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#63 ·
cbj2012 said:
Well a carbon railed saddle is +200 dollars. When you can get a complete 105 group for 375 that is where I would spend my first upgrade money.
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I never pay full price for anything :)

This is a highly recommended saddle from yours truly. I have one that's been thrashed on my dual suspension mountain bike and it's still going. According to my former LBS, Fizik provides excellent customer service, too. If a carbon rail were to break for whatever reason, they ask for a picture and send you a new one straight from Italy with no hassle.

Fizik Gobi XM K:ium & Carbon Braided Saddle Sale | Saddles | Merlin Cycles'
 
#64 ·
I just received a 2016 Ultegra Grade. It has been a lot of fun and I use it to connect small riding areas with mellow single track and some dirt roads. So far I only have sub 2 hour rides on it but I am looking forward to some longer stuff. It took some effort but I am currently running Clement 44 size tires. They are not tubeless ready but after some Stans, compressor and soapy water they did seal up and holds air. I would not recommend 44's though since rear clearance is too tight. Fortunately Clement makes a 36 that is tubeless ready and should be a no brainer.
 
#66 ·
Jenson has some good deals on the lower end 2015s. $522 for the Claris, and $714 for the Tiagra. The one I'm seriously considering is the 2016 Alloy X. Its the only alloy model in their line to have the full carbon fork (including steer tube) and the 15mm through axle. Its a 1x11 with Sram Rival components including hydraulic brakes. The cassette can be replaced for a 11-36, or a 10-42.
 
#67 ·
Considering a carbon ultegra. My question is can it be used for cyclocross as well as gravel? Any concerns. Would like to get an all in one bike. 6'2 and looking at a 58cm. Currently ride a 58 road bike. Was also considering a Jamis renegade.
 
#68 ·
jmeitz said:
Considering a carbon ultegra. My question is can it be used for cyclocross as well as gravel? Any concerns. Would like to get an all in one bike. 6'2 and looking at a 58cm. Currently ride a 58 road bike. Was also considering a Jamis renegade.
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The grade could be used for cross. There really should not be any issues, but it not going to handle as quickly as a regular cross bike. The long wheelbase and slack head angle which make it a great gravel bike, will hurt it a little for cross. Also, the gearing is a little high on the Grade, but is a fairly easy fix with a different crank set. The only other thing to consider is that the grade has smaller tire clearance then most cyclocross bikes, which may not be a problem depending on the courses that you will be riding.
 
#69 ·
Maybe run a little short stem too for CX and speed up the steering?

I have no CX experience but basing of my experience from mountain biking. I would also say a little more upright position would be nice for CX where its about slammed stems and the perfect aero position.
 
#71 ·
Just thought I'd throw my thoughts up, since this thread was instrumental in my decision to go with the grade. I live on a gravel road, and it's about four miles to get to pavement, so my traditional road bike isn't something that gets ridden much. I have been splitting time pretty evenly between a Salsa Vaya and Ridley X-Fire. I love the Vaya, it fits well and it's comfortable, but it's just not that fast. The Ridley, on the other hand, is fast, but on rides over an hour long, my 41 year old back starts begging for a little more give, so I decided to look for something different.

I ended up with a 55cm Grade. At 5'9" and pretty evenly proportioned; I'm not certain it's the best fit, but the 53 felt just a tad small. I'm still playing around with stem length - it looks like I'll end up at 90-100mm, but I went to a 40cm bar (just my preference), and changed out the seat for an Fizik Antares VS. The other change I've made is taping up the Stans rims and mounting a set of Compass Bon Jon Pass tires tubeless. I've been riding their Barlow Pass tires on the Vaya for a while and love them. If you're looking for a great 35mm tire for any hard pack or gravel surface, the Bon Jons are tough to beat. Their only real downside is mud, but in those conditions I won't be riding this bike.

Here's a pic of my bike sitting in my office:

My initial impressions (I have maybe 200 miles on it) are that it's a pretty well thought out bike. At first I was not overly impressed with the hydraulic discs; they didn't seem to provide much advantage over the cable actuated Avids or TRPs I'm used to riding. Once things seated in properly that all changed. I love that I can now do stoppies from the hoods. I have no problem keeping up with my buddies running 25mm tires on their road bikes. My only real complaint was mentioned earlier and has to do with the wheel build. With the wider tires, it's glaringly obvious that the dish on the rear wheel is off. It's not bad, but mine probably needs to come 1mm or so towards the drive side. It might be a problem on the front too, but that's not as obvious. At any rate, I can live with it for another month or so. Once riding season is over here, I'll pull them and fix the dish this winter.

