same here, I put a lot of happy miles on my Lynskey GR250 over the past 6 years; it's comfy enough with 45c tires. But I just got a carbon XC hardtail to ride some of the trails in the area I live (40% off on 2023 stock). It's a blast, but I wouldn't want to ride these trails on a drop bar bike (with or without suspension fork).
I recently bought a xc full squish and it’s blown me away at just how fast it is. My gravel bike is great on multi surface rides but on anything rough it just can’t complete with the xc bike.
@@scottwatson7844Very simple, you need the right bike for each surface to get the most pleasure out of it. I had a full sus trail bike and didn't enjoy it that much. Too heavy, and the suspension didn't fully lock. I ride paved trails and sidewalks to get to my MTB trails. My new hardtail is perfect for that application especially considering that most MTB trails in my area are fairly smooth and flowy.
I use CushCore in my front tire. I have a carbon fork and wide i28mm carbon rims with 700x45 tires. What I would like to add how to ungraded and improve your ability to smash through chucks on trails is the CushCush paired with wide tires and wide rims adds stability and dampens the compression similar to how a shock gets adjusted. This is an often overlooked aspect of having tire inserts.
Totally agree. From the mentioned I have the Redshift stem, since then I feel noticeably less shaken out after rides and can ride longer and in more comfort as it reduces fatigue - one of the best upgrades!!! Gearing, since my bike has SRAM Apex group set, I got the 1x12 Ratio technology 12sp upgrade and use SRAM 10-50 cassette. Which ever my next gravel bike will be, definitely I will go for Apex Eagle 1x12 or Shimano GRX 1x12. I carry with me the Weldtite TL repair kit. Used it once on my tyre Panaracer Gravelking SS 38mm when the hole was to big to be sealed, it worked perfectly. Suspension on a gravel bike, that is something I do not want since I also do MTB, but for those that ride only lite terrain max and want just one universal bike, why not. What I do not agree - dropper post on a gravel bike??? How often will it be needed? You can ride trails on a gravel bike, but it is not fun as you have to be super careful. That is for MTB. As you mentioned in a video some time ago, with a dropper on gravel bike you will be missing vibration reduction features of a carbon post (possibly with some damper, Ergon, Canyon CF, Specialized CG-R, etc.) which is a lot more important for gravel.
Our bike paths in Albuquerque are plagued with 4-inch wide, 2-inch deep “cracks” every 40-50 feet. The will knock your fillings out, and they’re everywhere. Also everywhere are nice, shaded dirt walking paths along our many acequias (irrigation channels) and the bosque (the river forest). There’s a 50-mile bike loop around the city, which is a lot on a mountain bike. A gravel bike with suspension is just about ideal, purity aside, for our conditions.
Dropper post was the first and one of the best upgrades for my gravel bike, since I live and ride in a mountainous area. Redshift suspension stem was also a great upgrade. Win wing rear fender is in constant use on my drop bar atb, and easily swappable to my gravel bike.
Dropper posts are by far the best upgrade to any offroad bike for providing more control and manoeuvrability. Far better than a tiny suspension fork will give. Sus gravel forks are great for long endurance rides, providing extra comfort and compliance but cirtainly wont go far when it comes to aiding skills on the 'rad' stuff.
Suspension stem for smoothing out rough gravel - or in reality, rough gravel AND roads - the surfaces are more or less identical in the UK. Well not quite true, gravel often better.
A very well done compilation of common sense waays to make riding more fun. I've been a big fan of lower gears for over 50 years. Its a great feeling spinning along with the ability to just spin faster when needed instead of shifting or slogging along . The Redshift stem seems like a great idea for my road bike which goes everywhere, almost.
Best gravel bike upgrade is to turn your gravel bike into a baby mountain bike. 😂Kidding aside I love my gravel bike for ripping around on single track, I'd love a Rudy or 32TC and a dropper on it. I'm in the process of selling off some bikes to fund swapping the drivetrain to a T-type 10-52 cassette and derailleur to match up with my 40T chainring to help with climbing the steep-steep stuff.
Gravel suspension, stem plus eesilk+ seatpost, is awesome. At least now a road ride isn't too much worse than a dual suspenion mtb ride. WTH, where do you live that you have smooth pavement? I travel all over the west and pavement sucks. I wonder if the people making the mtb comments ride more than a mile on a road, say from parking lot to trailhead?
7:10 sorry but that was the navigation section and none of those bike GPS are much use in navigation. Like if you are out somewhere and then see a path you want to explore... Nope. Those devices need pre planned routes loaded up before you set out. Some have a limited ability to make a route on the fly but are difficult to use, and good luck if you actually don't know where you want to go and just want to be navigated to the nearest coffee shop. They are made for viewing power numbers, but something more simple like a Beeline just blows them away for navigation, it's not even close.
