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Gravel newbie asking for advice

Old 06-13-19, 02:15 PM
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D34THNOTE
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Gravel newbie asking for advice

Hello, so as you guessed from the title, I'm new to the more "sporty" bikes, I got myself Romet Aspre because it was pretty cheap as for gravel bike, there are probably better options that I didn't even consider, maybe I got too excited, or maybe it's a decent bike for it's price? There's the link so that you can see what it's got and inform me if I made good decision: *link that I can't post because I'm new*

But that's not the main concern of mine, I actually started thinking if I shouldn't have picked up an road bike instead, what got me thinking that is the fact that on my first ride Google Maps was saying that I was going about 30km/h at best(and also on average), which is merely +/- 5km/h more than I could do on average on my MBT(measured by speedometer, dunno how accurate Google maps is). Now I guess that things like pain in the back and weird feeling in knee(not pain, just got feeling like I have to sort of move my leg to get rid of it which doesn't work) are things I'd have to deal with on either gravel or road bikes, what concerns me the most is the fact that riding so far hasn't been that much easier, I felt like wind was limiting my speed even more than on MBT, that's actually good question, why do I sometimes have to slow down because I feel like there's wind slowing me down where there's almost none at all, and other times on the same road I don't feel it at all(and there's still almost now wind blowing in any direction)

So my real question is, how faster is road bike really? I know I can change tyres which would help a bit probably, although I don't do much riding in forests and stuff like this, I do like idea of versatility because I do sometimes go off road and roads aren't the best where I live either, that's why I chose gravel in the first place, I don't plan to do any races, I just wanted a bit more speed on tarmac and keep possibility to go through forests, sand etc.

My english is not the best as well, but I hope everything's clear, as you can see I have basically no knowledge about bikes and riding so I might not understand words which are popular in bike community.
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Old 06-13-19, 04:10 PM
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Old 06-13-19, 04:29 PM
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Is this the bike you bought? I'm not familiar with your currency or bike values where you live, so I can't say whether that's a good deal. Looks like a perfectly functional bike to me, though.

I don't think you'll gain much from going to a road bike. My local bike club's website lists 3 groups for most club rides: racers, fast riders, and leisure riders, with typical average speeds of 20 mph, 18 mph, and 15 mph respectively. 30kmh works out to about 18 mph, so if you're keeping that kind of pace riding solo without the benefit of a paceline, you're doing pretty well!

Ride what you have for awhile. I'd make sure you have a good fit before I'd start shopping for a new bike.
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Old 06-13-19, 04:39 PM
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Originally Posted by D34THNOTE
So my real question is, how faster is road bike really?
A road bike is 7% faster than a gravel bike.*

It's faster mainly because it places you in a more aerodynamic position, which is less comfortable; and the tires are skinnier (which, again, is less comfortable).


* 7% faster is just a guess.
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Old 06-13-19, 08:10 PM
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Originally Posted by ted_major
Is the bike you bought? I'm not familiar with your currency or bike values where you live, so I can't say whether that's a good deal. Looks like a perfectly functional bike to me, though.

I don't think you'll gain much from going to a road bike. My local bike club's website lists 3 groups for most club rides: racers, fast riders, and leisure riders, with typical average speeds of 20 mph, 18 mph, and 15 mph respectively. 30kmh works out to about 18 mph, so if you're keeping that kind of pace riding solo without the benefit of a paceline, you're doing pretty well!

Ride what you have for awhile. I'd make sure you have a good fit before I'd start shopping for a new bike.
I'm not thinking about buying another one, I just sort of wanted to know if gravel was really smart choice(that's what I initially thought), it's price is around $730 I believe so, from what I know, it's pretty cheap as for gravel bike, it is also the cheapest out of all Romet gravel bikes

I also wanted to get to know anything about that wind thing I mentioned and weird feeling in knee(which I was also getting when I played racing games on wheel with pedals but I guess I used to sit wrong and got "it" even harder than now from one ride)

