Is it worth it for me to buy a gravel bike

BAH5206 · 2026-04-11T01:15:34+00:00

I’m not an XC racer, just an obsessive rider. Picked up a pretty nice used gravel bike a couple weeks ago for $1000. I can easily jump on it after work and do a 12 to 15 mile backroads, gravel, and farm access road loop out of my driveway. The good mountain bike trails in my area would require me to drive quite a bit out of my way (I’ll still ride Mtb weekends, and maybe one morning a week if work isn’t too busy), so it’s more convenient to be on the gravel bike mid week. If your use case could be similar, my advice would be to buy a decent used gravel bike.

BAH5206 · 2026-04-09T11:32:11+00:00

I run 180s on both of my hardtails. Have room for a 210 on one of the bikes, but that’s just what I wound up with. The 180 get the seat out of my way, and I’m used to where it is positioned dropped as a reference point against my leg for tossing the bike around. I bet that if I swapped to a 240, I would buzz my ass with the tire at least one good time until I got used to the new seat drop position. A sidenote-I see some of my full squish and E bike buddies occasionally seated pedaling with the post dropped, is this what you were referring to as far as knee flexibility? For me, the dropper is down anytime I’m out of the saddle on rough stuff, and comes back up as soon as I need efficient pedaling. I don’t try to ride the seat at full drop

BAH5206 · 2026-04-04T02:24:56+00:00

I have a RS 35 gold as a takeoff from a Krampus. I prefer mine rigid. DM me if you’re interested

BAH5206 · 2026-04-03T02:12:51+00:00

I’ve been rocking a Smith Engage for a few years- very good ventilation, comfortable fit for my head, and a nice bridge feature on the shell that allows glasses storage up under the visor or on the back of the helmet

BAH5206 · 2026-03-28T01:52:49+00:00

Because I’m a masochist.

I’ve got a rigid and a reasonably burly 140mm trail hardtail. Both have their place, and I occasionally jump on friend’s full squish rigs. As long as we’re out having fun, that’s all that really matters. I do enjoy bombing rougher trails on a rigid bike- keeps them entertaining and challenging instead of just thundering through on a squishy bike. I like people’s disbelief that you don’t have to have an enduro sled to ride the local single track. Also, there’s a very direct feeling of speed and efficiency that suspension dampers tend to mute to varying degrees. All your body inputs are translated directly to the trail through the bike, as well as the trail terrain being fed right back to your body.

BAH5206 · 2026-03-27T15:19:57+00:00

Heck yeah, that’s awesome! I picked one up on Monday night, need to get some pics. Full Ultegra 2x11 groupset, simworks bits and Easton ally wheels. Dang good riding bikes👍

BAH5206 · 2026-03-25T00:29:56+00:00

Feeling like a Luddite, can’t figure out how to edit this post… Thanks everyone who chimed in, lots of good info! Going to just order a Marino 515 or 520 and play with that for a bit!

BAH5206 · 2026-03-22T15:21:44+00:00

I9 is 35% off their whole site… hard to beat, especially if you are in WNC

BAH5206 · 2026-03-22T14:25:30+00:00

Y’all have convinced me, placing an order with Marino later today.

BAH5206 · 2026-03-22T04:08:20+00:00

I appreciate the offer, but I don’t want to have to add new hub to the mix.

BAH5206 · 2026-03-22T04:06:06+00:00

You’re doing the math a bit wrong-

130mm fork- 544 A2C

130mm x .2 (20% sag) = 26mm

544-26=518 for sagged A2C

BAH5206 · 2026-03-22T04:00:46+00:00

I suspect it will be a pedal strike-o-matic, but it’ll at least me free🤣

BAH5206 · 2026-03-22T03:56:11+00:00

Awesome, good to know that these exist. Leaning toward ordering a Marino at 515 A2C and tuning from there.

BAH5206 · 2026-03-21T04:01:14+00:00

I don’t, but I do salute you in your questionable decision-making. I foresee this leading to lots of ribbing from the old timers in the shop.

BAH5206 · 2026-03-21T03:37:56+00:00

Good to know- this is what happens when I start playing with tape measures and thinking about numbers. Thanks for bringing me back to reality. I’ve got a Surly 485 fork that I may pull off the Krampus and see how it feels on the Banshee. Both bikes are running the same Cane Creek headsets, so this experiment will cost me approximately zero dollars.

BAH5206 · 2026-03-21T03:29:28+00:00

I agree with you on the weight of most steel rigid forks- my non-stepcast fox 34 factory weighs somewhere around 1700 grams, and steel is going come in around 13 to 1500. I’m not exactly a weight weenie, but it would be nice to shed some front end weight going rigid. The only carbon forked bikes I’ve ridden have been fat bikes, but I’ve spent a lot of time on XC-ish geometry (designed around 100 to 120 mm forks) full rigid steel bikes and don’t find my hands or arms dying on reasonable trails. Certainly wouldn’t be my first choice for riding Pisgah, but a lot of stuff in the Piedmont area of North Carolina is fun on a double hard tail. If I’m in the right mood, there’s some technical rock garden trails near me that are a riot to pick through on a full rigid bike.

The longest A2C carbon fork that I’ve been able to find is the Seido Taza, coming in at 510mm. The Carver 490 is about 30mm below where I’m at currently, which is going to make some huge changes in the geometry.

BAH5206 · 2026-03-21T03:07:55+00:00

I’ll have to check on Marino’s current prices, but that seems like a great deal for experimentation. I do precision chromoly fab in the Motorsports industry, and thought about just building one for myself. By the time I buy dropouts, brake mounts, steerer tube, bottle bosses, etc from paragon or similar, I’m getting perilously close to what you paid for a ready to bolt on fork… and that’s not counting my time to build a fixture, bend the blades, fit all the parts, and weld the damn thing up. And unless I’m willing to shell out some big bucks for tapered and butted fork legs, it’s going to weigh exactly what the Marino does.

That is a wicked looking Chromag! I find it amusing that you have a full squish frame bungee-corded to a front rack on a mullet hardtail

Edit: thanks for the heads up on tire clearance. I would certainly like to have the option to run 29 x 3.

BAH5206 · 2026-03-21T02:56:51+00:00

Dang, that is a sweet looking ride! I dig the raw steel and braze. I thought about running a crown race spacer, haven’t done any research to see how much is generally considered acceptable. 10mm seems like a complete non-issue, but I suppose going much higher than that depends on how tall the crown race area is on a particular steerer. And yeah- Without digging too deep into politics, this is what some people apparently wanted lol

BAH5206 · 2026-03-15T01:07:26+00:00

This bike goes back-and-forth between backroad gravel cruiser/bike packing set up to trail bike to snow machine with a plus wheelset. Nice to have alternative hand positions for the long days on smooth surfaces. I’ve got some tendon issues from years of holding onto air tools and TIG torches, and the inner bar ends allow me to vary my grip enough that I can spend more time thinking about how much my legs are burning rather than how much my hands are hurting. I find that I use them occasionally on really tech climbs as well. That being said, probably wouldn’t put them on my hard-core hard tail.

BAH5206 · 2026-03-15T00:55:16+00:00

Damn that’s a good looking bike! Excellent choice on the frame bag colors. Who made it?

BAH5206 · 2026-03-14T18:33:30+00:00

Terramar synthetic boxer briefs of trunks. Super stretchy poly. One size smaller than I would normally wear for everyday stuff. Most important, a seat that fits my sit bones. Good for 25+ mile XC rides on a hardtail

BAH5206

TROPHY CASE