This being the Tech channel, I for one would be happy with longer form videos detailling this build. I understand the algorithm might dictate otherwise, but maybe no harm asking viewers how they would feel about 20 min videos (or more) instead of the 10 minute ones. I was only finishing my first cup of tea when it was over😁
I really think this challenge should be done again but with a budget for bike and upgrades to convert an old MTB to gravel bike. Looking at MTB to gravel conversions most of the time they will be a steel framed bike with a a rigid fork. This bike in stock form is just not what people talk about when looking at MTB to gravel conversions, completely misses the mark
^This. I'd guess that when someone is looking to convert a MTB to gravel, there's a good chance they're looking to avoid the nearly absurd prices of a new gravel bike. The di2 is complete overkill.
Love how you incorporated the building sounds into the music. I've always loved the sound of a rachet-pop from a torque wrench. I am sort of surprised you didn't re-paint it. Nice vid Alex.
So let me get this straight 🤔 He went to all the trouble of tracking down a particular Frame to convert, then didn’t bother to swap out the Fork, bodged the wrong size crank into the frame (should have used the MTB equivalent) as well as some guff about the wheels not fitting even though a modern wheel with a quick release adapter is no different in width to the original wheel and using a 42t cassette for climbing is great if you are a Pro but for the average person it Sucks especially when the GRX crank comes with a minimum 40t chainring, not to mention going from a flat bar for a dropbar isn’t just a straight forward swap as there’s a huge difference in reach and it needs to be explained, this series could have been great but I don’t know why they half-arsed it 🤷♂️
Because they do not think a lot before doing thing, they are poor mechanics and they do little to no research, they do not know much actually and that's really sad to see their incompetence trying to teach the wrong thing to noobs, when is it ok to stress the rear aluminium stays, there is going to be cracks somewhere for sure... The fact that the only grease usage was on the threads of the bottom bracket speaks for itself.
@@JamSa85 Actually this is what makes it even worse, adverts have a legal duty to not mislead or show the products being used in a way that could potentially cause harm to the end user without a legal disclaimer and even then a complaint to the Advertising Standards Agency could quite easily get this video taken down, if this was just somebody in their shed it wouldn’t be a problem but it’s two big companies saying it’s fine to use the products in this way when it really isn’t
4:26 You must be kidding, right? "Widening" the frame by 7 mm is really a lot, especially given it's designed to be a tiny bit bent inwards for the wheel to be clamped securely. Maybe I would understand such thinking when building a city commuter out of scrap parts, but I definitely wouldn't do that on a bike designed to be ridden off-road and especially when building it with brand new high level parts.
True. I've got cracked my frame by adding just a small 2-3 mm spacer... This is a killing solution for aluminum frame. And what is the problem to get proper QR hubs in 2022??? 🤦🏻♂️
Not sure I would widen the frame on an aluminium bike that much! You can cold set steel and get away with it. If you had gone got the Hunt 650b wheels then you can get them with QR at 135mm. You may have also wanted to use an MTB bb and crank and that would have solved using a road crank. You could have also used a wolftooth derailleur extension and popped a 11-51 in the rear!
I still say Yer doin it wrong... How many gravel bikes have you seen with a whopping great 100mm travel telescopic fork? I bought 5 bikes from the recycling centre today for a fiver each. A variety of 80s, 90s and noughties mtb's and hybrids. ANY one of them would be a better starting point for a project like this... especially the cute little full rigid, canti' braked Bianchi.
To name a few the Salsa Fargo, Salsa Cutthroat, Otso Fenrir, Cotic Cascade, Chumba Yaupon, Mason ISO, & Nordest Kutxo are all drop bar bikes that support at the very least 100mm sus fork. With some offering it as part of their build kit from the factory. There is there all those sponsored riders for Specialized who ride with an Epic HT with 100mm of travel & drop bars. Lael Wilcox comes to mind as does a few others.
I've converted a 26' MTB to a road bike by replacing a double crankset with the original triple, added a longer stem to my road drop bar and fitted 9 speed Shimano Sora brifters. Maybe I convert it to 29er wheels/tires later. Basically, all bike conversios are all plug and play, depending on your possibilities and your wallet. If you should have an old MTB, a DI2 upgrade would be an overkill. For the price of a complete DI2 group us mortals could get a complete gravel bike if shopped wisely...
Might as well choose full wireless SRAM AXS instead of Di2. On a non Di2 designed frame. No more mucking around figuring out to where you can run wires or drill holes. To install your battery and hide the junction box.
I've been doing this for peanuts ...no di2 mix match drive train and diy/oddpart brakes and what not on late 90s mtbs 26s ...26"to700c with drops .disk front rigid and suspension, cantilever adapter rear ...9spd 10spd
Be interesting to have a price on the complete build. Including bike, I'd be keen to know just what this costs compared to a quality used bike of the right spec.
