Beginner gravel bike, what to upgrade?
 

Still new in gravel biking. Been roadie all my life, recently acquired a used beginner gravel bike for a song: https://www.rei.com/product/150008/p...adventure-bike
Doesn't want to spend a tons, but like to get some idea on the "low hanging fruit" upgrade that maximize the the value/$. I'm looking at possibly the fork, seatpost and crankset. Lightweight rider, not abusive on bike gears.
TIA.

The 8 speed cassette is a plus. Mostly because it means that a future 8,9,10 speed (11 speed mountain) is a viable future upgrade path.

If it were me, I'd nix the single-piston mechanical brakes ASAP & instead swap in TRP HY/RD calipers & hammer the bike in local conditions for a summer to evaluate what actually needs to change next.

If you don't know what to upgrade, the answer is "nothing."

Try riding the bike for a couple thousand miles, and then decide whether any of the stock parts are holding you back.

Upgrade the brakes only if you feel they are putting you at risk.

A tire upgrade is probably your best bang for the buck. This can be done when you wear the the current ones out.

Pedals, saddle, and handlebar tape are also frequently upgraded, but ride what you have to get an idea for what, if any, deficiencies need to be addressed.

First thing I did was 2nd wheelset with 28mm road tires and a cassette for my flat terrain (12-25). This gave me a 2nd road bike that I can swap wheels on for gravel/dirt use.

lots of ppl start w/ tires, depending on where they ride. love the idea of a free bike tho! :D

I'd probably just ride the OP's bike as-is, maybe with a few changes to preference items like tires, handlebar tape, pedals and saddle. Certainly a new fork or seat post isn't going to make any difference at all other than shaving some (meaningless) weight. It's a steel frame gravel bike riding on 38mm tires - so it's probably a pretty plush ride already and will never be a weight weenie build.

The main negative I see with this bike is the 2x8 drivetrain. If I had money burning a hole in my pocket, I'd upgrade the entire drivetrain to something like SRAM AXS which would get hydro brakes and electronic 12sp shifting. I realize this would exceed the cost of the entire bike, but a groupset like this could always be transferred to another bike in the future.

For now do the tires and saddle and pedals and make sure it's mechanically sound and go ride. Refine the fit if you want to fiddle with something.

The problem with "upgrading" a cheap bike is that standards for nice parts are drifting away from standards for cheap parts, and many of the nice parts are designed to work together in a way that discourages piecemeal upgrades. Good brakes = new brifters with hydraulic levers which probably = new derailleurs and drivetrain which = new rear hub and that probably = new wheelset. You are just better off getting all that stuff at once up front.

Best advice ^^^

There are lots of things you could upgrade, but many of them might make very little to zero difference in your riding experience. That said, the first thing I pay attention to with a new bike is fit, which may take some time on the bike to decide what really needs to change, and what can just be adjusted for your preferences. For me, cranks, fork, and seatpost are usually pretty far down the list of priorities. Saddle, pedals, handlebar/stem, and tires would be at the top.

This^^^.

Tires will be the best bang for the buck and can really make a huge difference.

If the saddle is not comfy, try a different one. If you are interested on going clipless, get clipless pedals and shoes. Or if you want to stick with flats, there are most likely nicer flat pedals out there then what is on there now. Pedals and saddles can be transferred to your next bike, so you won't be pouring too much into just this bike.

Seatpost, fork, crankset... I would definitely not bother with those. Very little return on investment, and I would not be throwing a lot of money at this bike at this point.

Convert to tubeless and upgrade to decent hydraulic brakes. After that, ride it until something breaks or wears out and upgrade those parts then.

Going hydraulic will mean new shifters.

Does shimano even make hydraulic 2x8 shifters?

Then HY/RDs. Or even Spyres if hydros aren't do-able. Those Promax mechanicals are as bad or worse than BB5s.

My first choice would be to ride it until I know what needs to be changed, or what I want to change, as several posters recommended.

If you just have to change something, get new bar tape. In a brighter color. You'll see that more than any other change, you can say to yourself "Look at how I upgraded my new bike," and if you save the rest of your Christmas cash, you'll have a down payment when you decided what else needs to be changed.

agree - the Promax mech discs are bad - one of the worst performing brakes I’ve ridden in recent years ... that includes low end cantilever brakes

so if the bike is going to be ridden - I would consider switch to Spyres (or Avid BB whatever .. BB7 ?) ... with a decent pad (Swiss Stop ?) maybe they will provide better braking

a good set of tires would be a plus

but would not go too far - a standard / straight gauge steel frame is not worth sinking much more $$$

Yup. The Promaxes are essentially BB5s -- they share the same pads and horrible modulation. But IMO, BB7s are at best a "lateral" upgrade; single-piston brakes just require a lot of caliper-fiddling and/or rotor-truing; especially with QR wheels. A set of Juin Tech hybrid brakes might be a good alternative. I agree on not sinking too much into the bike, but mech or hybrid brakes can be moved to a new frame.

As others have said above, limit your upgrades to seat, pedals, and tires. Go tubeless if you can. Ride the snot out of this bike and have fun. I don't think going with lighter weight components is all that important on a gravel bike unless you're racing. Also, upgrading components on a lower-cost bike can get expensive and you might be better served saving your money for a new bike and keeping this as a backup or bad-weather bike.

I have the BB7 brakes on my gravel bike and I am definitely looking to upgrade them to hydraulic. They do work very well; When you have them adjusted perfectly, but that requires constant adjustment and I even crashed once because the pads wore out very quickly when riding in heavy rain/dirt, and I didn’t tighten the pad adjustment before hitting a descendant and found out too late the brakes were no longer functional.

If you live where there are goathead stickers or puncture vines, you have to go tubeless. Not really any other option. That may or may not mean a wheel and tire upgrade. I disagree with people saying to change the brakes to a bettter mech brake first. That all depends on where you live or ride as well. I've put thousands of miles on a bike with 160mm rotors and BB5 brakes and they have been just fine. I don't ride in the rain and I take it easy on them on big descents. Ride them until you decide what to do with the bike. Maybe a different bike is in your future but if not, THEN start looking for drivetrain/brakes.

If you are comfortable with working on your own rig and decide to keep it, watch Pinkbike for a hydraulic 2x11 drivetrain, the obvious best upgrade for your rig. I've seen some good deals for used groupsets there. If you aren't a competitive rider with speed as the main goal, comfort will quickly become priority 1. The road to bigger tubeless tires, carbon fork and bars, Redshift stem all starts in the pursuit of comfort but will be secondary to drivetrain.

Tires then gear the bike for what you actually ride. If you ride a lot of hills and your first gear is not low enough change them. If you do mostly flat and want tighter space gearing you might want a closer ratio casette. Most bikes are way over geared for top speed. Your bike has 48 front 11 back which is good for 30 mph. No one bikes at 30 mph. A few might sprint to 30 mph for a minute or two.

Without knowing how the bike is to be ridden and the condition it’s in, it’s not possible to say what the “low-hanging fruit” upgrades are.

I mean, beyond cosmetic improvements, what might be a great upgrade for the weekend warrior tackling challenging, local gravel races and events, is probably not a high-value or even noticeable upgrade for rider doing Sunday cider mill runs on rail trails.

low-end mechanical disc brakes - without better pads and meticulous setup and attention - are barely adequate for rail trails

a change to Spyres or similar would be an mprovement

since the bike is 8 spd - a move to 10 spd hydraulic might be an option ? find a reasonably priced 10 spd hydraulic group of take-off parts - Tiagra 4720 10 speed or similar - from someone selling to upgrade their bike to 11 spd