My Gravel Bike Journey - all the gear and tech and things!

Happy Friday! I’m currently 4 weeks into recovery from torn meniscus surgery (something I’ll talk about in another newsletter soon) which means that my activity level has been nothing close to normal. I’m able to get out on the bike some now, but still no running for a couple of weeks. It’s been a challenge at times but it’ll all work out in the end. The gravel bike has been a great way to stay active in this time, so with that in mind, I wanted to share about some of the gravel bikes I’ve had and how I use them.

Before we jump in, if you also enjoy riding gravel, you might enjoy our gravel bike (and trail running themed) t-shirts we design and create in our shop at www.outdoorendurance.etsy.com Discount code GRAVEL25 will nab you a sweet 25% off discount on most items.

I first started riding gravel bikes in 2021. Prior to that, I had a Giant Talon mountain bike, which I rode infrequently, and not often on the road. I actually just sold that bike through Craigslist for $350 after having it serve me well for several years.

But, onto the gravel bike journey. Without knowing much (ok, not knowing really anything) about gravel bikes in 2021, I relied on several more bike-experienced friends for help with what to look for in a gravel bike. I knew that I preferred gravel over paved roads, but wasn’t sure what these terms like gravel bike, cyclocross bike, touring bike, etc. meant. So I put a feeler out on Strava and one of my connections there knew of someone looking to sell their gravel bike. I tried it out and bought it - it was a 2008 Cannondale x6 and was from the only owner who took very good care of it. I paid $250 and put it to good use in 2021. I rode somewhat infrequently, but enjoyed it when I did.

In early 2022, I started wanting to incorporate more riding into my training schedule as a way to pick up the volume without too much pounding from running. So I bought a Wahoo Kickr Snap and hooked the Cannondale up to this. At the same time, I knew that this gravel bike wasn’t going to be the long term solution for me - the fit wasn’t quite right and although it was a very nice bike in its day, it was 13 years old.

In January 2022, I started looking around for a better, new gravel bike. Well, in case you don’t remember, finding a bike of any type during the pandemic was darn near impossible. What I really wanted was a Specialized Diverge (spoiler alert, I finally got one 14 months later) but they were nowhere to be found. Same with any of Canyon’s gravel bikes. And Cannondale. And…well you get the point.

So I found a Marin Lombard 1 on bikesonline.com. I think it was about $1,200 at the time. It wasn’t what I really wanted, but it was pretty much the only one available and it was definitely an upgrade over what I had been riding. As I rode it more and more (I put over 4,000 miles on that bike over the course of 14 months) I also started to learn more about components, parts, etc. The first change I made was to the tires. I swapped out the stock slicks for 700×38 Pathfinder Pros, which is the tire you see below (used at the Muddy Onion event). I am still riding on those tires to this day, on my new gravel bike, over 3,000 miles later.

The bike worked very well, aside from me tinkering with and really messing up the front deraileur shortly after getting the bike! Which meant that for the first 6 months that I had it, I rode it as a 1x despite it being a 2×9 gearing setup. The Shimano Sora components were just ok, they got the job done but I could tell they were basic.

I swapped out the flat pedals for clipless pedals, first just standard ones and then quickly upgraded to power meter pedals. There are several good options on the market, but I chose the Favero Assioma Duo. Aside from the battery life not being anywhere close to what the manufacturer claims, I have loved these power meter pedals. But hey, I’m a bit of a data geek.

The next upgrade (and the biggest one) I made to the Marin bike were the wheels. The stock steel wheels were heavy and not that great looking. I upgraded to the Bontrager Aeolus Pro 3V carbon wheels. Man are these things sweet! Super light weight, and they look awesome with the all black look I was going for. They were a pain to get everything set up for the Marin bike since the Marin was quick release and these were thru axel, plus some other cassette challenges (that’s also probably a topic for another day!). I was able to do most of the figuring out myself, with some help from the kind help center folks at Trek. And then my LBS Slope Style Ski & Ride make a few tweaks to really dial it in.

And that’s pretty much the setup I rode for the rest of 2022 and into early 2023. I was really happy with it and after the tweaks were made to the gearing (and my LBS fixed the front deraileur so that I actually had a 2x again) I had no mechanical issues. I changed the chain twice (I used the SRAM powerlink chain) and did some routine cleaning and lubing, and the bike ran like a champ.

But I still knew I wanted that oh so sweet Specialized Carbon gravel bike, so I would occasionally check out their website and in March 2023 it was in stock in my size (I’m 6’-1” and went with the size 58) and in the black color. So I went for it, ordered it through the Specialized website. It is the Specialized Diverge Sport Carbon. I had them ship it to my other LBS Onion River Outdoors and had it within about 1.5 weeks. The process there was awesome, you pay an extra $50 for them to ship it to the LBS and then they set it up there for you. When I went to pick it up, Kip at ORO helped dial in a few settings for me and I was on my way.

As I mentioned at the top, I’m still recovering from knee surgery so I only have about 100 miles on the bike. So far, so good. I did move over the Bontrager wheels and 700×38 Pathfinder Pro tires to the new bike. It was setup with DT Swiss G540 wheels and 700×42 Pathfinder Pros stock, but I made the switch over.

So yeah, that’s about it. In some upcoming newsletters I can explain the tech that I’m using (radar, lights, computer, etc) as well as the process of converting over those wheels to quick release in case it’s of interest.

And if you feel so inclined, we would be super thankful if you checked out our shop of trail and gravel themed t-shirts. You can use discount code GRAVEL25 for 25% off most shirts: www.outdoorendurance.etsy.com 

Have a great weekend and get outside for some fresh air and movement!