With gravel cycling booming, and the huge choice of gravel bikes and specs available, it’s easy to adapt your bikes setup to suit whatever floats your gravel boat.
Whether you want to be an endurance racer, a multi-day bikepacker or a casual bridleway weekender, you can swap out parts and adapt your set up for different terrain and seasons.
We at BikeRadar love going on gravel adventures, and so without further ado, we are going to run through our top five tips for setting up your gravel bike!
But what do you think of our choices? Did we miss anything? Let us know what juicy gravel setup tips you have in the comments!
Find out more on setting up your gravel bike at BikeRadar.com:
Best gravel wheels:
→ https://www.bikeradar.com/advice/buyers-guides/best-gravel-wheels/
Best gravel tyres:
→ https://www.bikeradar.com/advice/buyers-guides/best-gravel-tyres/
More information on gravel bike setup:
→ https://www.bikeradar.com/advice/buyers-guides/gravel-bike-setup/
Felix’s incredible Iceland gravel race:
→ https://www.bikeradar.com/features/routes-and-rides/bikeradar-diaries-200km-icelandic-gravel-race/
Cheap gravel bikes:
→ https://www.bikeradar.com/advice/buyers-guides/cheap-gravel-bike/
Follow BikeRadar on our social media channels:
→https://instagram.com/bikeradar
→https://facebook.com/bikeradar
→https://twitter.com/bikeradar
Register for BikeRadar.com:
→https://bit.ly/2zSNCOi
BikeRadar is supported by Mountain Biking UK and Cycling Plus Magazine.
For more information and to subscribe please visit: https://bit.ly/38NBrxZ
For more content like this see our latest subscription offer:
→ https://www.cyclingplus.com/subscribe-today/
→ https://www.mbuk.com/subscribe-today/
#gravelbikes #bikeradartop5 #gravelcycling
[Music] with the gravel market booming and the choice of spec available growing every day it’s easy to adapt your bike setup to suit whatever you want to do with it whether you want to be an endurance racer a multi-day bike packer or a casual bridal way weekender you can swap out parts and adapt your setup for different terrain and seasons we at bike radar love going on gravel adventures and so without further ado we’re gonna run through our top five tips for setting up your gravel bike as always if you want to see more content like this don’t forget to like subscribe and click the little bell icon so that every time we upload a video you get a notification though many of us are riding gravel on what are essentially standard 700c road wheels there are an increasing number of gravel specific wheel sets on the market which typically have wider rims to provide better support for wider gravel tyres 650b wheels which are equivalent to 27.5 inch mountain bike wheels let you fit even wider tyres into your frame with greater volume that adds comfort to the ride as well as increasing grip on off-road terrain for a faster ride on road and like gravel you’ll probably want to stick to 700c wheels with narrower tyres but if you’re planning to head for more difficult terrain you may appreciate the grip and cushioning offered by wider tyres on 650b although that will be at the expense of speed on tarmac if your gravel bike has a clearance a set of each wheel size would give you the best of both worlds letting you swap between them depending on what you’re planning on riding no worries if it doesn’t you can always move on to our next tip changing the tyres on a gravel bike can make a huge difference to your riding either significantly improving its ability off-road or adding speed on the tarmac because gravel bikes are used across such a variety of terrain it’s one area where you can easily change how your bike performs two important things to keep in mind when you’re buying a tire are tread pattern and width if off-road grip and stability are important on your planned rides look for wider tyres with a more aggressive tread pattern like the maxis rambler or wtb resolute however if you’re more likely to be riding on the road or hard pack gravel then a narrower slicker tire like the erie research tenaci will likely be more suitable once you’ve chosen your tyre it’s worth taking time to experiment with tire pressure because gravel bikes are specked with larger tyres you can drop your tire pressure much more than normal giving you better traction lower rolling resistance and a more comfortable ride it’s worth experimenting with different levels to see what works for your tire choice and where you ride if it’s too high you’ll get bounced around while too low may result in slow handling and sluggish pedaling going tubeless is a great upgrade too you’ll get less flats and be able to run even lower pressures with better traction when choosing gearing for your bike one question you’ll eventually ask is whether you want to double chairing on the front or a single one one by setups have migrated from the mountain bike world with one chairing at the front and a large 11 12 or even 13 speed cassette at the back there are lots of advantages to moving to a one by system you save weight by dispensing with the front derailleur plus there’s less to go wrong a single ring setup means you can access all gear sequentially too rather than needing to swap chainrings to access your higher or lower ranges they are suited to more gnarly off-road riding with controls to keep the chain in place when you’re riding over bumpy ground and more space to let you ride wider tires double chainrings however will be more familiar to road riders as they reflect gearing on traditional road bikes to buy setups allow for smaller steps between gears and they also generally have higher gear ratios for speedier riding deciding on a single ring or double ring setup depends on the riding you’re planning if you’re mainly wanting to ride fast on smoother terrain a double ring chain set could give you a few more high-end ratios while if you’re looking to