Turning an old road/CX bike into a "gravel" bike

[Prawo Jazdy]

I've got a Ridgeback Platinum Road bike from about 2012. It's an Alu frame with a carbon fork, and QR axles. ISTR that when I bought it, it seemed to be reviewed as a CX bike despite having "road" in the name. I fancy doing some cycling that strays off paved routes here and there, on bridleways etc, so am thinking about putting on 38mm tyres with some tread on them and seeing if it is tolerable to ride on gentle off road stuff.

Do I need to be careful about doing this? Am I likely to break wheels/the fork by exposing them to rougher stuff? My thinking is that they've put up with UK B-roads for years, so they must be fairly strong! The concern is that I find out I'm wrong by landing on my face...

(ETA: I can't find any reference to it being a CX bike now, so maybe I got that wrong.)

Edited by Prawo Jazdy on Wednesday 20th July 22:07

[TCX]

Go for it,only suggestion I'd make,old Flemish trick for cobbles,bit of round section wooden tube,broom handle cut off even in head tube secured with brake bolt through fork,just in case fork snaps .... probs bit overkill

[thepawbroon]

If it's this model:

https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/bikes/touring-bi...

It sounds like it'll be OK - but I would check that larger tyres will fit within the brakes and chainstays before spending too much money.

[bobbo89]

Go for it but I'd only use it for lighter gravel duties, frame and fork wouldn't give me any concern but your wheels will only take so much and I'm assuming it's running rims rather than discs which will work but not ideal..

[sam.rog]

Depending on the brakes and frame clearance you might struggle to fit a large volume tyre in there without rubbing. You need 4mm either side and at the top of the tyre ideally, otherwise it might rub or worse.
Like this example bellow.


It might be trial and error in finding the right tyre.
Other than that I’d say you will be fine.

[Prawo Jazdy]

Thanks for the advice. It might allow me to see whether I would actually use a gravel bike before spending any money on one.

With regard to the stay and calliper clearance - I have had a look but nothing too scientific. It has enough room for some quite wide mudguards, which is encouraging.

[OutInTheShed]

What rims does it have?
And what gearing?

Bouncing around on a mildly bumpy path is tough on the rims with no suspension.

Even a short stretch of 'steep and bumpy' is miserable if your gears are too tall.

Aside from that, give it a go, great fun IMHO.
Only regret is not spending more to get something with disc brakes, and I'm happy with my drop bar bike, but understand why some people settle for a flat bar hybrid for similar rides Or even a hardtail MTB. Personal taste and different balance of tracks you ride.

[rossmc88]

I’m using an old 2014 Boardman cyclocross as a gravel commuter and it’s brilliant, it does have discs brakes though (mechanical). It came with some schwalbe land cruiser k-guard 3 that have been brilliant. Looked them up and was surprised how cheap they were

[Prawo Jazdy]

OutInTheShed said:

What rims does it have?
And what gearing?

Wheels are Alexrims Race 24 32h.

It's a Tiagra groupset, with (I think) a 50-34 compact chainset, and a 12-28 10sp cassette.

I've just checked, and think the issue will be stay/fork clearance. It's fitted with 25mm tyres at the moment, and 'vertical' clearance is fine, but there are points where the clearance is 5mm either side at most

[snotrag]

Prawo Jazdy said:

Thanks for the advice. It might allow me to see whether I would actually use a gravel bike before spending any money on one.

My honest opinion: All it will do is put you off ever riding drop bars off road, with none of the benefits an actual modern Gravel bike brings like proper tyre clearance, tubeless, geometry, compliant frame and forks, suitable (1X!) gearing, good hydraulic disc brakes etc etc etc…


(I will now sit and wait for the inevitable response from someone who rode 25hrs a day over the kyber pass on a 19mm tired wooden bicycle decades ago and claims it was fine. Doesnt change my mind!)

Spend fifty quid on a demo day / rental of a proper modern Gravel bike instead.

