'd go 2x either sub compact or compact with a big cassette at the back (Wolftooth will be your friend if you want to "push" those limits). Given some of the tyres on the market today I'm not even sure 2 wheelsets are necessary, quite a few of those "slick" gravel tyres perform well above what you would expect them too both on the rough, wet stuff and on the road if you get the pressures right. Its a compromise sure, but I suspect if you put some thought into it, it's not as big of a compromise as you expect.
I have many bikes, so get to choose the best bike for the job, at the start of the pandemic though I only had one. A Trek Crochett(thanks to Si) that was my road bike and my gravel bike, I'd change the tyres cassette and chainring depending what I was using it for(10×36-46 road and 10×42-40 gravel) no more than a 20 minute job.
I would and I did some 5 years ago, but a decent wheelset is worth the whole spare bike now.
When buying a 2nd set of wheels, keep in mind you need to buy an extra set of brake disks and an extra cassette. If using a much bigger cassette, you have to change the chain every time you switch wheels. Even might have to adjust the callipers if the pads are rubbing against the disks. So it’s still an investment and you might have to spend some time on setting it up after each swap.
People forget this, the cassette is £100, tyres another £100 if not 200. Rotors another £100 at least
@@jameshancock18 tires, cassettes (and maybe rotors) are consumable parts. Just like how winter tires are an added cost upfront but not much difference in the long run.
@@Luke-ct7xf good point
Nah, you just spec the chain length for the bigger cassette, and keep the same hubs for both the wheels. 28c tires will fit on most rims anyways. Problem solved if you’re clever;
I only ride one bike. A Cannondale Synapse. I ride 32mm that register at 34mm on my Hunt carbon gravel wheels. I ride gravel and road, aka mixed terrain . It’s not perfect for either, but it’s great in both. No changing tires, no changing cassette. I run a 2 by with compact 50/34 and an 11/34 in the back. This is more of a financial driven decision, but it’s great for me. I develop my handling skills on loose terrain , and work out a slightly more on road. If I do a longer dirt ride, I drop pressure from 65 psi on road to 30-40 on dirt.
Sounds like a great solution!
Yeah, but 32mm aren’t gravel tires…You can put CX tires on a road bike, but bot gravel tires.
Great setup, I wish I had something similar.
@@izi941 kinda depends on the kinda gravel you ride. Fine, even gravel is more than covered by a 32mm slick. You can run 28c without too much issues, and if the 32s are file tread, it's just gravy.
Chunkier stuff will start to push past a 32c slick's wheelhouse though. Kinda depends where you set the lines between road/gravel/xc whether or not 32c is a suitable gravel tire.
Terrible wheels though from hunt had two sets never again
If we can get a follow on, I would really be interested in seeing the difference in performance between a gravel bike with road tires vs. an endurance road bike.
Same here!
Will be down to bike fit. The aerodynamics of the bikes will differ slightly. But the rider would have to be EXACTLY in the same position on both bikes to make a valid comparison, which would be very very hard to achieve. Rider is 85pc of total drag
This is the way! I have a 2020 Giant Revolt, and bought it with a spare 650B Hunt Adventure Sport wheelset right off the bat. Zipp 303s wheelset for road. Plenty fast on road (I'm not that fast anyway!) and super fun on gravel/singletrack! You hit the nail on the head here! Always love your vids!
Thanks a lot! Sounds like you've got a great setup.
Have a revolt adv 0.. have several sets of wheels between several bikes but my revolt is the one I ride the most and the one i would keep if i couldnt have the others.. i have the giant cxr1 wheels with 38mm tyres and a set of 40mm deep LP rims for road & 28mm tyres.. perfect.. it’s a rocket with the deeper wheels and skinny tyres..but if i need fast it’s the Tarmac
Similar story here. I have a Revolt 2021 and I'm usually running 42mm on it's CXR2 on gravel and singletrack. I swap it to my 303s Firecrest with 30mm tyres when taking it on the road. It's a relatively cheap solution and it works really well with this bike!
My first 'road' bike was a CX with road wheels and tyres. If you can afford two sets of wheels, and aren't planning on competitive racing, this is a great way to get the best of both worlds. Cheers Alex.
Thanks for the nice comment 🙌 Great to hear you love the two wheel option!
Exactly what I did, back when I only had 1 bike. CX bike (there were no gravel bikes back in 2015!), with an extra set of road wheels and tyres. Did thousands of miles on that bike.
@@FinalHourMetal absolutely. I racked up 30k kilometres on my CX, commuting, fondos, gravel and even a bit of CX. Aero road wheels and shallower CX wheels were a winner. I miss that bike.
This is exactly the build I'm thinking about doing. Any more insights?
@@masonkelly6694 Hi mate, the things I learned were that it's best to keep things simple. The basic set up of the bike was a slightly more relaxed racing position (kept the forkstem long-ish, mid-length stem and the seat at the optimum height), and I set the two paris of wheels up so that the casette and discs needed minimal adjustment when changing wheels. I used a compact chain set, and a 11-32 on the gravel wheels and a 11-30 on the road wheels. Small adjustment on the derailleur d-screw for the different casettes. Hope that helps.
