5 Tips For Setting Up Your Gravel Bike

bike fit tuesdays is back and in today's episode  five tips for setting up your gravel bike   oh my neck hurts come on   this is actually really uncomfortable this is  um potentially quite an unpopular statement   i don't like wide handlebars so there's this  thing with uh gravel bikes that supposedly   you need to have really really wide handlebars to  improve control now it's true wider handlebars do   improve control but shouldn't be carried out at  the expense of ergonomics i also kind of question   like if you need that much control you're  probably riding the wrong bike like if   you're not tearing down single track on a gravel  bike there's a hint in the name of a gravel bike   gravel bike it's not called a single track bike  it's not called a downhill bike it's got a gravel   bike so why we're riding really really wide  handlebars for more control typically if the   bar is wider than you are and this isn't just  specifically related to gravel bikes but if   the bar is wider than you are you end up reaching  around the handlebar to get to the brake lever so   you have more difficulty braking which means  less control you tend to roll wrists which   results in quite a lot of pressure or perceived  pressure going through the the hands it results   in neck and shoulder issues and individuals look  ahead resulting in less control they're always   getting around it there are now flared handlebars  handlebars that are at a narrower width at the top   and they're wider on the drops which can give you  that more that perceived improvement in control   particularly when on the drops something i found  uh from our bike packing adventures that it's   with a flared bar it's easier to kind of get a  handlebar bag in there which is very popular these   days you see a lot of people riding aero bikes  and handlebar bags negating all the error benefits   flared handlebars 38 at the tops and 42 at the  drops there are there are a number of handlebars   out there on the market that will do this so  like i said you can kind of get the best of   both worlds with the flared handlebar uh frankly  most most gravel bars tend to be flared anyway   apart from this one which is a 50 centimeter  nice one bike industry thanks for that cue your   neck and shoulder issues have a think about the  handlebar width in general uh it's going to be   you're kind of looking for it to be the  same width as your shoulders we've done   previous videos that will show you how to  measure how to make your shoulders and and all   the skeletal landmarks that are required and also  to how to fit your the halo bar to your shot with   what's a 650b type of ice cream isn't it nobody  bobbly that's not an ice cream is it yeah sounds   you've never had a knobbly bobby that sounds like  a schwalber tire schwaber that's what you should   be calling your next mountain bike time basically  650b wheel it's slightly smaller it's 27.5 inches   instead of 28 and you the the the thinking  behind it is that you get more tire clearance   because it's a smaller wheel therefore you can use  a larger tire then the net result is that actually   the overall diameter of the tire because the tyre  on 650b wheel is bigger you actually end up with   more or less the same size tire but it's wider so  i think in in my humble opinion i think 650b can   typically be better for wetter riding i found it  to be better certainly when we were riding through   the winter and i think we had like two feet or  a foot of snow and i was riding a 650b wheel   and because you've got bigger knobbly bobbers  got bigger knobby probably the 650b wheel is   arguably a little bit stronger shorter spokes  which you can put more tension through this is   why i ride 650b mountain bike ultimately if you  need if you want some more if you want more grip   the 650b is a better way to go quick little  note to add to this section some bikes aren't   officially rated to use 650b wheels so this added  gravel officially you would void your warranty if   you rode 650b wheels in it the same goes for quite  a few production frames because it lowers the   bottom bracket but you can get away with it anyway  do this at your own risk to one buy or to two by   one bar is really popular in gravel isn't it one  by means you've got one chain on the front which   uses a narrow wide chainring profile which is all  about keeping the chain on the chainring better   it's got better chain retention to it without  the need for like a chain device or anything   like that to keep the chain on the chainring so  when you're like clattering down a trail the chain   doesn't bounce off the chamber historically uh  one by transmissions tended to have a clutch uh   rederailleur which basically locks the chain down  stops the chain from from slapping more recently   though with two by chain transmissions you you  can still use a clutch rear derailleur on it so   it's still relatively quiet one of the problems  with one by system in my opinion is the jumps   between the gears are pretty huge and it's  certainly if you're riding longer distances   like you know if you're looking at bike packing  for instance and you're going to be doing you're   mixing up your your um terrain going from road to  off-road to gravel to the middle of the the jungle   the jumps between the gears can be a little bit  too great so you go from sort of 80 rpm cadence   all the way up to 100 just in the change of one  gear particularly running a really wide ratio   because you go from like a 10 to sprocket all the  way up to waters it's a 50. 