Aside from an advert for expensive shimano parts, I’m not really seeing the point of this. The frame geometry isn’t really designed for drop bars. And then spreading the rear to jam in a hub that doesn’t really fit? That just seems like it’s asking for trouble. Is the parts shortage the reason for some of these decisions? It would be unfortunate if viewers attempt something like this themselves and then end up injured when their frame fails or the handling is not what they expected as they bomb down some epic descent.
The problem with this is that frame designed to have a flat handle bar, therefore the top tube is 6 to 7 cm longer than on a road/gravel bike in the same size. I did the same mistake but the other way around. Bought a Trek road bike, put a flat handle bar on it, and even a 130mm stem did not fix the short top tube, that was designed to have drop bars. That's why real manufacturers have specific frames for flat handle bar gravel bikes, and hybrid bikes, and not just sticking a flat bar on a frame that is designed for drop bars. This bike will not work, others have done it, it's called monster-cross. Top tube will be too long.
@@yoavmiller216 Yes Ive converted a Rocky Mountain Blizzard in a smaller frame than I usually use with a short reavh gravel handlebar, short 35mm stem etc. Rides great to me
Yes you have to use a smaller frame if you want to do that. If it's an old frame it generally works better because they where much shorter than modern MTBs.
Was thinking this as well. Although it looks sick with the MTB fork, it's a shame it doesn't have a nice carbon rigid fork to complete the build. It would have been a nice mullet build with a 700c front.
I would advise against fitting washers into shimano cranksets, for starters you would need to fit one on each side in order to avoid offsetting the bike center, and in that case your splines would be at least 4mm shorter than the standard, which is a potential hazard. A MTB specific crankset would've worked just fine. Then there is the fact that that MTB to gravel conversions require straight seatposts in order to compensate for the longer reach in MTB frames. And then there is the issue of streching the frame in order yo fit an incorrect hub. There are plenty of Shimano and other brand options that would've worked correctly in that scenario. The bottom line is that these types of things should be handled by professionals and not by any random amateur giving away wrong advice.
This was a great video Alex. Love this type of content. In a future episode of your tech clinics, can you show us the correct way to tape handle bars? I can work around the mechanical stuff fairly well, but looks like putting on bar tape is more of an art. Can't wait to see your conversion on the road. Thanks again!!
Nice build, I just completed a Trek Excalibur/ gravel bike. What chain ring did you use? I went with a 34T -11/52 cassette and topped out pretty quickly. The gravel bike is mainly for flat gravel.
I'd have gone with a pair of non-suspension forks as well. But yeah, something I'm looking to to to my old but still great 26er hardtail when I move to 29er.
I know that Di2 is great and all, but dude - it's OK to use mechanical, especially on a non-Di2 frame! Thankfully Si had some spare zip ties lying around to finish the job.
It looks really fun. The mix of high spec modern components with this frame is a bit silly, which is what I like about it. I would really like to see a head-to-head between this and a similar build with 26" wheels and mechanical shifting.
I did that one on a circa 2008 MTB. I ditched the front suspension and replaced it with carbon forks. 26" wheels on a 29er fork looked a bit odd until I filled some of the space with mudguards. Used 105 road brake/shifters of that vintage on a drop handlebar work fine with the 3x9 MTB drive chain. Next I'm going to install slightly larger middle and large chainrings to give me a bit more speed on downhills and pavement. I'll keep the granny gears for climbing. I've got about $600 Canadian in it so far and I've learned a lot.
"Opening the frame up for the wider hub"... 1. It's an aluminium frame, it'll probably survive but it's best practice not to. 2. Even if you just use its elasticity rather than setting it in place, your dropouts are going to be out of alignment which can cause more problems. 3. Aligning the dropouts permanently will almost certainly do some damage, so just don't. Use a steel frame. ;)
The hub spacing is identical. 135mm QR has he same distance between the stays as 12x142 through axle. How else would the wheel fit with an adapter in it. Spacing that bb out is normal even for mtb cranks. Should just have put mechanical GRX on it.
The chainstays for 142 have a recess of 3,5mm per side to accomodate a 12mm TA instead of 10mm QR, but true, with regards to the offset from the cassette and a derailleur hanger they are identical. Thus what Alex did was a massive bodge
@@feedbackzaloop Yes indeed there is a recess. Wheel spoke angle and such is the same. And actually that cassette could have fit on the original wheels... Using fast 2.1xc tires would have made much difference in rolling resistance over 45x650b wheels.
@@luukrutten1295 not really sure about the cassette, if GRX is identical to XT 8000 or built around a road standart, then it would not fit the old hub. 26" with 2,1 tyre is simply smaller, and although would do the job as well, is not that aesthetical as 650 (27,5") with 45mm. But at least Alex could have relaced the new rim Upd: oh, it IS an XT cassette here. Yes, fits perfectly then
@@luukrutten1295 actually, true. 25mm difference in rim diameter, about 18mm other way round in tyre thickness - so, 26" is less than 4mm smaller in radius
Lots of people will be interested in the repurposing of old bikes to follow new trends, but literally no one is going to throw a new top end groupset at an old 26er frame. Please can GCN do a tech video which is relevant to what people may actually do? I do applaud the use of 650b wheels in a 26er frame though. This is something surely lots of people are keen to know about, so well done on this aspect. Also, hiding the electronic gubbins appears well done.