tackle harder terrain you may appreciate the chain retention benefits and simpler shifting of a single ring in general gravel bike geometry is less aggressive compared to road bikes with a more relaxed head angle lower bottom bracket and longer wheelbase this results in a comfortable riding position and stabler handling you can tweak your bike’s geometry to match your style of gravel riding if you’re expecting to do long days on off-camber technical trails you can swap out your bars for flared handlebars which are wider in the drops than at the tops that means you’ve got a bit more control when descending or riding hard off-road if you’re expecting to ride lots of technical or steep descents lifting up the bars will help you ride in the drops for extra control without giving your back as much of a hard time you’ll want a comfortable saddle too a longer saddle allows you to shift your weight around to tackle obstacles and descents if you have a lot of steep climbs in your area nudging the saddle slightly forwards on the rails will help push weights over the front end and stop you wheeling all over the place it’s one of the most iconic features of the gravel bike a frame that lets you bolt and attach bags all over how many bags you choose to have is of course depending on what riding you’re gonna do rather than a traditional rack and panniers most gravel riders will use bike packing bags these fit to the bike using mounts and straps meaning the overall setup can be more lightweight and doesn’t change the handling of the bike as much as using rack mounted panniers a full setup starts with a saddle pack and handlebar roll and includes a frame bag fork mounted bags and even top tube bags to maximize the capacity of the bike it’s generally a good idea to keep heavy items in your frame bag to keep the center of gravity low and to put things you’re going to need frequently in your handlebar bag where they can be accessed quickly the price tag for a full bike bag setup can be quite off-putting as a starter gravel rider but luckily there are loads of handy guides online to making your own bags if you’re good with a needle and thread and you can always invest in a few dry bags and lots of bungee cords until you are sure the gravel life is the life for you how do you set up your gravel bike what adventures are you taking your bike on as always let us know in the comments don’t forget also to like and subscribe and click that little bell icon so that every time we upload a video you get a notification
34 Comments
What do you think of our choices? Let us know what juicy gravel setup tips you have in the comments! 🏞 🚲
Mit Rennrad im Gelände? Wo ist der Spass?
Bikepacking: maybe you should differentiate between handlebar rolls and handlebar bags. Rolls sometimes have to be taken off the handlebar to store the items back into it. I find a frame bag much easier to access than a roll. Some handlebar bags have their opening facing towards the rider, so it's easier to access while riding as opposed to leaning over the lid.
When you go to a one by in the front do you sacrifice top speed on the road or is it not to bad
idiots forgot their mountain bikes!! i find this so silly… Marketing company: how can we get those Lycra twats to buy a mountain bike!
Which bike is on the thumbnail?
What's the handlebars shown in the video at 5:06? Anybody? Anybody? Come on BikeRadar, it's your video. Somebody there knows.
I don't really understand why someone would want to stuff up a good road bike. Just buy a good dual suspension Mtb for gravel grinds. Speed is irrelevant if you are riding for pleasure but if you have a reasonable ego looking for a trip give a current Emtb a proper long hard and fast ride on proper Mtb tracks and you might even find out why you were born. They are not the work of the Devil but allow us to explore terrain multiplying the benefits of One of mans greatest gravity cheating inventions the bicycle.
Why all gravel bikes don't have front fork suspension?
With a road bike and a MTB bike you are perfect!! Gravel bike are stupid…..useless.
What I’m loving gravel riding:
Slightly more MTB geometry (I’ve got last years Whyte Gisburn v2): it descents better than my 11yo hard tail MTB due to its geometry (except no suspension). I was worried I might be going "too MTB" when I got it, but it’s great. Far more upside than downside. Well, I haven’t notice any downside tbh.
Dropper: came with the bike and I thought might be a bit novelty for a gravel bike (I’m a MTBer too). But it means I can have the seat at optimum road height, but just a quick bit of drop, and it makes it much better riding tech, slides and rooty without being "trapped" a little higher than you’d like at top saddle height.
GRX groupset: I’ve got 1x so the left hand lever is the dropper lever. Nice. More nice: the in-line hydraulic cross levers GRX has available I got fitted. Long days adventures it’s lovely being able to ride in 3 positions with brakes in all. GRX has the only in-line sub-brake levers for a hydraulic system on the market AFAIK.
But, they didn’t get GRX exactly right ‘cuz: I love 1x on my MTBs. I love 1x on my gravel. But when it comes to ratios, the standard GRX 1x is 11-42 on the rear (I guess cuz it’s a standard shimano freehub). SRAM has 10-42 with theirs. My bike came with a 38t 1x. Don’t want any bigger cuz I’m climbing steep stuff, sometimes with a load of luggage. That’s not a standard GRX front ring size, it’s a the one whyte fitted and I agree it’s a good size in the bottom end. But with the shimano 11t it’s just a little easily to sit in the top gear just a shade too easy. So I fitted a SRAM freehub and SRAM 10-42t cassette and now have GRX 1x with a 38t chainring and 10-42t cassette. I find that the spot-on gear ratio for 1x for all the riding I do. Why didn’t shimano ship 1x GRX with their microspline and a 10t option?
