Mountain bike to gravel bike conversions

Victor I said:
I checked out some gravel bikes today. After riding flat bar bikes most of my life I realized its gonna be difficult switching from flat bars to drop bars. I just love the way a mountain bike rides. Think I’m gonna make a my Ibis DV9 mountain bike a flat bar gravel bike. Seems to be the next big thing out there(well maybe not). I ordered some Schwalbe Thunder Burts so will see how that helps with rolling resistance
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No need to force it with drop bars. Run what 'cha brung. I feel the same, I'm more comfortable on an mtb.
 
qclabrat said:
Yeah, I rode road bikes most of my teen and adult years till about 10 years ago. Drop bars feel really awkward for a few rides especially when I'm riding them seasonally. You'll be plenty fast with the right tires and gearing for gravel use. Get narrower bars, barends and negative rise stems to get you more aero. Let’s get an OOS gravel ride in the books in the near future. @Juggernaut you want lead?
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It’s going to be a few months till I’m able to do something like this… but afterwards, sure.
 
Pearl said:
i had nightmares about that handlebar last night
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It's just fair, you gave me nightmares for years with this guy...
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qclabrat said:
@Victor I these look interesting, copy of branded bars, not to wide and some tuck options https://a.co/d/5uUfNSc
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Those look nice for bike packing. I plan on trying some after work Bedminster gravel rides so just a couple of hours riding at a time. Will see how the Ergon grips with bar ends work as well as the fast rolling tires. There’s a 34t chainring so should be tall enough gearing. Funny that I’m starting to see lots of flat bar gravel bikes make their way into the gravel scene. New fad possibly?
 
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mtbiker87 said:
View attachment 256445I can't really understand why, unless you're seriously gravel racing, anyone would need anything more than this to enjoy "gravel riding".
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That thing looks sick.

The problem with these hardtail conversions is the front chainring clearance, I think you’d need to clear a 40 minimum to make it work and work well enough to go fast enough for it to be fun.

Let’s face it, having to coast down a long gravel downhill that you could be pedaling, but can’t since you’re in 34x11 or something, that sucks. You don’t have to race to want to go fast downhill!
 
Pearl said:
That thing looks sick.

The problem with these hardtail conversions is the front chainring clearance, I think you’d need to clear a 40 minimum to make it work and work well enough to go fast enough for it to be fun.

Let’s face it, having to coast down a long gravel downhill that you could be pedaling, but can’t since you’re in 34x11 or something, that sucks. You don’t have to race to want to go fast downhill!
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As I mentioned in one of the other gravel conversion, I’m running a 38 with ample room for a 40 on my 2015 El Mar, granted it’s on a MTB 136 spindle. May not be ideal but if you want to recycle an older mtb frame it’s not to shabby either.
 

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Pearl said:
That thing looks sick.

The problem with these hardtail conversions is the front chainring clearance, I think you’d need to clear a 40 minimum to make it work and work well enough to go fast enough for it to be fun.

Let’s face it, having to coast down a long gravel downhill that you could be pedaling, but can’t since you’re in 34x11 or something, that sucks. You don’t have to race to want to go fast downhill!
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Question about gearing. I have a 34 chainring and an Eagle GX 12 speed cassette (I think 50). Not sure what how that compares to a typical gravel bike. I was looking at bikes the other day at the shop and there are two by and one by chainrings depending on the manufacturer and model. May be a good question for @qclabrat as he builds various bikes.
 
serviceguy said:
As I mentioned in one of the other gravel conversion, I’m running a 38 with ample room for a 40 on my 2015 El Mar, granted it’s on a MTB 136 spindle. May not be ideal but if you want to recycle an older mtb frame it’s not to shabby either.
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I don’t think every mtb is going to clear 38 front ring tho
 
Victor I said:
Question about gearing. I have a 34 chainring and an Eagle GX 12 speed cassette (I think 50). Not sure what how that compares to a typical gravel bike. I was looking at bikes the other day at the shop and there are two by and one by chainrings depending on the manufacturer and model. May be a good question for @qclabrat as he builds various bikes.
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I ran a gravel “mullet” setup most of the time the last few years. 38-40 single up front and eagle (10-50) on the rear. Worked perfectly for me. It really depends on where you’re riding and how your body responds to repetitive or prolonged hard efforts. 34 on a rail trail for example is going to keep you in the 10-16 a lot. Perfectly fine ride feel but the chain and cassette life will definitely be shortened.
 
Juggernaut said:
I ran a gravel “mullet” setup most of the time the last few years. 38-40 single up front and eagle (10-50) on the rear. Worked perfectly for me. It really depends on where you’re riding and how your body responds to repetitive or prolonged hard efforts. 34 on a rail trail for example is going to keep you in the 10-16 a lot. Perfectly fine ride feel but the chain and cassette life will definitely be shortened.
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I’m trying to figure out the gearing. So 34 front with an Eagle 50 rear 12 speed. How does that compare to a typical gravel bike one by setup?
 
Victor I said:
I’m trying to figure out the gearing. So 34 front with an Eagle 50 rear 12 speed. How does that compare to a typical gravel bike one by setup?
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Best way to measure is by gear inches, since we're comparing different wheel and tire sizes. There are many calculators out there but these are from Sheldon Brown's site. Using the gearing from a Santa Cruz Stigmata, 40T chainring and 10-44 12 speed cassette.
Screenshot_20250301-071242.png
and to your gear inches are
Screenshot_20250301-071210.png


Note the different ranges in %, you don't need the jumps but to be realistic, 95% of the time you'll be on the high half of the cassette, where the jumps are smaller. So I'd focus on more gear inch calculation at "10". 8.3 vs 6.7. That's why Pearl keeps mentioning the front chainring size. The cheapest option is to install the largest chainring, maybe even use some BB spacers to offset more on the drive side. What's the max, you think you can fit? The largest my Carver could fit was 32T, which is why I gave up on that option.
 
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