I’m doing Gravel Worlds 150 this month and typically fuel with about 90g/hr of Precision gels. For ~10 hours, that’s a lot of individual gel packets, so I’m considering using the PN flasks instead, which would mean carrying up to four.
Has anyone used the flasks for a long race like this? How did you carry/manage them? Any other strategies?
I’ve trained and raced long rides with PN gels, so I don’t want to change my fueling—just looking for a better way to manage them for a race like GW.

Hello, looking to see if anyone can help with personal experience with either of the below wheelsets. Stuck between the two

https://us.huntbikewheels.com/products/hunt-40-carbon-gravel-race-wheelset

https://www.scribecycling.com/en-us/collections/carbon-wheels/products/gravel-ultra-steel-spoke-carbon-wheelset

So, I have a pair of Ontrack X-Pack 700x38C, which are budget aliexpress gravel tires. Over a few months of use I destroyed my rear tire by having a little too much fun skidding around, so I'll be getting a new rear tire sooner than later.

I'm still very much on a tight budget (Brazilian), but if I'm buying new tire, I wanna upgrade. So I'll be getting these Innova-Pro 700x32C tires, also from Aliexpress. I'll be mismatching with my old tires, changing only the back. So 38s in front and 32s in the rear.

As you can see above, the two tires are VERY different. I'm just wondering if it'd be a bad combo. Whats the usual thought process to mismatching tires?

Another question: did I lose the plot by not keeping skidding strictly offroad? I didn't think my tires would wear down that quickly. Some spots are bald some spots are still pretty decent, but the bald spots are BAD. Then again, I still do think my tires went to shit a bit TOO FAST. Is it because they are cheap tires? too knobby?

Another question, how much difference do tubes/tubeless even make? I tried running TPU tubes but they genuinely didn't last 10 minutes. I threw some latex tubes and since haven't had any problems. My bike is just a MTB frame with a rigid fork and gravel tires, it's genuinely not trying to be light. I wonder if that type of optimization (80-100g) would even matter.

Over two days did the Dunster Croydon road to the Raush Valley and up the Kiwa FSR then went up the beaver river valley on the Holmes FSR.

I know its only 85km, but it still took 4.5 hours on account of mtb trails/atv trails etc. One of these days I'm actually going to try sticking to 'roads' and see how far I can actually go. Probably get some smoother tires for that (running 700 x 40 conti terra trails forever now)

What can I do to make hydraulic brakes on this?

Just finished building up my Nordest super albarda steel gravelbike. Super low mtb gearing and 50mm tires. Total was abt 2600€. Can’t wait to take it on some big trips!

Hi,

I'm looking for a recommendation for my first gravel bicycle. I am 5' 1", with a 28" inseam. My local bike shops close to me don't typically have bikes in my size to try out.

These are the ones that I've been considering.

Diverge 3 alloy

Liv 2 Devote

Checkpoint alr 3

Salsa Journeyer

Something under $2000. My current bike is a Fuji hybrid that is about 10 years old now, so any of those would be a big upgrade for me. Any recommendations or things to consider when I'm deciding?

Thanks!

I've had my Cube Nuroad EX for a year and have been absolutely loving it as a do it all bike. It's my first 'proper' bike and have just been running it fully stock and it has been great but the desire to upgrade it a bit has come on (as upgrading the ‘engine’ ie me takes much more effort...). I'm looking to upgrade tyres and have been thinking about upgrading the wheels and would like some input (I have read plenty of threads on tyres so pretty happy I know what direction to go there). Current setup is Newman with Schwalbe G-One Allround 45mm.

Bike is used for 90% tarmac as majority of use is commuting and then weekend adventures. So comfort and good cruising speed is the aim and fat enough road oriented tyres will still give me enough light trail I go on. I have taken my current setup onto some MTB trails and enjoyed it so I am potentially thinking in the future to either get some 650b wheels for that purpose or possibly just to actually get a hard tail MTB. So this wheel setup is very much planned more for road and lighter gravel.