Chainring: And since I have one on my MTB I got an absolute black oval 38t chainring and keeping the original as a spare. I find that oval shape just evens out the the power and stops you stalling those times you’ve been out adventuring most of the day and makes that slight bonus help to just get you to the top of the ridge when considering you have too much beer in your panniers.
Tyres: 700c quite wide rims with some 42mm WTB resolutes. Seem good and fast on tarmac, but still grippy as I could reasonably hope for off road given road performance.
That bike happily zips to work pretty much as fast as my vintage road bike, but can adventure all sorts of places that would surprise you. The sheer range of what it does makes it hard to not be ideal for everything except when I need my full-sus MTB or if I wanted to seriously go as fast as possible to the exclusion of everything else on tarmac and no fun cross country short-cut ideas. Superb bike. Lots of comfortable positions. Ideal gear range. Dropper. Pannier rack. As at home commuting on the A27, as getting lost in the beautiful (and sometimes very muddy, steep or rough) countryside. GFTW! 🙂
The only tip in here about bike setup was #4.
The rest are all parts selection and buying stuff.
Some very good tips thanks!
I've been getting into more pff-roading and decided to try a flat bar set-up on my gravel bike. I feel like it's a natural fit. Do you have an opinion on that?
Good video! For my first bikepacking trip I put a rack on the back of my Gary Fisher Tasajarra and strapped a sleep pad to the handlebars and the tent poles to the top tube. Still needed a small backpack. 50 miles up out of NYC to a state park, camped overnight, and rode back the next day. Replacing bike, will bag accordingly.
I lock my hardtail,s fork ,pump my wheels 3 bar ,grab her by the barends and call her my gravelbike 🤪
I run a single ring in front and back saving even more weight!
Do you think a gravel bike like Trek domane is a good bike for 30 to 40 min daily commuting?
I've long, long legs so I put an old dropper on mine today, superb. really drops the CoG, on or off-road.
on the point of 1x and 2x drivetrains –
There is also the option of "subcompact" 2x chainsets – the so-called "adventure" or
gravel 2x – – 48/32 or 46/30 you will get a lot of climb AND sprint with a huge range on what most gravel bikes have for a cassette – i.e. an 11-34t or even up to an 11-36.
with Shimano's GRX rear derailleur.
A 1x usually goes up to a 38 to 42t front ring – and would only give you a 1 to 1 ratio
with not much in the way of sprint. Road doubles have plenty of sprint but not much climb.
Subcompact doubles are the way to go – the best of all worlds.
It is a misconception that double chainrings are heavier.
In fact, the overall system of a 2x di2 GRX is 20-odd grams LIGHTER than the 1x version of the same drivetrain. The reason is that 1 added chainring + the front derailleur and screws are lighter than the bigger cassette and longer rear derailleur arm of a 1x (notwithstanding chain stopper or whatnot). Mind you, 2x is only lighter for di2 versions.
Does anyone know what the exacrt handlebar model is on the bike @ the 7:00 minute timestamp? Looks like they have 5cm rise on each side from the stem. Thanks!
Double ring, always.
So MTB riders buy gravel bikes because their MTBs are slow on pavement and flat, unpaved roads. But now gravel tyres are getting wider and wider, basically turning gravel bikes back into mountain bikes just without suspension (for now …).
Just make sure you buy one with a threaded bottom bracket versus pressed fit …
#1 tip for dirt/gravel riding: Get some proper MTB/BMX pedals and some proper shoes. Clipped in road bike shoes are idiotic, they give you no advantage, they're useless to walk in and you can't move your feet around. Read the comments above about drop bars giving you several ergonomic positions depending on the situation; the same goes for pedals.
I run 700x38c carbon wheels for speedier rides and 650bx2.1 for multi-day road/off-road adventures with pannier rack/bags. I run a super compact 30/46 up front. 11-42t on the rear for 650b and 11-36t for my carbon wheels.
Have 3 bikes. A hardtail mtb, full suspension mtb and a gravel bike. Why anyone would ride a gravel bike off road is crazy to me
Great videos
I put a 11-40 t cassette at the back with a 2 times GRC chainring to be able to climb everything. It works as long as I don't do 40t at the back and /large chainring up front.
Great video
So, they’re making gravel bikes more like road bikes? Or mountain bikes?
I’m enjoying the bike so far https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxMesz3KOGEmwmvyKQfLfrRSUXLFzfVHZA My only real complaints are the brakes and the pedals. I feel like a bike designed for bigger people should have much larger pedals and more heavy duty brakes. I’ve only gotten two really good rides out of it, minimal downhill action, and the brakes feel like they’re already going out. A larger person has more momentum, so I think this wasn’t thought through very well. Also, I wear size 13-14 wide shoes. My feet cramp up on these pedals that are clearly made for smaller feet. Since I’m not a pro rider (and I don’t think many are who purchase this bike) I don’t think that the straps on the pedal are necessary at all. None of this takes away from the enjoyment I get from riding, however. I’ll just head to a bike shop to improve on a few things.
Is gravel bike worth buying if riding more on road?