Gravel bikes

On Thursday, July 30, 2020 at 2:52:38 PM UTC-7, Lou Holtman wrote:
On Thursday, July 30, 2020 at 11:14:59 PM UTC+2, wrote:
On Wednesday, July 29, 2020 at 5:53:08 PM UTC-5, John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Wed, 29 Jul 2020 15:39:48 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Tuesday, July 28, 2020 at 4:09:31 PM UTC-5, AK wrote:
What do you think of a gravel bike?

Does anyone have one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC_xFpg_UmA

Andy

I've done a few rides recently on gravel roads. They were fun with the group. Not sure
riding them by myself would be any fun. I used a Nashbar cyclocross
bike. Heavy steel. 38mm tires. STI ten speed. Cantilever. Shimano
105 rear derailleur died at the end of one ride and had to be
replaced. So I'm not sure gravel riding is good or not. Not sure
what a gravel bike means. I've ridden many different bikes on gravel
roads just fine. Most gravel roads have two or three perfectly smooth
strips on them that you ride on. Much smoother than many potholed
roads. Less wear and tear on the bike. But you do have to run over
loose rocks when making turns. Those are the rough pothole portions
of gravel roads. Pros ride the cobblestone classics each year on road
racing bikes converted to gravel by putting huge 28mm tires on them.
They ride 150 miles at 30 mph.

Out of curiosity "Shimano 105 rear derailleur died" What actually
happened?

Cheers,
John B.

It stopped shifting with the STI levers. I replaced it with another new 105 long cage rear derailleur and the shifting works perfectly again. It happened a few months ago so I cannot remember exactly what happened. But shifting was bad, not precise, move the STI one click and the derailleur did not shift the chain. Move it two or three clicks and it would sort of move the chain. Everything imprecise. New derailleur, no change to cable, and everything shifts perfectly again. So I am pretty sure it was the derailleur, not the cable or shifters. Perfect shifting for several years before the one gravel ride. End of gravel ride bad shifting. New derailleur perfect shifting again with no other changes. So I assume the 20 miles of gravel riding killed the derailleur somehow.

A RD being a spring loaded lever, what can possibly went wrong. What could have happened is a cracked pulley cage plate (inner or outer). My brother had that once causing also weird shifting. Replacing the cracked outer cage plate was less than 10 euro:
https://www.bike-components.de/en/Sh...8-grey-GS-type

Lou

I've gotten used to the Di2 right lever but I keep having to use trial and error on the left. I took my Campy 10 speed bike out the other day on a climbing ride and it was sure nice not having to think about any shifting.