Chinertown
Chinese Carbon Road Bikes => Cyclocross Frames, Wheels & Components => Topic started by: backonthebike on December 25, 2024, 05:50:36 AM
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I am about to start ordering parts for a gravel bike build and would appreciate a critique from the experts on this board.
Background: Getting back on the bike after a mere couple of decades. Ex roadie.
Height: 183cm
Inseam: 84cm
Weight: 83kg
Looking for a one bike, two wheelset solution for 50/50 road and gravel riding. Some rides will be 100% road hence the second wheelset and I would like something with reasonably racy geometry.
The types of gravel rides I am looking at in my area are dirt roads/fire trails more than anything too technical or gnarly but can be a pretty poor surface. Goal is to get fit, stay fit and work up to some local grand fondo events as well as getting to tinker with bikes again.
My plan so far is:
Frameset- SPCycle G068 with integrated cockpit, shortest stem/narrowest bars, size M
Wheels (Set1)- Easedon Gravel Wheels 36/30 External/Internal 45mm deep, XDR freehub. Have not seen much discussion of these wheels but they look interesting:
https://shorturl.at/juOmR
Wheels (Set2)- TBD
Cassette (Set1)- 10-46 Zitto or similar with XDR to XD spacer if a 50T does work on eGR I'd consider it
Cranks/chainring- 170mm 44t
Groupset- eGR to start with, I think I would really prefer a 2x but will give the 1x a go. If I want/need an upgrade path I would look at SRAM.
Tyres- TBD, probably 45 on the wide easedon rim would be the max for this frame?
Keen on any thoughts or alternatives I have not considered, I've found the forum very informative- Thanks.
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I was in the same situation and went for the g056. On the electronic groupset, the downside is apparently you will have to retune it everytime
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If financially possible, go with the same wheelset, same disc rotors and same cassette type. If not the same rim type (shallow/deep), maybe ask Easedon to use the same hubs to make alignment easier.
I'm doing something similar, but I'm using 2 different wheelsets (a 29er 6-bolt HG wheelset, and a 700c center lock XD wheelset). I was able to align the disc rotors properly, using the same rotors and then using a 6 bolt adapter on the CL wheelset. On mechanical using HG and XD cassettes, it was just a quick turn on the barrel adjuster to align both cassettes. Now that I'm on LTwoo EGR, it's not that simple and I'm probably going to run the same XD or HG cassettes on both wheels now. Unfortunately I don't think any of these electronic groupsets allow for wheel/cassette profiles.
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Standing in front of the same tree, I settled on the new Superior XR GR, there should be a fairly aerodynamic and lightweight frame, the shortest chainstay (415mm) that I was able to find that accommodates a 45mm tire (in the case of 2x, only 40mm, but I will check the compatibility of 2x and 45mm). Good price, now you can buy with discounts for ~2,300€, this is version 9.5, complete with a Shimano 1x12, 10-45 cassette
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I'm the same height, weight, my saddle height is 80-81 so I probably have longer legs. I'm a roadie, but I have two gravel bikes. If you like the look of it, I can recommend Peter s grevil clone. It's a gravel bike that clears 50C, it's heavy, but it's fast on the road as well, very fast. Pinarello does know geometry well... It's a gravel bike but it's racy.
For a gravel bike, I wouldn't buy anything that doesn't clear 50C for future proofing.
If you have a road wheelset, get a 2x... Unless you'll go on really steep stuff. I still don't have a good solution for road and gravel gearing. People who say they don't mind the huge gaps in gears on a 1x... Well I disagree.
Or get two bikes :D
A long teng frame costs like 350 USD, and with ltwoo mechanical you can build full hydro bikes for cheap very easily, so... Wheels usually end up being by far the priciest bike part, if you run a tight ship.
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I am looking for the same thing. One frame with 2 wheel sets - except I’ll be 80/20 or 90/10 road/gravel. I’d really like to do some gravel events and current road bike only takes 32mm. Will only use the frame for both for a year or two though - at least until I can swing another SRAM AXS groupset. I will be swapping SRAM AXS Rival 2x from my current road bike and picking up a 2nd set of wheels dedicated to gravel. Figure I’ll run the same Rival 10-36 cassette on both.
