Hi everyone! I bought this used racing bike and fitted it with 40 Touareg tyres, what do you think of it as an entry level gravel bike? I would like to change my Shimano Tourney 2×8 drivetrain with a single chainring, what do you recommend in the economical range?
by rododder
14 Comments
It looks great.
Don’t bother changing the drivetrain, you’ll end up spending more than the bike is worth and lose a lot of range.
Learn to service it, maintain it and ride it. The tyres are a nice upgrade.
I had that bike for 1,5 years and it is great as a starting point, learning about bikes and seeing weather or not you like the sport even. Also put on some gravel tires and wrote it on forestry roads most of the time aswell as bikepacking.
I also went the route of upgrading the drivetrain to Microshift Sword and can tell you its not worth it ^^ It was fun, I love tinkering around, but from a financial standpoint it makes no sence. If you want better climping gears you can see if you can pick up a 46 30 crankset, thats the only sensible upgrade in my opinion.
Have the RC120, rode about 15K Km on it and will continue riding it. Recommend upgrading the tyres to your preffered road/gravel tyre from a name brand ASAP. The stock ones were wobbly and overall cheap. The drivetrain is overall ok, the 34T in the rear helps on hills. Great for learning basic maintenance as the cable disk brakes need adjustment every 1-2 months in order to keep full braking power if you ride rude frequently.
Biggest downside aside from the brakes is the derailleuer fixed to the frame with no replacable hanger. After my RD got ripped from the frame due to stick getting stuck in rear wheel, it had to be saved via helicoil, which was way more expensive than just replacing the hanger.
Otherwise a good bike for the money if you make some basic upgrades and learn how to take care of it. The frame feels bulletproof and the Microshift R8 shifting requires next to no adjustment during the season. Great for fitness riding and touring.
How does the clearance for 40 mm look ?
I think tribans are great value. Hard for anyone to compete with decathlon in the low price segment.
Tribans rock as first bikes. Hard to go 1x if you’re not going to buy a whole new groupset, which will mean shifters, chainset, mechs, cassette….
It’s a good bike! Careful with the brakes, they lose all their power in a few months of riding
Good solid bikes.
Rag the fuck out of it and then replace the drivetrain once you know what range of gearing you need.
My first bike was the RC520. Great bike and no issue whatsoever- however, tire clearance was limited and with a little more you get a bike that has much longer life.
So I would go for the next level gravel bikes from Decathlon – hydraulic brakes, thru axels, etc.
Great bike. I have the same in light grey. Since 3 years. 10’000 km now. Changed the rear wheel and threw TRP hy/rd brakes on it and other tires. Going 1by can be done, but you’ll end up spending lots of money. Get a compact 2by (46/30) crankset – i also didn’t that and you’re good for climbing.
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I’m still trying to find a suitable excuse why a much more expensive bike should make me faster at my current fitness level. Especially considering the price for this compared to way more expensive bikes
Don’t buy decathlon bikes, they are overpriced, everything else from decathlon is great
I have the GRVL 120 which is basically the same but with a 1×10 drivetrain. The brakes suck, otherwise it’s a solid entry bike. If you can afford it, get decent brakes like TRP Spyre. Many people recommend the TRP HY/RD, I’ve recently installed them on my GRVL 120 and I’d say they aren’t worth the money. Sadly I can’t return them anymore.
I have a Triban RC120 and it does bike things. I suspect your bike is one model higher.
Mine was 550 euro. It really feels like an incredibly cheap bike. It flexes if you pedal hard, after a year some bearings seem to start getting creaky. The OEM tires dry rotted after literally just half a year sitting under a carport.
However, it is light and fast. It is much faster than i anticipated. It didn’t take me long before i started hitting average speeds of 30km/h, and that included mild city traffic on separated cycle paths, where it wasn’t always possible to safely go at full speed.
I wouldn’t tinker too much with them before first riding the thing for a year. In the basis it still is a cheap bike with mechanical brakes that aren’t the best, with a frame that flexes under hard pedaling to a degree that you can hear the chain being pulled out of alignment.
Just enjoy the thing as it is for a bit first. I know i’m certainly enjoying mine despite its shortcomings. Once something big breaks i’m gonna break my wallet and get a more expensive bike.
Agreed, learn to service your own bike is an absolute must for all riders while realizing some work is best served by professional’s.