Wasn't there a video where Si and the tech guy from GMBN took the same kind of monster against a modern gravel bike and the converted MTB was horrendous?
Alex, the bike is looking great! Tan sidewalks are kicking! Looking forward to your thoughts on fit and Tuning of geometry after it’s all done. The timing on these is perfect as m doing exactly the same thing with a Trek I pulled from the side of the road and a 105 group I have from a previous upgrade. Bike came with a calipers but a disk option wheel set, so I’ll upgrade to disc. Thoughts on a dropper post?
Great video of an interesting challenge! I managed to convert a Cube Nature ATB/crosshybrid to a gravelbike with way cheaper components (GRX-400 series) than in this video. Great solution for the scarcity and prices in the (gravel)bikemarket. I solved the crankarm-chainstay problem with a Deore crank with a narrow-wide singlespeed chainring, works fine with GRX! In the meanwhile I upgraded the frame (which was quite heavy) to a much lighter Specialized Source (=Sirrus) frame, with a slight upgrade to second-hand GRX600 shifters and a GRX810 detailleur + a Ritchey carbon fork. At 3:04, what adapter (brand and type) is used here?
Woo - that's hilarious - I have a 2018 bike with a GRX 810 setup - but back then post mount was standard - and I am using those same Ultegra BR-RS785 brakes. They work amazing. The question I have: Is what that is the travel on that MTB fork ? Is it ok to have like 100mm of travel on a bike with drop bars ? even the new XPLR is like 20-40mm ? right ?
To be honest for you viewers you can save like 500 usd from two components alone Hubs and freehubs: look for some old LX/SLX hubs and rebuild it yourself Brake calipers: look for some MTB brakesets with broken levers Bada bing bada boom
For mix and matching brake levers and calipers you need to look for what type of brake cable they use. Shimanos uses BH59 (for cheap brakes or old busted brakes) or BH90 (for new hotness brakes). Theoretically you can use dura ace levers on saint 4 pot calipers and vice versa, but would you? You can ask Ian Malcolm
we need... well I need to see if you change that fork... and well how to fit a rigid fork... I did this MTB to gravel recently ... and I found a cheap rigid fork but I don't know who to install it or make it fit.
For the amount of money you'd have to spend on this project you could actually buy a fairly decent new gravel bike that has better tire clearance and no outdated suspension fork. I can see the appeal of this - so many old cheap MTBs around - but to me it only makes sense when done on the cheap.
"decent" I priced it up and you could get a mechanical competition level carbon gravel bike for this. Planet X's Titanium Tempest full hydro SRAM Rival is about £200 cheaper than just the GRX Di2 groupset.
Crack on Alex! Looking 'super nice' and motivating me to run a similar build with an GT mtb I have. Would you recommend a new fork for the gravel usage? Would that save on weight and allow me to run 700x40s?!? Love to know what you would do differently:).
It's written on the back of the box; Alternatively you can find it when googling your exact rear derailleur parts number. Additionally, Shimano is pretty conservative, there are people running up 44 or 46 on 1x grx, eben though 42 is stated as max iirc
@@金安迪-g5q 11_40t works fine with grx 2x 30/46t up front as that's what I run. No wolf tooth adapter required. Just a slight adjustment on the B screw on the mech. 👍
@@greigmackay8465 nice, but It is by definition out of spec. With the road link dm( that's the exact name iirc) you do not need to adjust the b-screw at all 👍
Wow Amazing! Just want to ash what GRX crankset did you use and also bottom bracket. Thinking to change my slx crank to my Trek Marlin. Also what length of the crank arm. Pls. advise and thanks for this video. :)
@@greigmackay8465 He used a road BB which does not come with spacers. He used 2.5 mm spacer which are only available with MTB BBs. MTB and road BBs use different cups and are not interchangeable.
Really want to do something like this to my old Gary fisher. Dad bought it on 2010 and literally rode it once. So I rescued it and really want to turn it into a bike like this.
When using tubes. If you get a puncture in the tube, you can usually find the object that punctured a lot easier by using the valve/tyre logo as a reference point.
I can fit 1.9inch (48mm) 650b gravelking sk on my old school early 90s frame. That’s probably the upper limit of what you can fit. The tires do fit wider though so closer to 50mm
Im using 26er and still got front deraileur on, trying 27,5 (650b) and the max clearance is 47b. Without fd i think i can put 27,5 x 2.1 without any issue
Why not do it properly? Get the right width hubs, use the right crankset and bottom bracket and sort out the reach as best you can. What you have is half arsed and (when setting and alu frame) potentially dangerous advice. I'll be honest I was expecting better. I get its shimano sponsored video.but at least get the right stuff supplied. Oh and that mech will easily cope with an 11-46 and probably up to 51 with a hanger extender. That 40-42y you have will be fun on a gravel climb.