I’ve narrowed it down to the following:
- G068
- Peters Grevil Clone GR01
- Carbonda 707
- Lightcarbons LCG071 - but no UDH
I’m also leaning towards the G068 as the Geometry is close to my current Fezzari Empire from what I can tell. It’s also the most cost effective making it easier to pick up a 2nd wheelset.
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I got a G068 to accomplish exactly this, and it works fairly well. Not as good as a pure road bike on the road, nor as good as a slacked-out gravel bike with mtb tires on more technical terrain, but it’s quite good at occupying that middle niche I want. Since the geometry is the same as the canyon grail, its decently long and low, so I was easily able to get a position pretty close to my road bike. I posted more detailed info in the 068 thread, check it out if you’re interested.
As long as you have the same cassette ratios between wheelsets, and hubs that are within tolerance, you shouldn’t need to realign shifting. It is likely you’ll have to shim out the rotors, I had to go 0.25mm out on one of my wheelsets to get them aligned. But after everything is set up it’s not a pain to swap wheelsets, usually takes me about 2 minutes, including taking out and putting away my bike stand.
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Thanks for the feedback, I’ll do a bit of a wider search on frames. Also good notes on keeping wheels compatible, seems like a lost opportunity with the eGR groupset to not have the option to save cassette profiles, perhaps a firmware update in the future. Being able to run a front mech with that groupset would be a good option for me if it was possible. Will look into 2x options as I must admit I think I would miss close ratios. Thanks again.
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After taking a look at some of the other options and going back and forth I settled on the G068. I also ended up going with the wider bars and shortest stem length when looking at them a bit more carefully.
Proceeded with the Easedon wide gravel wheels as well, I'll wait a bit to get a road wheelset.
Transmission is next to buy. I will probably go with eGR and therefore a 1x and see how I like it with the riding I end up doing. Taking on board the advice around the lack of easy tuning with the eGR group set I'll be building around XDR cassettes so I can have the option a tighter cluster later on at the expense of a super wide range. Within XDR a SRAM XG-1251 gives me 10-44, a 10-46 XDR cluster would be great but it seems such a thing does not exist.
Thanks again for the help thus far. I'll update when I have my final build spec.
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Look on p140 of aliexpress good deals for your groupset may work for you
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I've gone a very similar route and my bike is almost exactly where I want it now. My idea was a dual-purpose bike, (i) off road gravel and fire trails, which around here in Australia can get quite rough and bumpy, (ii) medium pace group ride and touring road bike. Note that my 'ohter bike' is an agressive lightweight climbing bike, so I wanted a contrast.
For the frame I went Waltly custom titanium, based the geometry/design on a Moots frame I liked. I was going to go racy carbon but wanted Ti for touring strength and to scratch the itch of 'Ive never had titanium'.
Here's the remainder of the build:
- Lightweight aluminium bars and stem with Redshift Cruise Control Grips (from AliExpress).
- Wheeltop GeX electronic groupset with the 93mm long cage upto 51t cassette (loving it, allows me to run and swap between different speed cassettes)
- 1st weheelset: 650b Lun Grapid lightweight gravel wheels (ex demo). I run these with 45-50mm tyres for rougher tracks, I went 650b because I'm only 167cm.... plus the 650x5omm has a similar rolling circumferance to 700x32. Cassette: 12 speed, 11-50t very wide cassette, ideal for offroad
- 2nd wheeset: 700c with 21mm internal road wheels, 40mm front and 50mm rear depth. I run these with 32mm or 38mm roac/slick tyres. I love the 38mm slicks which can also happily be used for smooth/champagne gravel. I got these from Speeder Cycling direct, very good price. Cassette: 11speed 11-42t for closer gearing and enough spread for road riding
- Crankset: Xcadey 165mm power meter crankset with oval chainrings. Crankset direct from Xcadey and oval chainrings from Aliexpress
- Last week added a dropper post and just bought suspension forks because they're were in sales at 66% discount, not sure these are needed
With the above I can swith between comfortable but fairly fast road and touring bike to plush and slightly monster gravel bike by swapping the wheels. Note swapping the wheels changes the aero setup, tyre rolling resistance and weight setup, the gearing, etc.
If I were to buy the wheels again then I would go with an XD rear hub body giving the ability to run 10t cassettes, and I think you can get an XD to HG adapter but not the other way around.
Photos if interested or useful (https://photos.app.goo.gl/XPXZRqtHnZ3QHq3y6)