That is exactly what I did in 2021. Coming from mountainbiking originally, my brother introduced me to Zwift and Road-Bikes during the Pandemic. I then chose the following set-Up : A Cyclocross bike (Cube CX Pro) because of the sturdier material, ZIPP 303s with Schwalbe G-One and a Wahoo Kickr. After a couple of month indoor and outdoors with hundreds of km and spring looming , i then killed the piggy bank and got myself a second wheelset of ZIPPs 303s and outfitted them with Continental GP5000STRs. Did some tinkering with the components ( the shifting is now Ultegra and important parts swapped to carbon, complete bike at 8 Kg) here and there over time and I love the flexibility. It doesn´t take as much space (and money) as 2 or 3 bikes would, but I always am able to ride as I like...
I got a Trek Checkpoint6 recently (400mm tyres as default)…love it. 40front…10-44 cassette
I got a pair of Kysrium road wheels (28mm) with identical cassette…us it once a week when doing Friday morning road spin with mates…
Absolutely love it…works soooo well and as an aside…when I travel I take this “1 bike - 2 wheels” with me & I have effectively 2 bikes
Best decision ever…also as I’m enjoying it so much…I’m riding more…so getting fitter/faster
That sounds amazing 🙌 Great to hear you are enjoy the two wheel-set life!
This is what I've done too. In addition to the wheels, you'll need to buy a new cassette and discs, tyres and (if using) inner tubes, but it's still cheaper than a second bike! I'm using the same cassette (gravel) on both wheels though, it offers enough range and it makes swapping wheels a simpler process with less derailleur adjustment, though some is still needed. The swap takes me ~5 minutes
Been running this for a couple of years now as a winter road bike / all-year off-road. Trek Checkpoint SL6: extra set of Vittoria 42mm carbon wheels with Panaracer Gravelking 35mm for road plus the standard wheels with WTB Resolute 42mm. 2x set-up for best of both. Wheel change is done in literally less than 1 minute, no disc rubbing. Bike is plenty quick enough in 'road-form', allowing a little light gravel with 35mm and super-fun in off-road 42mm wheel mode.
And that sounds pretty perfect 🙌
The Trek domane is the ultimate gravel and road bike combo. Comfortable on gravel with 38mm tires and fast on the road with 28mm tires. It’s awesome, only a bit heavy.
I've been trying to find one for a while now. I was sold on the upright geometry.
also the giant contend.
If you had to choose one tire to do road and light gravel , a 30mm would do it ? Or maybe a 32mm?
I’m buying a Trek Domane Al 3
Great video, I’ve used this approach for a few years when traveling in my camper van. I’d love to bring 2 bikes but just don’t have the room. Only issue I find is the need for small adjustments to the disc brakes to prevent rubbing with the different rotors. I really can’t see swapping tires as a viable option given the glue mess.
I ride a titanium gravel bike with two sets of wheels. This set up is ideal if you have limited storage space. I ride the gravel wheels most of the time with a hard pack gravel tire like the Panaracer gravel king ss or the Pirelli cinturado gravel h. With these tires you really don’t lose a lot of speed and they really take the edge off of rough or chip sealed pavement. If I’m doing a fast group ride or an event that I want to do fast, I can always switch to the road wheels.
The first thing you will notice is you will need a 2x crankset if you want to go out with your roadie friends. So I’ve got a 50-34 plus a set of wheels (11-34 on road tires and 11-42 with my gravel tires) and a long cage derailleur
is 2x the way to go for you? 👀
@@gcntech Yeah for sure!!! I live in Lima-Peru so most of it is desert plain, but we've got the Andes at the east. So in less than 90 miles, you will feel like passing thru Morocco and then the Alps. So a wide range of gear ratios is a must-have... Common sense says "I should go for a road and an XC bike", but hey! Isn't it a cool experiment for a minimalist guy?? LOL
Do you have to swap chains, as well, with that difference in largest cassette sprocket?
@@patrickstuart3326 luckly I don’t have to swap chains, but if you’re picky, you’ll find the combination of 50t/42t to tight and 34t/11t too loose, but in the end everyone avoids a crosschain
Always a pleasure to watch your videos. And a pleasure to see that what I’ve been doing for a year is now reinforced by the experts. I ride a Specialized Diverge with two sets; DT Swiss gravel & Zipp 303FC for my road. Thanks GCN!
Thanks! Glad you liked it
I’ve done almost exactly the same, except I just chose two sets of tires rather than wheels (mainly for financial purposes). I ride GP5000s on the road for group rides, and wide 40mm knobs for off-road. My frame hasn’t stopped me from doing group rides around 35kph average, so I think the “single gravel/CX” frame is a perfect budget solution.
Please keep the GCN videos going! I love the videos and they are always on point for the questions that all of our bike shop customers are asking. Thank you so much!
Exact what i do 3 months ago at my lbs when i ordered my Trek Domane.New onto gravel or light gravel and already a owner to a LP crosshill 500 w aluframe i wanted to uppgrade to a carbon road/gravelbike and The Trek Domane seem to be the right bike for me. When ordering the bike i bought a extra pair of carbon roadwheel too. The Paradigmwheels stays on for gravelrides with 35mm tires since i have mudguards ( the swedish winter you know). For summerrides the mudguards goes off and Aeolus 51 with 11-30 cassette goes on with 28mm tires. Whenever i want to change it takes 10min to get ready for road/gravel. 😊
All the best
Kent S.
One bike and 2 wheelsets was what I was going for when I bought my 2018 Specialized Roubaix. But the more I got into gravel, the difference in GEARING is what made me this year and get a Specialized Diverge as well. Now with the wider tire clearance and lower gears, my gravel experience is better! PLUS I can still swap wheelsets if one is down for repairs and ride either road or gravel!
