Monster or Gravel WKR - Probably Ti

[Piemonster]

So,

Idly pondering a fancy new bike, in part prompted by that Travers deal. Now I’m not really in a position to take that deal, but if both myself and SWMBO can hang on to our jobs until next winter we should be fairly secure and I’ll have hidden enough money under the mattress for something quite shiny.

Initially I’ve been thinking about a Gravel WKR bike, as I currently have a Camino AL cobbled together from old components/parts bin specials (exc the wheels). This does make one possible bike option rather obvious. Although I’m on QRs/post mount brakes so not a straight swap.

But is there anything to be said for going the Monster Route such as a Gryphon Ti? Do these work well if you run 40c on them, do they look all wrong if you do.

I’m pondering Ti or Steel, on the on hand I like the look of Ti and there’s no paint to scuff, on the other hand I’ll get Ti, so that’s that then.

The frequency with which I ride on the road with others in a calendar year can be counted on the hand of a particularly clumsy Woodwork Teacher. Its never going to find itself in a Sportive or whatever. I reckon the default ride will see the on/off road ratio range from 30/70 to 50/50. But there could easily be some all day road pootling somewhere. The off road riding is your basic farm tracks, easy paths.

I should note, the fit of the Camino appears to be bang on.

[Bearbonesnorm]

I too ride on the road very little and when I do, it's simply to joins bits up and get from A to B. That tends to mean that I only do road miles with people in a similar position. In fact, the only people I've ever ridden with who shave their legs are women.

Anyway, I've never found a 29er shod with quick rolling 2.2" or 2.3" to feel 'that' slow. In my situation, I've come to realise that while I don't mind riding round on 40c, I'm better served in general by something that can accept larger tyres as I find it both less limiting and less tiring over long days even on moderate terrain.

[Piemonster]

If I did go down the Monster route, matching axle standard would give me the option of swapping wheels with the hardtail, and my Travers Prong for that matter.

But then, I’m getting awfy close to the hardtail ....

[johnnystorm]

I used my Fargo to commute and fitted 40c tyres as the smallest I could get away with. It looked terrible.

[Cheeky Monkey]

I've got a regular steel Gryphon. A bike I really like. I tried a Camino Al and it was a very different ride, so much so I bought a PX Goldrush which is very nice so far, though it's been under-used. I didn't get a Ti Camino due to limited supply and fit worries.

Monster is an MTB with drop bars, Gravel Wanger is a road bike that'll not faint at the sight of the odd rock or mud.

If you're going to be more trails than smoother, longer distance, go monster. If you're going to do distance on smoother stuff and want something efficient and fast go wanger.

But its blurry and either one can do a lot of the other's duties, nevermind other bike types and that, in some ultimate way, "it's not about the bike".

IMO

I looked into a Ti Gryphon which I think would be brilliant but the Goldrush was a full bike for the price of a F+F. Head won over heart in that situation.

[Charliecres]

If you’re keeping the hardtail and want something different to complement it, go wanger.

[jameso]

I wouldn't get a 'gravel' bike for 50-70% off road rides, personally. A monster-x maybe if you really want drops. I love drop bars but not on off-road bikes, prefer a rigid 29er with alt bars (H bars) for that sort of use but monster-x or rigid 29er with alts, same thing really just a different shape.

Thing is, gravel / road plus bikes are great all-day road bikes. Much better than the rigid 29er.

No help at all there eh

[benp1]

If you've already got a hardtail and a Travers prong then what would a monstercross give you that your current set up doesn't? Apart from looking different

[ScotRoutes]

Albannach Torragar.

There. I've said it.

[Piemonster]

Albannach Torragar.

A website I’ve already visited this morning

[Piemonster]

If you've already got a hardtail and a Travers prong then what would a monstercross give you that your current set up doesn't? Apart from looking different

Pffft, thinking all logical eh....

[jobro]

I've never thought of "gravel" bikes having a use on the road except for joining up bits of off-road. Thats one of their main strengths I think. In the past I would try as much as possible not to ride on the road on a mountain bike ride, but happily do bits of road on a gravel ride to do bits of off-road that I had previously not bothered with.
I've just bought a Mason ISO and run it on 2.2 Fleecer Ridge tyres. I would heartily recommend them, though a tad pricey.
It doesn't feel much less capable than my full bounce Turner although I think going fairly wide at 46cm bars helps a lot. I think of it as the mountain bike end of gravel (monster cross?) as opposed to my Vielo which is the road bike end of that spectrum. We do get very hung up on syntax!!

[Piemonster]

I wouldn't get a 'gravel' bike for 50-70% off road rides, personally. A monster-x maybe if you really want drops. I love drop bars but not on off-road bikes, prefer a rigid 29er with alt bars (H bars) for that sort of use but monster-x or rigid 29er with alts, same thing really just a different shape.

Thing is, gravel / road plus bikes are great all-day road bikes. Much better than the rigid 29er.

No help at all there eh

Actually you have been helpful. For those rides I already default to the gravel bike over the hardtail, which itself is currently rigid and I have a Jones bar. Which does steer the choice somewhat. There’s, two key things with the choice of bike, it’s actually faster overall, and on those routes I prefer flared drops. Currently it feels like I want an MTB leaning Gravel bike than a Gravel leaning MTB.

I guess the thread title is wrong and should be;

Is there a case for Monstercross over Gravel Wanger?

[ScotRoutes]

I still have my carbon Cube road bike and I've thought about getting rid, just using the Amazon with a skinny wheelset when I want that sort of riding. If the Cube still had any value, I probably would.

I also have a 29er wheelset and rigid forks for the Pact. I've not used those wheels much but when I have, I've thought I'd have been as well on the Amazon. And if I've been on the Amazon and hit stuff that's getting beyond the 700x40/650x47 comfort/ability limit then I'm really after much bigger tyres and suspension.

