Germany_chris

I don't understand Bike Forums heartburn with gravel bikes/adventure bikes, drop bars, brazeons, slacker geometry, and big tires what's not to like?

JaccoW

Roadies. C&V is a bit more accepting as many members ride wider tyres like 650B.

gthomson

Hey thanks for the extensive reply and information on gravel bikes. I was mostly trying to generate response from what people were doing as a C&V solution to a gravel bike and it looks like a lot of people have some answers. You are correct, I am a roadie and I know very little about what gravel products are out there or their price which is why I come to these forums to get advice from helpful people with way more experience on the topic than me. I also trust this experience, more than some kid at a bike store.
I'm really happy with the responses from this post and seeing what other members are using as a gravel bike from bikes that are not new. I don't have any plans on going out and buying anything new until I try something several times before I decide it's something I want to pursue, so the option of using a C&V bike is what I would start with and then go from there.

CrowSeph

yes i do! and i love so much this bike.
video is old actually i have changed a few things for a better use. When i have some free time i'll make an update video.

mstateglfr 

Early 90s hybrids are a great way to start. Low cost and you can figure out what you like or dislike then go from there once you know more.
Univega Via line, Schwinn Crosscut, Schwinn Crisscross, Trek 730, Trek 750, Miyata TripleCross, etc etc. All are 700c, readily accept modern drivetrains, can handle wide tires, and are relatively inexpensive to convert.

jdawginsc 

You must cry every time a piece of gravel gets kicked up at that beauty!

martl

my 1960 Rabeneick 100 Modell Campagnolo is pretty gravelly if you put some Challenge Grifos on

Salamandrine 

Just an aside but we don't really have many actual gravel roads in California. I'm sure there's some somewhere, but they aren't common. I remember seeing more when I was a kid. Dirt roads are typically dirt. Usually it's got enough clay in it to stay together, but they can get pretty sandy in summertime. Occasionally I'll come across fire and access roads that are spread with railroad 'gravel', which is more like sharp walnut sized rocks. Those roads sure are a joy...

I remember a lot of those sort of in between roads where they spray down some tar, and spread gravel across it. I forget what they're called. Haven't seen one in a long time.

Therefore, I don't have any gravel bikes.

Lemond1985

There's plenty of gravel roads in CA, but they all have "No Trespassing" signs. Access roads, frontage roads, logging roads, they're all over the place and they mostly have limited access. I do ignore the signs around RR Tracks, and have never been arrested or chastised by anyone except people on this board. PG&E has lots of access roads I would love to try out, but I'm not sure they're quite as mellow as the RR companies, being convicted murderers manslaughterers and all:

https://www.npr.org/2020/06/16/87900...rted-that-fire

noglider 

Same here. I've ridden gravel on fancy-dancy road racing bikes. I was on a group ride with a gang of about ten cyclists on the Old Croton Aqueduct trail. It's a pretty rough trail though it's not hilly. One guy asked me WHY I'm riding it on a road racing bikes with narrow tires. My answer was that it was all I had, as I had loaned out my bike with 32mm tires to the fellow who came with me.

This is the bike I recently built for a multitude of purposes. It's a 1971 Raleigh Super Course. I spread the rear triangle to 130mm and installed a modern-ish 2x8 drivetrain and 700x37 tires.

BFisher

This bike has seen some gravel, and it was a joy. Sturmey-Archer AW hub, and 32mm tires.



That trail has some sections that are bigger, looser pieces. If I wanted to seek out gravel roads exclusively I wouldn't hesitate to take this bike.

Lots of varied builds shown already. If you can get the gearing and tire width you want, then you can build it. One can spend a couple hundred or a couple thousand, but could ride gravel either way.

gugie 

What constitutes a gravel bike depends on what your gravel looks like. If you're riding, say, the Iron Horse Trail in Washington or the Katy Trail in Missouri, you can get by with 25mm tires and "racing" gearing. If you're riding the North Trask trail from Portland to Tillamook, you'd better have much lower gearing and wider tires. If you're riding single track with rocks and roots in your path, you probably want to go with 2" or wider tires and flat bars, ie, a mountain bike.

All of these can be done on a C&V frame, choice of which depends on tire width and gearing required.

gugie 

A bit of an overstatement. When I lived in the Bay Area I found plenty of dirt roads in most of the counties ringing the bay.

Bolinas Ridge is as good an example as you'll find anywhere, with views as great as you'll find anywhere.

gugie 

California is a huge state. I grew up in the Central Valley, a short drive would take you up in the foothills of the Sierra which are full of gravel roads. I rode up Mt. Tamalpais on a touring bike a couple of years ago with my buddy Jim G. 700c x 35's work well for most gravel, I've found.



Marin and Sonoma County are full of unpaved roads.

Lemond1985

Yes, all counties in California are pretty much like Marin County.

I should have said that "where I live" the gravel roads are generally private. Somebody had to build and dedicate those Bolinas Ridge trails and spend millions, they aren't just power line access roads that the company lets people ride on. In the poorer areas of the state, this kind of stuff simply does not happen. And I'm not complaining. That's just the way it is, where i live anyway.

