Gravel / Gravé / Gnarmac / Groad / ATB

The gun turrets are a nice addition

Zipps for gravel though, get out.

That's because you haven't experienced the sweet sound of deep section carbon when you're cruising at 40km/h on flat, hardpacked grus.*

*or struggle to keep over 20 because of the headwind.

The sound might be nice, but the performance gain (with those 2" tyres) is probably a few milliwatts...

(What I really mean is "I'm too poor to own Zipps and it's frustrating")

If it's any consolation, I own lots of Zipps and it's still deeply frustrating thanks to the endless recalls and the totally shonky 188 rear hubs.

#nomoreSRAM

I own lots of Zipps and it's still deeply frustrating thanks to the endless recalls and the totally shonky 188 rear hubs.

Tips; you don't need to remove the tubular tyres from the wheels, Zipp will do that and glue it back on for you.

I own lots of Zipps

Now you're showing off. I've had mine rebuild with a Novatec hub, I like the brand er, contrast?

@frankenbike you're certainly not wrong with those tyres, but then that's not what I rode what I was doing that sort of speed.

Now you're showing off. I've had mine rebuild with a Novatec hub, I like the brand er, contrast?

Well, yeah, a bit. I've had my rear Zipps rebuilt (or done it myself) with Tune, DT Swiss and Hope hubs. Got fucktonnes of Novatec hubs on other wheels though, and never found any cause for complaint with them.

Bit of a quote error there Ed. That weren't me. But anyway, I'm a bit prissy about gluing tubs. There's one person I trust to do it properly, and that's me. Besides, one of the wheels I had rebuilt had about 12 layers of tub tape on it (not fitted by me, they were secondhand) and I wouldn't wish the task of removing that on anyone. Not even SRAM.

While that doesn't really look good for ripping the trails like a mtb, it might be good for something. Jesse Carlsson just won the Race to the rock with abike that's also long and slack with a drop bar, the new version of Curve GMX.

Lael had that mtb with drop bars in Tour Divide

Josh had 2,1" tyres with drop bars too, though with steeper geo.

Nice to have the drop when you're pushing into a headwind and the wide tyres and slack front end make it smoother if the road is rough. I do like my gravel bike more like a road bike but anyway.

I did this experiment with a 90's mtb and drop bars a couple of years ago.

It was fun for a while. The long front-center made riding down rough trails easier than with a crossbike and the 2.3" tyres were comfy. But it felt sluggish/slow/dull on road and the bb was really high. And indeed it was shit as a mountain bike too, I did a two day bikepacking trip on it on a mtb trail with some ice and snow, with two others that were on 29+ and a fatbike. I crashed all the time, they didn't.

thinking about putting SKS bluemels 700c x 53mm mudguards on my arkose D3. pretty sure these will fit the stock configuration (i.e. with 700c x 45mm tyres)

1. would I have any issues with these if I (in future) I got 650b wheels with 50mm tyres?
   
2. would they look silly (e.g. like rees-mogg in one of his oversize suits) if I put 700c x 32mm tyres on?
   

What's the widest the Endurace can fit? I'd like to change the 30c on my partner's bike to something wider.

I'm guessing 650s definitely won't fit?

They won't fit unless you have a Dremel and patience. You'll have to do some fettling whatever the mudguard over 45c, they're just too wide
1.- different circumference, will look daft. Also too wide.
2.- Tiny tires would look ridiculous in 53 mudguards.

I have the edge Al 56 in 700c and I made them work over 650b 2" but it took a dremel, and the coverage isn't amazing

But it felt sluggish/slow/dull on road and the bb was really high. And indeed it was shit as a mountain bike too.

I'm not surprised in the slightest, but it's good to read an honest opinion from an actual owner, beyond the usual "looks rad" or "so much fun" comments written about similar machines across the forum...

so much fun

Tbf this gets written about every hybrid everyone builds on here now

Can't really do that with a hardtail (at least not without being laughed at)

Awwww people are laughing at me? Noo.

Actually my slicked Inbred is the bike I've had the most compliments riding.

swap their tyres regularly?

Wheel swap obvs.

moneygun.gif

thanks... back to the drawing board.

Tiny tires would look ridiculous in 53 mudguards.

I've got 26" 60mm mudguards that didn't clear the balloonbike tyres I had. Now I want to see how stupid they look over skinnyass Kojaks. Should be the ugliest bike out there...

that's a constant ø top tube away from being perfect imho

even got the cable routing on the right side of the down tube... it's the little things

reminds me of:

I'm guessing 650s definitely won't fit?

700c 38mm is the very max and varies on tyres.

With that sizes, it actually affects the handling noticeably, 650b touch the tubing at 42mm, so I'd wager 38mm 650b being max, however this will have a smaller impact on handling than a big 700c.

True. It's almost as bad as calling bikes "she".