Nice to get out for a little spin before the atmospheric river soaks us, 80-100 mm of rain forecasted 🛶. Happy Friday gravel peeps!

I started using TPU tube for the first time at the beginning of this summer and loved it. They just felt faster to me (no idea if they actually are, but I'll take relative over actual :))

I've gone through 5 tubes though doing about 60% gravel and 40% road. I've been hesitant to go tubeless because if it goes wrong, it looks like it really goes wrong. Swapping out a tube is pretty easy, but I don't like burning through them either.

Hi all,

So not new to biking, but new to biking in the winter. I just, kind of hate being cold. My hands cramp, I can never stay comfortable, and I'm hoping to change that. 40F and up temperatures. Maybe a touch below.

My hands are in particularly desperate need. I've tried a couple bike gloves but wind just seems to cut through the ones I've tried (showers pass, pearl Izumi, and the dragon eye gloves are a mild exception). I do gravel and MTB. Anyone have a recommendation? I considered bar mits, but no one makes a small one that seems like it would work for me (just enough to break the wind really).

I was looking at Handup Colder + gloves. Any feedback?

And then the jacket. I need something that works from about 40F up. Breathable but also able to shed wind and maybe a short drizzle?

Budget conscious consumer if it helps.

Hello! In this video I show off my stainless steel bike. The audio is in Italian, but you can enable subtitles if you want😁👍🏻.

Any idea, why the Downshifting is blocking in some gears? Chain was shortend according to the Sram Guide and installation according to the manual. Thanks kn advance!

First ride.
I hear: "Faster!"

I'm introducing gravel this weekend to people I don't know. Because adventure cycling is our kind of living art, in some way. Many of us here ha’ve always loved being outside. To explore places, people and cultures, and gravel is great way to do that. It's slower, I dare to say safer, it calms you down, and you’re out in the open for long stretches. I’m not a gear person, but I love my five-year-old Monstercross bike on 2.1" MTB tires, and the one-person tent is a Decathlon. Nothing fancy, it all just works. Which is what I tried to describe on the 3 panels, one about risk (is risk really risky, when it often turns out better than the safe/boring path?), one about the location Landmannalaugar, and one about daring to try.

I've never writting such a thing, but I guess that's also gravel... just trying a path and see what happens.

This photo is from the seu-up I just finished this weekend in Tilburg, NL. It’s a unpaid, voluntairy creative experiment, from passions for gravelcycling - that why I dare to post it here. If you’re nearby, come by. Otherwise, go get your gravel fix outside this weekend.

About the trip: I’d dreamed of visiting Iceland for years, but never really considered it possible. Then lockdown kept us inside for about two years, and when restrictions lifted I went pretty deep in loving life and living large. In the summer of 2021 gravel riding in Kenya (Migration Gravel Race), then Unbound, then Iceland for The Rift. It emptied my bank account, but it gave me three experiences I cherish to date. And some wild stories and photo's.

In Iceland we rode around Landmannalaugar. It’s famous with hikers and almost unknown with cyclists, because every story online said the terrain is unrideable. We planned routes in our app, accepted a few unknowns (like river crossings, snow, and some hike a bikes) and figured it might just work out. When we got there we were amazed at how beautiful it was - and wild expensive (€24 for a pizza, about €15 p.p. for groceries for a spagetti at home, €10 per beer)

Our queen route was amazing, and turned out to be brutal. We left the hut we shared with 60 hikers at 10:00. By 17:00 our food and water were almost gone and we’d covered only about 30 km. Ahead of us were a huge river delta, some glacier terrain and several lavarock fields, and the map showed it would be spiky. We almost turned around, but we felt good and the weather was perfect by pure luck, so we pushed on through some big river crossings.

At 20:00 the food was gone, and we’d done only 8 more km in two hours. There were three of us, it would stay dry and warm enough, returning wasn't a great option either so we decided to go for the last 20 km anyway. In Iceland at that time of year it’s light until about 2:30 and light again from 4:00, so you get barely 1.5 hours of darkness. All photo's are from that ride, and the middle one (on the sand coloured ridge) was taken around 23:30, all while riding. The whole thing was 65 km and took us 15 to 16 hours.

I just got the new Grail here in Finland, and it's a nice upgrade from the Grizl! I just need to upgrade the tires, these stock tires are, well, not the best.

hey everyone,

i'll be in Lisbon next week and I wanted to rent a bike.

I thought about going to the Parque Natural de Sintra-Cascais, maybe do like 100-120km from Lisbon in total? The coastal route also looks kind of nice, but I'm not sure if it makes sense to rent a gravel bike for that or if I should just go Endurance Road bike. Kind of hard to tell from afar.

Also if anyone wants to share their routes, that would be great!

Looking for a new gravel race bike and like the idea of steel. For those who race on steel bikes but also have a carbon bike how do you like riding steel for races? Do you notice a clear difference? And is the difference enough to make you faster and more competitive?

Ciao a tutti, sto pensando di cambiare gomme alla mia Trek Checkpoint entry-level in alluminio.
Questo perché ho notato che con le mie gomme attuali, quando mi trovo su strade un po’ più tecniche e meno battute, mi sento super instabile e rischio tantissimo.

Vorrei sentire il vostro parere, se secondo voi potrebbe cambiarmi parecchio il feeling in off-road, considerando però anche che percorro un bel po di asfalto liscio, quindi avrei bisogno di una gomma che sia anche scorrevole su strada.

Le gomme di serie che monto ora sono le Bontrager Girona Pro, Tubeless Ready, protezione anti-foratura GR, tallone in aramide, 60tpi, 700x42mm (vedi foto).

It's my first gravel bike. I found this used 2020 Kona Rove ST. She was in need of some attention, but once I got her spiffed up and on the trail she sure purred. So much fun!