Well, after selling my Ritchey Swisscross I found I missed being free to move around Tuscan gravel roads (strade bianche) faster than with a MTB.
Having an Axis frame lying in the garage, I thought it would have been worth trying to convert it to a gravel bike. I had already had 26 inch drop bar rigs, and found them a tad stiff. Not liking 28 inch wheels on MTB, I decided to go 650b.
Finding light rims with a breaking surface was hard. It turned out, however, that the original Suntour owners set up this new company, SUNXCD, which build randonnee rims in 650b. A shop in Spain sold them at an affordable price, so I got a pair, lacing the hoops onto DT240s hubs.
The next hard thing was finding brakes with enough adjustability to reach the wider rim. Fortunately, some old vees I had fitted the bill. Tektro Vbrake levers were needed, too.
So, not too much to say: 10 speed modern SRAM XO gruppo (I know, the shifter is ugly), Middleburn chainset with a 39 Coda Magic ring, 1.95 vee rubber tubeless tyres, and lots of fun....
Having an Axis frame lying in the garage, I thought it would have been worth trying to convert it to a gravel bike. I had already had 26 inch drop bar rigs, and found them a tad stiff. Not liking 28 inch wheels on MTB, I decided to go 650b.
Finding light rims with a breaking surface was hard. It turned out, however, that the original Suntour owners set up this new company, SUNXCD, which build randonnee rims in 650b. A shop in Spain sold them at an affordable price, so I got a pair, lacing the hoops onto DT240s hubs.
The next hard thing was finding brakes with enough adjustability to reach the wider rim. Fortunately, some old vees I had fitted the bill. Tektro Vbrake levers were needed, too.
So, not too much to say: 10 speed modern SRAM XO gruppo (I know, the shifter is ugly), Middleburn chainset with a 39 Coda Magic ring, 1.95 vee rubber tubeless tyres, and lots of fun....