jrickards

I'm considering the purchase of a gravel bike but I'm having trouble making a choice.

Comfort: I'd like the gravel bike to be able to absorb the roughness of the terrain which will be limited to only gravel/dirt roads, nothing more technical than that.

Bikepacking: I'd like it to be suitable for bike packing which really means for me that it have bosses on the forks (handlebar bags, frame bags, seatbags can be fitted to virtually any bike so the fork bosses are the only specific thing).

Racing: Not for me

I'm considering the LandYaughtz AL-1 but it has an aluminum frame, which used to mean that it was stiff and somewhat unforgiving. However, it is offered with 650bx47 tires so how much softness might these tires provide? Might they be all I need?

Steve B.

Theres a lot of variations with gravel, from smooth to washboard. For the latter, you'd be fighting it on a full suspension mt. bike. Yes, the larger the tire, the more comfortable. Run tubeless as well, as you can get away with much lower air pressure and thats half the battle. I would not worry about aluminum vs. steel, vs. carbon. Carbon probably transmits a tad less buzz, but in reality the tire size and air pressure are the determining factors with comfort.

FWIW, I have a Cannondale Topstone aluminum 105 bike. Ive had it on single track with roots, don't find the aluminum harsh, they do great things with aluminum these days, highly recommend this bike as well. It will handle a 45mm tire in the rear.

balrog687

You can increase comfort in two ways, passive suspension aka bigger tires, or active suspension.

On the passive side of things, look for the biggest possible tire, 650x47 is pretty standard on the gravel realm, but some specific bikes offer more than that. My surly straggler fits 700x50 on the front, and the salsa Fargo can fit 29x3.0. Tire "softness" is also a big factor, Panaracer and Rene herse make really soft tires.

Dampening caused by flex on steel forks, or magical properties of carbon forks is negligible compared to tire deflection at lower pressure

On the active side of things, you can add a suspension seatpost like the cane creek esilk, specialized diverge has the 20mm future shock, canyon grizl has a 30mm rock shox rudy, and you can also fit a lauf grit fork, or a fox 32 TC for 40-50mm of travel. On those forks, you can still attach some cages using straps or clamps, like topeak versamount.

rumrunn6

wow that sounds fun!