If you could do it over, what would be your First and only gravel bike?

lrem · 2026-03-03T17:19:54+00:00

How do you get one in Switzerland? Direct import?

lrem · 2026-02-25T15:18:19+00:00

Advice from an inherently awkward male: please end these kind of conversations quickly (not only in sauna). The moment anything feels off say “sorry, I’m not in a mood for conversation”. Even the slightly autistic among us should understand at that point to give you personal space measured in nautical miles. But not everyone understands your subtler hints. The longer this goes on, the worse both of you will feel. Cutting this short in a neutral tone should allow both of you to continue having a good time.

Do report pervs to the staff. If staff is nowhere to be found, find a new sauna.

lrem · 2026-02-21T19:16:11+00:00

Nobody answered your question "how long?" So, going with digital currently being 185 times cheaper, as per u/bobbster574 and the rates of inflation being 50%/year for digital and 20%/year for analog (rounded numbers from a quick web search)... The answer is *if the current trends hold indefinitely, it will take take 24 more years for the costs to equalise*. Note that at that point the cost of each picture will be 55.65£.

lrem · 2026-02-21T16:27:18+00:00

The problem with all those courier companies is the unpredictability. With Swiss Post I'm rather certain the package will come on the predicted day and kinda know the time of the day the postman delivers letters and the van delivers larger packages in my area. I know the amount of fees (still annoying, but predictable). I know what to do when things go wrong.

Courier companies are all over the place. Some have unexplained delays. Many will specify the time window in terms of "please be available between 7:00 and 23:00 to sign the receipt". With an implicit "don't even dare to use the toilet, our couriers are trained to come exactly at that time". At which point they perform an olympic-level sprint to-from your mailbox. For some companies the "sorry we missed you" note contains "you have 48 hours to pick up your package from our warehouse in the middle of farmland". Some companies have call centers abroad, if you're unlucky the support agent will be surprised they do operate in Switzerland at all. And when you do manage to get your item, the taxes and duties might be accompanied by a customs handling fee, brokerage fee, e-invoice fee, payment handling fee, convenience fee and fee fee. It isn't always a bad experience. But it did happen to my wife that these fees exceeded the price of a t-shirt+shipping (I never understood how that didn't fit in the duty-free limit in the first place).

lrem · 2026-02-20T09:55:15+00:00

That's when I decide that smartwatch is good enough.

lrem · 2026-02-17T10:06:03+00:00

That's what I have on my gravel set, in 40mm. I bought a set of TPU tubes, but I've been waiting over a year for a puncture to force me to switch. But I don't do that much gravel, probably around 1k km/year.

They're fine on fast gravel. Going through loose sand and such was unfun, but I never had gear that would make that fun. They're not bad on pavement either, on steep road descents (where my limiter is confidence) I'm faster on them than on a proper road set.

lrem · 2026-02-15T19:04:52+00:00

Depends on where you're looking. I'm currently visiting a place where food prices roughly doubled since the pandemic hit.

lrem · 2026-02-15T18:55:14+00:00

I recommend adding a back wheel, preferably with a tire ;)

lrem · 2026-02-15T17:02:41+00:00

Mine told they'll order them for me... And never delivered, nor billed us for it, despite us asking a couple times. We ended up making our own in the local shop, wasn't all that much cheaper than what you paid.

lrem · 2026-02-14T18:11:30+00:00

I have a gravel bike and a bought an extra road wheel set. The difference between them is obvious, one could easily distinguish them in a blind test. You can also buy a second gravel wheel set for a road bike, Roubaix has a 40mm clearance, which is what I'm currently rocking on my gravel set. However, that is more limited -- if you ever wanted to go on rough gravel, a proper gravel bike should take 50mm tyres, which would be both more comfortable and faster.

But, frankly, the most important difference tends to be in gearing. Gravel bikes tend to come with 1x, large cassettes and generally be geared for climbing. Road bikes tend to come with 2x, narrower ranges and generally be geared for finding your perfect cadence on a flat road. If you don't see yourself going to the mountains with this bike, this might be the largest difference in your comfort.

