Biking Question
 

I have a Road Bike which I really enjoy riding. I am wanting to branch out a little and take up Gravel and maybe Cyclocross. I have tried MTB, and just didn't care for it.

Any suggestions, tips etc? I am looking at the Salsa Warbird and Trek line of bikes right now.

I heard Barshrud Breland likes to ride bikes.
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Check Rain Man's garage

Check out Raleigh and Diamondback too if you are thinking about a gravel bike. I picked up a Raleigh Willard 2 a few years ago and have nothing but good things to say about it. Most of my riding is trail.

I also considered the Specialized Diverge.

PM me if you want the code for the Raleigh/Diamondback corporate discount. Will knock a few hundred off most bikes.

Warbird is a great, great bike. Journeyman is also a great bike from Salsa for your purposes if you might want to branch into more bikepacking type usage.

I have a steel El Mariachi as my "forever bike" and really love Salsas.

Anyway, I don't really do much gravel grinding (I lean more toward XC and enduro), but it's huge in our area. Since you list Ozark Mountains as your region, you might check out Ozark Cycling Adventures' route list for ideas on cool rides. You can filter by distance as well as gravel/road.

I wish we had routes like those in Branson. We just aren't a bike friendly community.

Thanks for your input.

The rumor is that the Waltons/O'Reilly families (and their associated foundations) are putting together a dirt road race route that will run Square to Square from Bentonville to Springfield. If that happens, it may give you some access to better routes.

I don't do gravel but I've put over 4,000 miles on my Trek CrossRip. It's speedy and it's versatile. I researched for several months before I bought it, and at the time, it gave the most bang for the buck by far. Been very happy with it.

http://oi64.tinypic.com/9a1yjq.jpg

check with mac at the warsaw mo chamber of commerce about the trails around Benton county. it's only a couple hours north of you...

My suggestion....

I took up gravel riding late last year and really enjoy it. I would suggest looking for a used bike as you can probably pick one up at a reasonable price. I went with a Niner RLT9 and love it. As someone else mentioned, Salsa warbird is nice. I also like the All City Cosmic Stallion. Trek is now making some nice gravel bikes. One issue you might look out for on the treks is tire clearance. You might be able to fit a 35mm tire on them. The other bikes mentioned will probably take up to a 40mm maybe a 42mm.

That is what I am finding about Trek, is they don't list tire clearance. I really like the Warbird and the Raleigh 3. Where did you find your Niner? Most cheap bikes I am finding are Kona's and I just think they are too stiff.

Love my Giant Roam 2 and highly recommend.

I work at a Giant dealer, I can get you a deal on a Toughroad SLR... hit me up!

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/bi...ughroad-slr-gx

you ever race any Enduro?

I ran into that same problem when I wanted to go with a bigger tire, no one seemed to know for sure. I ended up going with 38s on the Crossrip and there's easily room for something larger.

I have an unsprung hybrid that has skinny knobby's on it and it is a great set up. Very much like Bugeater's with cane creek straight bars and no carbon fiber frame. Tires are still somewhat firm on pavement yet give to gravel.

I do have nice farkles rings, cassette, derailleur and thumb shifters shifters but it was a home build from a MB frame..

I haven't. My 10 year old is about to start this year, so I'll likely enter as well. I'm not really very competitive, and I don't love group rides... but if I'm going to be on a trail system all day with him racing, I will likely race, too.

Enduro is a blast and one reason is the group ride social aspect to it, but if you don't like group rides it might not be for you. BTW, I just took 3rd in the 50-59 Masters at the USA Cycling Championships that were at Snowshoe, WV a few weeks ago.

I love group rides, just did a little one in Iowa a few weeks ago.



http://oi67.tinypic.com/155j6tk.jpg

What are the pro/cons of running a single ring versus double. I see the Giant is set up 1X11 and most I have looked at are 2X9 or 2X10. I even see 3X9 occasionally

I run a 3x9 because I have a wonky knee and I need the lower gears to climb hills, but I still want the top end speed as well. I end up doing a lot of shifting that way though.

Generally, you can get a similar gear range with modern 1X setups as 3X setups, plus you have less weight and far fewer mechanical issues (less moving parts without a front derailleur). Most 3X setups predominantly give you more choices within a range, not more overall range. This is a result of fairly recent technology around wide-range rear cassettes.

