Yes, I already got over myself and got Jones grips, and even though it was a ridiculous $30 (so much shipping!), I have to admit every time I ride I'm like "damn, these grips are pretty great -- just perfect for these bars"

Greetings! 2016-ish Cannondale CAADX. I commute around 5 miles each way. I’m very fortunate to have bike paths through parks and golf courses a lot of the way.

love the racks

Pretty fancy commuter!

Got a tail light on the rack, I hope? ...or do you not commute in dawn/dusk/dark?

Even though my spouse never plans to ride in the dark, I installed dynamo lights on her bikes for those unexpected times. And she ends up using them occasionally because life.

This is my commuter bike. Gravel bike with 32mm / 30mm road tyres. Long commute so need something that’s pretty quick. Considering pairing this up with a road ebike to take some of the work out of it and graduate to 4 days a week next year.

I did have full mudguards on it but a tricky rivnut issue is keeping me to a raceblade on the back at the moment.

My commute bikes, from oldest to newest. Went thru multiple bikes in less than 1 year. Finally found the right commuter bike for me: drop bar gravel bike.


Excluding bikes my parents bought, this was first bike that I purchased. Trek Dual Sport 3 Gen 5.


I had difficulty riding into headwind. I thought 650b x 50mm on Trek Dual Sport was slowing me down, so I bought used Trek Allant 7.4 with 700c x 32mm tires. Made negligible difference, wind or no wind.


Finally found the right commuter. Dirt cheap Walmart Ozark Trail G.1 Explorer for $288. Works great as commuter. More efficient and faster, especially going into headwind.


Ozark Trail G.1 Explorer on very early morning commute. Beautiful morning light.

The lesson here (for you, anyway) is that your position makes the most difference, not the value of the equipment. Are you, by chance, thin? I'm a thin person, and headwinds affect me a lot, and hills don't. A heavy friend has the opposite observation. I think it's the surface-area-to-mass ratio.

Hi D00M and welcome to the thread. How interesting that you went from two Treks to an Ozark Trail gravel bike and prefer the latter! I wonder if you will eventually get back into a Trek gravel bike. I have a feeling that when you went from the Dual Sport to the Allant, the aerodynamic gains from the thinner tires were canceled out by the addition of fenders. If you add fenders to the OT and it then feels slow, you'll know. ;-)

We've got to help you streamline those robotic arm device mounts. They're not allowed on drop bar bikes. Gotta be aero, hahaha.

The thin guys I know are not affected as much on climbs as I am, and are only affected more by wind when they're wearing baggy clothes that flap in the wind. This makes a huge difference. Form-fitting clothes are a cyclist's secret weapon.

Because I mainly commute, I don't have much experience with hills. Condition and aerodynamics are most important in my experience. When I started, I can only go around 5 mph into 15 mph headwind. Then after 6 months, I could ride 8 mph into 20 mph headwind. Then with drop bar, I can ride 10 mph; and much less tiring.

Yes, those are big differences. They are even more than I would have expected.

After 3 months with Ozark Trail, I did end up buying Trek Checkpoint ALR. I'm still using the Ozark Trail for commute. Checkpoint is for weekend recreational rides.

I'm in the market for another gravel bike now. Probably a Checkpoint SL5 or -6 or something in steel. We'll see.
A friend in the club just had her Checkpoint ALR frame warranteed because it cracked at the luggage rack boss. She paid some extra and upgraded to a carbon frame, says the ride is noticeably better, so I'm going to see if I can afford to go that route.

My recently resurrected 90s mountain bike has been getting the lion's share of the riding lately - gravel, mountain biking, and commuting - because it's so novel and fun!



I'm still trying to figure out bags for the funky front and rear rack system, but one thing that I realized is that it deters theft of my seat and quick release seatpost!

Taking a break from the 20" wheels for awhile, eh?

LOL. This bike is 650b on the front and 26" on the rear. A couple of weeks ago, I rode my 700c gravel bike. And also went to the farmers market with my 20" Zizzo!

I need to ride a 16" Brompton and a new 32" mountain bike before the end of the month!

I saw the news about 32" MTB wheels being approved by whatever racing authority.

It makes me wonder if it will trickle down to road bikes. Road bikes on 70c wheels built for tall guys have ridiculous-looking geometry, esp. the huge head tube. Maybe they would look more proportional with 32" wheels?

I could see that, starting with custom builders. It will depend upon wheel and tire makers supporting it though.

Conversely, 700c is a compromise for people under 5'-8" or so, with short head tubes and toe overlap. Would be cool if 24" or 26" was more popular, with frames and wheels and tires to match

You just invented "sectional density," which has units of pressure, similar to wing loading for aircraft. It's related to "ballistic coefficient" which has an additional fudge factor for the projectile shape. Mathematically it's a little strange and has a messy history because it needed to be made into lookup tables for artillery use before computers

Ooh, you're so sexy when you talk technical.

And thanks for using terms in a new way for me. I do follow what you said.

[img alt="After a long break of two years (too many changes), here I am with an evening ride
"]https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikeforums.net-vbulletin/2000x1504/img_20251130_174950153_hdr_b234ff584b24247f25dae29b335a06293d5be1eb.jpg[/img]

After a long break of two years (too many changes), here I am with an evening ride

I tested many Trek Checkpoint and Specialized Diverge carbon frame gravel bikes, because LBS stocked carbon but not aluminum. It took a while to be able to test out Checkpoint ALR. I also tested steel bike like Surly Straggler. I can only test ride these on road, and not on gravel trail.

Ride noticeably better is up to personal preference. For large bumps like pot holes, carbon frame feels better as it just recovers faster, whereas aluminum has a slow rolling effect. But for smaller bumps like rough road (and I assume gravel), aluminum actually feels better as there is less vibration transferred to the hands.

All the carbon frame bikes I tested had electronic shifting, except 1 Specialized Diverge model from 2 years ago with Shiman GRX. All aluminum gravel ones had mechanical shifting. I just don't see myself spending $3-5k for Trek Checkpoint carbon frame bike, especially as potential commuter.

Welcome back!

Where are you, Netherlands? I'm guessing so by the Euro plate on a car and beautiful bike path through a city with some older architecture.