Gravel / Gravé / Gnarmac / Groad / ATB

I can't remember if I wrote it here or not but after a ride down south a few months ago I was of the opinion that road bikes in this country are a waste of time and I was just going to start riding a gravel bike with 42mm everywhere. Absolutely shithouse roads.

All of this "science" and "testing" don't cover the fact that big tyres make your bike look like a cool monster truck.

This is why my next gravel build is getting 27.5x2.8 and I just don’t care.

My next gravel bike will be a Stooge Rambler with 2.6” front and rear. I’ve done my time on 700x40mm, time to enjoy the squish life.

29x2.6 is a good time

It will be 27.5x2.6 but I’m still looking forward to it.

It feels a little counter productive to get a new frame based on 27.5 but I can’t get on board with 29+, the wheels end up too big and look out of proportion unless on a long, slack mtb.

Superb

Yeah, I guess I'm using a pretty big bike, so they fit well

I took the 2.6" off my hardtail in favour of 2.4 with inserts. #csb

But then I went from 50mm to 47mm on the gravel bike so fuckin' riddle me that?

The mood board so far…

Still undecided on the stem - high stack/integrated Velo Orange type thing or the standard black Thomson. Seatpost will be titanium Thomson layback.

1 Attachment

Depends how long the stem needs to be and how many spacers.

Build thread?

Tires, yes, cranks yes, shifters, why?!?

27.5x2.8

The Gravel Super Highway is going to kick your arse with those puny tyres...

I’ll have you know there is quite the pothole at the end of the road.

Underestimating the GSH comes at a high cost

I’ve been completely red pilled by the friction shifting lobbying group.

I was running Gevenalle/Retroshift indexed shifters on drop bars for years and liked how you can shift across the whole cassette so easily.

When I went to flat bars it was for a long tour so I wanted something robust, I started with them indexed but after some ham fisted mechanic works (by me) in Baja California Sur I was stuck with friction. It took a few thousand km to get the muscle memory but now I’m a convert.

Maybe I should try modern 12 speed kit but I can’t see what it would give me over this set up.

Maybe I should try modern 12 speed kit but I can’t see what it would give me over this set up.

A sore thumb

Indeed! I'm trying to save @Chaley a lot of pain...

That's no way to talk about Reepham. It's actually quite nice there.

I’m running 35mm of spacers on my Straggler and the Rambler is +28mm so hopefully no more than 20mm.

Reach is -6mm and I currently have a 100mm stem. I was going to reuse my On One loops bars but am considering trying something else with 30ish degrees of sweep.

Frame isn’t in stock yet but once I’ve ordered it all probably start a thread.

Not everyone measure their rides in continents

moog does :)

Really? Better get some gripshift then!

I also saw enough broken Rohloffs/belt drives to put me off that idea forever.

Just realised that I questioned the shifter choice of someone who did quite some touring. 11 speed? Guess if you're used to it it's great to be able to fine tune.
Why not order frame now? Maybe it changed, but the stooge thing was order, and then wait a long time until a batch of frames is made and shipped.