A little guidance please

[TwinStick]

So, I am not the poster child for fitness and health but I am still plugging away trying. 62 years old.

I am kinda trying to look for a more road oriented bike but here is my dilemma: I absolutely love suspension on my Specialized Status 160. Obviously I don't need that much travel on a road-ish style bike but it sure seems like some would be nice to have. Our roads are absolute crap and avoiding potholes is not always possible.

So, am I better off going with something like a Polygon Bend V9X that has a 40 mm travel road fork ? ...... or just build a mtb frame and going with a 100 mm travel or less fork ?

Like I said, I am not in great shape but seem to use all the lower gears on my mtb when climbing hills even on the road. It feels like it takes 2-3x the energy to do any road rides on the mtb because of the knobby tires, tire width and tire pressure and then add the suspension.

So, also not wanting to go with anything over $3k either. Should I just go full on road bike or do you think a gravel bike with road tires will do me ? I guess I am trying to look for a all arounder, road mostly but the ability to ride smooth-ish type trails and not worry ? Lol, life seemed a little easier before we had all these choices ! Lol Showing my age when I say I can remember when there was only 3 sneakers/gym shoes available ! Chucks/Converse, Nike, or what we called PJ Fliers....or the ones sold at the drugstore. Lol

Thanks for the guidance.

 

[Howard70]

Some bikes that might suit you well:

Salsa Stormchaser with suspension fork & Eagle drivetrain

Giant Revolt X Pro

Both are "gravel" bikes which suggests they would also work well on dirt roads. I don't own either, but I do have a Salsa Cutthroat which is one of their gravel bikepacking bikes without front suspension (it has a carbon fork & I ride 2" tires so I get a great ride) and I love it on gravel and rough pavement. It is not a true road bike, but coming from mountain bikes you might not realize that riding it.

Howard Snell

 

[Gravelette]

I think a gravel bike with 38mm or wider tires and no suspension would suit. You get easier gearing than a true road bike and usually a more relaxed fit. I have a Cannondale Topstone I like. The Giant Revolt is another good choice. I like Panaracer Gravel King slicks but there are lots of choices of smooth, wide tires.

 

[workerdrone]

Larger air-volume non-knobby tires and a suspension seatpost on a hardtail?

 

[DaveInDenver]

You are a pretty ideal candidate for a gravel bike. What exactly is a gravel bike is blurry, some trend more towards a road bike or racing cyclocross while others are barely different than a hardtail mountain bike.

I personally use an older (2012) 29" steel hard tail MTB with a 100mm fork and Surly Corner Bars as my gravel/do-it-all. If you don't expect to hit mild singletrack a 100mm is overkill but not grossly. Lock it out and it's not a tremendous weight penalty for the cushy ride you get over washboards or really destroyed pavement.

But that said, carbon forks and gravel bikes are well designed to be less punishing than years ago. The problem here is that 700C/29'er geometry never got many less than 80 to 100mm travel forks so there's not a lot of options. There's a few as you've found but they're specialized. An 80/100mm FOX is easily serviced anywhere.

One thing, too, is MTBs have had disc brakes forever while road world embraced them later. So you can find lots of used and even some new hard tail 29" frames with 1-1/8" head sets and disc brakes that are great candidates for this.

If you tend to want to do bigger pavement rides, a MTB isn't going to be a good century bike. But I've done tours averaging 60 mile days and it's adequately efficient and super comfortable.

BTW, a 700C rim and a 29'er rim are the same thing, just different in width. A 700C gravel bike rim might be as wide or wider than a narrow cross country 29'er MTB. I run older Stan's Arch EX MTB rims on my do-it-all, which have an internal width of 21mm, which puts it right at the low side of typical for gravel bikes. It takes a 29x1.75" or 700x45 tire just about perfectly, which are practically the same tire. Something a little lower volume, pavement friendly would work on them, too.

 

[Singler3360]

I'm 58 yo with a ton of neck and back problems. Most of my riding is on gravel forest service roads, so your need for a front suspension fork may vary from my needs/interests. My current bike is a Specialized Diverge with it's proprietary FutureShock stem. I recently added a suspension seat post. After I get over my current neck and lower back surgeries, I look forward to getting back on the bike. I wish I had a suspension front fork for when I do rather than the FutureShock. If you don't want or need a suspension fork for mostly road riding, perhaps an aftermarket suspension stem combined with a suspension seat post might be the right combination for you.

Personally, I really like the gearing on the Salsa Stormchaser that @Howard70 posted but I would rather go for a Salsa Cutthroat for it's even better gearing (for me) and its carbon frame. It's over budget for what you indicate, especially after adding a suspension front fork, so perhaps the Stormchaser (or equivalent) is a better fit for you.

A suspension stem rather than a heavier suspension fork might give you what you are looking for.

Good luck and post back what you decide.

 

[Singler3360]

Here’s an alternative to the Ruby front fork included with on the Salsa Stormchaser. I have no experience with any of these.

