Hi! I am kinda struggling with deciding about my gravel riding. For the past two years I have been riding Trek Checkpoint ALR little bit upgraded – GRX 810 1x, 40 cm zipp handlebars, S-works Alpinist seatpodt, Pathfinders 38 mm. But.. the bike is meh. Like not much fun to ride and heavy.
I signed up for a first gravel race in april and now I am deciding what to do with the bike.
Option 1)
– change heavy stock wheels for better ones (for example Zipp 303 xplr S), put on new Schwalbe G-one RS 40mm/45mm.
– change 175 mm crankset for 170 mm grx with Inpeak wattmeter
– new chainring, 46t
– 0 offset seatpost and new saddle
Option 2)
– sell the bike as it is
– buy some kind of used carbon gravel bike ideally already with carbon wheels. For example Orbea Terra, Canyon Grail etc.
Financially the first option makes more sense, but will be the aluminium bike more fun to ride with upgrades?
My main worry is if I am doing something wrong and dont know how to ride gravel (like maybe I am riding on rougher terrain than I should be) or if is it the bike alone. I am kinda used to better specced bikes – on road I rode Canyon Aeroad, now I have Specialized Tarmac SL7 S-Works and back in the days I was XC racing on BMC Fourstroke 01 which was lighter than current gravel bike.
With that worry I dont want to spend like 4k+ on a new (even used) gravel bike and find out it is still meh..
by BodybuilderLopsided8
3 Comments
TL,DR: should i keep current aluminium gravel and upgrade it or sell it and buy used carbon bike for racing.
I just got a new Checkpoint SL6, coming from a Checkpoint AL 4, it really is a completely different bike. Check it out.
Maybe I’m biased since I have the same bike but with 2x, but I can’t say I find it boring, much on the contrary. Maybe you’re underbiking a lot and using it where a MTB would fare better, but then again, underbiking can be fun too.
I don’t know about it being heavy, for a ALU bike as sturdy as this is, it’s pretty light IMO. If you’re looking for a racing bike then I believe maybe you should look for a different one, as this one at least to me, seems to favour more bikepacking/longer rides (I mean, just look at the sheer amount of mounts the thing has). Adding a light seatpost and bars is nice and all, but it’s still a slack, aluminium frame.
Maybe look at the Crux, it could fit your usecase better.