smurfy

From the looks of it pretty much any bike, except a cutting-edge road racer, can be a gravel grinder (a term I've never heard of until a week or two ago!). It appears that gravel grinding is not unlike trekking or expedition cycling, riding on unpaved (or formerly paved) service roads, jeep trails , double track etc. So I guess you really don't really need a specific bike for it. As for a definition of a gravel grinder it depends on who you ask.

As far as tires are concerned, the big fatties aren't necessary, just a 26x1.5 or for a road bike, 700x28 should be plenty of meat. I'm just throwing out some suggestions, not getting too specific.

gomango

I agree about the nice bikes in this thread.

So many practical riders.

Just to be clear though, the term gravel grinder is almost ridiculously broad. It can also include a wide range of new bicycles as well.

Anything from custom all arounders to production models designed for a broad array of application/intended uses.

All of these would work great.

Dave Anderson built this bike for a customer and displayed it at NAHBS in 2011.



Black Mountain Cycles





or a Raleigh Tamland would also be a good example.

Bicycle Addict

A very nice bike . . .what size is the frame? Thanks

BluesDaddy

Just like any friction setup. It is very hard to mis-shift, though, because when you pull back on the lever you hit the limit screw on the RD.

arex

I just wondered, because there appeared to be a big difference in size of the cogs.

RFC

Thanks. It's a 56. Here is the most recent iteration.

WNG

The updated brown with black spokes looks sharp.
And that's a nice saddle bag set up.

RFC

Thanks. It's turned out to be a very good SS allarounder.

Aemmer

I like this one! So nice! Right on the money.

acoffin 

^Can anyone tell me what tires those are?

WNG

Looks like Bruce Gordon Rock-n-Road

https://www.bgcycles.com/rock-n-road-tire.html

Bicycle Addict

Thank you for the reply, I really like both versions. Very nice.
I am building a cheapie, I have a Giant Innova that I will want to run 700 x 40c tyres on, my question here is do I need a wider profile rim? I have some Alex DM18's or AT450's available?
I will use it for gravel/exploration rides.
I have a full Black LX group that could go straight on and for drop bars I have some RSX 100 Brifters and a set of FlightDecks in 8 speed, will there be any problems with this set up? I know I need to run a road front derailleur(might get some Tiagra/105/Ultegra front and rear derailleurs too though)
Do I have to run ergo type drops with these brifters? Thanks

gomango

They are!

Looks like a versatile all road bicycle, doesn't it.

The Black Mountain that is.

Tempting and not so expensive actually.

Fwiw I wanted to use the BGs on the Merckx rebuild that Casey is doing for me, but not quite enough room in the rear stays.

TimmyT 

The best bet is to compare what you have with what is on Sheldon Brown's site on tire sizing: https://sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html


In general, all 8 speed Shimano groups are compatible with each other. Late model cassettes and derailleurs are compatible with earlier brifters. In fact, if an early rear derailleur is SIS compatible, you can use it with any of the late model shifters. There are exceptions (such as Dura Ace), but you have not suggested any of these headaches.

You can run any type of road drops with any brifter. The bends in the hooks vary tremendously and after that, the next consideration is grooves for cable routing.

Have fun! Experiment with it! People in this forum and in the mechanics forum can help you dial it in.

Goosecheck

Chilly, pre-dawn gravel ride. Friday Jan 3. Caught the sunrise over Folsom Lake.(sadly, very dry this winter)


1994 Mongoose Rockadile

arex

My dad was a powerplant operator at Folsom Dam, a long time ago.

neo_pop_71

Hey RFC,

The initial build was nice but this second version is great... probably the best Surly I've ever seen! I gotta go with WNG the blacked out wheels are a nice touch! Please share what saddle bag and bag support you are running, I really like the look! As with the rest of the bike, that bag and support really stand out, I love the clean look without needing to run a full rack.

Great stuff, thanks for sharing!

-D-

blilrat

Are those new tires? They have a very vintage MTB look to them.

Goosecheck

Yes. They are DURO Rocky Wolf, 26x2.1 gumwalls. Available on eBay. I was really pleased with the look.

zukahn1

Here's my current gravel grinder winter commuter. Road about 20miles around town today 2inch's of ice slush on the roads below zero when I left home this morning. 26 pound beast of of a old Nishiki Gan Sport redone as a single speed with 1/8inch drivetrain 16/43 gearing random nicer alloy components and nice heavy duty type Alex rims 700c's and WTB 28 winter nobbies. Not traditional but it gets the job done, this has actually become my daily rider replacing some much nicer bikes.

RFC

Thanks so much for the complements. That's very kind of you.

The setup is the Carradice BagmanII and the Barley bag with a quick release system. The QR makes this setup so much more useful. For example, I use the Barley as my gym bag. Without the Barley, I can easily bungie a gym bag or brief case to the small rack.

RaleighSport

This bike has had the pleasure of appearing in this thread before, I recently enrolled in some college classes so I needed a dedicated commuter for 15 miles at a time. so I updated it with a 700c wheelset instead of 27 inch with thirty eight millimeter tires and a coaster brake raising the stem seems to solve the twitchy steering and I still need to remove the remaining two quick releases.
as well as switch the saddle for something a little less obvious

dddd

Are your arms really that long, or...

cyclotoine

I assume you are referring to zukahn1's bike. I must echo your sentiment. Looks like a torsoriffic set up. The reach on there is crazy for such a saddle height. But it he is 6'4" and that is his proper saddle height than I can sort of understand this set-up.

h3hound

This thread has been a great resource for me. I have seen what others have done so I am posting my own efforts.

I have unretired my Peugeot for service on the gravel. Most changes to the bike are in the drive train and cockpit.






A short blog regarding the rebuild can be seen here: https://putz-v.blogspot.com/


-Thanks!