I've got a gravel bike and my girlfriend is looking to get a similar one for some bike packing across Europe. Found this focus mares for £400. Would this be sufficient for such a trip. I know it's a cyclo-cross bike and am not 100 % sure what the difference to gravel bikes are. Would this make a good bike for a bike packing trip across Europe?
Cheers
by glenngalea
2 Comments
Yea as long as it has the required tire clearance
Looks like it has road gears. Under any sort of load every hill will be unbearably hard. You absolutely want a 0.8 gear ratio for anything where you’re carrying a normal amount of luggage. If she’s happy with just a bivvy bag and sleeping bag then maybe, or if she’s an absolute animal like my mate who tours on a 1:1.
For reference, standard gravel gearing with a 40t chainring and 11-44 cassette has a smallest ratio of 0.84. This would be fine for lowland touring in France but anywhere hilly and you’d want one lower gear at least.
Look for something with modern grx or apex. Both of those can be modified to have a 0.8 ratio and have a ~0.85 as standard. Even the 11 speed variants are highly moddable.
Also cross frames often don’t have mounting points as they are racing frames.