Edited by snotrag on Sunday 24th July 16:37

[DaveyBoyWonder]

My input - its all just marketing tosh. I think marketing people wanted to move away from the CX image of it being a winter only thing for roadies to slide around in the mud on ancient frames with crap brakes. What shall we do? I know, call it gravel, market it with pictures of happy people riding on sedate bridleways with frame bags etc, add disc brakes, slightly bigger tyres to make them "comfy" and sell loads.

Its like mountain biking - marketing people are forever coming up with new terms for just riding a bike. Down country, enduro, all mountain, freeride, cross country...

[TwistingMyMelon]

DaveyBoyWonder said:

My input - its all just marketing tosh. I think marketing people wanted to move away from the CX image of it being a winter only thing for roadies to slide around in the mud on ancient frames with crap brakes. What shall we do? I know, call it gravel, market it with pictures of happy people riding on sedate bridleways with frame bags etc, add disc brakes, slightly bigger tyres to make them "comfy" and sell loads.

Its like mountain biking - marketing people are forever coming up with new terms for just riding a bike. Down country, enduro, all mountain, freeride, cross country...

Ha I ride my cx as a "gravel bike" only as its default summer offroad riding. I would kind of disagree with the above as proper CX bikes are quite different to gravel bikes in that they are aimed for for short fiery rides in mud, where as gravel is more longer all day dry rides. Obviously that is a sweeping statement

I do agree with the marketing sentiment. I think what happened is 10 years ago lots of people started to buy cxs for Britain's st roads, winter riding and byways. Manufacturers made the CXs more comfy and suitable and proper CXers complained they werent proper cx bikes and then Gravel came along .

I agree with endless marketing bullst, but I just buy the bike that suits me and my riding, there is so much choice (if you can get them)
Back to OP....

I did what you described, had a steel road bike with tired wheels and that could accommodate 35c tyres, so I stuck on some 32c commuter tyres and rode it off road for a bit........

As it was steel I didnt worry too much about the frame, tbh and Alu frame would have been fine. The wheels will die before the frame.

The wheels will take a bashing, but you can get higher spoke tougher wheels anyway plus mine were already tired, I had nowt to use and they lasted fine.

It was great in spring & summer on dry easy going paths and tracks, old railways etc....It was also bloody quick and I got some KOMS that I cant get near now on my dedicated CX bike on fire roads/tracks in my woods

As with any bike with no suspension , pick as st line and itll hurt, otherwise I enjoy the simplicity and old sckoolness. Id never want suspension, I love the punishment.

Then I tried a winter ride.....same briddleways ...utter utter pita, as the bike had long drop rim calipers, the clearances were low and mud clogged in them every 10 metres. In fact mud clogged in every clearance and I struggled and struggled . One of those rides you dont forget.

So it pretty much confirms posts above, fine in summer on easier stuff, but you realize drawbacks in winter quickly.....plus muddy rim brakes = no brakes

I enjoyed it so much I bought a cheap £1k CX bike with disks and use that with 40c slicks offroad and on now, I love just diving down random farm tracks when I get bored of tarmac .

Hope that helps.

[gazza285]

DaveyBoyWonder said:

My input - its all just marketing tosh. I think marketing people wanted to move away from the CX image of it being a winter only thing for roadies to slide around in the mud on ancient frames with crap brakes. What shall we do? I know, call it gravel, market it with pictures of happy people riding on sedate bridleways with frame bags etc, add disc brakes, slightly bigger tyres to make them "comfy" and sell loads.

Its like mountain biking - marketing people are forever coming up with new terms for just riding a bike. Down country, enduro, all mountain, freeride, cross country...

Let me see, my CX bike has no frame eyelets or mounting bosses whatsoever, not even for a bottle cage, it has a very short chain stay, and a steep head angle, which makes it quick steering and a bit twitchy. It does have crap brakes, but it's a race, why would I want to slow down? It is a bit more than a rebrand from that to a gravel bike.

It is, however, marketing tosh, but more akin to an MTB with bald tyres and drop bars than a CX bike.

[Prawo Jazdy]

Thanks for the viewpoints - some really interesting food for thought. £50 on a demo day sounds like a great idea, and I did smile at the marketing BS suggestions - there must be some crazy Venn diagrams you could draw for different cycling 'disciplines', where there would be a hell of a lot of crossover!