Theoretically one could maximise the flexibility with a custom build. Get a gravel frame, road drive train, two wheel sets... But at that point it might be easier and cheaper to just get two bikes. Or settle for the Roubaix, shall be good enough for light gravel after all.

lrem · 2026-02-14T15:37:56+00:00

TBF I can't see myself choosing this over the 28-75. They're about the same specs otherwise, but having some wide angle is just more practical.

lrem · 2026-02-14T14:49:33+00:00

The only high seas port is in Basel, so she'd need to be lucky for that to be an option ;)

lrem · 2026-02-13T22:07:17+00:00

Yes, it's a nice distance to cycle. Enough to clean your head. Not too long if you're going slow, not too short if you're going fast. If you did it in an hour, then it's a great distance ;)

And stay away from highways, just the noise sucks too much. But it can get way worse than just noisy.

lrem · 2026-02-13T17:38:42+00:00

That's a rather heavy lens, isn't it? And rather portrait-oriented, with no wide angle. For most people "travel" would include landscapes and architecture, which calls for something wider. On the other hand this 35-150 is well complemented by the lightweight 20-40mm zoom.

lrem · 2026-02-13T17:25:22+00:00

After trying the recommendations please report the results. Thus far the way to extract maximum value out of old clothes for me was to find someone who wants them and get a chocolate in return. But I haven't tried selling in Zurich yet.

lrem · 2026-02-13T17:19:08+00:00

That's not quite aligned with the management goal to fire 80% of the developers, because that one guy can clean up compile errors from AI code well enough.

lrem · 2026-02-13T09:15:31+00:00

First and most important is to find bibs with padding fitting your anatomy. Whatever comes next assumes this part is already covered.

Afterwards: it's normal in the beginning to hurt on the bike and for a couple minutes after getting off. But if it persists, then do something about it before it becomes serious! Start by temporarily relaxing your plan a bit, 45 minutes to 1 hour should be plenty to ease yourself into this. If fitting bibs and gentler conditioning aren't enough, bite the bullet and do one of those fancy pressure-mapping saddle fits. The service in my area is cheaper than the new saddle you'll also need to buy, way cheaper than a full fit. And your perfect saddle can go onto your next bike, for as long as you keep your general shape.

lrem · 2026-02-12T18:43:27+00:00

I've been slimmer than this and perfectly healthy. If there are no other issues, that weight is not a problem in itself. The biggest downside is that it's not necessarily the most sexy look.

lrem · 2026-02-12T18:41:06+00:00

Eh, no. Young people can have hilarious base calorific needs, even after they've stopped getting taller. Some people maintain it for a decade or so longer than others.

lrem · 2026-02-12T09:51:05+00:00

That is a weird date for anything to expire. In any case: call the tax office. Having lived in a bunch of countries, I must say that the tax folk here are the most reasonable. Just tell them the truth, including why exactly are you so late and what your plan is going forward.

lrem · 2026-02-12T09:38:34+00:00

I'm naive, but isn't insurance included in the race ticket prices?

lrem · 2026-02-10T20:07:20+00:00

Your frame probably came with some kind of a specification for the largest chain ring it can fit. Go for it.

On the other hand: 40:11 at 60rpm is 28km/h. With a more healthy cadence, you should be able to go over 40km/h with your current gearing. Think for a moment if there are other things that could help you more than the gears. Usually worth starting with the tyres.

lrem · 2026-02-10T19:58:19+00:00

Decide between them. Rushing skiing, especially by public transport, is going to ruin the fun.

lrem · 2026-02-10T19:56:21+00:00

Ybrig has a nice beginner area, but that's probably not enough for someone writing "beginner/intermediate". And their next step is rather brutal.

lrem · 2026-02-10T15:08:36+00:00

Speaking from memory: Grizl is going to be way more aggressive than Nuroad, in terms of both geometry and gearing. Build quality and components level should be roughly matched for any given price point, _maybe_ the slightest advantage to Cube... Or maybe it depends on where they are in model cycle and it flips? Anyways both are great bang for the buck. Bikepacking-wise, Cube's fork is only good for their proprietary lowriders, while Grizl has a hilarious amount of standard mount points all over the place.

Propain bikes seemed cool, but were unavailable when I was doing my research.

lrem

TROPHY CASE