I like my two bikes because they can be specific for what i want them to do - the roadbike has a more aggressive position, casette with less jumps between the cogs, lightweight carbon components etc. its super fun to go one hour flat out in speed, while the gravelbike is setup a bit more relaxed for longer touring, i rarely bother to remove rack, bags, additional bottle cages, pump etc, it has more robust components and it has always some mud on it, the roadbike on the other hand is always clean and lean and i simply love to look at it because its a machine of beauty.
BUT if i would buy new from the get go i also might get a little bit more race oriented lighter gravel bike with two wheelsets. its a great option for when you dont want either of the bikes to fit to extreme a niche and not bother with storing and maintaining two bikes.
Also, if you have always been a road cyclist, and now want to explore some new territory without the need for a full bananas MTB like gravelbike with really chunky tires for the gnarly stuff, even one nice wheelset might be enough. a 35-45mm slick (like a challenge stada bianca pro) on a nice light wheelset on a sportier gravelbike will open up any cycle path, forest road etc. as long as its not extremely muddy, while your road speed will not degrade in a noticable way compared to a non-aero midrange roadbike. if you dont do competetive cycling this one option is also totally fine nowadays. dont hold on to stupid old ways of thinking.
Yeah I’m staring to lean on this side to. Two sets of wheels might sound tempting at firsts but then you have to faf around with gear adjustments each time you swap them out. Not ideal if you wanna go for a quick spin after work.
Same set up I have for my one bike - and it means I can tell my wife I only have ONE bike!
Its a 2020 Specialized Diverge Sport Gravel bike. Except, having bought two nice wheel sets:
Road wheels - Hunt Aerowide 34s shod with Conti GP5000 32mm tires - for riding on roads, with my club or on tarmac only training rides
Gravel wheels - Roval Terra C wheels shod with WTB ByWay 40mm tires - which I use for "all road" rides, light gravel and bikepacking
This means I have a third set - the DTSwiss R470s the bike was originally equipped with. These are shod with HutchinsonTundra 40mm tires which I use as a "mudd" / extreme gravel set up. One bike to do it all!
Went this way when I bought my OnOne FreeRanger Gravel. Sold the Trek Madone and bought new Fulcrum wheels, 30mm tyres, cassette and discs. The bike came with a 42t chainring which I switched to 38t for gravel. For longer days on the road swap back to the 42t👍🏽
Great vid Alex, would love to see a follow up in a video diary style of what riding this over a week (or longer) is like for all your riding, swapping the wheels over each time, if you notice differences on road versus off road and If you notice an compromises as a road bike etc keep up the good work!
Thanks! You may like this film we did with Ted King, riding gravel in Vermont. Watch it on GCN+ 👉 gcn.eu/tkab
done this for years with my cx bike. swap the wheels and use it as my winter road bike, works perfectly. Just converting some old 29 inch mtb wheels to have a 3rd set of wheels for gravel..
Great video. One point that really favor the twin wheelset/one bike setup is when you want to go away with a few bikes on the car, it's far easier to load bikes at the back and a few more wheels in the trunk.
Good point!
I did precisely this with my Pinarello GAN Disc last year. Wanted to have some gravel/winter tires to use occasionally, so I bought a second set of Vittoria wheels and slapped some gravel tires on them. I installed the same 11-32T cassette that I run on my road wheels, and the same disc rotors, so I can just swap wheels and go. Works like a charm!
Now in the end I did have to buy a second bike, but that’s because I spend my winters in France and was tired of flying mine back and forth. Ended up getting another Pinarello GAN with all of the same components, except my US one has rim brakes and a different paint scheme.
Another good and informative film. One bike two sets of wheels. Done it for years, summer & winter wheels on the road & my MTB, and now I have ditched the two bike and got one, a Gravel bike.
Now you have a benchmark how about doing the different speeds of different gravel tyres. I've noticed a massive defence between Conti Terra Speed and Conti Terra Trail. both look very similar tread patten, but the speed difference is so noticeable, O yes and one wares hell of a lot quicker, and that's just one brand.
Great job keep it up.
Tim
Cheers Tim!
I have a Specialized Diverge (1 front chain ring that I swapped out from 40T to 42T) and run the default gravel wheels+tires and a 11-42t. I also have a 2nd set of Hunt wheels that I put slicks on and run a 11-32t cassette. I DO NOT have to change out the chain, or make anything than very minor adjustments to my rotors on occasion. The GRX derailleur with clutch makes that possible and not an option on a race bike unless you get a different derailleur. But I have the 1st gen future shock and the bike’s more compliant frame/setup means that even with the road setup its still slower than my old 2018 Scott Speedster 20. Still, it’s great fun and when I travel I only have to take my extra set of wheels.
Thank you. This is helpful to me as a newbie. I have been looking into this and wasn't really sure where to start.
This is what I did 18 months ago. I bought a custom Ti Allroad bike and two sets of carbon wheels. Zipps for the road and Easton AX for gravel. Even with British Columbia's technical gravel trails I have the right machine for the terrain. I went to opposite of Alex, as I spend more time on road, and bought the more expensive pair of the road.
Enjoyed the video. Occasional gravel rider with a 2020 Domane SL7. Has 38c clearance. Much cheaper for me to just go with the extra set of tires. Run some road specific GP5K 32c tires normally. For gravel switch out to some 35c Gravel Kings.
Currently doing the same, love the Domane.
