MWF78RIDER

I'm hoping to find one bike that can be ridden on both paved and gravel or dirt roads. Living in Kansas as I do, there are miles and miles of dirt and gravel roads just asking to be ridden. And there are some very nice paved country roads as well. The bike must have a drop bar; for some reason my left hand gets numb on a flat bar. Perhaps the drop bar just gives me so many more hand positions that preclude the numbness setting in. I'd like a more upright position since I'm 67 and not as flexible as I once was (I am not posting this in the Road Bike forum because there are just too many young riders there who don't understand that an old fart doesn't bend as much as in younger days). I'd also like as comfortable a ride as possible for long hours in the saddle. The current crop of endurance bikes from the big names...Cannondale, Trek, Specialized..tick the boxes for a more relaxed geometry and plush ride, but they all seem to max out at 700 x 28 tire size. I'd really like to go larger than that for our gravel roads, say 700 x 32 or 700 x 35. Ideally, the frame would be carbon and light enough to allow for peppy riding on paved roads.

What do you think? Am I dreaming or is there a bike out there that I haven't yet found? Budget tops out at $3,500. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

79pmooney

I found the bike you want, but you'll have to pry from my stone cold hands. A ~1973 Raleigh Carlton International. Long wheelbase, shallow head angle, lots of fork rake and light, thin Reynolds 531 tubes. I am now running big 35c tires and hybrid fenders. Room to go to 45s if I wanted. This bike was built to handle unpaved roads, for 27" wheels and along lines and thinking of almost the 1950s. (And it was built on a Monday or a Friday. I didn't feel secure about this frame of completely unknown history so I has a local framebuilder have the paint stripped and give it a full inspection. Very little braze under the lugs. Up to snuff braze, two cracks repaired (probably triggered by the sloppy original work) and some small work to get the bike to better meet my needs cost me most of a grand. So I am pretty invested in it. And man do I love the ride!)

One approach you could make: Have a custom built similar to my old bike using the design of a '50s classic and buying a bike of Ebay or CL that has the parts you want just for the parts. With the right builder and a smart buy I think you could do the $3500 and have a really fun bike.

Ben

MWF78RIDER

Sounds like you found true happiness with your '73 Raleigh, Ben. Thanks for the suggestion to look into a custom builder. I'll do some research.

bikemig 

Salsa carbon warbird comes to mind but there are a lot of offerings in the gravel bike category, WARBIRD CARBON RIVAL 22 | Bikes | Salsa Cycles

If you want your bars nice and high, you might want to think about steel.

unterhausen

there are lots of gravel bikes out there that will work fine for this. I did all my riding last year on an All City Macho Man. I would swap wheels to road tires if I was going to do an extended road ride.

CliffordK

I'd look at the cyclocross bikes. There should be some nice ones that would meet your specs. A lot of adjustments can be done with stem and steer tube adjustments. If you buy new, it should come with an uncut steer tube.

I've driven on the KS gravel roads, but I haven't ridden my bike on them. I do ride my road bike with 700x25 tires on a few gravel roads, and taken it for quite a few miles along the Katy trail.

The Cannondale Slate is an interesting 650b based gravel/cyclocross bike with lefty front suspension. It might be worth looking at.

Miele Man

An MTB drop bar conversion is the bike I'd keep if I could only have one bike. Narrow tires for predominately paved/hard packed roads and wider tires for loose gravel and other looses surfaces.

There are threads here howing many gravel grinders and mtb drop bar conversions.

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...nversions.html

https://www.bikeforums.net/recreation...l-grinder.html

Cheers

BluesDawg

Specialized Bicycle Components

chasm54

The state of the art for gravel racing and bikepacking appears to be the Salsa Cutthroat As far as all-terrain, light, non-suspension bikes go it's hard to see how you could do much better.

donheff

I too agree on a cyclocross, or some sort of sport touring bike with 28-32mm tires.

jppe

I've been exploring gravel grinders as well. You need to look at Raleigh Tamland. A lot of bike and options for the money.

jppe

And bluesdawg is probably one of our better experts on off road options.

Barrettscv 

Kansas gravel is more extreme than gravel in other places. The flint rock can be as sharp as broken bathroom tiles and the size of some of the rocks are about the size of a bricks that have been broken in half.