You forgot to mention that there are just a view gravelbikes that can handle a suspension fork. These forks are 4/5 cm longer and will screw up most geo's.
lol if you're going to go after all that suspension just gets an XC mtb and just put drop bars on it. Heck, put thick gravel tires on an XC mtb, that will be a cheaper option.
Ya know, a gravel bike is just that, a gravel bike and at some point of adding mods to a gravel bike it seems you're trying to reinvent the mountain bike. Now I intend to try a Redshift just for my hand comfort but if I were going to mod my gravel bike with forks, gearing, dropper post, bigger tires, tubeless, etc. etc. etc. so that I can ride gnarly single track then I would have just kept my mountain bike & frankly, that would make more sense.
All those suspension upgrades, you're trying to retrofit a gravel bike into a mountain bike. If you're on that rough of terrain or gravel road ride the mountain bike 🙂.
Please do not beg the 80% non-subscribers to subscribe, make them want to subscribe by making more consistent and charming videos like Andrew Dodd did on GMBN-Tech. Sorry, but the bar is set to "high" (extremely high, actually).
your work is great but the choices here are the worst, especially if u know anything about the difference of mtb and road head tube angles . thats the review we NEED case i can use almost any 200-500 mtb fork and it kills all of the ones given here
The worst of both worlds..a short travel suspension on a gravel bike. Might as well just buy a carbon hardtail mtb and use a 1 x 12 drivetrain10-50/51t cassette w/34t chainring up front or build up a 2 x 12 mtb carbon hardtail frame if you want more top speed AND more climbing gearing... and light weight mtb tires and you will go just as fast and even faster in many types of terrain... A conventional style gravel suspension fork has so little travel, for the weight penalty compared to a very light 100mm fork that is SO much more useful, with only a couple hundred grams more in weight.. Oh yeah, this is an English channel.. I forgot you guys don't ride as seriously rough and technical gravel as in the USA.. So why the suspension at all?
Here is more crap that you need to buy to be able to ride...lets make something that was intended to be off the beaten path type riding and a bit more towards the endurance type riding as smooth riding road. Welcome to the inflation of the bike industry of unnecessary shit and its downfall. (commercialization at all levels)
Nope... I'm not buying it. Using your core muscles to unweight the handlebar is all the mtb suspension we needed in the '90s. Nothing will usher you out the front door quicker than trying to ride long-stemmed drop bars on mtb trails
Gravel bike, the biggest marketing hype since bottled water. I remember the pain and discomfort of riding my MTB before suspension were invented. Totally asinine. If you are out on the trails, ride a MTB. Gravel bike is nothing but an old MTB, no suspension.
Whats your next upgrade going to be?
Not any of these. A lot of your videos are pretty good, this one is not. Thumbs down on this video.
not the mpr😅, maybe the mrp
Carbon wheels. Been looking at the Hunt 35
Redshift stem was the best upgrade I did on mine. Yeah, it added weight. But on some imperfect roads/gravel, it it worth it's weight in gold.
I love my gravel bike but would never put suspension on it, if you ride where suspension is needed then just get a lightweight xc mountain bike
same here, I put a lot of happy miles on my Lynskey GR250 over the past 6 years; it's comfy enough with 45c tires. But I just got a carbon XC hardtail to ride some of the trails in the area I live (40% off on 2023 stock). It's a blast, but I wouldn't want to ride these trails on a drop bar bike (with or without suspension fork).
I recently bought a xc full squish and it’s blown me away at just how fast it is. My gravel bike is great on multi surface rides but on anything rough it just can’t complete with the xc bike.
@@scottwatson7844Very simple, you need the right bike for each surface to get the most pleasure out of it. I had a full sus trail bike and didn't enjoy it that much. Too heavy, and the suspension didn't fully lock. I ride paved trails and sidewalks to get to my MTB trails. My new hardtail is perfect for that application especially considering that most MTB trails in my area are fairly smooth and flowy.
I use CushCore in my front tire. I have a carbon fork and wide i28mm carbon rims with 700x45 tires. What I would like to add how to ungraded and improve your ability to smash through chucks on trails is the CushCush paired with wide tires and wide rims adds stability and dampens the compression similar to how a shock gets adjusted. This is an often overlooked aspect of having tire inserts.
