Hey gang,

I'm knocking on 50 and last time I road a road bike was 2000 (60cm Ciocc), before that a 1992 60cm Schwinn Paramount, before that 1988 62cm Raleigh POS. Well, just picked up a monster of a bike, a 64cm 2004 Fuji Bordeaux. Is it too big for me stock? Yes, but the main thing is the frame is not too big, I can still comfortably stand over the top tube. It's the saddle position, stem height and length, and drop bar geometry that needed tweaking. The saddle was easy, it's dialed in a little more forward than usual and lower than usual, but my leg stroke is where I like it. Next I added another 10mm riser on the steerer tube (it had tube to accommodate this), removed the 120mm 10 degree rise stem and replaced with a 100mm 12 degree stem. After that I just couldn't feel comfortable with the stock Richey 460mm ergo drop bars. The top of the bars were approx. 30mm below my saddle and the drops just felt like rubbish when I dropped onto them. So I did some research and ultimately ended up with the 450mm Surly Truck Stop Bars (quasi gravel/leisure) as the flare on the drops are not extreme like you see on typical gravel bars. All I can say is that was the ticket...anything up to 15 miles is far more comfortable now (yeah I know 15 isn't much so the verdict isn't out yet for a 30-40 mile trip). Here's a video I did, sorry, it's long, I don't spend a lot of time post editing any more, but I do try to cover as much detail as possible and give a short cut index in the description. I hope you find it useful:

Thatll make for an intense gravel bike.

That's kind of where I'm heading...I'm short-listing some clinchers (currently running old 23 Conti Gatorskins) for it that will work better on the trails but unfortunately my clearance is typical for a caliper brake road bike. My calculations on clearance puts me at max inflated tire width at 26mm. I'm considering the 700x25 Kenda Karvs. My purpose is for a hybrid of 50% asphalt and 50% loose gravel trail riding with little grade fluctuation. Just wish I could run 28's with enough clearance.

Yeah, a TT/Tri bike from the early 00s typically isnt the type of frame that I would think of when I think gravel, but if it works for what you want/need, then cool. Itll certainly give you the opportunity to improve picking your line.

About to install my 42cm bars to my 2020 gravel bike. Could always use more cockpit comfort since it’s my long hauler.