The Velodrome

Michael

05:01

@Erlkoenig wide-built is a myth

@AndyP I don’t know. Why does anyone join a competition when they don’t have a serious chance to make a podium place? For some it is simply about finishing, even if it’s a sprint triathlon

Erlkoenig

07:31

@Renaud Awesome, thanks. Yeah it seems that here in Bavaria too the roads around lakes are the worst.

@Michael Then how come that my upper body and pelvis are much wider than with many other men? And no, it's not padded with fat. "Luckily" the Lycra hides nothing, when I see other cyclists I always wonder how everything fits in there...

Andy P

08:08

I understand that. And I understand ambitions can also scale with your ability. But an objective to just finish something as small/easy as a sprint tri is nothing. Basically anyone can roll off the sofa and finish one - they might walk a lot but even a very unfit person can cover that distance.

In biking for example take "La Marmotte": https://marmottegranfondoalpes.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/MarmotteAlpes_Profil2.jpg
This is what i'd consider a proper challenge. A novice can complete it if they are willing to devote some training hours. Or for me I can try for the gold sta…

Renaud

@Erlkoenig Luckily, there are plenty of opportunities for gravel. Although loads of the tours from the komoot link are on the hardcore side of gravel. When we did the tour, my brother had a Specialized Sirrus X 5.0 (a carbon gravel bike with flat handle bar and MTB cassette — but a 40T chainring) and some parts were doable, but not enjoyable. The organiser regularly advices to have a min ratio smaller than 1.

Andy P

@Renaud I think most people would consider a ratio of ~0.8 pretty standard for gravel. Only someone living somewhere very flat or someone who is a very strong rider would pick a bigger bottom gear for gravel

Erlkoenig

@Renaud Oh gnarly. I have a 0.9 ratio

Andy P

@Erlkoenig 38-42?

Erlkoenig

Exactly. I could switch for a 10-44 cassette but the Ekar cassettes are expensive, not really worth it for one holiday?

I should look for the easier tours then...

Andy P

08:21

better switch would be the 36t chainring. at the other end 36-9 is still a pretty huge gear for gravel

Erlkoenig

The smallest ekar chainring is 38 😬

"There are four ring size options: Adventure has 38 teeth; Pure Gravel is 40T, Fast Gravel is 42T, and eGravel 44T". Guess I need "Grandma gravel"

Andy P

ah, my bad. i thought it was 36->42 and its 38->44 on the chainrings.

Michael

@AndyP For some people even walking 5km is an accomplishment they have to train for

it’s ridiculous but that’s the reality :D

injuries can be mind opening for this realization. After my hip surgery just walking 2km was truly exhausting.

just doing 3x15 push ups right now is exhausting and gives me DOMS for 4 days. It used to be my warm up

I’m not even really old or overweight or anything

Andy P

lol, i cant even do 3x15 pushups and have not been able to ever since I started cycling as my main sport.

Michael

so don’t make fun of people because of their goals or abilities

Renaud

08:32

@AndyP Pretty standard? In the recent (upper range) groupsets, true. But in 1x, the 11/42 cassette is the only supported one for APEX 1 and all GRX 1x. To get significantly lower than 1, it was either a 2x or a mullet.

Andy P

Which is why if you were to go back a few months in my chat history in here you'd find me saying that current gravel groupsets are borderline not fit for purpose.
Ekar is the best of a bad bunch

Michael

1x groupsets just don’t have enough bandwidth

Andy P

~5 years into gravel and people still need to bodge together mullet groupset to make something viable.
And shimano given the opportunity to design something from scratch decide enormous chainrings designed only for pro riders are whats needed

Michael

GRX600 with 46t/30t chainrings and 11–34t cassette looks okay-ish. Though it’s still on the hard side for climbs with luggage

Renaud

I wouldn't mind a SRAM "mullet": you can now use SRAM brifters with Eagle AXS.

@Michael I have 46/30 chainrings and 11/42 cassette on my hybrid. When doing serious gravel, I'm often on the 30/42. The GRX600 just doesn't have enough range.

Andy P

08:43

Problem with the SRAM mullet is the steps between gears are disgustingly huge.
Thats why I feel ekar is the best option currently

which is insanity. they had the opportunity to design something totally new. Like 42/26 chainset with 11-40 cassette.
And instead they just made a road groupset for less fit people and called it good

Michael

@Renaud which derailleur has this much capacity?

Renaud

I have an Deore RD-M5120. It's officially above specs, but Giant sold at some point a bike with this configuration, so I took the risk. Otherwise within specs in 9 speed, the Microshift Advent long cage and in 11 speed the RD-M8000 (but I couldn't get a compatible chainring with a 73mm BB).

Renaud

09:10

@AndyP Totally agree, and that's why I stick with my hybrid. I'm tented to buy a gravel, but transmissions turn me off (same with MTBs, that being said, and they would be overkill here).

Erlkoenig

@AndyP At least it has a clutch derailleur and improved brifter ergonomics for riding in the hoods, so not completely road-like

Andy P

I'm yet to buy a gravel bike too, despite ~50% of my riding being gravel rides.
My 29er is totally overkill, but it works for the job and the additional tyre volume is something i'm a fan of.

Erlkoenig

I'm pretty happy with the Ekar, haven't encountered a hill I couldn't climb because of gear ratio yet (but a few that were too slippery for my tyres)

Andy P

I'm trying to find a gravel bike that would do good shared duties between a winter/audax bike and some light gravel.
Been looking at this, but the lack of a 3rd set of bottle mounts puts me off a little: https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-cgr-ti/

Erlkoenig

I considered that one too before I bought my current one 😄 Trail is pretty high. 3 bottle cage mounts are indeed pretty useful...

Andy P

09:27

On the plus side, it looks nice, the price is right, it has all the other mounting points and it's not quite full on gravel geometry so should still be relatively fun to ride on road

Erlkoenig

Not full gravel at that high trail? 🤔 Price is pretty good indeed

Andy P

When you compare to their dedicated gravel bike with slacker head angle, shorter top tube etc: ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-gravel-ti

Then no, the cgr isnt 'full gravel'

Erlkoenig

09:59

Hmm maybe they changed their lineup since last time I checked

Andy P

10:22

yes, it got a minor revision ~1-2 years ago I think. Not sure what else changed but older one didnt have the dropped seat stays iirc

Erlkoenig

From the Ekar manual - what exactly is the wear indicator in Fig. 2?

Andy P

10:42

@Erlkoenig I can't find any decent images on google, but it looks like your pads are supposed to have some sort of colour/paint on the corner to help you identify when pads are worn without needing to pull them out

Erlkoenig

Great, and they show a grayscale figure 🤣 I don't see any color on my pads... I think that beveled corner is the indicator... it's visible on my pads

Andy P

ahh, so that corner has like 2 different radii? wider curve for 'OK' and the tighter corner for 'replace'? That would make sense and I can sort of see how the image could represent that

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Erlkoenig