Check out the 8bar mitte v3 2 in 1. It might not be for everyone but I am extremely happy to have it in the garage. It allows me to throw a set of wheels depending on the terrain and do a more specific ride. It is super fast on the roads and very comfortable on the trails!
Sounds like you've found the bike for you 🙌
Yep two sets of wheels for my Canyon Grizl - one purely gravel running the 40 - 10/44 xplr , then 46/33 T with 10/36 at the back. Simple switch over even chain set as SRAM etap plus work great on the turbo when, and saves a fortune over two bikes!
I have an Orbea Terra with two identical wheelsets: one gravel (38mm gravel tires) one road (28mm road tires). I find this is the easiest way to have the “best of both worlds” as the wheels I have are difficult to mount and change tires that are tubeless compatible. This way I just swap wheels and all is well. The cassettes are identical and it works as seamlessly as possibly. I fully expect I will need to swap chains more frequently perhaps but one wheel set has about 1100 miles on it (gravel) and the other has about 300 so far (road). I was able to get this wheelset this past fall for a good price when someone with the same exact bike and configuration I have decided to sell their their original bike by parting it out and I got the original wheelset (tread and all) and it was obvious he used the wheels very sparingly - I suspect he wanted to get heavier into downhill mountain biking. At any rate, good video Si and good suggestion for wheel upgrade on to replace the stock alloy wheels I’m using. Those seem like they worked well. In my own case I was about 3 minutes faster over a 12 mile (road) course versus the gravel tires which shocked me a bit.
Great video again especially with the maintenance how to video on running two wheel setups. B'day present of road wheels for my gravel bike needed.🤔
The elevation profile at 8:20 looks awesome.. provided there's no stop sign at the bottom 🤣👍
Two wheelsets on your gravel bike or an All-road bike is the way to go IMO:
I only have one bike - a 2018 WHY R+ Titanium bike. Now back in 2018 they weren't saying "gravel" they were saying all-road. But with today's contemporary feature thru axles, internal cable routing (not that fully concealed stuff) and room for 700c X 47mm or 27.5 x 2.1" wheels...
Yeah its what we call a gravel bike today. Today's all-road bike has that middle ground geometry that would suit a roadie wanting to do light gravel, tho gravel bikes make GREAT
road bikes, similar in feel to endurance road bikes.
I have two carbon wheelsets from Superteam: One for mostly paved rides (on a 45mm deep carbon wheelset with 32mm gravelking tires) and another carbon set 38mm deep (24 mm internal) with some 40mm knobby tires for fun in the mud and dirt. Couldn't be happier.
Sounds like an ideal setup!
I do this with my Cervelo Aspero. I ride HED Jet 55s with 25mm GP 5000 TL on the road and HED Ardennes with 38mm GravelKing SK on gravel. I ride Force 1x road mechanical drivetrain. Though the Aspero is a gravel bike, it is awesome on the road. I love this affordable solution!
My gravel bike does winter riding duties now with road wheels and a full set of mudguards. Works like a charm and it can still handle light gravel right now. In spring I will pull the mudguards back off and fit the wide gravel wheels back in.
An old fart here - Great advice ! I have many vintage race bikes equipped with 27mm road tires and as long as the terrain isn't extremely rocky they are as great now as they were in the 80's. On my touring bike (Trek 920) I run 35mm road tires for mild situations and 2.8" 27.5 tires/wheels for extreme off road touring. One thing not mentioned in the vid was the perceived comfort level and if you feel it made any difference to the enjoyment of your ride.
Would love to see a video comparing a gravel bike (2 x GRX setup), and a similar priced road bike (Ultegra?) both running the same wheelset.
Would the ‘2 by’ gravel bike be measurably slower than a dedicated road bike on the road?
If you get the body positions the same as well, the difference will be very negligible, to the point id say not measurable outside.
Got a new set of wheels for my Specialized Diverge last year and had planned on selling the stock wheels but 1. I’m lazy and 2. I like the idea of two wheel sets. Going to put off my Sunday chores and go fiddle in the garage 😃thanks, @gcntech!
Hahaha glad we could help you procrastinate 🙌
I've got a gravel bike with a set of Enve G23's for the gravel and Zipp 303's for the road. Being a gravel bike, it obviously handles great on the gravel. However, with the road wheels on I can easily keep up with fast mates on road bikes. Perfect setup!
What more could you want? 👀
I just use a Canyon Grail AL with some dope DT Swiss GRC1400 aero wheels and some continental terra trails. Fast on road and grippy and compliant off road. Best set up ever owned. I could’ve bought a road bike for the price of the wheel admittedly however the gravel bike brings more than just off road ability it’s also way more comfortable when doing an all day 70+ mile ride for example. Best of both worlds.
@@KOL630 Sounds great 💪
I'm working for some time around bikes in a bike courier company, in the last years we opened up to fixing bike for outsiders (ordinary people).
I went thru many types, setups and brands, made some own projects on the way.
It all made sence to build one bike to rull them all :D
I took an older frameset with easy cable roads to make the repairs fast, buyed a whole set of components road and MTB shifters
Now the bike has Vbrakes, MTB or drop bars and can fit tires up to 54mm. I can go on any road or terren, the change of the tires and the bars can be done in 30min (without a bike stand) ;)
Cannondale SuperX 50/34 chainset and 3 sets of wheels. 1) 45mm carbon with 28-32 mm tyres and 11-32 cassette for road. 2) Alloy CX wheels with 38mm GravelKingSS, 11-32 for "all road" 3) Alloy 29er alloy wheels with 40mm deep tread gravel tyres for winter and mud, 11-36.
