A Gravel Vlog - Am I converted? Bike update. 

Episode one of the cool wall - this is what I was on about. Being underbiked on gravel is where it's at.

In theory, I also prefer the hardtail. In practice, I absolutely hate to hit the trails when half a meter of snow melts. I still have fire roads (even poorly paved ones) available which are a chore on a hardtail. Also, whenever the ride is not pure trails but a mix of paved / gravel / trails, the hardtail falls short. It's just cumbersome. I live in a small village in the middle of the forest on a hilltop, and the closest city is 10 kms away. My office is 35k.Roads are horrendous, especially during winter, with potholes in which you can bury a car. The gravel bike with 45 mm tires and mudguards, mounting points is a fantastic workhose for commuting, and just getting stuff done in general with a peace of mind - with good speed, comfort and safety.

when it said "Am I converted" I thought you meant you were having the op.

I snorted my soda because of the No Country For Old Men bit, cheers!

🤩I dig the colors!

You're definitely right that the gravel format shines compared to a hardtail when there's lots of smooth stuff to cover. I know gravel tyres were one of your "outs" for 2024 but they do offer some great tread patterns that find a compromise between these two road surfaces in a way that few mtb tyres do. EG Tufo thundero, G-One Overland, Pirelli Gravel M etc. While the rolling resistance savings may be minimal/nonexistent they roll a lot quieter/smoother, grip a lot better and last longer on actual roads. For those that ride to their trails or have commuter duty for their gravel bikes these tyres have big advantages over XC rubber. While there's touring tyres that have similar capabilities they're often overbuilt for the task of a spritely gravel ride. Gravel bikes are often tasked with a wide range of surfaces, conditions and riding styles in a single ride. This creates a tricky and rather personal optimisation problem for gravel gear with a lot of compromises made to get that versatility when needed.

For your uncovered bosses look up "No-Profile Recessed Bottle Cage Boss Blanking & Sealing Screws" they available in black and silver, come with anti-seize pre-applied and weigh less than 6 grams for a set of 8. It won't help the surface rust (maybe masking them and giving them a shot of clear-coat might work), but they are flush with the boss for a very satisfying finished look.

Never expected PQ to quote one of Cormac's finest..........love it!

That rear rotor caught my eye! Hope it comes to fruition

Get some brass grub screws for the bottle bosses and threadlock them in. The Allen key hex makes them almost, but not completely hollow.

I’ve ridden enduro for years but since moving to Bournemouth, not many hills here so the gravel bike replaced my enduro bike. I have a racey geometry as not bothered by needed help off road as I like it being a bit twitchy. Gravel bikes are so much fun as you can make the simplest of single track feel lively. All about having the right tyre clearance for what terrain you like riding. Big plus was as I jump on the roads, a hard tail feels slow as hell to ride home, but on gravel you can sit around 18th no problem and feels like I’m on my road bike, with just a bit more effort.

A Whale Tail themed mudgaurd would be awesome in Rothmans colours. Nice bike enjoyed the vlog.

I am running the 47 rhombus tires. Work well off and on road over here in BC. They can handle gravel and loose rocky MTB trails. Specialized have been selling them cheap as in their sales👍

I fitted pedal spacers to eliminate toe overlap. Love Race King tyres , Pricey like you say so just fit to the rear wheel

I bought a bunch of nylon screws(bolts) from aliX for a couple of dollars and use them to fill unused bottle bosses on my frames. Screw in with a tiny bit of grease so they seal well, don't fall out, don't weigh anything, and look good.

UK viewer here and gravel convert. Thanks to a gravel bike with an abilty to take a wide variety of tyres and a do it all trail bike in the form of a SC Hightower I've really removed the need to have lots of bikes for different occasions. Two bikes that cover everything. I sold my other bikes and haven't really felt the need to buy anything else bar a dedicated DH bike.

For everyone's convenience, can you share a link for the rubber grommets you'd end up purchasing to plug those holes in the frame? My bike uses M5 screws supposedly?

Yeh my g21 is 56cm and toe-overlap is annoying on slow technical surfaces. Otherwise good. Use gutter silicone and soft plugs to fill unused mounting holes and di2 wire holes.

Hey PT with the aggresive geometry would you consider this a good platform for pure road use? Say having a set of 650bs for gravel and a set of road wheels.

