Greetings. I'm interested in a gravel bike but this is new territory to me, a roadie. I'm looking at buying a used Fuji Sportif 1.1 Endurance. The max tire size is, on paper, 700x35c. Would this be a suitable gravel rig, out the box, or would I need to make some modifications?
by yat504
7 Comments
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If you want a gravel bike you should get a gravel bike, not a road bike.
35c tires are tiny. Sure it is doable for gravel roads, but if you’re gonna buy a new bike anyways why not get something actaully designed for what you want to do?
I actually have this bike as my road bike. I can fit up to 38mm gravelking slicks. In this day and age I would opt for hydraulic disc brakes and better tire clearance on a gravel bike. Unless the price for this is much better than anything else you can find I would keep looking.
Depends. If it’s really inexpensive and that’s your budget, it’d be adequate for some gravel and trails. If you’re thinking rowdier gravel and climbs, it might be a bit too road-focused. I ride on 38mm, and another guy in my club rides on 32mm. They both work, but we’re having a tougher time than the people on 40-45 or bigger tires on the rides. The gearing on the Fuji would be rough for me, I live in the hilly area.
Funny seeing this posted today as I just watched a YouTube video of someone building up one of these just last night. [https://youtu.be/UkA3VMH0Hag?si=iN7ONTEFZFfhBVKi](https://youtu.be/UkA3VMH0Hag?si=iN7ONTEFZFfhBVKi)
My Spot Rallye is for sale. Much better option and I’ve ran 42s for about 8 seasons on it w/o any issues. Hydraulic disks and clearance for some bigger tires are a must for me, personally.
CAN you use it to ride on very tame gravel roads?
Definitely
Will it excel at that?
Not at all
Would it be rideable on anything more technical than very tame gravel and hardpack?
Not really.
This will be very twitchy and unstable on dirt and will be jarring and uncomfortable. If you want to ride on dirt more than just very occasionally and don’t primarily need a bike for road riding, I’d look into getting a bike designed for gravel riding.