Rotors shimmed so so brake adjustment when swapping wheels. The same rear mech setup works across all 3 with no changes needed. Pick and choose what suits the day's ride.
I've bougth a Rose Pro SL Ultegra Disc for under 2k € and go mostly road cycling. But I wanted to have the opportunity to leave the tarmac. In the end I bought a new carbon 50mm wheelset with 28mm GP tires and a 11-28 cassette for road and go easily 31kmh average when riding alone. The 25mm alloy wheels from stock got 32mm panaracer gravel king tires and a 11-34 cassette. Now I can go nearly everywhere I want. One endurance bike, two wheel setups and I am good to go.
£2200 is a new bike for some of us! But do run 2 sets on my gravel, gravelking EXT+ and gravelking, both at 38mm Works a treat
I think the biggest part of this question is the quality of gravel you expect to be riding. I ride a bike with 25mm tires and rim brakes, but its honestly not that bad on the super smooth gravel roads near where I live. I don't think I'd really be able to tell the difference between this gravel and tarmac with 32mm slicks. So for me, really what I need is just a more modern disc brake bike with 32mm tires. Obviously there are a lot of places where the gravel is significantly worse, but I think there are also a lot of areas (like mine) where the gravel is so tame that you might not even need a second pair of wheels.
I took the two wheel set approach. I ride a Trek Checkpoint ALR5 with 28's for road and factory original 40's for gravel. Same cassettes on both wheel sets.
I do this, one wheelset will permanently have 30/32mm mixed use tires for road, rough road and dry byway/bridlepaths while the second will have 33mm mud gravelkings on in winter and 38mm ss gravelkings on for summer. Running tubeless. My Hope disc calipers do need to be reset when changing wheelsets, you just push the pistons in then apply the brakes slowly and use.
21mm Internal Rim seems perfect for any road problem, if we want to go more extreme condition better to move mtb 👍
I know this allready but, nice discussion really.. Thanks gcn
Are you a mtber?
@@gcntech no, i'm budget roadbike user
this is my plan....Going with a Ribble CGR SL (Force etap 2x) ....coming with gravel 650B wheels...but intend to grab a set of 303S's next summer for road use
I'll go a little further, I have a Curve GXR titanium bike with SRAM AXS and have 3 sets of wheels,
1. 650b wheel set with 2.1" MTB tires. a 10-52 rear cassette and a 38T chainring installed for this option.
2. 700c G1800 Spline wheel set with Kinda Alluvium Pro 40c tires. A 10-52 cassette and a 42t chainring installed for this option.
3. 700c Giant SLR1 wheel set with GP5000 S TR 32mm, 11-46 cassette and a 46T chainring.
I also have a dropper seat post ( AXS ) for the gnarly stuff.
I reckon this is as near to one bike for everything as you can get 😀
I ride a 2016 Boone 09 with stock wheels mounted with 40 mm tires + a second wheel set of Mavic Ksyrium with 25mm tires, what a perfect bike! Swapping is easy, only 2 speeds are not shifting perfectly on the road wheel set (9 and 8). If you do this, use the same cassette, disc wear can be annoying due to disc thickness, can be different between a used and a new disc set (pads clearance)...
5:25 I am at “option 2” but I don’t swap between them. I am not racing, so I just run gravel tires on road bike - it’s more comfortable and covers more surfaces. I don’t buy the “the frame won’t hold” - I’ve seen some of those “gravel frames”, significantly skinnier and lighter than mine.
Carbon frame?
@@user-cx2bk6pm2f Aluminum frame, carbon wheels.
Totally agree. A top go-anywhere bike with proper set of wheels and go-anywhere tyres does the trick beautifully
Although 80-90% of my ride is on the tarmac, I have a TREK Checkpoint (gravel bike) and two sets of carbon wheels (one for road, one for gravel). I love the versatility and that any upgrade is going into one bike. The only downside is that the Checkpoint frame is heavy compared with the Emonda. However, the Emonda is not a bike for gravel so I suppose one needs to consider if the weight tradeoff is worth it, and for me, it is. I also absolutely love the 1x chainring set up of the Checkpoint.
Did swap out the chain as there is a big jump in cassette sizes, and as you were using SRAM AXS that technically means a new quick link each time.
What nobody tells you about two wheel sets is you really want two from the same brand with two sets of rotors connected the same way along with two cassettes. Otherwise changing parts is a huge hassle and aligning disc brakes each time is a pain.
Bingo. Thank you.
Exactly! Especially on disc brake bikes where the clearance at the rotor is super tight the tolerances between two different wheelsets even from the same manufacturer can become a problem. Ask any pro mechanic who is changing wheelsets on pro bikes...
I have a 2019 Trek Checkpoint SL6 gravel bike, which I love riding off road, but it gets more rides albeit shorter, with the cheap alloy road wheels I bought, allowing it to be my commuter and wet weather bike. My mudguards fit with both wheelsets. There's a wider range cassette on the gravel wheels too. Cost me around US $ 400 equivalent to greatly extend the use I can get.
I have a 2022 Scott Addict Gravel which I use a different wheelset for road and it works absolutely well. According to my Strava I'm just as fast on my gravel bike with road wheels as my 2023 Cervelo Soloist Ultegra Di2.
