I am a mountain biker, but have recently started dabbling in some gravel and caught the fever. I have a 2025 carbon Ibis DV9 hardtail (120mm fork) with 2.4” Maxxis Rekon Race tires. I have a friend that is racing Unbound 200 and has convinced me to sign up for either the 50 or 100 in 2026. I was thinking of doing some local gravel races to start prepping for unbound (assuming I can get in for next year) in addition to my weekly mountain bike rides.
Im not interested in buying a gravel bike at the moment, but curious how prevalent flat bars are gravel races?
Any tips on making my hardtail more gravel friendly (I lockout the fork on gravel, but was thinking some 2.1” gravel tires and a lighter, carbon wheelset)?
by MTBLawyer
7 Comments
A carbon wheelset is a similar price to alot of gravel bikes on the market. Nothing wrong with a hardtail for a gravel race though, youll just be slower than you could be purely from body position. Fastest tires you can find will be the biggest gain in performance you can buy. Handlebar width is a nice simple change as well, as narrow as you can deal with will increase speed pretty significantly too.
I ride flat bar gravel. Not much you can do. Draft off others a lot?
* Inner bar grips (SQLabs) can give you another hand position without going full aero bars. And posibly avoid any “uncool” stigma that regular bar ends have.
* Larger Chainring (and fresh longer chain)
* As you already noticed, it’s a good excuse to get a nice wheelset and fit them with some fast gravel or XC tires.
* For more weight savings, you could toss on a Whiskey 9 or ENVE Rigid Carbon fork. Probably cheaper than the set of Reserve Wheels you are eying for at least as much weight savings. (Just bought a set of Reserve 30 *and* the Salsa Firestarter Carbon rigid fork for my hardtail gravel setup… the Reserve 30 was on sale, the 28 wasn’t).
* If you find you are really getting more into it, after the above, you could do a drop bar conversion. GRX 1×12 could work with your existing cassette and probably existing calipers.
MONSTERCROSS baby, throw some drops with sram xplr hoods. No one will notice. Trust me it’s a blast! And way more comfortable then a rigid set up
I don’t race but ride a full carbon xc bike on gravel. Inner bar ends are great but may not be allowed in a lot of races. You’ll spin out a bit more on flats but on long or hilly rides it really doesn’t matter much. I find the suspension fork and more upright position far more comfortable for multi hour rides vs my gravel bike.
I currently ride my hardtail on the local gravel routes.
I’m quite a bit slower than people I know I could keep up with on the mountainbike, but it can be done.
Larger chainring, less agressive tires, and you’re a long ways already.
My understanding is that Unbound has little pavement, so if that’s the goal I would get tired optimized for that like the Thunderburt 2.25 or the Conti Race King Protex 2.2. If you’re not doing pavement these are the fastest tires anyway.
You’ll want taller gearing. E.g. 44-46t with a 10t small cog.
The aerodynamic aspect (body position, bike) is probably the biggest factor. Weight matters for some races, but carbon wheels sounds like putting money in the wrong place.
I’d just get a used gravel bike for what the upgrades to mKe the MTB competitive would cost, though. If you have 3 bikes if wounds like you probably have a slot in the quiver that could be served by a gravel bike with a spare set of wheels (for road).
If you’re just looking to complete the events, then just swap out the tires and enjoy the ride.