But if it's a fine bike and I don't really lose that much, I'm happy, I don't care if the difference is like 5% faster, I'm still kinda surprised it's not insanely better than MTB, I'd actually say that after 18km I was way more tired than I'd be after doing this distance on my MTB but maybe I have to get used to it
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Old 06-17-19, 12:24 PM
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Discomfort in the knee sounds like more of an issue with bike fit than gravel vs. road bike. You might try asking over in the bike fitting sub-forum.
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Old 06-18-19, 01:27 AM
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Originally Posted by ted_major
Discomfort in the knee sounds like more of an issue with bike fit than gravel vs. road bike. You might try asking over in the bike fitting sub-forum.
^^^^ +1 for this .... especially if you weren't having any issues with your MTB.

First things you could compare is saddle height measured from the middle of the pedal axle and how far the saddle is fore/aft relative to the same using a plumb line ... would at least give you a comparable starting point.
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Old 06-18-19, 04:09 AM
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Originally Posted by tyrion
A road bike is 7% faster than a gravel bike.*

It's faster mainly because it places you in a more aerodynamic position, which is less comfortable; and the tires are skinnier (which, again, is less comfortable).


* 7% faster is just a guess.
This is very bad information.
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Old 06-18-19, 04:12 AM
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Originally Posted by D34THNOTE
Hello, so as you guessed from the title, I'm new to the more "sporty" bikes, I got myself Romet Aspre because it was pretty cheap as for gravel bike, there are probably better options that I didn't even consider, maybe I got too excited, or maybe it's a decent bike for it's price? There's the link so that you can see what it's got and inform me if I made good decision: *link that I can't post because I'm new*

But that's not the main concern of mine, I actually started thinking if I shouldn't have picked up an road bike instead, what got me thinking that is the fact that on my first ride Google Maps was saying that I was going about 30km/h at best(and also on average), which is merely +/- 5km/h more than I could do on average on my MBT(measured by speedometer, dunno how accurate Google maps is). Now I guess that things like pain in the back and weird feeling in knee(not pain, just got feeling like I have to sort of move my leg to get rid of it which doesn't work) are things I'd have to deal with on either gravel or road bikes, what concerns me the most is the fact that riding so far hasn't been that much easier, I felt like wind was limiting my speed even more than on MBT, that's actually good question, why do I sometimes have to slow down because I feel like there's wind slowing me down where there's almost none at all, and other times on the same road I don't feel it at all(and there's still almost now wind blowing in any direction)

So my real question is, how faster is road bike really? I know I can change tyres which would help a bit probably, although I don't do much riding in forests and stuff like this, I do like idea of versatility because I do sometimes go off road and roads aren't the best where I live either, that's why I chose gravel in the first place, I don't plan to do any races, I just wanted a bit more speed on tarmac and keep possibility to go through forests, sand etc.

My english is not the best as well, but I hope everything's clear, as you can see I have basically no knowledge about bikes and riding so I might not understand words which are popular in bike community.
Looks like your bike comes with Michelin Power Gravel 40 knobby tires. Put some tires like the Gravel King Slick 32c's and you'll be flying. Your bike will handle just as a road bike does.
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Old 06-18-19, 04:48 AM
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Originally Posted by Hmmm
Looks like your bike comes with Michelin Power Gravel 40 knobby tires. Put some tires like the Gravel King Slick 32c's and you'll be flying. Your bike will handle just as a road bike does.
Funnily enough I was doing some research on the GK slicks literally an hour ago as I run SK's on my gravel bike in the winter and came to the conclusion they're great tyres if you like getting lots of punctures.
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Old 06-18-19, 04:51 AM
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On the wind thing, for myself , I know there are days when I take a certain amount of satisfaction in boring a hole through the wind and other days when the wind bores a hole through me. On those off days, pick a steady pace that can be maintained. Often, as muscles warm up everything feels better. On the speed thing, the amount of energy it takes to propel a bike from the middle range of speed to high speed increases expotentially.

The link, Bicycle Speed And Power Calculator is a mini-program to calculate speed verses power for a variety of cyclists. You can play around with the program and see how power requirements vary under different circumstances. One of the variables is tires. The faster you go the more important smooth road slicks will be.
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