Apostrophere

Hi there. I kind of just wanted to introduce myself and ask a few questions. I live in the portland, OR area which is home to a rich culture of cycling of all manners. I had been using my girlfriends far too small for me hybrid cruiser bike and punishing it off road and it was definitely time to get my own. I decided on the Poseidon x due to its features and styling.

Does anyone have any recommendations on modifications that should be made early on? One thing I was looking at was adding cross brake levers but I realized there are several different sizes available and no specs on the bar size from the manufacturers website. Is there standard sizes or any knowledge you all could share on the matter? Anyone know of any great areas to take a gravel bike near portland? I look forward to getting to know you all and learning about the hobby. =)

zen_

I would not personally install cross / satellite levers on the tops unless you have a medical issue that prevents you from doing your riding on the hoods and hooks like you should. It's actually a pet peeve of mine to see so many gravel bikers that ride on the tops all the time where they have little control off-road, and never use the drop bar hooks for fast riding / descents / really hard terrain. If it's that much of a problem, I strongly encourage the use of a flat bar bike (which Poseidon also sells). No shame in that at all to ride better, and more safely.

As far as improvements to the bike, I would probably ditch the OE tires for some tubeless GravelKings myself, and convert the existing rims with gorilla tape, and some tubeless valves. Not completely necessary, but you may as well learn how to setup tubeless tires right from the start if you actually want to ride gravel regularly.

Apostrophere

Hmm. I see your point about the cross levers. The idea seemed appealing to me to have versatility for different riding conditions and situations. I guess for now I will just try it as is and see if it meets my needs as is.

What are the benefits of tubeless?

mstateglfr 

Cross levers aren't what I would want for gravel. My kids have them on their drop bar road bikes and thats only because its easier for them to reach the interruptor brakes. Its out of sheer habit, really.
For sketchy surfaces, a wider hand stance is more stable.

As for changes to the bike...
I would ride it before looking into changes. I may love or hate the microshift 1x wide range drivetrain. I may love or hate the brakes.
etc etc etc.

Based off 2021 specs, I would guess tires would be the first thing I would change. I would get quality wider tires since I like 40-43mm for my gravel. And if the rims are tubeless compatible, then I would buy tubeless tires.
A quality tire will be lighter and roll faster than the stock Kenda tires.

tyrion

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV9...sJfe3Rev5PWy-Q

https://www.omtm.cc/

These guys (Dustin Klein and his "Our Mother the Mountain" friends) are hard core, with 100+ mile gravel rides, but it might give you some ideas for some shorter rides.

dwmckee

Well, If you have not bought it yet I'd stay away from the Poseidon. We just got one in our gravel shop for assembly and while at first glance it looks nice, we are finding the quality overall very low. Most components on it are cheap/marginal and the frame alignment is making it hart do finely tune the drivetrain. It is probably a step above a Huffy or a Roadmaster, but not a big step. If you can stretch your budget a couple hundred bucks maybe one of the Claris or Sora equipped aluminum frame options from Salsa, Jamis or possibly Giant probably would be a better choice.

tyrion

There's just not much available right now in the bike world.

dwmckee

Yes, but from what we saw in the Poseidon, it is worth doing without for a few months and picking something up when the 2021 lineup rolls out this fall. Especially if you can save up a couple hundred more bucks

Apostrophere

Appreciate the input. I already paid for it but its just a pre order. Do you know of anything better in the same price range? It might not be too late to cancel the order. It was attractive looking. (something weirdly missing from a lot of bikes) Had disc brakes which is something that usually isnt in this price range. Had the drop handles. Had the frame configuration that would accomodate larger tires. Has a life time warranty on the frame. It seemed like a lot of bike for $700.

Elvo

https://www.statebicycle.com/collect...-tan-650b-700c

Apostrophere

That one looks pretty cool minus the color but its not available. Thats been the problem. Everything seems to be out of stock.

zen_

Given the current state of the bike market (hardly anything to buy), if you're in line for a pre-order that is shipping next week, I would stay on it. The Microshift Advent drivetrain has got pretty good reviews, and I think for most people it is a better option than a 2x8 Claris drivetrain.

The only other bike I would even consider myself is the Giant Revolt 2 (alloy) @ $1K if you can find one at a shop. Price jumps up, but it's a quality bike at that price with everything you need to enjoy gravel biking.

dwmckee

The entry level Giant Revolt, or the Salsa Journeyman Claris, or the Jamis Renegade A1. These are all a bit more expensive, but all are much better quality. The Poseidon we worked on required over $100 in tuning and parts swapping to get it into condition that is still well below the bikes I mentioned above. The purchaser did not really save anything and got a bike I bet he is going to stop riding because it has so many 'issues'... When he has any issues he has to bring it to a shop and pay list rates to get it fixed. If he had problems with a name-brand bike he gets the warranty work and service of a dealer that stands behind what he sells.

In the interest of full disclosure, I own a bike shop, but I am just laying out the facts. You may not have the same problems as the Poseidon we just worked on, but if you do, buyer be ware.

Waitig a month or two for new stock to come in and maybe saving an extra $150-$200 in that time may be a far better alternative in the long run.

Apostrophere

I appreciate the advice. I think im ok with a cheap shoddy bike. At least to begin with. It will be used no matter what. Ive been riding a womens hybrid cruiser that is far far too small for me and using it like a gravel bike so really just about anything is a step up right now. May i ask what kind of work, tuning, and parts it needed? Can you be more specific about its shortcomings?

zen_

I appreciate what dwmckee has to say, and I think that all bike-in-box setups are going to require at least some tuning to get right. Even if it's perfect, the cables will require some adjustment after initial stretch. If you plan on doing any gravel adventures out in the sticks, and / or doing some serious weekly miles without constantly running to the bike shop and having downtime w/o a bike, you have to learn how to do your own maintenance and field repairs.

If the bike sucks and you hate it, you can also sell bikes very quickly now on craiglist / fb marketplace. You might not even lose money to be honest if you don't break anything.

dwmckee

We had to do a full tuneup first, brakes were rubing and shifting off, had to reset one stop on derailleur and straighten derailleur hanger to get alignment propper. Still had to spend significant time to keep it from overshifting one gear in the larger side of cassette. Wound up replacing the cassette as it had a wobble that made precise tuning difficult. Everything was a chore to tune. Had to true the rear wheel a bit too though it was rideable. Felt like tuning a $95 Walmart Mongoose that you can never get quite right. Nice paint job though and it did look cool. Some may be better than others, but I bet from what I saw that out of the box if you are not pretty handy you will need to have a mechanic go over it completely to get is riding reasonably well and that should be figured into the cost.

I guess this has to be a nice step up from what yo are riding now though!