Boardman TRVL 9 2 Gravel Adventure bike tested. Wireless and suspension forked for just over 2k!
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- Опубліковано 19 лис 2024
- Boardman's new TRVL 9 2 Gravel Adventure bike has everything you'd want for off piste adventures, including a RockShox Rudy fork and SRAM AXS XPLR wireless gears. But is it really as good as it sounds and what are the downsides of packing all that tech into just over £2k of bike?
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Nice looking bike mate, but the more I see gravel bikes (I have one myself) the more I see them as a ‘city bike’ where you can go up and down pavements, on craps roads and a bit of pathway etc. I see me using XC FS for anything else a bit more off road as it’s so much more comfortable. Gravel bikes are great for actual gravel in the New Forest etc but otherwise not for me.
I'm a real fan of the 40mm Rockshox XPLR fork, which I have fitted to my main gravel bike. The reason I purchased it was because I moved to North Somerset and found that the offroad terrain is extremely rocky. The ground is really punishing on the tyres and wrists and the forks add a margin of safety and comfort that a rigid fork simply cannot match. I can run slightly higher tyre pressure to avoid the pinch flats I was picking up on occasion.
The downside is slower speeds up road climbs due to the extra weight. I know there are comments here that suggest just getting an mtb but a gravel bike provides faster speeds between off-road sections and on lighter gravel. On a lot of bridleways and byways an mtb leaves you over biked and is very slow in comparison.
I'm a big fan of suspension, but once you put a suspension fork on a Gravel bike you might just as well get a full-sus XC bike and put on Gravel tires. A Speci Chisel FS with a set of 70x47 Pathfinder Pro tires might be more fun without spending too much.
@@marksandoval5361 absolutely agree, and hopefully we’ll see more and more people realising that. TBH I really didn’t want to like Rudy forks etc. for that reason. There’s no doubt they let you ride a gravel bike harder and safer though. Be interesting to see how popular these bikes are as it’s a brave move fitting forks as standard.
The problem with an xc full sus is that it will feel rubbish to ride on road even if you put road tyres on it. A drop bar gravel bike with 30mm of travel is still a wildly different bike.
@@MW-ud8zp very true
Cracking bike for the money. I currently have a Boardman mtr 9.0 2021 and they are fantastic but the boardman range get slated by the brand snobs ( halfords bike)
@@mikehiggins461 totally agree. New MTR review dropping very soon
@@GuyKesTV I shall look forward to watching that.
I can't decide between gravel and xc bike, I sort of ride more inside the city then in forest, but I do like to be able to ride of stairs or bunny jump. But maybe the gravel is just way more efficient and faster.
What you need is a lightweight hardtail mountain bike with fast-rolling tires. Definitely not a gravel bike.
Maybe even a trail bike.
Do you think you can do a comparison of a bike like the Stigmata with a Rudy fork vs a gravel bike like the Cotic Cascade(rigid) or Cutthroat with 2.25-2.4 tire please? Could even use 44mm Mezcal with the Rudy and Mezcal 2.4 XC on the rigid.
@@mellissanash7517 yes, I’m fishing round for a suitable frame ATMO. Planning to do some suspension stem V forks testing too
Guy is that the Restrap Hydration pack? Any reviews coming up?
@@jordanhawkridge3020 yep, I’ll try and get it done next week. Definitely positive
Overstroke the fork to 190, add 14 tokens and it would be a decent bike!
I have a Salsa Cutthroat gx with rigid fork designed to take a 100 mm travel fork. I do adventure riding and amateur gravel races with about 1/3 pavement, 1/3 grade 2 gravel, and 1/3 single track/ manky gravel. Lots of steep climbs and accents in my area as well and I found my dropper to be super helpful. I’m thinking about going from 56 sparewood to 47 cannonball tires and swapping the rigid fork out with a 100 mm fox 32 and upgrading front rotor from 160 to 180. I suspect it will be both faster and more compliant. Thoughts anyone?
I’d definitely give the fork a try as it’ll really let you enjoy the manky gravel/Singletrack and steep stuff more. The biggest surprise I found was how much a fork helped me hold speed on off road climbs too. Well worth the extra weight for what you’re doing I reckon
@@GuyKesTV thank you!
Feels like a step too far. I like the future-shock on my Diverge.