I did this on my much lower budget Merlin Malt G2P gravel bike. That came with a set of 700x35 gravel tyres, and I bought a set of Merlin RDA2 road wheels, and some Schwalbe Ones. Job done. The whole lot for less than the cost of the AR1 wheels 🙈. Maybe if I really really get the bug, I'll splash out on full carbon.
sounds like a great decision Ian 💪
Had a Trek al5 with mechanical 105. Was looking to get some gravel wheels to take it off road. But even looking second hand, by the time I'd got decent wheels, discs, cassette, and tyres I just couldn't justify it. But then I found a near brand new boardman adv9 with grx 2x11 gravel bike second hand for £1.2k. Wheel sets were completely interchangeable between the two. So I now use the Boardman in the summer both road and Gravel, and Trek in the winter, road and Gravel. A lot easier to justify the full bike price!
I'm very happy with one bike and two wheel sets. Happy enough to recently written a plog titled Finding N+0, for Bikepackers Foundry. :)
I am actually running one bike with three wheelsets for my commuterbike. Old Cyclo Cross bike with wheelset on road tyres for the usual commute and a wheelset with studded tyres for slippery and snowy days. Graveltyres on a robust wheelset is then waiting at my refuge in the mountains for some fun on the trails (when I decide to ride my bike up there in stead of driving and taking a MTB along)
I have a gravel bike with aero-tubing. I have two wheel sets. Same idea as this. It works great. 25 mm front and back for road, thinking about switching to 25/28 mm. 45/40 front rear for gravel--mostly because that's the biggest I can easily fit. I've done some pretty wild rides with the gravel tires on--stuff that mountain bikers say I'm crazy to do on a gravel bike. Admittedly, it wasn't comfortable, but I managed. On the road, I can't tell the difference in speed between my road wheels on my gravel bike and my dedicated aero bike. I'm at the point where I will probably sell my dedicated road bike.
Now that I've bought a nice carbon wheelset upgrade for my Orbea Orca, I'm thinking about putting a set of gravel tires on the original aluminium wheels. Orbea says the frame has 35mm clearance, should be plenty! I already enjoyed riding the Orca on some rough gravel in France with just the road tires though 😅
I do this with a Cervelo Aspero and two sets of Reynolds ATRx's, one with 40mm Conti TerraTrails and the other with 32mm slicks. It works great because the roads where I live are trash. It has also simplified my life. Fewer bikes to maintain is cheaper and leaves more time for riding.
Oooo sounds very nice 😍
Solution. Buy an aero bike. Preferably 12 speed
Put thick tires on it.
If possible get an e bike assist or just skip that if you prefer manual power.
Get disc brakes if you want even bigger tires
Finally, use a big front crank teeth (53 and a 39, latter may be lower as you can), and a big cassette teeth range (11-32(or up to 50 if you dont care about the shift jumps)
Now you can go fast on any flat, super tuck on any downhill, and climb on any massive hill.
I chose "Option 2" for my Genesis Croix de fer, it's a few years old before the term "Gravel Bike" was even coined, when drop bar off-road capable bikes could only fit 35c making it the ideal candidate for 28c road tyres and mudguards in the winter to protect my best bike, and 33c file tread tyres without the mudguards fot light off road in the summer. If you only have to swap tyres twice a year, it's not so bad.
Great thinking! Are you not tempted to ride off road in the winter? 👀
@@gcntech I have tried, but talent does not allow for this, nor does the motivation to clean the bike afterwards
If you have different size cassettes, you will want to adjust the b-tension screw when you change wheels
Not to mention chain length if there's a big difference between your gravel/road cassette size
@@yangyu9990 A Gravel or MTB derailer would cope with the defence in ratios because of the longer cage length.
Exactly right. On my specialized diverge I run a gravel cassette on my gravel rims and run a road cassette on my road rims. No problems with shifting, no need to change chains or adjust the b-tension screw the GRX clutch works wonders, and the exact same rotors on each work brilliantly. Sometimes a small amount of adjustment of the rotors but nothing more.
I’m looking at doing this and currently have an 11-34 cassette for gravel tyres, what would you recommend for road?
@@Simmo14a I run a 11-32t for road, but depends on the size of your front chain ring (assuming you only have 1). I run a 42T on my single front. The terrain you expect to ride on should also obviously be a factor.
Riding my norco section for 2 years now with 2 wheelsets: a Hunt Adventure 650B with 43mm Panaracer Gravelking and a 700C 45mm Mavic Carbon Wheelset for fast road rides. Position on the bike is sometimes a bit of a compromise but overall it works great👌but in the future when my Studying is over i want two separate bikes.
Sounds good to us 🙌 What bike are you eyeing up post studies?
@@gcntech Gravel: Orbea Terra, Road: Canyon Aeroad, Cube Litening..something fast😁💪
I've actually done a 3 to 1 swap with my Litespeed Watia replacing my Specialized Diverge, Bianchi Infinito CV, and Surly Long Haul Trucker w/couplers. With aero wheels and narrow tires I can still keep up on group rides and the ride is actually more comfortable than the Bianchi. It has room for wider tires than the Diverge and again I find it more comfortable than the Specialized.
Replacing the Surly involved more of a compromise on my part since it was built specifically for bikepacking and touring in Europe. With the couplers I could break the bike down into a "luggage" sized bag and fly it from the US for free and use my panniers as carry on bags. Now I'll have to use a bike bag and pay to store it while out riding. It also complicates rides where I start and end in a different country (like the Camino de Santiago). Overall it's worth it to have a lighter bike that I'll really enjoy on the climbs though. My wife has made the same move but she still swears by her Bianchi when there's anything smooth under the tires.