52 yeah so crazy so   you know you're talking very big jumps in in the  differences of the chain of the the cassette rings   uh per gear whereas with a 2 by transmission  you can typically get a wider spread of gears   and and the jumps between them much smaller so i  guess for longer distance more road orientated uh   riding a 2 by transmission works a little bit  better this is the crank that i've just bought for   my um my gravel bike which i'm going to be riding  when we do our next trip that we're not talking   about i'm a big fat slug these days so i've got to  go down to a 31 tooth uh in a chain ring basically   is that getting up the mountain passes place that  we're not going to it's going to be made a lot   more easy especially when you've got like bags and  stuff on the back the bike's loaded up and it's a   lot heavier particularly also like me you don't  really get to ride your bike anymore and you're   not quite so fit arguably add complexity more gear  ranges well that's pretty much it so it can be a   little bit louder and yeah that's it having now  ridden this setup which is a actually a mullet   setup so the rear derailleur is from a mountain  bike one by system uh it is fantastic and best   suited to the stuff that's closest to mountain  biking so if you're doing loads of technical   gravel uploads of really really steep climbs then  100 one by works really well there's nothing wrong   with either of them at the end of the day neither  is better or worse they're they're suited to   different types of riding different conditions  that's the thing though with modern group sets now   having so many gears on the back compared to years  ago where it was like eight speed seven speed   all of it is really good so you can't go  too wrong there are two distinct types of   footwear to be used sandals for stop it what's  your name luckily morton or something there   are two types of footwear there are gravel  shoes and there are mountain biking shoes   yeah in case you haven't noticed the same shoe  typically we use a gravel a mountain bike style   shoe with gravel riding it because it has a  recessed cleat makes it easy to walk around   on when you're pushing your bike up those really  steep climbs better mud shedding ability from the   pedal system there is no such thing as a gravel  shoe it's it's a marketing thing you know so   even even my beloved lake brand they do it they  do a shoe that they mocked as a gravel shoe it's   the same as this shoe but it looks different  they're fundamentally the same thing they use   a recessed spd cleat we can also argue that  the stiffness of the sole is a little bit more   important on a gravel shoe on the ground that  you've got a smaller contact patch so typically   unlike francis gravel riders tend to use an spd  system or a mountain bike system which is a little   bit smaller has a smaller contact patch having a  stiff carbon sole is a little bit more important   because it's going to provide a little bit  more support and stability to your feet   this is the most important part of your  equipment it's more important than your   carbon wheels more important  than your electronic group set   this is where all the power goes or  doesn't as the case usually is for you something in road cycling stems  vary in length they go from sort of   uh 140 ml to down to 60 millimeters  and this is a very effective way of   getting the fit of the bike correct or comfortable  at least and having a short stand can typically   alleviate hand and neck and shoulder issues  but it's worth noting historically road   cycling when you put a stem that looks like  this onto a robot it makes the handling feel   quite scatty and erratic particularly at high  speeds with a gravel bike geometries are quite   different so on a gravel bike you have typically  a slacker head angle so the angle of this of the   the head tube here is typically stacker which  tends to slow up the handling somewhat so   the bike's a little bit more stable uh the front  center is usually longer they got more trail on   the floor they've also got a long wheelbase than  a road bike so you can actually get away with   going quite a lot shorter without negatively  impacting the way that a bike rides so furthermore   there are some and i can't mention this because  i can't actually remember them but there are   some brands out there now that are starting to  make very very long bikes but that are designed   around a very very short step but we're starting  to see certainly in the bike industry as usual   the lines are starting to be blurred so we're  starting to see uh gravel race bikes something   that's a bit more race orientated certainly with  the rise in in in gravel racing uh you know five   years ago that wasn't even a thing historically  i mean historical gravel bikes have sort of   um were sort of derived from endurance bikes  geometry was very very similar for a long time   and we're now with obviously with the the shift to  different wheel sizes and wider tires the geometry   has to change to allow for that typically on a  gravel position you don't generally want it to   be as long and drawn out as you do as you're doing  a road bike you want probably a little bit less   weight over the front of the bike on the grounds  that you uh are less likely to kind of watch the   front wheel out and low sided you kind of want  the front end higher and the reach a little bit   shorter again this car dramatically depends on  the type of writing that you're going to be doing   if you mean gravel race then you know okay maybe  maybe what i've just said isn't actually correct   but i'd say for the vast majority of the viewers i  suspect we're all just going to go out and want to   have a little bit of fun off road rather than some  you know getting a 4x4 trying to murder us on the   roads experiment with short stems shorter stems  what's the shortest stoma you would go for depends   on the size of the bites and depends on the head  angle unfortunately like all things bite fit   related it depends on the needs of the individual  80 mil that marks the end of today's episode of   bike fit tuesdays i hope you're enjoying this  new series i think this will be the first video   to go out if you have any questions please put  them in the comment section down below if you'd   like to book a bug fit with james i'll put the  details in the description down below or any of   my stuff or any of his stuff bicycle in richmond  thank you for watching see you guys next episode

Channel: Cade Media

Views: 142,037

Keywords: cycling, bike, cyclist, race, bicycle, road, francis, cade, bikefit, fit, tips, gravel, offroad, tubeless, 650b, adventure, bikepacking, fitting, pain, power, watts, tricks, beginner

Id: IIpsgm7pdkQ

Length: 10min 43sec (643 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 20 2022