Finally, thank you to everyone who posted their experiences with this bike. This thread has been a valuable resource for me.
 
#72 ·
I'm looking to purchase a Grade as well, although not liking the mid compact for sizing... would much rather have a 46/36. Mine will only be in the dirt, already have plenty of road bikes to fill the road need. Any suggestions for crank?
 
#73 ·
I'm with you on the gearing, being primarily a gravel bike for me the gearing is really tall. I ride mildly hilly roads and the 46/36 crankset and 11/28 cogs on my CX bike are just about perfect. I find I'm shifting between the front rings way more on the Grade, and moving up or down up front also requires a couple shifts in the rear. The great thing about the shimano 5800 or 6800 cranksets is that you can run 46-53 and 34-39 rings on them. Going 46/36 up front just means you need a new chainring. Of course the rings are about 2/3 the price of an entirely new crankset, so that kind of sucks.

All that said, I've been really happy with the FSA SLK crankset in 46/36 on my cross bike. Super stiff and it's taken a pretty good beating with just a few nicks and scratches to show for it.
 
#74 ·
Thanks for the info! Like you, I had thoughts about changing the rings.. but as you mentioned quite expensive. I have not purchased the bike yet being that it is winter here in Maine... but I'll play around with numbers a bit more.

Thanks Again SlipperyToad!
 
#75 ·
I'll chime in with this. My Grade was the Claris 8 speed, so I had compact (50/34) with 11-28 and some fairly large steps. Because of the entry price, I was ok with this, but quickly discovered that it just wasn't quite enough on the hills where I am, all of which are steep. If I drive a half an hour, I get to flat land, and it was fine.

My solution was to change to 11 speed (full 105) with the 11-32 cassette. That's been working really well for me, and reduced the size of the steps between some of the rest of the gears as well. My crank is still a 50/34, and because of the down hill runs around here, some of which are pretty long, it works well. Just something to think about in terms of what parts to change out. It might be better riding in the long run to keep the crank and change the cassette.
 
#76 ·
I live in the mountains of Maine, so I would even want a larger cassette than a 11/32. Also, do not want a 50t chainring, as it is too big for where I'll be riding. I'm thinking a 46/36 would be the perfect size for here in Maine. Isn't it great that we have so many choices? :)
 
#77 ·
I can see where compact gearing would definitely hit the sweet spot in the case of long and steep hills. The bikes that come with 105 or Ultegra come with an 11-32 cogset and long cage 105 or Ultegra derailleurs. They also come with 52/36, which in flatter or considerably hillier country than I ride would be great, but it's not that great where you're constantly climbing or descending but the hills are never more than 1/4 mile long. I very occasionally spin out my 46-11 CX bike(around 40 mph), but it's not very often.

This is a very minor quibble with what I consider the most versatile road bike out there now, and GT clearly picked the right setup for most of the use these bikes will encounter. I probably wouldn't even notice if I normally rode a compact crankset, but in the terrain I ride I find I'm having to row the gears a lot more than with a more tightly spaced front arrangement. I don't get any benefit from the bigger front ring, which is why I'm thinking about moving to a 46 up front.
 
#78 ·
I think that you hit the nail on the head with your comment about a "road" bike. For me, this is a dirt bike as I ahve plenty of road bikes to choose from already. I think once companies fully commit to these bikes being a gravel bike; we'll see HUGE improvments in them. So for now, ride on! :)
 
#79 ·
I think that many of the newcomers to the gravel scene are reluctant to call their machines true gravel bikes. Maybe they're afraid that the sub/genre will fail, or they're worried about riders shredding the gnar on bikes that were only meant to lightly exfoliate the gnar.

Salsa's Vaya is, IMO, one of the benchmark gravel bikes, and I'd like to see more companies take design cues from that bike when it comes to gearing, tire clearance, etc.
 
#80 ·
ridebikeme said:
I live in the mountains of Maine, so I would even want a larger cassette than a 11/32. Also, do not want a 50t chainring, as it is too big for where I'll be riding. I'm thinking a 46/36 would be the perfect size for here in Maine. Isn't it great that we have so many choices? :)
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Fair play. My geared MTB went a year with a 36/36 granny on it, so maybe my idea of "good enough" for climbing hills is a little slanted! Either way, I've not encountered anyone yet who bought one of these bikes then decided they didn't really care for it, but I have run into several people that made some tweaks to how it was equipped.

Mine has seen everything from greenways to single track, paved road, abandoned road, dirt roads, gravel roads - I think there are other bikes I could have ridden all of that on, but this one was fun.
 
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