base2 

I have a Rodriguez, built to my specifications for what I thought would be suitable for any road on any continent on the planet. Features such as: S&S couplings & 26 inch wheels for airline travel, Rolhoff & dynamo hubs, good & strong Velocity Cliffhanger rims for wide tubeless tires, super extended chain stays & a slack head tube for stability under crushing load of expedition gear.

The end of Garcia road by Richard Mozzarella, on Flickr

What I hadn't anticipated when I commissioned the Rodriguez nearly 4 years ago was the need for tires larger than 2.1 inches for road use. Gravel roads are still roads, after all. Currently "Bessie" is adjourned with Compass 559x58 (54 actual) tires at 35 psi & I've found myself seeking roads that the Strava Global heatmap show as untraveled.

3 times yesterday while climbing roads that the guys in lifted Jeeps usually seek out to crawl around in 4/low, I bottomed out on the sharp jagged rocks.

Bottoming out while crawling slowly enough to gingerly pick & choose my line & avoid the rim banging bigger chunk (both up & down) got me to thinkin' a mountain bike would be better suited for these "roads" I've been riding.

Is there a "gravel" bike that will take wider than 58mm tires? Is there a modern, current production, rigid "mountain" bike that a drop bar conversion would make sense for?

Where do you draw the line between "gravel" & "mountain?"

mstateglfr 

Your desire and situation is so far beyond the sweet spot that gravel bikes are designed for that you should definitely look elsewhere. You have 2.25" tires and need something wider? That is very much fatbike/MTB territory.
Find something with boost spacing and a wide crankset, then go have fun.


As for gravel roads being roads, yes I agree and that is how I approach cycling. But what you describe are not gravel roads in any common use of the term than I have heard. Nobody needs lifted jeeps to travel on any gravel road I have ridden.
That isnt to say there needs to be an argument over what is or isnt 'gravel' because that is quite pointless. The actual point here is that what you seek is something very much at the far end of the spectrum. Maybe a drop bar fat bike would be good for your style of riding?

Rolla

Bikes like the Surly Ghost Grappler will accommodate 2.8" tires if you run 27.5" (650B) wheels.



Some 27.5" bikes can also run "26 +" wheels and tires, up to 3" wide.

msu2001la

I'll admit that I'm typically more on the road end of the gravel spectrum, but I have never understood the desire to run drop bars on MTB's or fat bikes. The line for me is around 45-50mm. Beyond that, I'm on a flat bar MTB.

katsup

The new Ritchey Ascent came to mind after reading the OP
https://us.ritcheylogic.com/us_en/bi...scent-frameset

​It's a bike I'd love to try one day.

dgodave

I'm on the "adventure" side of "gravel". I do lots of rides that link up pavement, clean gravel roads, chunky dirt roads or roads with mushy or powdery dirt, and challenging singletrack. I find a 2.4" tire is a good compromise on a rigid drop bar bike.- but not an MTB with suspension.

Chilepines

Lael Wilcox rode the 2019 Tour Divide on a Specialized Epic hardtail with drop bars and 2.1 inch tires. A Salsa Cutthroat can handle 700c x 2.4 tires.
From the looks of your Rodriguez I'm guessing you bottom out on the chainring. Couldn't you just put a smaller ring on?

zandoval 

Lets see... you were on a gravel bike in the mountains???

Man it looks like you have a nice bike. I would not change anything on it...

chaadster

Sounds like a call for a Michigan-made Bearclaw. Beaux Jaxson is their rop bar, gravel geo, built around 27.5x3” or 700x2.6” rubber, and Towmak goes fat 27.5x4.5” or 26x5 with gravel friendly geo and drop bars:

https://bearclawbicycleco.com/beaux-...vel-plus-bike/

https://bearclawbicycleco.com/towmak/

rumrunn6

base2 

Whoa! Hey guys, these are all great suggestions. The field has evidently come a long ways in the last little bit.

Owning a 2016 Ascent Breakaway for what I call "fast gravel" I hadn't realized the new one is so much more capable. At $1300 it is a pretty compelling suggestion.

The Towmak: As wicked as that thing looks, I have a feeling I'd like to ride one first. I've been on the look out for a MukLuk ever since a customer brought one in to the shop. So, yeah. They're cool but, they seem like a bridge too far for me for anything but snow. For that I have Zwift. The Beaux Jaxon however seems like the backside of the new Ritchey Ascent coin.

The Cutthroat: TBH the Cutty had crossed my mind after I hit "Post" on post number one. I like the idea it is suspension corrected but isn't appreciably different than what I have now.

Lael is just awesome. For reasons not germane to the discussion, I'd rather not discuss Specialized though. They are out of contention.

The Surly Ghost Grappler is another one I'll need to consider. I had never heard of it until just now.

Thanks guys! I'm off to a good start with 4 solid suggestions & it looks like I have some homework to do. ​​​​​​​

dwmckee

Open WI.DE. handles 2.4 inch. Salsa Cutthroat may be close to that. Bombtrack Beyond maybe is in there too.

dwmckee

Nice build BTW!

tangerineowl

https://bikepacking.com/index/650b-gravel-bikes/

Going to a 27.5x2.1+ tyre will get the cranks off the rocks in most cases.

In the smallest sizes, some of the above 27.5 bikes/framesets are designed around a big 26 [2.6-2-8] like a couple of the Crust bikes there.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bluelug/32804026247

Monkey Face

Please indulge me, so I can understand this better. What do you mean by 'bottoming out'? My definition of that would be the cranks hitting objects as I pedal, so the obvious answer is a higher BB and slightly shorter crank arms - and 700c rims to provide more clearance (most likely a different bike). If it's tyres that are 'flattening', then tubeless tyres are the answer, and/or slightly more pressure. If it's bottoming out on gear selection, then it's the wrong choice of chainset and/or cassette. Am I missing something? Thanks.

Gorgeous bike, by the way, but is it possible that it's the wrong bike for the terrain?
.

base2 

"Bottoming out" = banging rim on rocks.

"Bottoming out" does not mean not low enough gears. 17.5 gear inches is plenty low for any terrain I have ever rode. Going lower has proven largely gratuitous as there isn't enough purchase per pedal stroke to get moving again if for whatever reason you lose traction, stop, or roll off the back side of a big rock. 17gi is about the bottom of being practical IME, for me.

Bottoming out does not refer to pedal strike or chain ring strike. (At least I haven't yet) The bike was designed with the pedal spindle at 11.5 inches from ground. So fairly high as far as road bikes go. I'm savvy as to crank arm position.

Currently, on this bike, as stated in the original post, I'm running tubeless 35psi on 559x58 (54 actual) tires. Running higher pressure has killed a few tires. IME the casing & tread separate. I had a Panaracer thread about that.
What I need is more distance between the rim & the rocks that they call a road. Hence the ask for similarly capable bikes that can accommodate taller rubber.

I've put a Surly Ghost Grappler on my shopping list but QBP does not have any in stock. Departing the implications of the 2022 Ascent now.

Oh, & thanks! It is an awesome bike. Perhaps that is why I keep pushing it to it's limits!

Rolla

Framesets in stock here: https://www.philbricks.com/surly-gho...-frameset.html

I'm about a week away from pulling the trigger on one, myself. (Technically, it's a 2021 model, btw.)

base2 

Aargh! Extra Large is all that's left.
Good lookin' out though.