New Gravel Frame Ican Graro

[yanger316]

What are your concerns?
Chain line?
Sprocket clearances?
What brand of BB are you using?

[gofasterstripes]

Has anyone set up their Graro for cyclo-cross duties?

It was my initial plan to use mine for Gravel and cross as I did with my TCX, but looking at the seatpost design around the clamping area I'm concerned it won't be strong enough to take the impacts of repeated remounts and impacts from poor line choices when I'm tired towards the end of races.

[NJBikes]

Have been looking at the 54cm Graro frameset to replace my 58cm Felt Broam to go from a relaxed gravel bike to a race gravel bike. About to place my order, but with similar concerns to others here (sizing and the seatpost setback) figured I may as well see if someone with the bike has any input.

Sizing

The 54cm Graro is pretty similar to my 54cm Cannondale CAAD10, but with a higher stack and slightly longer. Love my CAAD10 fit but would say it's slightly too small. Looking at the BikeInsights comparison, the 54cm Graro seems to be slightly higher with a little extra length.

The 56cm Graro is pretty similar to my 58cm Felt but with less stack, and what appears to be a more pushed back seat. I'd say my Felt is too big for me. My Felt has the seat pushed forward pretty far, and seeing the 56 cm Graro has a slacker ST angle and the 15mm seatpost set back, I'm not sure this is the right size for me.

So I think the 54cm Graro is the way to go.

However, just a tad hesitant since Graro would recommend me (72" or 183cm) to go with a 58cm bike. These height charts tend to be crap, but I'm pausing because I'd be going down two sizes and not just one.

Set Up Plans

I'm buying just the frame and will test different stem lengths when I get it. Will then buy a third-party stem and handlebar to internally route the cables.

I plan to move all other parts from my current gravel bike to this one, which includes a 1x setup with a 46t chainring. I've seen people here talking about 46t being too big, wondering if anyone has had success with spacers or if they had to downsize.

I did get the 46t when I lived in Texas (very flat), but now in Arizona and there's more climbing so moving down to 42t might just be smart.


Any and all thoughts are appreciated.

[gofasterstripes]

I don't know how tall you are but I'm 179cm and set my saddle height at 75cm from the centre of the BB.

I have a 54cm and there is still plenty of seatpost left to raise the height if needed.

The tip of the stealth saddle is 5-6cm behind the BB which lets me get into a decently aggressive position, there is still a bit of room to move it forwards or backwards.

I've still to settle on my reach but currently have a 11cm stem which isn't far off

I've not had chance to ride it off-road in the couple of months I've been riding it but with road wheels and 28mm tyres it feels great . Subjectively, maybe a little less responsive than my road bike but it is definitely more compliant and it's no slower when comparing rides.

if you can it might be worth getting a bike fit on a jig and dialing in a position before committing to buying a frame as it sounds like you've been making various sized and styles of frames work.

One thing to take into consideration when measuring the stack is that you have have to add 10-20mm to take into account the headset cap for the internal routing or making space for the cables to enter the headset depending on the style you go for.

I fitted this token headset as it has seals aroung the cable entry ports,it adds 20mm or so to the stack height

https://www.orrobikes.com/product/token-cablebox-headset-semi-internal

hope that helps

[NJBikes]

I don't know how tall you are but I'm 179cm and set my saddle height at 75cm from the centre of the BB.

I have a 54cm and there is still plenty of seatpost left to raise the height if needed.

The tip of the stealth saddle is 5-6cm behind the BB which lets me get into a decently aggressive position, there is still a bit of room to move it forwards or backwards.

I've still to settle on my reach but currently have a 11cm stem which isn't far off

I've not had chance to ride it off-road in the couple of months I've been riding it but with road wheels and 28mm tyres it feels great . Subjectively, maybe a little less responsive than my road bike but it is definitely more compliant and it's no slower when comparing rides.

if you can it might be worth getting a bike fit on a jig and dialing in a position before committing to buying a frame as it sounds like you've been making various sized and styles of frames work.

One thing to take into consideration when measuring the stack is that you have have to add 10-20mm to take into account the headset cap for the internal routing or making space for the cables to enter the headset depending on the style you go for.

I fitted this token headset as it has seals aroung the cable entry ports,it adds 20mm or so to the stack height

https://www.orrobikes.com/product/token-cablebox-headset-semi-internal

hope that helps

Appreciate the insight, feeling more confident in the 54cm frame and going to place my order.

Still undecided on how I'll handle the internal routing. Currently looking at two different handlebars (one has internal routing and one does not) so that'll dictate what type of stem I get. But I'm thinking the Deda Superbox Stem might be the way to go regardless of my handlebar.