On the side note, did you try manufacturing (don't think existing MTB ones would fit though) angle headset? Since the original is integrated, might be an interesting challenge

Not so different than there in the UK, but living here in Belgium for over 4yrs now. When I ride in the south in the Ardennes, I prefer my hardtail despite my gravel bike (Rodeo Labs Flaanimal5) handling 29x2.1 It's just when you get up over 60km on the chunkier terrain, it starts to take a toll, and my Ibis T29 (~20lb weight) allows me to just smash everything. But for getting around, commuting, and just a really easy and enjoyable bike to cover ground regardless of the road/trail surface, my gravel bike is my go-to. For my road bike, running tubeless too, but I find the Conti 5000S TR 30c work marvelously even off road or these Belgian cobbles.

What other gravel frames would you consider next to this one? Giant revolt? Time adhx?

Can a road bike frame and fork take the beatings from off-road riding just by slapping on gravel tires?

In UK winters we need every bit of help we can get regards options to cycle outdoors. Road bike cycling on a road bike in our winters can be...challenging.

Can you run an xt or slx rear derailleur with with a clutch? I'm assuming they will work with road shifters?

What CAD program do you use? Thanks!

where to cop that winspace handlebar bag?

Hey PT - I know you saw the J Mower Cycling video about his 9Velo wheels having the rear hub fail - apparently J Mower conveniently forgot to mention that he crashed prior to the first hub failure, then after that first hub failure, it makes sense that it failed again since all they did was change the freehub. Seems like a rather important detail to omit when discussing reasons why the wheel failed...

smaller tyres to reduce toe overlap?

What's up with that rear disc brake

Prototipo works make some bespoke vanity CNC cage bolts.

Dude. Your American accents are weirdly good.

The YeoLeo isn’t not the most versatile of Gravel bikes - but that was clear from the start - right. That internal cable routing - especially the 1.5-1.5 headset - make it rather hard to mount a suspension stem to take out the sting in the rough stuff - let alone a suspension fork to add control when going Rock‘n‘Roll. Also no DropperPost possible - because of that non round seatpost -well all those proprietary stuff does not prolong a bikes service life… There are quite some good rolling tires out there that feature knobs - Rene Herse and Ultra Dynamico to name two. That derailleur/chain setup is rather not adding up towards the derailleur life span and shifting up while going down the hill is a bit odd - there are derailleurs that use a clutch … BUT never mind a bit of Underbiking… 😉

HED has some nice 180mm deep section gravel rear wheels. Just sayin

Cool Rothmans livery.

Favero Assioma Pro MX Pedals?

How does the mechanical groupset feel with internal cable routing?

Nylon bolts are the answer to the numerous (unused) holes

Just use low profile disc brake rotor bolts on those holes. 😊

Grizedale. Nice 👍🏻 Is Whinlatter gravel too? What about 160mm cranks to solve your toe overlap? R7100 are available down to 160mm now.

I was wondering about those Cross Kings. Since I'm a weakling I like my chiner Epic knockoff with Mezcals for the gravel. fs so smooth, my butt like.

Curious about the GRX 810 levers the so called "contact point" or "stroke" adjustment is it just moving the slave pistons in and out? Can't find documentation about it

Are you in Grizedale?

I like the short wheelbase.Agile and more responsive 🤙

The word of 2024 - Quicklier.

Have you thoughtabout putting drop bars on a hardtail?

Looking at the terrain, can't help but wonder why slapping some drop bars on a hard-tail MTB wouldn't make more sense? Might be a bit slower on the nice pavement but faster/safer on the gnarly bits. "Gravel" seems to be Jekyll & Hyde these days = either stuff one used to need MTBs to enjoy or perfectly smooth roads that just don't happen to be paved that could easily be done on a road bike. Does it have to be either-or?

Challenge Strada Bianca 40 mm. Fucking amazing tire for class 1 gravel. Super fast and grippy enough for almost any circumstances, even dirt roads in the rain.

Can I ask what sealant do you use . I know you've said before but can't remember sorry.

If you ran shorter cranks, would that make enough difference to eliminate toe overlap?

8:49 Peak Torque Big Black Cočk 180?

Did you just recycle leftover road components? I guess, lots of the drivetrain issues could have been sorted with a regular 1x chainring and a clutched derailleur, too. Shifting into the lowest gear for protective chain tensions seems to be a bit counter-intiutive, at least...

Just use plastic bolts for the 'holes', weigh bu99er all - I did his with my Freeranger.