I have difficultly seeing the point in this build. It’s not a something you’d do to make a budget retro style gravel bike. With that highly expensive group-set and wheel upgrade you’d be far better off just getting a new gravel bike 🤷♂️
If anyone's interested in attempting this for themselves, they'd be much better off checking out Old Shovel's UA-cam channel. He actually knows his stuff and gives good advice, unlike this shambles.
some people here are understandably salty for using Di2 specs rather than actual "budget" parts that would actually goes with the point of building such bike. obviously this is just a small guide for those people who are looking to do the same project and I think that's it shouldn't be a big deal weather if its Di2 or not. though I would highly recommend to put a rigid fork to it or at least do some adjustments with the fork to make it look apart. good build, good show 👌🏽
I did some of these conversion myself and although I generally like the idea, especially going 650b wheels, this build doesn't make much sense. Instead of swapping out everything except for frame and fork, the name of the game is to repurpose as much as possible to keep the costs down. And invest the saved money into a carbon rigid fork to bring the weight down. I would have kept the crankset, probably throwing 48/34 rings on and make it a 2x9, and hunt for old Ultegra 6500 brifters (which are compatible with MTB components).
Wow great job there!! Which wheels did you do with and what adaptator did you use for the axle? Also wondering why you didn't choose to go for SRAM and wireless groupset to make it easier? Could you also tell us more or less the total price? I'm really interested into converting my Massi Trax 🤩
Just need to find my spare ultegra and Di2 components
Exactly! As everyone has those laying around.
Ultegra? That’s for the poor, you should be using you new dura ace 9200 spare parts.
Don't mind me with my chinese parts lol
Are they not on your bench? Have another look. That's where Alex found all his spare parts.
You’ve probably left them wrapped up in some old Rapha gear.
This being the Tech channel, I for one would be happy with longer form videos detailling this build. I understand the algorithm might dictate otherwise, but maybe no harm asking viewers how they would feel about 20 min videos (or more) instead of the 10 minute ones. I was only finishing my first cup of tea when it was over😁
Would of loved to know about expanding the frame, what tools were used etc
I'm with you on that. This is the GCN tech channel so lets see the tech.
I really think this challenge should be done again but with a budget for bike and upgrades to convert an old MTB to gravel bike. Looking at MTB to gravel conversions most of the time they will be a steel framed bike with a a rigid fork. This bike in stock form is just not what people talk about when looking at MTB to gravel conversions, completely misses the mark
^This.
I'd guess that when someone is looking to convert a MTB to gravel, there's a good chance they're looking to avoid the nearly absurd prices of a new gravel bike. The di2 is complete overkill.
The same build is possible with GRX400 components and 2nd hand MTB-parts! Way cheaper and pretty suitable for an average gravelrider.
Typical GCN splash the cash nonsense, it:s a shame because they tried to make a good video
@@FlourescentPotato it's funny you saying this coz a year down the line they've had similar comments about the road bike upgrade build they tried lol
Love how you incorporated the building sounds into the music. I've always loved the sound of a rachet-pop from a torque wrench. I am sort of surprised you didn't re-paint it. Nice vid Alex.
So let me get this straight 🤔 He went to all the trouble of tracking down a particular Frame to convert, then didn’t bother to swap out the Fork, bodged the wrong size crank into the frame (should have used the MTB equivalent) as well as some guff about the wheels not fitting even though a modern wheel with a quick release adapter is no different in width to the original wheel and using a 42t cassette for climbing is great if you are a Pro but for the average person it Sucks especially when the GRX crank comes with a minimum 40t chainring, not to mention going from a flat bar for a dropbar isn’t just a straight forward swap as there’s a huge difference in reach and it needs to be explained, this series could have been great but I don’t know why they half-arsed it 🤷♂️
Because they do not think a lot before doing thing, they are poor mechanics and they do little to no research, they do not know much actually and that's really sad to see their incompetence trying to teach the wrong thing to noobs, when is it ok to stress the rear aluminium stays, there is going to be cracks somewhere for sure...
The fact that the only grease usage was on the threads of the bottom bracket speaks for itself.
Plus, Cold setting alu frame. What an expert!
It's an "advertorial" :)
It's an advert for Shimano, I wouldn't get too hung up on it.
@@JamSa85 Actually this is what makes it even worse, adverts have a legal duty to not mislead or show the products being used in a way that could potentially cause harm to the end user without a legal disclaimer and even then a complaint to the Advertising Standards Agency could quite easily get this video taken down, if this was just somebody in their shed it wouldn’t be a problem but it’s two big companies saying it’s fine to use the products in this way when it really isn’t
4:26 You must be kidding, right? "Widening" the frame by 7 mm is really a lot, especially given it's designed to be a tiny bit bent inwards for the wheel to be clamped securely. Maybe I would understand such thinking when building a city commuter out of scrap parts, but I definitely wouldn't do that on a bike designed to be ridden off-road and especially when building it with brand new high level parts.