Totally agree. From the mentioned I have the Redshift stem, since then I feel noticeably less shaken out after rides and can ride longer and in more comfort as it reduces fatigue - one of the best upgrades!!! Gearing, since my bike has SRAM Apex group set, I got the 1x12 Ratio technology 12sp upgrade and use SRAM 10-50 cassette. Which ever my next gravel bike will be, definitely I will go for Apex Eagle 1x12 or Shimano GRX 1x12. I carry with me the Weldtite TL repair kit. Used it once on my tyre Panaracer Gravelking SS 38mm when the hole was to big to be sealed, it worked perfectly. Suspension on a gravel bike, that is something I do not want since I also do MTB, but for those that ride only lite terrain max and want just one universal bike, why not. What I do not agree - dropper post on a gravel bike??? How often will it be needed? You can ride trails on a gravel bike, but it is not fun as you have to be super careful. That is for MTB. As you mentioned in a video some time ago, with a dropper on gravel bike you will be missing vibration reduction features of a carbon post (possibly with some damper, Ergon, Canyon CF, Specialized CG-R, etc.) which is a lot more important for gravel.
Our bike paths in Albuquerque are plagued with 4-inch wide, 2-inch deep “cracks” every 40-50 feet. The will knock your fillings out, and they’re everywhere. Also everywhere are nice, shaded dirt walking paths along our many acequias (irrigation channels) and the bosque (the river forest). There’s a 50-mile bike loop around the city, which is a lot on a mountain bike. A gravel bike with suspension is just about ideal, purity aside, for our conditions.
Dropper post was the first and one of the best upgrades for my gravel bike, since I live and ride in a mountainous area. Redshift suspension stem was also a great upgrade. Win wing rear fender is in constant use on my drop bar atb, and easily swappable to my gravel bike.
Dropper posts are by far the best upgrade to any offroad bike for providing more control and manoeuvrability. Far better than a tiny suspension fork will give. Sus gravel forks are great for long endurance rides, providing extra comfort and compliance but cirtainly wont go far when it comes to aiding skills on the 'rad' stuff.
Great video. Thanks for the suggestions
Suspension stem for smoothing out rough gravel - or in reality, rough gravel AND roads - the surfaces are more or less identical in the UK. Well not quite true, gravel often better.
A very well done compilation of common sense waays to make riding more fun. I've been a big fan of lower gears for over 50 years. Its a great feeling spinning along with the ability to just spin faster when needed instead of shifting or slogging along . The Redshift stem seems like a great idea for my road bike which goes everywhere, almost.
Best gravel bike upgrade is to turn your gravel bike into a baby mountain bike. 😂Kidding aside I love my gravel bike for ripping around on single track, I'd love a Rudy or 32TC and a dropper on it. I'm in the process of selling off some bikes to fund swapping the drivetrain to a T-type 10-52 cassette and derailleur to match up with my 40T chainring to help with climbing the steep-steep stuff.
Gravel suspension, stem plus eesilk+ seatpost, is awesome. At least now a road ride isn't too much worse than a dual suspenion mtb ride. WTH, where do you live that you have smooth pavement? I travel all over the west and pavement sucks. I wonder if the people making the mtb comments ride more than a mile on a road, say from parking lot to trailhead?
Love my rock Shox fork, I love it
I prefer the kinekt / vecnum suspension stem over redshift for their parallelogram design
7:10 sorry but that was the navigation section and none of those bike GPS are much use in navigation. Like if you are out somewhere and then see a path you want to explore... Nope. Those devices need pre planned routes loaded up before you set out. Some have a limited ability to make a route on the fly but are difficult to use, and good luck if you actually don't know where you want to go and just want to be navigated to the nearest coffee shop. They are made for viewing power numbers, but something more simple like a Beeline just blows them away for navigation, it's not even close.
Glad i read this now, i'm gonna look into the Beeline cheers :)
Bar bags are a lot better than cargo bibs.
You forgot to mention that there are just a view gravelbikes that can handle a suspension fork. These forks are 4/5 cm longer and will screw up most geo's.
Dynaplugs are good but spare plugs have been almost impossible to source in the UK for months - any good cycling journalist could tell you that.
Just bought two packs of spares in tiso Perth Scotland £10.99 a pack . But yea took me a month to find those 😂😂
Being comfortable can be done while adding in the "adventure"
I did 40 miles on my gravel bike today with mixed terrain and literally thought about suspension 😂 👍
dynaplug is the only plug worth using and it's excellent, also made in Chico California by a family business
for climbing why not add a three by front crank ?
lol if you're going to go after all that suspension just gets an XC mtb and just put drop bars on it. Heck, put thick gravel tires on an XC mtb, that will be a cheaper option.
