PhilDAS-
shorter cranks to compensate?
I think it would be a minimal diff with a frame designed for 100mm suspension, as the Merlin forks are pretty long (and not planning to bumpy terrain, just non-existent gravel, so not that worried about pedal-strike). -
So I went ahead and did the thing, so here's my MTB frame with non-adjusted gravel forks.
predictably, BB drop is going to be my enemy, but I think with big tyres it will be ok?
Currently with these wheels I had with ±25c tyres the drop is 235, which is danger zone
I have calculated it would be 262 with the 2.1" 29er tyres I wanted to put on it, so if I have a 165mm crank that seems pretty safe, but I am wondering for smooth road riding (or where I am not expecting #nogravel), whether I can get away with 35c? And is 165 really necessary, or can I get away with the BB30 cranks I already have that are 172.5? Maybe I can trade down...Also, is baby-blue gravel the new baby-blue fixie? (I might have to paint the frame to match the forks ;P )
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jdmitch
Wanting to get on the g̶r̶a̶v̶y̶ gravel train, but (obvs) can't bring myself to use a bike for what it was built for, so I want to get a cheap-ish hardtail 29er frame to use with the Merlin fork that was selling for silly cheap 2 months ago.
I feel like on paper this makes sense (at least more than bolting on track ends) even though the fork is not designed to correct for suspension geometry, because a gravel bike should have a steeper HT angle than your normal slack hardtail, right?
I was hoping to be able to fit fairly big tyres (the fork actually takes up to 2.25), which eliminates most cyclocross frames (that I've seen so far) and all of the actual gravel bikes going on eBay/here just seem like more than I want to pay. There must be a good reason why a mediocre 29er hardtail with a decent gravel fork doesn't work though - what am I missing?