timacn

I rode a Kona Rove Steel and liked it, but the gearing seems rather limited for climbing hills. I believe it has a 40 tooth chainring and an 11-42 cassette. (I think this yields something like 26.8 gear inches for inclines. Check me on this as I'm not real clear on all of these calculations!) Is this acceptable for hills for the aging "recreational" rider? Thanks.

Spoonrobot 

Bicycle Gear Calculator for the gear calc.

What do you normally ride? What kind of hills do you have in your area?

What was previously a pretty "normal" low gear for gravel bikes - 36x32 - is 31 gi with 700x40 tires. For me personally this works for most of the areas I ride but there are going to be a climb or two in the mountains where if it's loose or wet I'll have to get off and walk 1/4 mile or so. Those climbs I can ride with ~20 gear inches, to give you an idea of what lower gearing can do. With 20 gear inches I can ride anything I care to and honestly that's about the point where it's faster to walk, for me.

If you go to a 36 front ring you end up with 23.8 gi which is a significant improvement despite the small incremental change.

My advice? Ride the bike around until you find a weakness and then make a change. 40x42 may be fine for all the riding you'll do.

pbass

I ride a 2019 Rove ST in and around the mountains here in SoCal. I'm 59 and pretty strong, but as you say, "aging" And it is STEEP around here.

I put a Wolf Tooth 34T on the front and I'm glad I did. Still not quite "mountain bike low", but way better for where I live and still plenty of top end for me on the road, since I ride about 70/30 dirt/road and I don't care about speed that much (if I'm on a fast road descent, I may run out of gear, but I'm fine with coasting at those speeds). If you spend more time on the road, or you don't live somewhere too hilly then you may not need to go that low. I agree, ride it first, see if you need more low end.

https://www.jensonusa.com/Wolf-Tooth...oad-Chainrings

mstateglfr 

40-42 is decently low, but depending on the terrain you ride and fitness ability, it may not be enough. Totally reasonable to need easier gearing.

As mentioned, just try it and get a smaller front ring if needed.

...or use a 2x setup since it will allow you to get low gearing and high gearing at the same time.

rosefarts

I climbed South Rampart Range Road bear Colorado Springs today with those exact gears. I rode a ways, got very tired, and had no trouble staying on the bike.

The first couple hours when i was more energetic, i never got lower than 36. I used the 42 a lot more as the day wore on.

On a steel bike with 700x40, a 40-42 is a 4.5-5 mph gear at a decent cadence. I’m considering a switch to a 42 ring, to get better use out of my cassette.

timacn

Impressive riding for sure, but you seem to be in a lot better shape than I am. The Kona Sutra and the Salsa Marrakesh are both steel bikes with triple chain rings. They are considered to be touring bikes but both can supposedly do well on gravel and I would appreciate the extra gear choices. Perhaps I should consider those instead of the Rove.

Hmmm

It depends on what you really want to do with the bike and how you want it to handle. Like others have said you can always put a smaller chainring on it.

MAGAIVER

You can always put on a smaller chainring or a bigger Sunrace Cassete, I have a Sunrace 11-46 on my fat bike with XTM8000 derailleur and it works really well, rode a friends bike with a Surnace 11-50 on an SLX M7000 derailleur and it seemed even better. Those cassetes should work with Sram derailleurs as well and they are not a very expensive upgrade.