Have been using this two wheelset "solution" on my Gravel bike, for 3 seasons now and get rid of my other bikes.
For winter and spring, I put on normal alu wheelset, with 45mm chunky Gravel tires and during the summer and Autumn, I switch to 62mm deep section aero wheelset, with 28 or 32mm road tires. On both wheels, bike look and rides great.
Like you said, one bike that can do it all...
They can be really versatile with just a simple change!
I only recently got into this sport and after watching so many gravel videos and gravel bikes one to rule them all I got hooked in. I want to share my story about what I have learned. In some ways the gravel bike does do it all if you mix up the tyres and wheels. It rolls it’s comfortable it gets u from a to b. It’s best when you ride on actual gravel too. The gear ratio is not made specifically for the road and the geometry is quite different to road bikes. I found that I don’t actually ride gravel and I really just ride on paved trails with friends who ride road bikes. If this is your situation I would say please get a road bike. It is not fun when you have to put so much more effort into every pedal , fatiguing earlier and lagging behind. Hope it helps someone.
Very good insight; the lower ratio and often 1-by of gravel does not lend itself to strong road riding, so I completely agree
A good point. Depending on what riding you do, a road bike can still be your best option.
Yea I honestly didn’t know what riding I would do as an amateur until I got my bike. Found out realistically I was just on tarmac mostly 😅
I ride a Trek Domane & snagged a second wheel set second hand from someone riding the model up from me that upgraded their wheels so I was able to create a gravel wheel set for a reasonable price. One set of wheels with road tyres tubeless, one wheel set gravel wheel tubed.
Great vid Alex. What did you use for the road cassette?
I have an Isaac Torus with 2 sets of wheels one for the road and most of my commutes and a set for gravel and adventure riding.
It is great to swap between the 2 the only problem I have is that the gearing is great for gravel riding but for the road at higher speeds sometimes I spin out but otherwise I will never change to 2 different bikes anymore
Ribble CGR Ti with additional Hunt Aero 4050 wheelset. Fantastic on gravel and generally just under-biking. Pop the aero wheels on and it becomes a super comfy endurance machine!
I run a similar setup on my old gravelbike (which is essentially a compact roadbike with 40C tire clearence). it's great for adventure with knobbly tires and putting the slicks on it when I want to feel extra fast on the road!
Should I choose today, I would just go for an all out gravelbike with A/T tires.
Great video! It would be great though if there was a section showing how to change the wheels from one to another. This would give an idea about how complicated and time consuming (or not?) the process is.
I have a road Bike (Planet X Carbon Disc) and a Gravel bike (Planet X Free Ranger) but have recently brought some 650b wheels with wider tyres for a better off road experience and will use the Gravel bike for my road winter riding with 700 x 35c Schwalbe CX Comp tyres
Gearsets are the most different thing i think. I even miss my 50:11 when commuting with my backup-Bike on the road. Many gravel Bikes don't give you that. In my case (lot of road, few gravel) the g-one seems a good choice.
Fantastic video, exactly what I was looking for. Not sure if I missed it, is it written somewhere conveniently what setup are you using? Which cassettes and what kind of chainring?
Okay, a personal input here. I used to have a 26" full-sus, _steel_ mountain bike I sold recently, which was set up for road use mostly (meaning almost slick, but really fat tyres), as I was riding on abrasive tarmac mostly. It was my do-all bike. If someone told me I could have had one bike only, I would have stuck with that. I sold it, because I needed the space and all my other bikes were vintage 27" ones, so they are compatible with each other in all aspects and given all the parts I had lying around for them, it was just the more rational sacrifice.
If you just enjoy a ride that can take you anywhere, I can wholeheartedly suggest something like a gravel bike. Yes, you will be slower on smooth tarmac and you might be dropped during a group ride, but changing your mind the last minute and - say - take a shortcut on a perhaps more muddy stretch of road makes up for everything.
Absolutely! Having one bike that is really versatile can be the perfect option.
hi I have a Giant Tough road gx and 3 sets of wheels 1 set of mud pluggers 48mm WTB ,2nd set 50mm sk+ dry off-road, 3rd set winter set up sk+ 38mm with mudguards fitted same gear set up all round works a treat all 3 setups were less than £600 all in and are tubeless.
I have a Giant Escape, which they call a "hybrid" bike. It's essentially a gravel bike with flat bars and gearing that leans slightly towards mountain bikes. One set of tires, Continental Road tours 47mm width. Done. Fuggedaboutit. I ride anywhere any surface no worries no faffing as you Brits say.
I had the same problem when buying my first road/gravel bike. But I found a solution. Found a frame that had canyons endurance geometry and could handle up to 45 mm tyres. So I have 32 mm road tyres and 45 gravel ones. Now just waiting for deeper wheels and gonna have one bike with 2 sets
I think no-one is surprised gravel wheels are faster on gravel and road wheels are faster on road. The important question of this topic is: How much slower is a gravel bike with road wheels than a dedicated road bike with the same wheelset?
