All year bike - which frame? Grevil or Carbonda 505L or other?

[cfbruck]

Hi!

I'm currently riding a Scott CR1 Large which I like, though at times reach feels a bit long. I'm 180, inseam 85 cm.

It has however limited tyre clearance, 25 max. I want to find a bike that can take wider tyres, and has very relaxed geometry.

I was first thinking of replacing it with velobuild 066 rim brake, since I'm scared of building hydraulic brakes... Max tyre 30 or perhaps even 32.

Realized however that it would be nice to be able to ride it even in winter, and use proper winter tyres. Where I live there will be snow and ice.

So: Been looking and Carbonspeed GR01 and Carbonda 505SL. The latter has, only 42c tyres, perhaps to small for winter tyres?

Apart from that, which frame would you recommend if you are basically looking for road bike feel but able to ride in winter? Worried that the GR01 will feel heavy, at the same time I read that it really feels like a road bike.

An other suggestions?

Also, for anyone riding either GR01 or 505SL, what size did you choose?

thanks

[demeaux]

I have the 505 SL. It's great. I've ridden it twice since I got it in July. Mainly because it's only set up at 48/36 for allroad/winter stuff. However. There are no mudguard mounts.
So it would be pclips and cable ties. Or threaded thru axles, light brackets, bridge mounts etc. And maybe velcro under the front crown. Or those horrible looking speed rocker things.

[cfbruck]

Thank you all for helping me clearing up my thoughts/confusions.

My goal was to be able to use the bike all year round for training rides (outside) and perhaps even commuting. Reading your comments I think I'm going to have a separate bike for commuting, and hope that around 35c will be enough for doing rides on well kept roads most of the year.
 

[meysow]

Serge, where does the discomfort from riding a gravel on the road comes from ? I mean a racy gravel like the gr01, with 50mm deep carbon wheels, a narrow handlebar and a road group set, let's say a 105 (or ltwoo er9/x), you would probably have to adjust the stem, slammed and longer, but this seems quite good for the road.

You would loose some watts for sure compared to a dedicated road bike, but how many ? The frame is heavy also. But for amateur, would it really makes a difference ? I mean a lot of us are far to be limited but our bikes, it isn't like we were pro, and can't optimize anything else than our bikes to gain those few more watts to win a competition.

Because for some people that can't afford to have one bike for each use case, having a racy gravel could be a good compromise, no ?

[gribs]

If you compromise a gravel bike so it's good on the road then it becomes much worse off it on technical terrain, and it's still not as good as a proper road bike. I think it really depends on what gravel means to you as it varies between unsealed roads and pretty much old school xc mountain biking.

[meysow]

That's my point, apart from the group set, you can always change wheels (shallower and with proper gravel tyres) and the stem (even the handlebar if you need a wider one) and you got a good gravel bike.

Yes there is a compromise but again, my question is how much will this impact the rider ?

Because when asking chatgpt, when comparing a dogma f frame to a grevil frame (with the same wheels, tyres, handlebar, groupset), over the course of 90km road race on the flat, the difference between the two bikes would be relatively low, hence why I'm asking

[demeaux]

Thank you all for helping me clearing up my thoughts/confusions.

My goal was to be able to use the bike all year round for training rides (outside) and perhaps even commuting. Reading your comments I think I'm going to have a separate bike for commuting, and hope that around 35c will be enough for doing rides on well kept roads most of the year.

I have a 505 for almost the same reasons (no commuting - wfh mostly). Apart from the lack of mudguard mounts the 505 is the all round bike. It looks nice too. It'lll take 50/34 which is a nice sensible road choice.

I bought it for:
Outdoors
Road rides
Off road rides