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When I got my gravel bike I chose the same geometry as my road bike. This is great when riding the gravel bike on the road, but it's not so good off-road. The problems are:
- slow handling on single track due to long stem
- too low position when descending in drops (you need to be in the drops for better braking power)
... so my advice is plan for a stem that is 10-20mm shorter and a stack that is 20-40mm higher than road. You want the final reach to be roughly the same though
- slow handling on single track due to long stem
mind_maze
@cjr
Sizing question. If my carbon race bike and my Fairlight Strael with the same setup, 54cm with a 110mm stem and it works for me. Should I be looking for the same reach in 'gravel' bike geo or something different?
From what I can see, in general, if reach remains the same, stack is increased due to a higher front end, and due to the seat tube angles, the effective TT is longer on gravel geo.
Would this mean matching the reach is the best option? I don't want to end up with a gravel bike with a massive long stem, but assume that the longer effective TT will correct for this.