Invert

New: Flip Your Fork Trade-In Program. Get $250 when you send us your old fork! Learn more. Invert is the World’s First Gravel Fork. Invert smoothes your ride and gives unbelievable control of your bike on rough roads, loose turns, and steep descents. It's surprisingly lightweight, easy to use...

www.canecreek.com

eeSilk Stem

The eeSilk Stem is a premium, lightweight suspension stem that reduces fatigue and improves rider comfort on gravel, road, and adventure bikes. Shop now!

www.canecreek.com

 

[TwinStick]

This is some great feedback and I really appreciate it and thank you for your replies.

If I could ever go 60-100 miles on any bike in one day I would feel like I won the Tour De France !!! A week or two would be more realistic for me. I am the type of guy who gets bored if exercising is not fun. I have also been plagued with champagne taste but have a beer budget, lol.

Thanks again everyone, lots of points to ponder. I will let you know what I end up getting. Lots going on in my life right now.

Cheers

 

[Singler3360]

Glad to provide some food for thought or beverage, as it where.

 

[Mfitz]

I'm with Howard70 on this. Tire volume is the key to a compliant ride without added cost, complication, and weight of a suspension fork. I also have a Cutthroat and ride it mostly with 2.2 Race Kings set at the low 20's psi, regardless of road or gravel surfaces. It is geometry corrected for a suspension fork if you decided you want to add that later. My road bike stays on the trainer in the basement and hasn't seen daylight in 2 years! Any gravel bike with big tire clearance will do the same, and each year the standard for acceptable tire clearance on gravel bikes goes up. The research on rolling resistance has changed out views that wider tires have to be slow. The Lauf Seigla is on my short list, and is a great bargain with or without their front fork. I can ride my Cutthroat almost anywhere without feeling like I am on the 'wrong bike'. It is definitely the bike you want for the zombie apocalypse, FYI. Cutthroats haven't really changed much so you can look at 2021-24 bikes used to save money.

The cheapest option would be to get a 3-5 year old light xc bike that hasn't been abused- Specialized Chisel is a great example- and put on fast tires. Anything from 50 mm gravel tires to Race King 2.2's to current XC 2.4 tires like the Vittoria Mezcal/ Peyote pair will give you much better road compliance and enable you to still be fairly efficient, ride on pavement or on dirt.

 

[rruff]

I am kinda trying to look for a more road oriented bike but here is my dilemma: I absolutely love suspension on my Specialized Status 160.

I'd suggest a gravel or allroad with drop bars to give you the most versatility. Don't worry about suspension, at least not at first... it's going to be so much smoother and faster than riding offroad. Get some nice quality road tires in the 30-40mm range, set the appropriate pressure, and see how that works for you.

 

[tacollie]

Bigger tires are nice. I typically run 45 to 50C tires on my gravel bike.

Lauf has some options that may work. Their forks are very forgiving.

Lauf Seigla - Lauf Cycles - gravel bikes, mountain bikes and road bikes

We push boundaries to make you the best bikes on the planet! At a price nobody competes with. While giving you a 30 day test ride to make sure it's perfect for you.

www.laufcycles.com

 

[rruff]

Anything from 50 mm gravel tires to Race King 2.2's to current XC 2.4 tires like the Vittoria Mezcal/ Peyote pair will give you much better road compliance and enable you to still be fairly efficient, ride on pavement or on dirt.

I'd just mention that fat low pressure tires are a slog on pavement. I can see using MTB tires for gravel, though.

Like I said, I am not in great shape but seem to use all the lower gears on my mtb when climbing hills even on the road. It feels like it takes 2-3x the energy to do any road rides on the mtb because of the knobby tires, tire width and tire pressure and then add the suspension.

Yes, like this ^.

Have you thought about getting a 2nd set of wheels with some fast tires for pavement? If you shim your brake discs and cassette gears to be identical, it's an easy swap.

 

[Trail Talk]

The cheapest option would be to get a 3-5 year old light xc bike that hasn't been abused- Specialized Chisel is a great example- and put on fast tires. Anything from 50 mm gravel tires to Race King 2.2's to current XC 2.4 tires like the Vittoria Mezcal/ Peyote pair will give you much better road compliance and enable you to still be fairly efficient, ride on pavement or on dirt.

+1 on this. The routes I travel usually involve a mix of back roads and trails so I bought a used carbon frame XC bike for about 1/3 of new. Key features for me were lightweight, 100mm front/rear travel and narrower rims/tires. Looking forward to more bikepacking this spring...


+

 

[DaveInDenver]

FWIW in case anyone's interested. This is my all around mixed surface and gravel all cleaned up for spring. On the fatter side at the moment coming off winter, 29x2.2 front and rear, so technically 700x55. The frame is the tail end of what I'd call the classic MTB frames, 2012 Gunnar Rock Hound 29. Even then it was kind of a throw-back still using 853, 1-1/8 straight head tube, 9mm drop out, 27.2mm seat post, 71.5°/73° angles, etc. You'd be hard pressed to differentiate it from any 1990s MTB in terms of standards with the exception that it lacks brake bosses. RIP Waterford/Gunnar. :-(