Absolutely. It seems a completely crazy thing to do. At that point he should have rethought the whole thing.
Naa It'll be fine.
@@toddmcdonough Todd, it’s aluminium, this is a seriously ill-considered thing to do.
True. I've got cracked my frame by adding just a small 2-3 mm spacer... This is a killing solution for aluminum frame. And what is the problem to get proper QR hubs in 2022??? 🤦🏻♂️
My thoughts exactly, why not just buy wheels with QR hubs¿??
Maybe none of their high end ,super expensive sponsors do such a low end hub
Not sure I would widen the frame on an aluminium bike that much! You can cold set steel and get away with it. If you had gone got the Hunt 650b wheels then you can get them with QR at 135mm. You may have also wanted to use an MTB bb and crank and that would have solved using a road crank. You could have also used a wolftooth derailleur extension and popped a 11-51 in the rear!
GRX actually uses gravel q factor, which is a little wider than road if i remember correctly.
I still say Yer doin it wrong... How many gravel bikes have you seen with a whopping great 100mm travel telescopic fork?
I bought 5 bikes from the recycling centre today for a fiver each. A variety of 80s, 90s and noughties mtb's and hybrids. ANY one of them would be a better starting point for a project like this... especially the cute little full rigid, canti' braked Bianchi.
To name a few the Salsa Fargo, Salsa Cutthroat, Otso Fenrir, Cotic Cascade, Chumba Yaupon, Mason ISO, & Nordest Kutxo are all drop bar bikes that support at the very least 100mm sus fork. With some offering it as part of their build kit from the factory. There is there all those sponsored riders for Specialized who ride with an Epic HT with 100mm of travel & drop bars. Lael Wilcox comes to mind as does a few others.
Seems easier to add drop bars to a 1990 mountain bike and call it a gravel bike.
I've converted a 26' MTB to a road bike by replacing a double crankset with the original triple, added a longer stem to my road drop bar and fitted 9 speed Shimano Sora brifters. Maybe I convert it to 29er wheels/tires later. Basically, all bike conversios are all plug and play, depending on your possibilities and your wallet.
If you should have an old MTB, a DI2 upgrade would be an overkill. For the price of a complete DI2 group us mortals could get a complete gravel bike if shopped wisely...
Love these videos.. Alex is brilliant!
Aluminium frame: cold widen it, enlarge existing holes, bring the bike to shred off road - what could possibly go wrong?
🤣😂
Great job!!! It is an interesting and insane project with Di2 in old bike!!!😁
Might as well choose full wireless SRAM AXS instead of Di2. On a non Di2 designed frame. No more mucking around figuring out to where you can run wires or drill holes. To install your battery and hide the junction box.
but you see, they are sponsored by shimano!
Then they dont get that shimano sponsor cash
@@sexyhemch you mean shitmano
Shimano sponsored this vid, so...
Wheres the fun in that?
Good thing I was late watching this as well as episode 1. I don't have to wait for 1 week. Now I think I have to wait for 1 week for episode 3.😆✌
Fun to watch, thanks for posting!
Shoutout to the editor for integrating all the clicks and snips with the music!
I've been doing this for peanuts ...no di2 mix match drive train and diy/oddpart brakes and what not on late 90s mtbs 26s ...26"to700c with drops .disk front rigid and suspension, cantilever adapter rear ...9spd 10spd
why not rigid fork?
my thoughts exactly - a 100mm travel MTB fork seems like it'd be unsafe on drop bars ....
GCN ... tech, racing and cable cutter/torque ratchet ASMR
Be interesting to have a price on the complete build. Including bike, I'd be keen to know just what this costs compared to a quality used bike of the right spec.
he's at least $3200 into it already.
@@dafiltafishyes but he is building a Super* gravel bike 🙃
Aside from an advert for expensive shimano parts, I’m not really seeing the point of this. The frame geometry isn’t really designed for drop bars. And then spreading the rear to jam in a hub that doesn’t really fit? That just seems like it’s asking for trouble. Is the parts shortage the reason for some of these decisions? It would be unfortunate if viewers attempt something like this themselves and then end up injured when their frame fails or the handling is not what they expected as they bomb down some epic descent.
The problem with this is that frame designed to have a flat handle bar, therefore the top tube is 6 to 7 cm longer than on a road/gravel bike in the same size. I did the same mistake but the other way around. Bought a Trek road bike, put a flat handle bar on it, and even a 130mm stem did not fix the short top tube, that was designed to have drop bars. That's why real manufacturers have specific frames for flat handle bar gravel bikes, and hybrid bikes, and not just sticking a flat bar on a frame that is designed for drop bars.