Ya know, a gravel bike is just that, a gravel bike and at some point of adding mods to a gravel bike it seems you're trying to reinvent the mountain bike. Now I intend to try a Redshift just for my hand comfort but if I were going to mod my gravel bike with forks, gearing, dropper post, bigger tires, tubeless, etc. etc. etc. so that I can ride gnarly single track then I would have just kept my mountain bike & frankly, that would make more sense.
Why pay >$3000 to make gravel bike an mtb when you can just buy a ht and swap to drop bar?
If your riding over gnarly terrain, the best upgrade for your gravel bike is called “mountain bike”
Facts
Ugh will this ever end?
If we have front suspension on a gravel bike we basically have a hard tail, drop bar, mountain bike.
Was going to put the same thing 🤣🤣🤣
Agree…if your ride is more than 50% single tracks then go and grab a mtb
I suggest to upgrade the wheels :-)
modern gravel bikes are evolving to 90's mountain bikes
Had the same conversation with my bike shop guy still love my gravel bike for where I live tho 60% road 40% gravel
@1:20 mpr? :p
At the start of the video while highlighting the forks, why was the Fox 32 Taper Cast fork shown only from the back?
Upgrade to a XC MTB
😂
So much cheaper for a better ride
I like drop bars, tho!
Er yeah, short travel hard tail mountain bikes are the dogs danglies….as they were in the 1990’s
Flat bars and Suspension!😄
Slowly shifting to an xc bike 😅
Shocks without lockout are a climbing killer. Expect 30% of you effort disappearing into your shocks.
All those suspension upgrades, you're trying to retrofit a gravel bike into a mountain bike. If you're on that rough of terrain or gravel road ride the mountain bike 🙂.
Now, add a flat bar....
Gravel bikes are designed to ride on the road and fire trails. They don’t need suspension if you’re bombing hills a mountain bike I don’t get it.
Please do not beg the 80% non-subscribers to subscribe, make them want to subscribe by making more consistent and charming videos like Andrew Dodd did on GMBN-Tech. Sorry, but the bar is set to "high" (extremely high, actually).
A lot of the “new” suspension solutions for gravel coming out now are just recycled bad ideas from the early days of XC MTB
Buy a 29er hardtail and never look for a gravel bike in the first place.
After researching and testing quite a few gravel bikes… I bought a Specialized Epic HT 😂 So happy about it
your work is great but the choices here are the worst, especially if u know anything about the difference of mtb and road head tube angles . thats the review we NEED case i can use almost any 200-500 mtb fork and it kills all of the ones given here
nooooooo Gravel is not MTB XC
mrp not mpr😅
The worst of both worlds..a short travel suspension on a gravel bike. Might as well just buy a carbon hardtail mtb and use a 1 x 12 drivetrain10-50/51t cassette w/34t chainring up front or build up a 2 x 12 mtb carbon hardtail frame if you want more top speed AND more climbing gearing... and light weight mtb tires and you will go just as fast and even faster in many types of terrain... A conventional style gravel suspension fork has so little travel, for the weight penalty compared to a very light 100mm fork that is SO much more useful, with only a couple hundred grams more in weight.. Oh yeah, this is an English channel.. I forgot you guys don't ride as seriously rough and technical gravel as in the USA.. So why the suspension at all?
When are we gonna have "mud" bikes? Oh, those don't exist yet. Shit, did I just give manufacturers an idea? 🤣🤣
First item and it's already giving me BS vibes. 😂 Gravel bikes, yeah right.
I left when I heard 'suspension' 😞
Here is more crap that you need to buy to be able to ride...lets make something that was intended to be off the beaten path type riding and a bit more towards the endurance type riding as smooth riding road. Welcome to the inflation of the bike industry of unnecessary shit and its downfall. (commercialization at all levels)
Only redshift upgrades are worth it. All the other stuff are BS
Nope... I'm not buying it. Using your core muscles to unweight the handlebar is all the mtb suspension we needed in the '90s. Nothing will usher you out the front door quicker than trying to ride long-stemmed drop bars on mtb trails
Next thing will be wider tyres, and then we will discover the mountain bike.
The first upgrade is the stupidest upgrade lol
Good job bud but try again and let’s keep the gravel bike an actual gravel bike
Too many ads!! Thumbs down.
If you are riding terrain that requires a suspension fork, then you need a mountain bike.
You lost me with suspension
Gravel bike, the biggest marketing hype since bottled water.
I remember the pain and discomfort of riding my MTB before suspension were invented.
Totally asinine.
If you are out on the trails, ride a MTB.
Gravel bike is nothing but an old MTB, no suspension.