- You don't need a gravel bike to ride on gravel.
People have always taken road bikes into the dirt.
But if you do ride a lot of gravel,
or you wanna ride more gravel, then it could be
a good idea just to tweak your road bike
so that when you do leave Tarmac, you're more comfortable
and you have more fun.
Crucially though, you're also gonna wanna be able to turn it
quickly and easily back into a road bike
and with no lasting damage.
(rock music)
The first investment that you should consider
is into wider tires.
The rule of thumb is to fit the widest tire
that you safely can into your frame and your fort.
You can of course ride gravel roads
on a 23 mil wide tire,
but you'll probably need to pump it up
so it's rock hard in order to minimize
the risk of punctures.
And at that point, you're then gonna be going
an awful lot slower and in much less comfort.
So, on an ordinary road bike,
you probably wanna be able to squeeze
like a 28 mil wide tire
and that is perfectly wide enough
to tackle some proper gravel.
On an endurance bike, with disc brakes,
you might be able to get a 32 in there,
and then you're really in the game.
Although, to put it into context,
on an out and out gravel bike,
you could probably fit a 40,
maybe even a 45 millimeter wide tire on there.
On this one, which is a true out and out road bike,
I do happen to have monster tire clearance.
So I'm just gonna see if I can go big.
(rock music)
Next, we're gonna wanna try and protect our bikes
as much as possible,
because gravel means rocks.
And rocks means scratches to our beautiful paint work
and potentially even dents to our delicate frames.
But there is a quick fix,
and it's stuff called frame tape,
or helicopter tape.
Now I've literally just nicked this
from the mountain bike guys.
This is particularly heavy duty black mastic tape from 3M.
And this will be absolutely perfect
for chain stays, because as well as actual rocks
flicking up and striking, the bumps are also gonna mean
you get more chain slaps.
So this will protect the delicate carbon there,
and actually as a bonus, stop or dampen the noise slightly.
Then as well as this thick black stuff,
you can also get clear tape as well,
and that I would use liberally on the down tube
to protect against rock strikes
comin' up from the front wheel.
And in deed the inside of your seat stays here
and behind the seat tube.
I always find when I'm riding off-road as well,
that the ends of my cranks get really scuffed up
from rocks.
And so you can actually invest
in little rubber bumpers that go over the ends of them.
So if you wanna keep them in pristine condition,
that might be a good shout too.
Next up, let's talk gear ratios.
Because riding on gravel is harder,
therefore, it tends to be slower,
therefore, you could really do with smaller gears.
Generally, the quickest, easiest, and cheapest
thing to do is to change your cassette
at the back for a larger one.
But you got to be a little bit careful
because you're limited by your rear derailleur
as to the size of cassette you can use.
In this case, with a Dura Ace rear derailleur
I can fit an 11 to 30 on there.
Often with Shimano mid-length cage derailleurs,
or indeed large cage,
you can get an 11 to 32, maybe even 11 to 36 on there.
But there is a cool little gizmo
sold by Wolf Tooth Components called a road link.
And that basically lengthens your derailleur hanger
allowing you to run an 11 to 40 cassette
which is absolutely massive.
The other thing you can do, of course,
is to change your chain rings up front.
But I've already got a compact chain set on this,
so 5034 chain length.
So I can't actually get a smaller inner ring
unless I change the whole cranks
for a super compact.
But if I was gonna be doing loads of gravel,
that could be an investment that I would want to make.
Road bikes are pretty robust, but one area
where you could potentially see
an expensive mechanical problem is with your wheels.
Not because they're not strong enough,
just because you're more likely
when riding down gravel to meet big rocks
or big potholes, leaving you with a flat tire
and a possible ding in the rim.
Now on an alloy wheel, that could be fixable
if it's not too bad.
But on a carbon wheel, that could prove terminal.
Not because the wheel's not strong,
just because of the properties of carbon fiber.
Anyway, a good idea, therefore,
if you've got the funds, is to invest in a second
less expensive set of wheels.
Not as I said, because they're stronger,
but just because you'd then be liberated
from worrying about every rock that glances off
your beautiful wheels.
Then as an added bonus,
you could always leave these second set of wheels
set up with your fat gravel tires
and your fat gravel cassette,
meaning that your other pair
can be left with your road tires
and your road cassette.
Therefore, you can swap between your gravel road bike
and your road road bike just by swapping your wheels out.
No fafth, no fuss.
(jazzy music)
Our final modification, is to suggest
using mountain bike shoes and mountain bike pedals.
For the simple reason that mountain bike shoes
you can get off and walk because they've got
rubber tread on there.
Now it's not that you have to get off and walk
when you're riding on gravel,
but you might, even if it's just for a selfie.
And if you are treading on gravel
on your carbon soled road shoes,
you could very quickly find they get scratched
beyond belief.
So, mountain bike shoes are bonus.
I would rather spend time in the saddle
with road pedals as opposed to mountain bike pedals,
but if you're using mountain bike shoes,
you can't fit road cleats on there,
hence why you have the need
for the mountain bike pedals, as well.
But there is a bonus to these,
they're double sided meaning that it's easier
to clip in.
Well, there is my modified road bike.
Wider tires, different wheels, I've swapped out the pedals,
and changed my shoes.
I've got different gearing on there
and I've protected it as much as possible
with frame tape.
The only modification left is to myself.
And as esteemed journalist Kelly Fritz once said,
baggies are actually a state of mind.
And so too, I believe, are fanny packs.
I'm now, not only ready for gravel,
I'm also on trend as well.
All I need is a beard.
But I could potentially be waiting a life time
for one of those.
Right, make sure you check out
some more of our gravel content here on GCN.
There's another video for you just there.
Rock on.
Gravel!
(jazzy music)