Gravel / Gravé / Gnarmac / Groad / ATB

Yeah going from one bike to another and then nothing to a bike can feel strange no doubt when you have it in full attack mode you won’t be thinking about it and just going for it.

Should be a great bike with a set of wheels and tyres to chuck on

450mm chain stays in a S

you have gone too deep, come back

Blimey, that's longer than a Cotic Solaris.

but I want more

worth a look

I like the look of it. Fewer curves = better. Fact.

The BB on mine was pretty low too. Gets annoying with the shitty rutted tracks in the UK especially with 650B but it's super stable and chill when riding longer shit on the road (which was its primary thing for me before Badlands)

I don't remember the chainstay length of the old one but I was always annoyed the fork wouldn't clear what the rear end would (ooh nurse)

440mm according to https://geometrygeeks.bike/bike/kinesis-tripster-at-2017/

death before trek

What kinda real world tyre clearance were you getting on the regular/old Tripster?

I’m after something that has a bit more stack than my Kepler, is a bit less short and steep, and I guess a bonus is bigger clearance for the few occasions I might want it - looking at doing the Escapade in Kent next year and getting back on some bike packing here and maybe abroad. Oh and also, not very expensive… If I had the funds I’d just buy a Secan

I ran 700x50 Gravel King SK+ f/r for Badlands (on my road wheels)

In the dry I typically used a 650x50 Cinturato M up front but it was a bit too close for comfort when doing Scotland and Slovenia and stuff so I moved that to the back and ran a 650x47mm Toureg up front.

I've test fit a 27.5x2.1 Mezcal to the rear. I think it's still sitting here, unused, but I'm pretty sure it fit ok. I wanted it on the front but no chance. I'm sure the new forks take bigger tyres but I'm not spending the bike cost again on a fork, especially since it now lives in Poland with the old Sequoia 700C wheels.

This is fantastic. Would love to hear what it feels like with road tyres on it. Had a dream of selling all the bikes for one of these with two sets of wheels

Yeah, that was my end goal too. I'm half way there. Need to take the Tarmac to live out its days in Poland and then I've just got the Mason to get rid of but I'll probably keep it because I like steel bikes with Di2 and aerobars for ultras. I've also still got the Surly (might sell), Stanton (trying to get missus to adopt it) and Scott for fat tyre stuff so the Crux will probably remain mostly road.

Gravel bikes are the best

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Bad crop (pun intended)

Having ridden mine with road wheels, it's felt like an undergeared road bike.

felt like an undergeared road bike.

That's your legs.

Ooof burn

40 tooth chainring is the more likely reason.

That should still get you to 60-70kph, no? Who's pedalling and not eating on those kinda downhills? Just me then? Oh.

I ride a 46T "big" ring on mine and it's fine. Not like I'm road racing on it. I mean, I am, just really really long road races..

It was a temporary fix to a problem of my own making (I had cleaned the road bike drive train, only to chuck the quick link down the drain as I emptied the bucket and didn’t have a spare 12 speed quick link to hand). So I swapped an 11 speed cassette onto my road wheels and stuck them on the Crux. It was very capable but on the loop we did (I was with @Chalfie and @jaygee ) there were a couple of faster sections where I was hitting a cadence higher than my heart rate and just about hanging on.

If I did want one bike to rule them all, then I’d go for the Crux; it’s fantastic off road and very capable on road.

Had originally poo-poo'd this ranking (sorry @amey!), but having now switched to an ALR, can confirm it is noticeably 'better' than the outgoing Arkose. It's lighter for a start and I'd say it rides somewhere in between the Arkose and the Bokeh.

next step full carbon forks!

Perfect for today's weather.

Will be fitting my mudguards soon, but first another ceramic coating to be done.

Where are the mudguard flaps from or did they come with the bike, need to do this on mine this year

If anyone is in the market for a CX bike of gravel bike shout me - selling a Canyon Inflite CF (M) on the forum

Was it a big improvement when you switched in the Enve's?

Yep, guards were the saviour of last years riding so just biting the bullet and getting them on now that Autumn has hit hard and early! Have an old Bombtrack Hook build on the way that will cover gravel / SFAB duties as well