Turning a crosser into a graveller

dragratchet

Helping a buddy out with a new bike purchase. she wants to do some gravel/trail riding with myself and a few buddies but feels that the standard 32 cog on the back of most cx bikes wont give her enough cadence when riding up the steeper gravel/ off road trails. There arent many gravel bikes available in Ireland at the minute and what are out there are quite pricy for someone wanting an entry level rig. so im thinking of an entry/mid range cx bike, adding a roadlink to lengthen the rear mech cage which will allow for a much bigger cassette to be put on the back, hopefully giving her up for a 40/42. lads in the lbs reckon its a goer with a longer chain. anyone any experience of doing this.

Alek

34/34 combination should be just fine for all gravel climbs around - they are never too long! You should be able to install a 11-34 on any CX bike that has 11-32 on it.

I run 11-36 with a short road mech no problem, but this is on 1x10 setup (with 38t on the front) - on a 2x10, a long cage may be necessary.

You will most likely do without a Roadlink. Btw, it does not lengthen the cage (as the chain wrap stays the same) but rather helps with jockey wheel clearance vs the largest cog.

dragratchet

thanks alek.

ive seen a few cx/ all road bikes with a 32 small ring on the front and a 34 on the back which i reckon would do her fine but she's seen my buddy's cannondale slate with a 42 on the back and would love to get into that territory.

nak

I run 11-32 on my bike if doing gravel rides with a lot of climbing.  The most anyone has on a cassette running a double chainset for CX here is 28 as there is very little climbing in the races.  I have to use a long cage mech to run the 32.

LennoxR

dragratchet wrote: »

Helping a buddy out with a new bike purchase. she wants to do some gravel/trail riding with myself and a few buddies but feels that the standard 32 cog on the back of most cx bikes wont give her enough cadence when riding up the steeper gravel/ off road trails. There arent many gravel bikes available in Ireland at the minute and what are out there are quite pricy for someone wanting an entry level rig. so im thinking of an entry/mid range cx bike, adding a roadlink to lengthen the rear mech cage which will allow for a much bigger cassette to be put on the back, hopefully giving her up for a 40/42. lads in the lbs reckon its a goer with a longer chain. anyone any experience of doing this.

Tell her to stop being so fussy

Alek

42 on the back

Something with Sram Rival 1 or Apex 1 maybe? They are designed to take 11-42 cassette.

ford2600

In the middle of converting a cx bike for gravel type use.

34/44 up front with a 10 speed 11-36 on the back.

If the road rear mech doesn't work I'll use a 9 speed mtb one which is compatible. Later 10 speed mtb stuff isn't insofar as I know.

Single bottle cage mount and undrilled fork for dynamo were bigger issues tbh!

So help me out here, what makes a gravel bike that much different from a CX?

Alek

Wider tyres (38mm+), lower gearing, slacker geometry.

RobFowl

Gravel bikes are a way of selling re-badged cross bikes to the great unwashed

CramCycle

RobFowl wrote: »

Gravel bikes are a way of selling re-badged cross bikes to the great unwashed

I was thinking this, is a graveller just not someone in the US talking about a CX bike.

ford2600

CramCycle wrote: »

I was thinking this, is a graveller just not someone in the US talking about a CX bike.

Try doing an off road adventure tour on a cx bike.

Gears probably not low enough
Undrilled fork crown
One bottle cage probably
Maybe not a lot of mounts for mudguards or panniers

Of course there is a load of marketing bo11ox but it is not as if you can throw your leg over a cx and go ride the Tour Divide

nak

ford2600 wrote: »

CramCycle wrote: »

I was thinking this, is a graveller just not someone in the US talking about a CX bike.

Try doing an off road adventure tour on a cx bike.

Gears probably not low enough
Undrilled fork crown
One bottle cage probably
Maybe not a lot of mounts for mudguards or panniers

Of course there is a load of marketing bo11ox but it is not as if you can throw your leg over a cx and go ride the Tour Divide

Depends on the CX bike, the Crux comes with 3 bottle mounts. My other CX bike has rack mounts, use a double chainset and can change out the cassette if required.

Cee-Jay-Cee

I've my cranky pants on today so please please stop with the stupid Dublin habit of adding letters to words and names...its a CX or Cross bike or a Gravel bike, not a crosser or graveller :rolleyes:

Beasty

I think "Crosser" is a perfectly adequate abbreviation for Rob....

smacl

nak wrote: »

I run 11-32 on my bike if doing gravel rides with a lot of climbing.  The most anyone has on a cassette running a double chainset for CX here is 28 as there is very little climbing in the races.  I have to use a long cage mech to run the 32.

I've 50/34 and 11/32 on my Rose CX pro with medium cage derailleur, AFAIK long cage is for triples and mountain bikes. At a guess, something like a Deore rear derailleur might work for larger cassettes.

nak

smacl wrote: »

nak wrote: »

I run 11-32 on my bike if doing gravel rides with a lot of climbing.  The most anyone has on a cassette running a double chainset for CX here is 28 as there is very little climbing in the races.  I have to use a long cage mech to run the 32.

I've 50/34 and 11/32 on my Rose CX pro with medium cage derailleur, AFAIK long cage is for triples and mountain bikes. At a guess, something like a Deore rear derailleur might work for larger cassettes.

I got a long cage Ultegra rear mech in case I wanted to run a bigger cassette. Use a mid compact chainset if doing a mix of gravel and road, combination works better on my Crux.

smacl

nak wrote: »

I got a long cage Ultegra rear mech in case I wanted to run a bigger cassette. Use a mid compact chainset if doing a mix of gravel and road, combination works better on my Crux.

How high could you go on a cassette on that? Being a bit older, heavier and out of shape myself, I find even with 34/32 some of the steeper stuff to be very tough.

CramCycle

ford2600 wrote: »

Try doing an off road adventure tour on a cx bike.

Gears probably not low enough
Undrilled fork crown
One bottle cage probably
Maybe not a lot of mounts for mudguards or panniers

Of course there is a load of marketing bo11ox but it is not as if you can throw your leg over a cx and go ride the Tour Divide

Surely though they are essentially the same type of bike. Just put on a long rear cage and a bigger cassette, job done. Other than the gears, the other points are not true in any of the CX bikes I see regularly.

Alek

CramCycle wrote:

Surely though they are essentially the same type of bike. Just put on a long rear cage and a bigger cassette, job done. Other than the gears, the other points are not true in any of the CX bikes I see regularly.

Plenty of high end cx bikes have no luggage mounts, sometimes not even bottle bosses at all. Also their racy geometry wouldn't be ideal for a long ride in difficult terrain. Lower end cx bikes are usually slacker and can be perfect gravel bikes if they can fit wider tyres and after some gearing mods.