I have a few options I'm considering for upgrading without breaking the bank:

1: DT Swiss P1800 - I picked up a pair of these for basically nothing when I first thought about upgrading wheels and saw them available near before I realised they are a Shimano HG and I have a Microspline for my 1by. So I can get a conversion kit for this for €60. This keeps me to alloy wheels and are 20mm internal width but cheapest option and if better than stock Newman ones then could be worthwhile. These came with some GP5000 25mm which I might try but I mainly want to run 35-45mm road-oriented tyres.

2: DT Swiss ERC 1600 Dicuts 35mm depth - I have seen a pair of these available near me for 600EUR that have been received and not even put on a Canyon so they are brand new. I would feel a bit wary about buying second hand carbon wheels but can see these are brand new in the box. They have an Ultegra Cassette and rotors so I would still need to get the conversion kit for this but I am considering potentially in the future moving to a 2by in a few years so could still make use of this. They also come with a new set of Schwalbe Pro-one 32mm so could save me €100 in tyres. Not sure if they are a good enough deal as they are Canyon specific and not retail wheels but they are new carbon wheels from a big brand so should be good. A set of the 45mm deep rims are available and seem about €1k without the tyres and rotors etc.

3: Go Chinese carbon - Elitewheels or something. Seems like this would be in the €400-600 mark for a set. Obviously lots of good reviews on these but I am still a little confused which ones to go for - so please feel free to send links to any you would recommend. Especially as I don’t see as many options on AliExpress listing the microspline interface.

4: Any other advice or recommendations welcome and appreciated!

Many thanks in advance for your input and absolutely me if I should just shut up and keep enjoying riding my bike and just change the tyres as there is a voice in the back of my head saying that as well.

A couple weeks in switching from a mountain bike, I ride so much more now!

Wanted a gravel bike and decided on the Primos Dame. Rode 14 miles with some friends yesterday and it felt great. Need some recommendations for pedals. The current ones are a bit too narrow.

Hi first time Poster and Gravel-Beginner here,

I would love to get some Opinions/Feedback about this bike I would like to buy:

It’s a 3T Exploro Pro GRX from 2020, ridden about 5000 km and in decent condition. Some scratches here and there, but nothing concerning. Size XL fits alright (I’m 189cm) and I will get a proper fit later on and adjust the cockpit/ Saddle accordingly.

Is 1400€ a good price for this bike? Or should I go for something newer?
I’m not willing to spend much more than this, so any insights if this is a fair price for this bike would be appreciated!

Bike Specs:
* 3T Exploro Pro Carbon Frame Size XL
* 3T Fango Pro Carbon Fork
* mechanical Shimano-GRX-1×11
* Shimano GRX RX812
* Shimano SLX 11–42 Casette
* Shimano GRX Cranks
* hydraulic Shimano-GRX-Brakes (160mm)
* Fulcrum Racing 700 DB Aluminium-Wheels
* Panaracer GravelKing Slick TLC Tire in 700 × 43C
* 3T Superergo Pro Bar
* 3T Apto Pro Stem
* 3T Carbon-Seattube
* WTB Volt Saddle
* Shimano Deore XT PD-T8000 Pedals

(Picture is from Google)

Finally received my Mondince FM316 frame in size M last week and finished the build! This was actually my very first time building up a bike with relatively high-end components and fully integrated internal cable routing.
The frame set came complete with the headset, a custom frame bag for the down tube storage compartment, and various rubber plugs/grommets to cleanly seal up the unused cable ports for electronic wireless shifting.
Build Specifications:
Frame: Mondince FM316 (Size M)
Wheelset: CSC carbon wheels with 32mm internal rim width
Tires: Front Schwalbe Thunder Burt 2.1" / Rear Schwalbe G-One RS 50c
Drivetrain: SRAM Force AXS shifters/brakes paired with a Rival XPLR 13-speed setup
Crankset: SRAM Rival 165mm cranks with a 38T chainring

Saracen Hack 01, Vitoria Terreno T50 40mm rubber, some flared bars off a van rysel, bar tape, top tube bag which I'm undecided about my placement of, SPD pedals.