So, I do think that the other bikes you have influence the way you fill any "gaps" in your line up.

[jameso]

Currently it feels like I want an MTB leaning Gravel bike than a Gravel leaning MTB.

An 80-20 bike and a 20-80 bike?

It's basically what I have, a Jones 29er and a custom 650x47-55 drop bar bike that's more capable off-road than the average gravel bike. There's very little cross-over. The Jones rides rings around the drop bar bike off-road, encourages fun, more technical riding as well as long distances (a rare mix ime) and is fine for road cruising if it's on the right tyres. The drop bar bike is as good for winter lanes rides as it is for road touring and encourages a more road/XC attitude. Handles the tracks well but I need a break after a few hours of it.
I could use either on the same routes eg RSR, Ridgeway or KAW but generally I use the 29er for overall comfort and being able to let go on the fun stuff. I could use either on the TNR also but there's enough great road riding there (and on the way to or from) to swing it for the drop bar bike. Some of us just aren't much into road riding but I like it.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Do you want a heavy road bike or a light mountain bike? I always think that's a reasonable opening question to ask yourself.

[Piemonster]

I’m erring towards Gravel Wanger, still a balance of capabilities on different surfaces to think about. But the monster option is just too close to the Ti Hardtail.

Then it’s the awful task of procrastinating about which frame to get

[Jurassic]

If I was in your position Piemonster I'd be looking at the gravel end of the spectrum rather than the monstercross end. I ride my gravel bike a lot on quiet roads, cycle paths and forest track/non tech off road. It's particular forte is joining all of those types of terrain together into rides that I wouldn't bother with on my mountain bikes as there'd be too much road/non technical off road in between the bits that would be good on a mountain bike. In this respect the gravel bike has been a revelation and I've ended up riding it a lot more than I expected to and have explored areas that I never would have bothered with previously discovering some real gems in the process. If I won the lottery I'd probably build a monstercross as well (as I love bikes/N+1 and think they're cool) but in the real world for the riding I do there's too much overlap between my hardtail 29er options and a monstercross for me to justify owning one.

[FLV]

Interesting.
To me, 40mm tyres are for road bikes, but allow you to pass through some off road terrain. Anything other than old rail tracks isnt fun and is just coping (for me). I use my arkose like this.

I also have a rigid drop bar mtb. It takes 29x 2.4 tyres easily but spends most of its time with 2.25 schwalbe g-ones. Its easily ridable on the road regardless of tyres, its just not as fast as as a road bike. But tyres and riding position make it fun on most off road. It currently has 2.35 mezcals on which is fun. Its only limit is its really 1x which ive gotten used to and will get a 10t cassette next time around.
I dont ride it any differently to a rigid hardtail, which is what it is i guess with curly bars.

If I had more that old rail tracks planned for off road, id go for 2.3 tyres min. Assuming you don't want to chase roadies about or are worried about average speed

[substandard]

I’ve got a Smokestone mr Harry which is very much the monster adventure route.

For me it’s perfect, will just about take 29x3 for all day bikepacking comfort, currently using xr2 tyres.

In the summer I ran 29x2.25” terreno tyres and kept up on a road chain gang over 20mph average, only used it to see if it was possible!
Also used these tyres for the dales divide as didn’t have the xr2 tyres at this point, they did surprisingly well.

I’ve got a second set of wheels with 38mm Hutchinson override tyres now and this is much better suited to the road commuting.

It’s got a sliding droupout too so singlespeed winter slop riding could be a thing to save component wear or emergency ss setup will be easy.

Personally I found true gravel wkr too limited at 40mm max tyres, there’s no washboard gravel routes near me, it’s rocky and muddy here with roads to link it all together.

[Piemonster]

Local off road riding looks a lot like this, usually drier as well

[Bearlegged]

Maybe I'm an outlier here, but there are times I rather enjoy being underbiked on rough and rocky terrain.
Sure, I could plough through it faster and in more comfort on the hardtail but I get a different kind of enjoyment from the gradventourer off-road.

[ScotRoutes]

Maybe I'm an outlier here, but there are times I rather enjoy being underbiked on rough and rocky terrain.
Sure, I could plough through it faster and in more comfort on the hardtail but I get a different kind of enjoyment from the gradventourer off-road.

That's certainly a joy.

[fatbikephil]

I ditched a fargo for a Surly Straggler. I think that the limitations of the drops are about equal to the limitations of the 40mm tyres so I do pretty much everything I did on the fargo on the straggler. Ish. Its not as cut and dried as this (hence lots of rightfully happy fargo et al owners) but as I also have a Jones plus which complements the Strag. A Fargo is too close to the Jones (sort of) and the Jones can do much more.

PS - I've ridden both those trails on the Strag

[BigdummySteve]

I think you can guess where this is going....


I love my Fargo, it’s extremely versatile and needs to be its my only bike. Currently it’s running 2.35 Mezcals, decent turn of speed on the road and enough grip to get by. In the summer I was running it on 2.2” Vitoria Terreno’s and they are noticeably faster on the road.
In 2019 I took it across Spain coast to coast, it was ideal for the mix of road, gravel and some fairly chunky off-road. A gravel bike may have been faster in some sections but I’d have killed it at some point off-road.
Something which can take at least a 2.3” tyre gives you options, another set of wheels with some 2” semi slicks and it’s reasonably fast in road and gravel as well.

Lots of options here, I particularly like the look of the Curve GMX+, definitely monster!

https://bikepacking.com/index/drop-bar- ... ikes-29er/

If I was in your position I’d very likely be boring and get a Ti Fargo and two sets of nice wheels.