This bike will not work, others have done it, it's called monster-cross. Top tube will be too long.
Smaller frame, longer seat post and a bit shorter stem should do it, no?
@@yoavmiller216 Yes Ive converted a Rocky Mountain Blizzard in a smaller frame than I usually use with a short reavh gravel handlebar, short 35mm stem etc. Rides great to me
Yes you have to use a smaller frame if you want to do that. If it's an old frame it generally works better because they where much shorter than modern MTBs.
I am so happy to see that I am not the only one who lines up the tire logos with the valve stem!
Calling them zip ties rather than cable ties won’t fool Si. “It’s a bodge from me” 😂😂
It looks grand, perhaps a rigid fork and it wouldn't look MTB at all. Nice job👍
Was thinking this as well. Although it looks sick with the MTB fork, it's a shame it doesn't have a nice carbon rigid fork to complete the build. It would have been a nice mullet build with a 700c front.
Awesome transformation!!
Man I really hoped he'd change the fork to rigid. Having problems converting myself cause of this
I would advise against fitting washers into shimano cranksets, for starters you would need to fit one on each side in order to avoid offsetting the bike center, and in that case your splines would be at least 4mm shorter than the standard, which is a potential hazard. A MTB specific crankset would've worked just fine.
Then there is the fact that that MTB to gravel conversions require straight seatposts in order to compensate for the longer reach in MTB frames.
And then there is the issue of streching the frame in order yo fit an incorrect hub. There are plenty of Shimano and other brand options that would've worked correctly in that scenario.
The bottom line is that these types of things should be handled by professionals and not by any random amateur giving away wrong advice.
This was a great video Alex. Love this type of content. In a future episode of your tech clinics, can you show us the correct way to tape handle bars? I can work around the mechanical stuff fairly well, but looks like putting on bar tape is more of an art. Can't wait to see your conversion on the road. Thanks again!!
It looks great with the old school frame and livery with the splash of fancy pants new bits !
Nice build, I just completed a Trek Excalibur/ gravel bike. What chain ring did you use? I went with a 34T -11/52 cassette and topped out pretty quickly. The gravel bike is mainly for flat gravel.
It looks great
Nice conversion Alex now lets see it in action
Part 3 is when you replace that klunker fork? Pretty cool otherwise
Cost against off the shelf?
I'd have gone with a pair of non-suspension forks as well. But yeah, something I'm looking to to to my old but still great 26er hardtail when I move to 29er.
Nice edit! Love the sound of cutting zip ties as percussion.
C'mon, throw it away and get a new frame.
I know that Di2 is great and all, but dude - it's OK to use mechanical, especially on a non-Di2 frame! Thankfully Si had some spare zip ties lying around to finish the job.
It looks really fun. The mix of high spec modern components with this frame is a bit silly, which is what I like about it.
I would really like to see a head-to-head between this and a similar build with 26" wheels and mechanical shifting.
I did that one on a circa 2008 MTB. I ditched the front suspension and replaced it with carbon forks. 26" wheels on a 29er fork looked a bit odd until I filled some of the space with mudguards. Used 105 road brake/shifters of that vintage on a drop handlebar work fine with the 3x9 MTB drive chain. Next I'm going to install slightly larger middle and large chainrings to give me a bit more speed on downhills and pavement. I'll keep the granny gears for climbing. I've got about $600 Canadian in it so far and I've learned a lot.
absolutely fabulous!
"Opening the frame up for the wider hub"...
1. It's an aluminium frame, it'll probably survive but it's best practice not to.
2. Even if you just use its elasticity rather than setting it in place, your dropouts are going to be out of alignment which can cause more problems.
3. Aligning the dropouts permanently will almost certainly do some damage, so just don't. Use a steel frame. ;)
Beautiful!
There are lots of negative comments, but I love this! Keep up the good work
Looks great I love to build one like that
Deore M5100 groupset works just as well
Looks Awsome
The hub spacing is identical. 135mm QR has he same distance between the stays as 12x142 through axle. How else would the wheel fit with an adapter in it. Spacing that bb out is normal even for mtb cranks. Should just have put mechanical GRX on it.
The chainstays for 142 have a recess of 3,5mm per side to accomodate a 12mm TA instead of 10mm QR, but true, with regards to the offset from the cassette and a derailleur hanger they are identical. Thus what Alex did was a massive bodge
@@feedbackzaloop Yes indeed there is a recess. Wheel spoke angle and such is the same. And actually that cassette could have fit on the original wheels... Using fast 2.1xc tires would have made much difference in rolling resistance over 45x650b wheels.
@@luukrutten1295 not really sure about the cassette, if GRX is identical to XT 8000 or built around a road standart, then it would not fit the old hub.
26" with 2,1 tyre is simply smaller, and although would do the job as well, is not that aesthetical as 650 (27,5") with 45mm. But at least Alex could have relaced the new rim
Upd: oh, it IS an XT cassette here. Yes, fits perfectly then
Actually the 45mm tire is only marginally larger than a 26x2.1 only about 15mm different in circumference.