A bike with extra tire clearance and two sets of wheels might be smart. One set of wheels with a fast and lightweight 700x32 tire for pavement and well maintained gravel. A tire like the 700x32 Specialized Roubaix Pro would be ideal: Specialized Bicycle Components

The second set of wheels for a wider and more rugged tire for chunky or badly maintained rural roads. Tires in the 38 to 45mm ride range will provide a lot of stability and smooth out the ride. A tire like the 700x40, 120 tpi X'PLOR MSO is excellent, it's fast and reliable enough to have won the Dirty Kanza: https://clementcycling.com/xplor-mso

This bike fits the discription;

WARBIRD CARBON RIVAL 22 | Bikes | Salsa Cycles

ironwood

There is also the option of 650B . I've converted older bikes to 650B and now I can ride on 38 or 42mm wide tires. One of my bikes is a 1983 Trek 630. I'm not sure your Trek 400 is a good candidate or not for 650, but many Treks from1983 and earlier are.

I'm not sure that you'll find something you like from the big boys, but maybe from Rivendell Lugged Steel Bicycles, Wool Clothing, Leather Saddles & Canvas Bike Bags from Rivendell Bicycle Works , or Velo-orange Velo Orange or SOMA SOMA Fabrications | For the everyday cyclist .
There is a 650B thread on the C&V forum as well as a group on Google.

Viking55803

I have a Raleigh Tamland 1 and absolutely love it. It is my do everything bike for paved and gravel. However, Raleigh also makes the Roker, a carbon-frame bike with clearance for more that 40 mm tires. The Tamland is not a light bike, but it is super comfortable.

bruce19

Cyclocross bike.

JonathanGennick 

Look into so-called "gravel grinders". The Specialized AWOL comes to mind, and probably half of Salsa's lineup is aimed at gravel riding on drop bars. This is actually a great time to be in the market for a drop bar bike capable of gravel and dirt.

BluesDawg

My recommendation above for the Specialized Diverge Carbon Comp was based on the specific requirements spelled out in the OP. There are many ways to ride gravel and many ways to define the category. Sounds like the OP is looking for something with strong emphasis on paved road performance as well as dirt/gravel capability. The Diverge with its short chainstays and geometry very similar to a Roubaix, but with room for tires up to 38mm, fits that description better than some of the bikes more capable of rugged gravel conditions like the Specialized AWOL or the Salsa Cutthroat. Others, like the Salsa Warbird or Raleigh Roker carry that a bit further into the rough.

Cyclocross bikes can work (and were among the few suitable choices a few years ago), but their geometry tends to be compromised by the specifics of CX racing which don't always apply to road or gravel riding. As the gravel category has grown, bikes with more roadlike geometry and wider tire capacity have become available.

There is a subforum here on Bike Forums that deals with this type of riding and may get you more in depth responses.

CliffordK

If you choose a frame with disc brakes, and adequate tire clearance, then it should be pretty easy to swap between 700c and 650b.

CHOOSE IDENTICAL HUBS FOR YOUR 650b/700c WHEELSET (EXCEPT FOR SPOKE COUNT).

Perhaps choose a bike that is native 650b, and build a set of "fast" 700c wheels/tires for it.

I'm not sure if that is the choice I'd choose, as it is nice to have a single bike and just hop on and ride. But, if you would, say join group rides, some 99% paved, and others 99% gravel, then having a set of gravel wheels and a set of paved wheels might not be bad.

As far as brands. Another thing to consider is building a bike around a custom or semi-custom frame. You've put a fairly high budget, so going custom would be easy to go over, but it is still worth considering.

Custom CF:Custom Titanium???

MWF78RIDER

Hey, BluesDawg, thanks for pointing me to the Diverge Carbon Comp. Some reading at various web sites make me think this is really worth looking into. My LBS carries Specialized so I'll stop in this week to see if they have one to test ride. Thanks also for suggesting the Recreational Cyclocross and Gravelbiking forum. I think I'm going be up late tonight reading posts there.

volosong

I wanted a bike for the rails-to-trails paths in northern Idaho as well as use on asphalt roads. Settled on a Pinarello FCX frame and built it up with Ultegra. I purchased a second wheelset and will be running gravel tires on one set and road times on the other set. Still awaiting one cassette for the second wheelset, and then need to tweak the geometry and wrap the bars before I'll be all set to go. Only regret is that I wished I went with mechanical disc brakes instead of hydraulic. I know hydraulic is newer and supposed to be better, but mechanical is so much easier to adjust.

freedomrider1

SLATE - NEW ROAD - ROAD - BIKES - 2016

martianone

Consider a Gunnar Crosshairs ? I too live in a very rural area with lots of dirt/gravel roads interspersed with paved roads, often ride on them with my road bike, have a 25 mm tire in front and 28 on the rear. I do pretty well with this combo. Not sure I understand the aversion some have to riding their road bikes on dirt/gravel?

kingston 

Planet X has a couple of gravel bikes that may be worth looking at.

Carbonfiberboy 

Any carbon gravel grinder would be great. There was a thread about this in the LD forum. I posted this bike in it:
https://www.bikeforums.net/long-dista...l#post17656374