Old 06-26-16, 04:00 AM
  #6  
AlpDuWheeze
Newbie
 
AlpDuWheeze's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Southern Plains
Posts: 2

Bikes: S-Works Roubaix, G. Motta, Motobecane CX

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Yes, I've owned one of these for about a year. Mine is slightly different than the image your link above shows - it has a double crank, not a triple, and the wheel set on mine is different. I purchased mine used on Craigslist in order to give gravel racing a try without dropping a lot of coin on a bike for starters - thinking that if I ended up loving gravel racing, I would upgrade later.

Here are my thoughts on the bike:

1. The bike is on the heavy side for serious gravel racing, but not an issue for recreational riding. The front fork is aluminum, not carbon, and has loads of clearance for mud, but is heavy.
2. As seen in the photograph your link provides, the head tube is SERIOUSLY SHORT for recreational riding. If you are older, like me, with "old person" hamstrings limiting your flexibility, you will need to purchase a stem with significant rise to get the handlebars up to where they need to be to ride comfortably. I'm not kidding here - I have a 58 cm size and the head tube on this bike is half the length of my road bike, a more forgiving S-Works Roubaix 58 cm.
3. On a positive note, the 8-speed drivetrain on my bike seems fairly bullet-proof in mud. I have ridden past many a gravel racer on the side of the road with a snapped derailleur while I continue motoring along - not just in a luckier line in the road but hearing my drivetrain grinding through mud as I do so.
4. The seat on mine was a loser comfort-wise, but how many of us ending up changing saddles anyway? Also, I'd mention that the seat post appears very sturdy (also heavy) and the seat angle adjustment is rather coarse, meaning if you're super particular about the seat angle on your bike you may find yourself wanting to swap this out at some point.
5. Chain stay clearance will allow for 700x38 tires, and 40's might work - I'm running Challenge Gravel Grinders on my bike.

If you're lucky on seat fit, you could buy this bike, put on some premium gravel tires like I did, and go out and ride this rig for 100's of miles on gravel having a blast. That's basically what I did (other than the seat and stem swap), and mine managed to finish the Dirty Kanza 100 a couple of weeks ago.

If you have another $600 to spare, I think the Ridley X-Trail A30 which is available online for about $1,200 is in a completely different universe as a quality gravel bike. You get 11 speeds, bullet-proof Shimano 105 drivetrain, and a gorgeous bike you'd be proud to own and that others will admire. But, double the price.

Wheelsmcgee's advice above is spot-on, if you think you're going to spend anything to upgrade the bike other than tires, look elsewhere. FWIW, I'm planning to upgrade to a Ridley or similar soon, and mine will become a loaner to attempt to lure my friends and family into gravel grinding. :^)

Best of luck with your decision - let us know what choice you make.
AlpDuWheeze is offline