@@luukrutten1295 actually, true. 25mm difference in rim diameter, about 18mm other way round in tyre thickness - so, 26" is less than 4mm smaller in radius
What conversor are you using to use a thru axle wheel with a qr? Link for the product please?
Lots of people will be interested in the repurposing of old bikes to follow new trends, but literally no one is going to throw a new top end groupset at an old 26er frame. Please can GCN do a tech video which is relevant to what people may actually do? I do applaud the use of 650b wheels in a 26er frame though. This is something surely lots of people are keen to know about, so well done on this aspect. Also, hiding the electronic gubbins appears well done.
"That's enough waffle from me" - Continues to waffle
awesome job
Coming along well be interesting to see how it handles 🤔
Wasn't there a video where Si and the tech guy from GMBN took the same kind of monster against a modern gravel bike and the converted MTB was horrendous?
Alex, the bike is looking great! Tan sidewalks are kicking! Looking forward to your thoughts on fit and Tuning of geometry after it’s all done. The timing on these is perfect as m doing exactly the same thing with a Trek I pulled from the side of the road and a 105 group I have from a previous upgrade. Bike came with a calipers but a disk option wheel set, so I’ll upgrade to disc. Thoughts on a dropper post?
Hi, where did you get the thru axle to QR converters from?
Thanks
Great video of an interesting challenge! I managed to convert a Cube Nature ATB/crosshybrid to a gravelbike with way cheaper components (GRX-400 series) than in this video. Great solution for the scarcity and prices in the (gravel)bikemarket. I solved the crankarm-chainstay problem with a Deore crank with a narrow-wide singlespeed chainring, works fine with GRX!
In the meanwhile I upgraded the frame (which was quite heavy) to a much lighter Specialized Source (=Sirrus) frame, with a slight upgrade to second-hand GRX600 shifters and a GRX810 detailleur + a Ritchey carbon fork.
At 3:04, what adapter (brand and type) is used here?
I was waiting for a close up on the wheels clearance, how much tight are the 27.5?. I may upgrade the wheels on an old bike I have.
Woo - that's hilarious - I have a 2018 bike with a GRX 810 setup -
but back then post mount was standard - and I am using those same
Ultegra BR-RS785 brakes. They work amazing.
The question I have: Is what that is the travel on that MTB fork ? Is it ok to have like 100mm
of travel on a bike with drop bars ? even the new XPLR is like 20-40mm ? right ?
9 speed used 135mm hub spacing, this is the same hub spacing as a 142 through axle system. weird that you had to space it out . :)
Where's a good place to find those thru-axle to qr adaptors?
Where’s the link to that shimano compatibility chart?
To be honest for you viewers you can save like 500 usd from two components alone
Hubs and freehubs: look for some old LX/SLX hubs and rebuild it yourself
Brake calipers: look for some MTB brakesets with broken levers
Bada bing bada boom
For mix and matching brake levers and calipers you need to look for what type of brake cable they use. Shimanos uses BH59 (for cheap brakes or old busted brakes) or BH90 (for new hotness brakes). Theoretically you can use dura ace levers on saint 4 pot calipers and vice versa, but would you? You can ask Ian Malcolm
also TRY ADDING AN RIGID FORK
we need... well I need to see if you change that fork... and well how to fit a rigid fork... I did this MTB to gravel recently ... and I found a cheap rigid fork but I don't know who to install it or make it fit.
For the amount of money you'd have to spend on this project you could actually buy a fairly decent new gravel bike that has better tire clearance and no outdated suspension fork. I can see the appeal of this - so many old cheap MTBs around - but to me it only makes sense when done on the cheap.
"decent" I priced it up and you could get a mechanical competition level carbon gravel bike for this. Planet X's Titanium Tempest full hydro SRAM Rival is about £200 cheaper than just the GRX Di2 groupset.
Looking great 👍 awesome
I was excited after seeing part 1. But now with the “spare” parts. Jeesh.
This is so cool for the build, but I cant find the part 3 for the completions...
Crack on Alex! Looking 'super nice' and motivating me to run a similar build with an GT mtb I have. Would you recommend a new fork for the gravel usage? Would that save on weight and allow me to run 700x40s?!? Love to know what you would do differently:).
You should have got Manon to spray the frame.
looks great, I wonder where can you find the max. casette size the grx derailer will take? i got grx myself but was never sure how big I could go
It's written on the back of the box;
Alternatively you can find it when googling your exact rear derailleur parts number.
Additionally, Shimano is pretty conservative, there are people running up 44 or 46 on 1x grx, eben though 42 is stated as max iirc
If you got guts to try, use wolftooth goatlink and put 10-52, fingers crossed
@@agunlogisteam I've used the dm link (?) To get 11-40 on the grx 2x by which only goes to 36 or 38
@@金安迪-g5q 11_40t works fine with grx 2x 30/46t up front as that's what I run. No wolf tooth adapter required. Just a slight adjustment on the B screw on the mech. 👍
@@greigmackay8465 nice, but It is by definition out of spec.