My current no. 1 bike is a Cube Cross Race C:62 Pro cyclocross bike, for which I have three sets of wheels: the crappy, but probably indestructable Fulcrum's, that came with the bike, for winter riding (they don't seem worth selling), Zipp 303s for road riding and as main wheelset for cyclocross racing and some Roval/DT Swiss for gravel riding. I'm happy doing all four things on this bike (road, gravel, CX, road winter) and given the properties of the Zipp's I can go quicker on this bike on the road than on my older Planet X Pro Carbon road bike, but the Cube was made a good few years later than the Planet X and it's noticibly stiffer. Would be interesting to see how it (or any current gravel/CX bike in general) would stack up against some current proper road bikes.
It all depends on where you live and what terrain you ride. I have mild gravel and lots of road. A Specialized Roubaix with 32mm gravel wheels for gravel. 28 mm deep carbon wheels for road. you may think 32 is not wide enough for proper gravel, but I finished steamboat gravel on it, no problems.
Since you're using two very different cassetes, shouldn't you also be swapping the chains everytime you change between the wheel sets?
I'm just in the process of converting my 28" touring bike into a proper XC bike by bouilding another set of wheels for it. I'll keep my 28" wheels with 11-32 cassette for road-touring setup and have a 29"/27.5" combination (with 11-36 cassette) for off-road adventures. Having a smaller wheel on the back is necessary for fitting 2.25" tyres, but will also adjust the angle of the front fork a bit. As it is my very first bike, I'm really just experimenting and hoping for the best here ;)
My first triathlon I was the only looney on a single speed mountain bike 29'r with trail gearing and slicks. My second I took my old 26" haro hardtail bike put some slicks and added clips. Was really fun to annoy the roadies by keeping up, but I am ready something less brutal on me for when I try my half distance attempt.
I feel like this video would make much more sense if you weren't using very expensive wheels to make your point.
For the price of one full bike plus the Reynolds wheels you could probably get two separate bikes that arent compromised, either used or more towards entry level for the same price point.
Really anjoy your videos - Thank you! Riding a gravel bike and seriously considering a second wheel set I am missing some information and tests what happens to the drivetrain wear when switching between cassettes of different wear status? I would expect that the overall wear of the both drivetrain(s) is faster? Any indication of this? And: Not all rear shifters can handle gravel cassettes. They might require longer cages.
Great video. Just wanted to ask, what about chain in case of the two wheels setups? Is there any difference when using gravel or road cassette?
As long as the chain is short enough not to foul on the smallest sprocket on the road wheel cassette, and long enough to run the biggest sprocket on the gravel wheel cassette, it’ll be fine. This might necessitate a mid- or long-cage RD.
This is a complex issue - it will depend on many factors such as the size differences and derailleur design. I actually have a separate chain for my 11-30 and a slightly longer one for when I run my 11-34, even though I probably could have used a middle length. It's more to optimize shift and drivetrain performance - but jumping to a huge rear cassette for gravel is beyond my level of expertise as it involves derailleur compatibility. Admittedly even swapping chains is a PITA and I ride my 11-30 except on hilly Gran Fondos
I’m moving to disk brakes on my next bike and have been considering the 2 sets of wheels option so this was v useful thanks BUT i think 2x on the front is the way to go as I’ll be using the bike for faster group rides.
2x is that bit more versatile
This channel is mostly operated and viewed by racers and former racers, so these, "If I Could Only Have One Bike," videos are focused on bicycles that are raced. I used to race and I've ridden a variety of bicycles, and the most versatile bicycle I have ever ridden is my touring bike. I can ride it any place a road, gravel or cyclocross bike will go and even race it by putting light weight components and wheels on it. I can also put durable components and wheels on it, load it up with 60 pounds of gear and ride it from Seattle to Mexico City with few, if any, issues because it's designed to do more and with extra weight. None of the other types of bicycles are as versatile and durable. Some get close, but none quite make it.
Unless you buy top of the range most road bikes come with pretty average wheels. Getting some nice carbon wheels is a standard upgrade. If you don’t need full performance out of your gravel setup you can use the wheels that came with your bike for gravel.
I have 2 wheel sets in my Canyon Grizl and end up adjusting my brake calipers whenever I change wheel sets. What I probably need to do is add shims behind the discs of 1 wheel set to counter this. Instead I bought a dedicated road bike because I noticed that the aero is something I mis on the gravel bike.
Do you use the same hub on both sets?
I heard you get less rub if your hubs are from the same manufacturer (even though your rims might be a different material.
@@Genarij no both different brands; There are marginal differences between the 2 sets.
What I think is that we have nowadays oversplit of bike categories. Don't take me wrong, gravel bikes definitely differ from road bikes. but the same way race road bike differs from endurance road bike. In my eyes, there is a fluent continuum between all those types of machines (cyclocross thrown in either). Still, I would say that for many of us (I think of casual riders) gravel bike may be a better choice overall, thanks to its greater versatility. Many of us wouldn't be able to maintain the higher speeds that road bike setup provides, hence we wouldn't lose that much speed on tarmac in comparison (we still would lose a little bit due to aerodynamics). Though, I guess an endurance road bike with a more relaxed geometry would probably fall pretty close. This is why I see those bikes just as slightly different breeds of the same animal. I know this is already an old video and this comment will probably go unnoticed, but I think a more interesting comparison would be between a gravel bike and a hardtail mountain bike on a similar set of tyres (probably narrowest possible for MTB and broadest for gravel, same or similar knobs pattern). I thought about it because I think hardtails are also a good choice for casual riders as versatile machines and I wonder which one would be a better all-rounder.
I love this idea. There’s loads of tests and articles on gravel bikes but: What would be the gravel bike to choose as the best / fastest road bike?