Note: good 1X drivetrains are, counterintuitively, more expensive than 2x and 3x drivetrains. Here's a good article that explains it:

https://www.wolftoothcomponents.com/...1x-drivetrains

Nice. Ragbrai and HHH are both bucket list items for me

What is HHH?

Just bought my son the 2019 Stance in an XS. We picked it up last night. We debated between the Stance XS and the Trance Jr. Main advantage of the Jr. was the Maestro suspension linkage, but we decided the Stance would be more upgradeable as he grows.

Of course, he just got recruited onto a CX team starting in October, so now he's already talking about wanting a lighter race bike for CX. Told him he'd better work on his bunny hops or start practicing carrying his Stance over obstacles. :D

Where in Iowa?

I have a vintage Ibis Hakkalugi in Phlem Green.

Hotter 'n Hell Hundred in Texas the weekend before Labor Day. Century ride in over 100 degree heat.

https://www.hh100.org/

That's awesome, man! Do you ride a Reign?

Enduro is really taking off here, as are all things cycling with some help from the Walton boys. They're throwing some pretty decent purse money into the Arkansas Enduro series to try to attract out of state talent.

Also currently have Velosolutions here building the largest pump track in North America to host the Red Bull World Pump Track Championship in October. So pumped (haha) for it to be completed. It's looking amazing.

Duh, RAGBRAI.. the picture wasn't downloading on my computer.

That pic was taken in the beautiful Loess Hills east of Onawa.

ROFL Oh damn. Gonna have to pass on that one. They would be scraping me off the side of the highway. I have yet to conquer a Century Ride, most I've ever done in a single day is 56 miles.

I love endurance stuff. I will probably ride 4 centuries this year, the first one is one Eureka Springs this Saturday. The reason I am wanting dirt/cyclocross is I want to do the Kanza 200 next June to really test my limits.

My problem is I don't have the time these days to ride 3-4 times a week to get in shape for a Century. I was riding that often a few years ago and should have gotten one done then...but I didn't.

Have you ever done the BAK "Bike Across Kansas" run? I think they get about 800 for that ride. My Ex SO did it 5 or 6 times. She said the MS 150 was a training run and basicly an excuse to drink too much beer. I don't do distance rides. Period.

Holy shit. That's a TINY highway. Did anyone get smoked by a tractor?

One of the routes comes through Scott and a buddy of mine and some of his buddies stayed with me one year. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I very nearly waxed some of his compatriots with my sprayer.

RAGBRAI essentially shuts down whatever highway they are riding on. Traffic isn't an issue.

Never even heard of the Bike Across Kansas. There's also Bike Ride Across Nebraska (BRAN) but it doesn't draw much of a crowd. Iowa just does it better than everyone else.

I did RAGBRAI in 2015. What an awesome week. Lucked out with the weather, too.

I found mine through the cycling club that I belong to. I find a number of good deals through facebook as well. There are usually bicycle sale & trade groups you can join. Many of the bike shops where I live, sell used bikes they've taken in on trade

Did that ride about 4 times. damn near killed me each time. 1st year I did it, there were over 14,000 riders participating

When I was looking at gravel bikes I rode both 1x & 2x setups and ended up going with a 2x

Pros of a 1x as pointed out. Fewer mechanicals to mess up, lighter weight. Typically found on a bike geared more toward CX (cross country) vs. pure gravel.

Cons: Wider gear jumps on the back cassette. Front crank is a smaller chain ring (typically a 42 or 46) vs a 50 or 52 on a 2x setup. This translates into higher cadence for top end speed if you find yourself riding on roads that are a mix of gravel and asphalt.

I'm not a very strong rider, so I ended up going with a 2x setup. I found the 1x spacing to have too big of jumps between gears for me

BAK draws a pretty big crowd but they spread out pretty quick so it normally isn’t a group like that very often. They have good support across the ride though.

If you decide to do it and it is the year for the 96 route, let me know. I have a bed for you.

I was out on the 2nd day, Storm Lake to Ft Dodge, and yeah, that was a good year with the weather. This year as well, couldn't imagine being out there when it's a buck-o-five or more.

I'll have to look that up, I assume it's already happened for this year. Probably pretty flat out where you are as well, the hills on the RAGBRAI route this year damn near killed me.

And the worst one, pictured here, was at the very end. I wasn't in good enough shape to even be out on this ride, and then this sonofabitch 43 miles in. I had to dig really ****ing deep to pull it off.

http://oi65.tinypic.com/2ldk45z.jpg

Yeah. It’s pretty flat. There are some draws and things but on the whole pretty flat. And they’re not dumb. They go west to east so on the aggregate you’re going downhill more than uphill.