With the road link dm( that's the exact name iirc) you do not need to adjust the b-screw at all 👍
Wow Amazing! Just want to ash what GRX crankset did you use and also bottom bracket. Thinking to change my slx crank to my Trek Marlin. Also what length of the crank arm. Pls. advise and thanks for this video. :)
If its an older bike with 68mm BB you can use grx/road cranksets. With the modern 73mm that does not work because the cranksets axle is too short.
What did you use to space the crankset with?
Having the same problem here..
Mtb ht2 bottom brackets come with spacers, usually 3 of them included with the bb. That's what he used
@@greigmackay8465 He used a road BB which does not come with spacers. He used 2.5 mm spacer which are only available with MTB BBs. MTB and road BBs use different cups and are not interchangeable.
You need to switch to a MTB crankset and BB unfortunately.
@@ivanivanov7064 that's what I said he used the spacers that only come with mtb bb's 🙄
@@greigmackay8465 It's wrong to use those spacers. It won't fix the problem Brian is having.
what DJ did gcn kidnap to do the music?
Really want to do something like this to my old Gary fisher. Dad bought it on 2010 and literally rode it once. So I rescued it and really want to turn it into a bike like this.
Well I didn’t know about the IS mount Ultegra callipers. Tired GRX levers with Deore callipers and it’s just not very good
That's a lot of external cable salad going on but some insane parts being used.
Why not line up the valves with the bit that says how many psi to put in?
Nice video! Why does it make everyone's life easier to line the tyre logos with the valves?
When using tubes. If you get a puncture in the tube, you can usually find the object that punctured a lot easier by using the valve/tyre logo as a reference point.
Supernice !
Is QR frame can be convert to thru axle? Noob here
I wonder how the 650b rear wheel and tire fit in a frame designed for 26". No way would that work on my late 80s MTB.
I can fit 1.9inch (48mm) 650b gravelking sk on my old school early 90s frame. That’s probably the upper limit of what you can fit. The tires do fit wider though so closer to 50mm
Im using 26er and still got front deraileur on, trying 27,5 (650b) and the max clearance is 47b. Without fd i think i can put 27,5 x 2.1 without any issue
Banging 🚲
I hope GCN do a compering with a gravel bike to.
Don't they also sell 650B wheels for older MTBs and why not go for that? And also could a rigid fork be fitted as well?
Is it possible to keep the old mtb tires when convert mtb to gravel bike?
depends on the tire it is
Why not do it properly? Get the right width hubs, use the right crankset and bottom bracket and sort out the reach as best you can.
What you have is half arsed and (when setting and alu frame) potentially dangerous advice.
I'll be honest I was expecting better. I get its shimano sponsored video.but at least get the right stuff supplied.
Oh and that mech will easily cope with an 11-46 and probably up to 51 with a hanger extender. That 40-42y you have will be fun on a gravel climb.
Sound check and weight please
Nice build
Not going to replace the fork?
I have difficultly seeing the point in this build. It’s not a something you’d do to make a budget retro style gravel bike. With that highly expensive group-set and wheel upgrade you’d be far better off just getting a new gravel bike 🤷♂️
If anyone's interested in attempting this for themselves, they'd be much better off checking out Old Shovel's UA-cam channel.
He actually knows his stuff and gives good advice, unlike this shambles.
Nice 👍😎
Cool background music. Who is the artist?
What about a rigid fork?
why didn't you install a carbon rigid fork instead?
some people here are understandably salty for using Di2 specs rather than actual "budget" parts that would actually goes with the point of building such bike.
obviously this is just a small guide for those people who are looking to do the same project and I think that's it shouldn't be a big deal weather if its Di2 or not.
though I would highly recommend to put a rigid fork to it or at least do some adjustments with the fork to make it look apart. good build, good show 👌🏽
why didn't clean the frame before starting the rebuild?
I did some of these conversion myself and although I generally like the idea, especially going 650b wheels, this build doesn't make much sense. Instead of swapping out everything except for frame and fork, the name of the game is to repurpose as much as possible to keep the costs down. And invest the saved money into a carbon rigid fork to bring the weight down. I would have kept the crankset, probably throwing 48/34 rings on and make it a 2x9, and hunt for old Ultegra 6500 brifters (which are compatible with MTB components).
Shimano sponsor, so expensive new parts.
You should change the suspension fork into rigid
Did someone say 90s Mountain Bike build? ;)
@@gcntech not like that but it seems like that! 😆
Wow great job there!! Which wheels did you do with and what adaptator did you use for the axle? Also wondering why you didn't choose to go for SRAM and wireless groupset to make it easier? Could you also tell us more or less the total price? I'm really interested into converting my Massi Trax 🤩
It's an advert for Shimano, not SRAM