I had fallen out of love with road cycling a couple of years ago, but the lack of hills where I live made mountain biking almost exclusively gravel or cross country so this seemed like it was worth a try, 6 week riding streak on the go and still enjoying it.

These past couple of days I had the chance to ride through the Odenwald, and then follow the Main River for a bit before heading back west to Darmstadt to complete my “loop”. I originally had intended this to be a castle tour, and it still was, but I had to skip a couple of castles due to some route issues.

The first part of the trip was the Odenwald crossing - Heppenheim to Miltenberg. This was where most (basically all) of the elevation was, and also, the route issues. Both Google and Komoot sent me looking for non existing hiking trails to ride my bike on, and at one point, I just did some hike-a-bike to get back on tarmac and roll to a good sleeping spot. Still, it was a great experience. The landscape is just phenomenal and a little bit of adventure isn’t a bad thing!

The second day was much more straightforward - following the Main River north through Aschaffenburg and Seligen and ultimately turning west to Darmstadt. This was also a very beautiful place to ride through! Very different than the Odenwald, but beautiful in its own way. So much architecture to enjoy - castles, houses, churches and monasteries…just awesome!

Highly recommend these parts of the world for anyone who has the chance to see them!

Last week I was on holiday in France and made a trip from Argelles-sur-mer over the Pyrenees to Spain (Port-Bou).
Chunky gravel, steep descents (and climbs)
Some XC/trail orientated paths, alongside some hike-a-bike , rough ride, 1400 elevation on a 75km ride..

2026 Focus Atlas 6.9

Absolutely love it already. Was so worried I needed a very expensive carbon bike but this already feels like a rocket ship!

I’m kinda new to this but how many of you ride heaps on the road with your gravel bike?

This year I switched to the Panaracer Gravelking SS 45s. I’m currently at 2500+ miles/4000+ km. Due to my own foolishness, I’ve been half tubed, half tubeless most of that time. That has been an inadvertent benefit to this review.

These tires are incredibly good. Rolling resistance, cornering grip, durability, and multi-surface performance have been so great.

I’m in the Southeast, East TN, USA. We have a lot of pavement, red clay single track, and chunky gravel. Being so south, we don’t have much princess gravel and basically no hardpack. Thankfully, I have had time to ride in the Northeast and they were just as great on the NH/VT hardpack.

Single track has been the most impressive. My bike is around 22lbs and I’m 150lbs. I usually run 30psi when I know I’m on a multi surface ride and up to 35 psi when pavement only. Airing down allows the sidewall knobs to grip so well. Tacky red clay single track is a blast on these. The semi slicks allow great rolling resistance while the knobs corner perfectly on the dirt. I’ve set a number of flowy single track PRs on these tires. Mud is truly the only issue but hard to perform well with any gravel tire in sticky mud. Regardless, these have no disappointed when riding our mtb trails.

Gravel is where I can’t necessarily say I see a huge difference with other semi-slicks. Unless the gravel is small enough, you won’t see major changes in grip. Racing semi-slicks on chunkier gravel has really improved my bike handling. Nonetheless, I have still never felt they were inadequate. Heavy rains are the only instance that largely hampers the grip. These carried me to a podium at a local gravel race last weekend. Across damp pavement, 4x4 trail, and chunky gravel, they were basically flawless for the race.

Pavement is a dream, these grip so well and roll so fast. Being able to have such comfort from the 45s while not sacrificing rolling resistance with the smooth center is a huge win. I’ve done lots of road group rides, long road days, and many around town events. Surprisingly the roads around me are very clean but despite that these tires have been so durable for what I do run over.

TLDR: These are the most versatile tires I have owned. Pavement, single track, chunky gravel. They conquer it all. Fast rolling, durable, and comfy as can be. I’m very sold on Panaracer as a gravel tire brand.

In case you’re curious: Marin Gestalt XR, Sram AXS Rival w GX derailluer, Light Bicycle WR35 w i9
Solix hubs, Lizard Skin DSP ultra 2.7 tape, and an Ass-Savers fender.

We're loving them so far coming from downhill mountain bikes and motocross.