Gravel / Gravé / Gnarmac / Groad / ATB

Thoughts on the 8 bar Mitte?

It's got adjustable geo and pretty cheap at ~€500 (for the frameset)

A bit of info here

With the MITTE we literally reinvented the wheel

uhhh

Oh yeah, the guys behind it seem awful. The epitome of form-over-function Instagram bike hipsters:

8Bar bike adventures began with a first trip in 2012 when we crossed the Alps on fixed-gear bikes. Next was a Berlin to Prague tour without the help of a map (only checking our coordinates and compass twice a day) on our Singlespeed Cyclocross bikes . And then we headed to climb the Schneekoppe, the highest peak of the Giant Mountains in Poland, on our road bikes...

But they might have accidentally designed an alright bike.

Buy it, but put some Pinnacle decals on it at least

I like the idea of it and I am looking for a gravel frame... but I think I'm leaning more towards steel at the moment

Edit: want a do-it-all road bike, gravel bike, tourer. CdF is looking like the best bet but they're the full £500 everywhere I look and I was hoping to get a bargain.

Thanks Andy + @Lolo (Petra mentioned you were there - trip looked amazing.)!

As for the bike's finish, it looks great in photos but seeing it in the flesh is something else entirely. It's like it's lit up from inside or something. @hoops killed it.

I don't get it, why make a second fork with less clearance?

To change your geometry, get a bit more aero, cut weight by a few hundred grams I guess.

I think the Jamis i linked too makes more sense

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/273395/?offset=2100#comment14059326

@Spotter Agreed!

@frankenbike

To change your geometry

There are better ways of doing that.

get a bit more aero

As far as I know more clearance is more aero:

I’m guessing the road fork gives you a less upright position in the saddle? But yeah, weird way to do it.

@Jaap Hmm, I'm not sure. Lots of the super aero bikes have really tight clearances. I would have thought that the more air in contact with rotating parts the slower the whole thing is.

Either way narrow tyres are definitely more aero, although I guess you don't need tighter clearances to use narrower tyres.

If nothing else it's lighter.

@spotter yeah you're right, I do like that Jamis. Can't decide whether I want to spend more now for a longer-term bike (something like the Jamis, Soma Wolverine, Surly Straggler, CdF, etc.) or spend less money, get something cheap and cheerful like the Sonder Camino Al, and then upgrade in a couple of years when I'm earning more than my current pitiful wage.

Euh, "aero", "fast",...

Aren't we talking gravel bikes here???

Yeah but unfortunately people like me have to make do with a pitiful 3 bikes (the horror!!!!!!!!) so the gravel bike is going to have to stand in for the road bike at the same time.

I think two different forks would make perfect sense:
Short fork: lower stack, longer reach, lower BB, steeper HTA+STA.
All the qualities that sets a road bike apart from cross/gravel types.
Add sliding dropouts so you can tuck the rear/ shorten wheelbase.

You would have to give the rake of the forks a bit of thought as well though.
The aero gains come from the change in position rather than the fork clearance.

you're always more likely to keep a frame-set longer than components, as by their very nature they wear out. I say get the better frame, and built it up cheaply, upgrade it as you go from a strong base.

want a do-it-all fast road bike, gravel bike, tourer. CdF is looking like the best bet

CdF is not a fast road bike.

To expand I had one and sold it because it wasn't fast enough.

@spotter I've already got a 2x10 SRAM Rival/Apex groupset that I want to put on it and I don't think I'll have any good reason to upgrade that (unless I switch to hydro). I'd need to buy disk wheels and calipers so that's the only place I can really skimp out.

But one of my friends has a really nice semi-custom steel bike and I can definitely imagine going for something like that in a couple of years, in which case whatever I decide to buy now will be completely superseded.

@Fox No, you're right, it's not. I guess fast is relative. What I mean is it would be fast enough for the sort of riding I do, and more traditionally roadie than something like a Straggler. You can build it up to like 8kg (but that's way too expensive for me) which is lighter than my crappy aluminium road bike. I don't go on club rides or anything like that and rarely crack 20mph average over a whole ride.

Basically, just get an Arkose.

Mine in winter road mode with 32s and guards. It’s only a tyre switch away from 700x42c+ gravel grinder

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As far as I can tell there's no fork mounts on the latest Arkose which I think rules it out for me!

Edit: it's a sweet bike though

What are you mounting on your forks on your fast road bike?
All about compromises really until you go custom. A CDF will be over built and heavy. In my opinion, the benefits of wanting steel over Ali can only be gained by buying expensive or buying custom. Arkose is cheap, takes huge tyres, has full carbon fork. Best of both worlds really. If you want mounts everywhere for carrying shit, it’s not gonna be a fast/fun/light road bike unloaded

Yeah, I know, it's going to be a big fat compromise of a bike.

Last tour I did was 5-ish days with camping gear up here in Scotland. 25c tyres and 80% of the weight on the back of the bike was not ideal. So I'd like to be able to shift some of my crap onto the front of the bike so everything's a bit less flexy. Something like the Jamis seems good though; you stick on some Blackburn/Salsa bikepacking cages and stuff your drybags of spare clothes in them, a sleeping bag/tent in a bar bag, a set of panniers on the back and you can just about do a week-long tour.

I guess the "fast road bike" bit is probably not really accurate; what I mean is that I want a bike that I can do day rides on or 100 mile sportives or whatever. So if I can fit 700x28-32, strip off the rack and maybe lower the bars a bit that's pretty much covered. Like what you've done with your Arkose.

Anyway, it wasn't my intention to clog up the whole thread with my ramblings about what I want!

Edit: also that last tour I did was on 18/20 spoke wheels. Front laced radially. Basically my current setup is completely sub-optimal for the sort of stuff I'm doing.

Not sure if it's gnarmac or just plain old SSCX but anyone own/ridden the latest Bombtrack Arise single speed disc thingy?

That's pretty rad I think. I like the way it doesn't use through axles, too.

Are those little holes above the slider mounts mudguard attachments?

It looks like it:

It's kind of like a budget aluminium Wolverine/Straggler I guess.