Salamandrine 

True 'nuff. Are they still there? I was born in the Central Valley and spent a lot of time there in my youth. I remember gravel roads that were spread with actual gravel, but I haven't seen one in ages.

Nice pic, btw. I suppose you took one of the fire roads or trails up? I've ridden up Mt Tam lots of times, but only up the road on my road bike. It always seems like it's never going to end.

gugie 

Mt. Tam up Railroad Grade. Yep, never ends. We stopped at West Point Inn for a break.

Above Fresno there's a lot of dirt/gravel roads. My sister built a house near Friant, plenty of places to ride up there. There are a lot of private roads, but you can find places to ride without much effort. Oregon has forestry roads built for logging, and has tons of them. The neat thing is that most of them have to be open to the public for recreation by law. If you go on a week day, they're closed off to cars and motorcycles, which is why I prefer M-F rides when I can take a day off from work.

I think when we talk about gravel riding, we're really talking about unpaved roads. On the west coast, gravel is usually laid down on sections that get worn out quickly or are very muddy. Most of the "gravel" riding I do is on a combination of dirt and gravel.

Is this gravel?


I think we'd all agree that this is gravel, and wider tires may have kept me upright:



Dirt roads on 700 x 32s

droppedandlost 

I stuffed 38mm tires in there

BlueDevil63 

This one uses almost all vintage components too.

Lemond1985

Seeing those rocks, I suddenly understand why everyone and their dog on this board, is always saying "Wider is better!" "Go with no smaller than a 40 mm tires", etc.

We don't have that kind of gravel in my area. It's more just "unpaved roads". Of which there are quite a few. 28's are usually fine on them.

gugie 

For those thinking that there's not much gravel riding in California, here's a list.

If you're looking for gravel in the PNW and can't find any...

gugie 

Yeah, gravel is local.

I've ridden that particular route several times, and it varies year to year. In this picture I'm riding next to a reservoir, the local water authorities dumped some fresh gravel in this section. After my front end slid out (wasn't going very fast, so twas only a flesh wound) I decided to build a bike with wider tires. My North Trask was born in my mind that day.

To prove yoru point, here's a pic from our good buddy @Drillium Dude on the Ironhorse Trail heading east from North Bend, Washington. He's riding 25mm sewups, picture taken with no hands while riding



Eastern Washington, out in the Palouse ( ride graciously organized by @scozim) we rode some actual gravel. I'm on 33 1/3"s, I think we had as narrow as 28's on this stuff, rideable just fine if you were a bit careful. That's @rccardr up front, as usual - Doc, you riding 28's that day?

Picture courtesy of @Drillium Dude

droppedandlost 

It's because it's in your knee?

rccardr 

Yes,those were ContiGP4000 SII’s size 28.Really too narrow for the loose gravel we had that day, 38 or 44 X 650 would have been more appropriate.

#righttoolforthejob

pcb 

I don't have much gravel/trail around metro NYC/NJ without driving, but I have some converted rail trails and hiking trails nearby that kinda link up. I can do a 50mi-ish door-door loop, with maybe 20mi+ trail/gravel. It's northeastern stuff, so some packed dirt, some actual gravel, and frequent embedded, half-buried mid-sized rocks, some rounded, some sharp. Thankfully not a lot of roots, that's extra fun on the ATB trails. The rail trail part is your usual max 2-3% grade, the hiking trail part has some significant short/steep climbs. So to do the full loop I need low gears, and there are a number of sections where I really have to kinda watch my line.

I've ridden it on a whole range of bikes, from c&v to modern, from 28x700c tires to 48x650b, road/touring/'cross frames. 28s are doable, but not particularly fun. 32s are better, but I've pinch-flatted those on rocks. 35-38mm is a lot better. But the 48x650b setup lets me fly over the rough stuff, especially on descents.

I only have one bike now that will fit 48x650b, and it's a modern 'cross/gravel steel frame with oversized tubing, a massive tapered head tube and fat carbon fork blades. And disc brakes. I had a couple of c&v-inspired rando frames that would fit that rubber, but they were both low-trail, and I found I don't get along with low trail. So I never took them out on the trail.

I don't know the contribution ratio of wheels:frame for that flying sensation, but I suspect it's heavily weighted towards the wheels. But when you've got that much pneumatic cushion in the tires, I wonder if the additional flex of skinnier tubes, especially at the front end, makes it that much cushier, or scrubs off a little bit of the handling precision and tossability.

This '95ish Kelly Knobby will fit 38x700c:


'06 Zanconato is a lugged steel proto-groad bike, fits 38x700c, has an 80mm bb drop:


'72 Hetchins is comfy with 35x700c, can do 38s but it gets very tight under the fork crown:


'74 Harry Quinn fits 38s, is waiting on a vintage build if I ever stop typing....


But none of these do quite what this '16 Wraith Paycheck does with those fat tires:




If I wanted to try it with a c&v frame, I'm guessing I'd have to look at 700c hybrids or ATBs, and likely have to move the canti bz-ons, maybe either way.