Hi all. I just bought a Specialized World Cup. Its stock weight with component is just 22lbs which is a bit heavier than most gravel bikes. I am wondering how you all would suggest modding this and with which parts. No budget restrictions.
Initially i am thinking Red SRAM hood’s and the Roval Raptide aero drop bars. Beyond that Iam not sure if I should change anything. Suggestions?
My intentions are to do some gravel races next year 60-100 mile distances.
by swim2bike2run
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Core strength training so you can hold a very long-reach position that drop bars will give you when fitted to MTB geometry.
After that, tires. If your suspension doesn’t have lockouts, you might want to consider that. Most of the time you don’t need the suspension moving around while you’re pedaling. You might find that you need a bigger chainring depending on how strong a rider you are and/or how much pedaling you do while riding downhill.
But if you’re just getting started, just ride and figure out what you need as you go.
Drop bars and tires best suited to your terrain would be the first step.
The thing that would concern me the most is can it fit a large enough front chainring? Speeds in a gravel race can have you pedaling along at upwards of 30mph with a pack or slight downhills. If you can’t fit a large enough chain ring paired with a 10t cog on the back then you might not be able to gear that bike high enough.
This is going to be an expensive way of making a mediocre gravel bike.
If you have no budget restrictions just buy an actual gravel bike? You have a full suspension mountain bike. That’s not a gravel bike.
I second the idea that if there are no budget restrictions, just buy a gravel bike. However if you’re set on doing it this way, some things to consider
* Gravel tires
* Drop bars
* Maybe larger front chainring, if it’ll fit. A lot of MTB frames are pretty limited in terms of how big you can go though.
* Maybe rigid front fork to reduce weight? But at this point you’re really getting into “this is silly, just buy a gravel bike” territory
If you want to keep this XCish then just get a second wheelset with like 50mm tires that are a good mixed surface tire.
I run a set with Pirelli Cinturato Hs 50mm for my XC bike and it handles 30-40 mile mixed surface rides like a breeze.
Buy an older used gravel bike. Second hand bike market is incredibly buyer friendly right now. It’s flooded with people who bought pandemic bikes that they never ride. I just bought a 2020 Trek checkpoint SL 6 for $1100.
By the time you replace bars, replace tires, possibly a second set of wheels, replace/change drivetrain, then maybe replace the fork, you’d be spending about as much money as a second bike. And you’d end up with a Frankenstein bike that will still be slower than a true gravel bike on roads/flat but will also be far more uncomfortable through rough than your current bike.
Life is all about perspective.
If you replace the frame, fork, wheels, drive train, cockpit, saddle, and seatpost, I think you’ll be well on your way to having a great gravel bike. Pedals should be fine to keep.
This is a beautiful bike, I could never bring myself to modify it in that way.
If you have this bike, I guess your budget for an actual gravel bike does exist so I would in that case choose that option.
Actually buy a gravel bike. If you can afford this then get a diverge or crux.
SRAM red would be sick on this. I’d go with the Terra bar. It will be stiffer than the Rapide, which I think you’ll appreciate. Also, the shallower drop will be better for gravel. You’ll probably be fine keeping that stem length, but you may want something to let you go a bit lower. Perhaps a -10 degree stem.
From their, you’ll want a bigger chainring. I see that the bike is limited to a 36t chainring, however, I think you can push that. That 36t limit is probably assuming a 52mm chainline. But, the Transission crank you have has a 55mm chainline. You could also go with a Rotor crankset, which can accommodate a 56.5mm chainline. I’d think with that, you should be fine to get a 40t or even a 42t ring in there. The only problem with the rotor crank is chainrings only go up to 38. You’d need to find an 8 bolt or DM crank, and then probably go with something like a Garberuk chainring. Older X01 has a superboost option with a 56.5mm chainline.
It looks like wolftooth will take you up to 38t on a super boost chainline. Also, I’d be willing to be you get get a 40t gravel chainring working on this if you go with that X01 superboost crank.
You’ll want to go down to a 2.2 inch XC race tire. There are tons of options.
Drop bars 😁
i did a drop bar mtb (somewhere in my profile) just because i couldn’t store another bike in my apt. i love my off-road thing, but it is by no means fast ANYWHERE. it’s slower on gravel and i feel less confident on mtb trails (way more fun tho. if you have no budget, i recommend buy a real gravel bike.
My first step is be buying a gravel bike.
Just ride that bitch as is! It’s already awesome
Buy a gravel bike
The geometry of a xc bike will be significantly different from a typical gravel bike (e.g the reach and stack are going to be way longer/higher). Make sure you have enough leeway to achieve a reasonable bike fit with drop bars (I.e. drop bars will increase your reach significantly as compared to flat/backswept xc bars). From what I’ve seen people tend to size down one or two sizes from their mtb size in drop bar mtb builds to achieve a reasonable position with drop bars.
So did you buy this specifically to turn it into a gravel bike or would you like to be able to swap it back to xc?
I’m doing something similar, but with a Hardtail. I’m keeping the flat bars, but a bit narrower than MTB, and maybe some kind of second hand position option. I’m going to gravel tires because they’re far better for stretches of hard pack or pavement.
Gravel is very steep in my area, and descending on drop bars is awful when it’s loose.
It’s basically going to be a tire switch between gravel and MTB. Who cares what I call it I guess!
I would argue that having the option to lock/firm the shock and the fork is pretty key.
I’m a little disappointed in the gravel community here. Flatbar gravel bikes are accepted here, and drop bar mtb are accepted, I don’t see why we can’t accept this as well.
For gravel I would look at getting clip on aero bars if they’re allowed for your races. And/or inner bar ends for a closer in position that is more aerodynamic. And you’ll want a bigger chainring and the fastest rolling tires you can find/stomach. (Maxxis Aspen st?) I wouldn’t size down too much on the tires, maybe a touch smaller and fast rolling. Look at Leadville 100 bike checks for inspiration.
You won’t be winning any heavily road focused races, but you can have a lot of fun on any race that is rougher. I have a friend who rode Leadville in previous years and he trains for it by doing big 100 mile gravel rides on his mtb. He’s found a setup that is super fast for him and is only noticeably slower on wide open roads.