Oh, and that hill is way worse than it looks in the photo.

Oh yeah. The people at the top are smaaaaaaaaaaaaall.

I rode through some light morning rain that day just out of Storm Lake, but that was pretty much it. I think it was that day that the Iowa State Patrol made us get off our bikes going over some train tracks because people kept going down.

Honestly one of the reasons I haven't done it again is because I'm convinced I'll have strong headwinds, camping disasters with storms, and mechanical problems. Although the Air Force Cycling Team gives some peace of mind too.

I was thinking about RAGBRAI's first day when I rode from Sioux City to Storm Lake, and remember seeing people walk their bikes up the first hill coming out of Sioux City. You could still see the Missouri River and I'm just thinking "Dang, gonna be a LOOOOOONG week for some people."

Did you dip both tires?

That's right, it did rain that morning, but it had stopped by the time we got to our starting point. Wind usually isn't a problem because you're riding west to east, and our winds usually blow north/south. Storms...they can be an issue that time of year. I've never had much of an issue with breakdowns while riding, but there's support out there if you need it.

I only did the first day. I don't think I'll ever be in good enough shape to do the entire thing. I'd be hard pressed to do even two consecutive days. Most of them are 60-70 miles. The 44 mile day I did this year was a bit of an anomaly.

I let myself get out of shape after 2015, working back now. I think I'll do RAGBRAI again, this time with my wife. She actually enjoys biking more than I do. It was just a goal, something to check off my list...she would just love the ride.

I used the Register's bag transport service, no complaints at all. Managed to find a hotel in Sioux City, score a spot on the floor of a hotel conference room in Storm Lake, then I tent-camped in Fort Dodge and Eldora. I actually stayed with complete strangers in Cedar Falls, stayed with a high school friend in Cedar Rapids, scored a hotel in Coralville, and went straight from Davenport to Pella where I grew up.

If you do it again, let me know!

Bugeater. Tried to message you. Says you don't get PM's. You ****er!!!!!!!!!!



I need a new bike. I usually just buy a fairly cheap Schwinn or Mongoose from Walmart, and might go that route again, but figured I'd ask you some questions.

I basically wanna get the best quality bike I can get for not a lot of money. I honestly ride a few miles to the gym and back at this point, but would maybe consider a nicer bike that can last me many years and be used for more in the future.

Best bike brand under $200?

Best under $500?

Get a Trek. Pay the money. Be happy.

This.

Single income family.

Fixed income.

Baby.

Won't sell drugs for money.

Ass?

You could sell your sperm, it's obviously potent.

Sell my ass?

What's a basic Trek cost anyway?

You do you buddy.

You do you.

I used to have a guy but I didn't pay over 400 for my wife's bike I don't think.

Oh hey baby. :hump:

I don't get the ass comment?

Was I being one or should I do something with mine to make money?

Oh shit that's not bad. I was thinking minimum $500 and that's a bit more than I want to spend right now.

ROFL My babymaking days are behind me, although if they weren't....

Some douche posted some pictures of me on CP awhile back without my consent. If you haven't seen them I am quite the good looking catch. I had to turn my private messaging off here for a while because I was getting so many comments.

Picked up a mint TREK 820 ST for $25 a couple months ago at a garage sale.

It'd been hanging in a garage for years, probably didn't have 100 miles on it.


Just had to tell somebody.:D

My wife's is the marlin 5.

Looks like a 2019 model is 540 bucks though.

Shop around. I paid just a little over cost for hers and i didn't pay over 400.

Yea maybe I'll keep searching the Facebook garage sale pages. I just haven't seen much worth looking at over the past 4 months.

Some of the nicer ones are located in the shitty part of town...........me thinks stolen goods. lol

Try craigslist too.

https://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/b...681035214.html


Look at that. Found it. Looks perfect for you buddy.

https://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/b...706676678.html

This is actually probably a pretty expensive bike.

https://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/b...699014916.html

Or would you rather this style?

That's my color!!!!!

I probably don't need something that nice.

Maybe Craigslist is the way to go. Always worried about getting murdered just to save a few bucks on a bike here though.


Keep posting shit for me so when I get up tomorrow I have stuff to look at.

https://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/b...706492491.html

All today

Refine your searches. I’m in the Goodyear and Avondale area. I go too far in the other direction and murder.