You said you dont use tubeless on road, which tube are you using there if I may ask? :)

What kind of handlebar is this? And how is it comfortable on gravel?

Ultegra RX clutch derailleur is the go mate.

Nylon bolts for all the bosses

what rotor is on the back?🤔

dont cry when those cranks snap lmao

Good to see the rally slag getting filthy. Like you say the further North in the UK the larger the "grvl". Think it was you or that 5yr old predict the marketing of tyre clearance. "NOW WITH ADDED TYRE CLEARANCE". There are some woeful excuses of gravel bikes (road or urban bikes with up to 38mm clearance). I audaxed Scotland coast to coast a few months ago along part of the HT550 on a 650b gravel setup with up to 2.25" xc tyres. I have to admit this would not have been possible on my hardtail with the time allocation . The road stretches, i just whacked in psi and got in the drops and aero bars. Still doesn't stop me getting shat on by my old MTB mates as to the grvl bike's purpose/role.

The irony of exercising on a bike carrying Rothmans livery... For me, just riding on those "roads" would have me gasping.

58cm gravel bike with shoe overlap? That sounds like road bike with clearance, I have plenty of space on my Addict Gravel and it's on a racier side.

hi peaky, from the USA. we can send you gravel if you send us tea. slamming it is not always the answer. do it in stages next time mate!!! you get it right that way....

Impressive American accent, Mr. Torque.

If you don't have a hard tail / haven't done any mountain biking, a gravel bike is a blast. If you do have a hard tail, they're still fun but a lot of the time but when you hit single track that comparison thief of joy has a chance to show up. I'm still trying to work out a terrain percentage in which to take the hard tail over the gravel bike for races. What sealant do you use with the contis? I'm running race kings and they last about 6 months until Stan's starts to leak out of the micro cuts in the tire and the tire is covered in wet spots. I've had this issue with every black chili conti tire I've ran tubeless (cross / race king, terra speed). I like them but they've just been extremely short life tires.

The UK has proper gravel roads, they're in Scotland.

PT

maybe the toe-ectomy helps

Well done. Happy New Year from America. PS. when you become old one day and you will, you will be grabbing for the flatbar mtb...yes it will be a high end, light model, and more stack. You can get away with underbiking now in your prime. The under/over bike ratio shifts with age. 🙂

Given the aggressive geometry, how is this different from a xc bike? I'm happy with my own gravel bike, but the geometry is much slacker than my road bike, and it's already plenty scary on gnarly stuff for me.

was that a recording or an imitation? If the latter then there are hidden depths to he that is known as "Peak". "Oh, so you're a thespian too?!"

Gravel bikes will never replace the trusty hardtails. Tell ya what some even look like hardtails with drop bars… so why not buy a bloody xc hardtail and be done with it. Happy new year anyways pt

The back roads in Staffs and Worcestershire are so bad I get KOMs on them on my gravel bike. I call our poorly maintained country lanes 'American gravel' 😅

How tall are you? 190cm? Does't a 58 looks like a toy bike on you? Also, are stainless steel bosses even a thing?

Hate to say it, but you should try a mtb 165 crank or gravel (🤢) 165 crank - with 2mm pedal washers each side. It'll be wider q factor than those ultegra cranks - might solve the toe overlap. Had the same issue on a small caad frame and it's slightly better. I'd class this bike as a fancy touring bike, hardtail all the way.

Dam i dont understand gravel, everytime i watch gravel stuff im like, get an xc bikes.

With those Cross Kings you ride anyways there's really no reason not to go for a Dropbar MTB and gain best of both worlds: Dropbar handposition versatility and all day aerodynamics and good potential for gnarly surface. And if you don't mix up your purchase list and indeed get the Race Kings you also have better rolling resistance than pretty much any gravel bike out there.

Why not just tape these bosses

Why waste a good MTB ride on tame trails.

Hey PT the guy that message you and hambini at euro bike, dave arther, murray mint.... Can you give my video about Gcn tech shill of £15k road bike is worth as much engineering as a £15k motorbike. I am balls deep into carrying on the smash & grab format to disrupt the shill fest that is the cycling industry, until I get banned😮😂😂 A view would help.👋👍👍👍

Gravel= nonsense! Westerners... You guys will be convinced,and will buy,any hype, any good looking nonsense! You can ride almost everything,on a simple HARDTAIL😅 Greetings from Croatia 😎