As a side story, during the Halloween break way back in 1994 I was biking around the village with a friend when he "accidentally" cut me off because I made a snarky joke at him. Cutting me off caused his rear tire to hit my front tire and made my front tire turn 90 degrees to the right, launching me into the air. I didn't know what to do in that situation so I fell on the right side of my face. Strangely enough this happened right in front of the house across the street from my house.
Ever since I rarely rode my bike. The last time I had a relatively long bike ride was in Bohol with my dad, around 2012 or so. We found out the resort we stayed at had mountain bikes that they let guests borrow so my dad and I went a few kilometers outside Bohol. Lack of practice and stamina made me go maybe a total of 2 or 3 kilometers. Round trip.
Anyway I have no idea why I became fascinated with gravel bikes, even going so far as to imagine myself going on really long bike trips by myself. I have no idea why, maybe because I'm getting older and I'm looking for something to do aside from playing video games.
Based on what I've read and watched online I've come up with this rough build on my mind.
- Size 54 bike frame. This was the ideal size for someone of my height, which is around 177cm. Frame should have enough mounting points for two or three water bottles and maybe some backpacking bags.
- 700c 40mm tubeless gravel tires. Decent size and width would be okay for a casual like me, plus I'd mostly be going on roads with the occasional trips off-road.
- Schrader auto valve for the tires if possible. These are the same valves cars use and almost all decent gas stations have automatic air pumps that fit this kind of valve. Sure you can bring along a hand pump for Presta valves, but Schrader seems more logical for me.
- The flared drop bar should ideally be around 500mm wide so it won't be too wide on the road. Flare shouldn't be too extreme, maybe around 10 degrees or so.
- Brakes should of course be disk brakes. Most likely mechanical instead of hydraulic since I'll most likely be using this theoretical build only inside the village.
- I'll be going with a 1x11 group set. Front chainring should be narrow wide oval. Maybe 38T since I'm old and I don't think I can maintain a high cadence to actually ride up to the max speed of the front chainring. So just a relatively small chainring with a gravel bike rear cassette so I have no problems climbing and won't go too fast going down.
- I'll be going with a standard mountain bike flat pedal so that I can use the bike anytime.
Oh, and I'd like my bike frame to be reflective yellow so I can be easily visible on the roads. Of course I'll be mounting front and rear lights for safety, and maybe a cyclocomputer so I know my speed, cadence, and other important details.
So that's my idea for my gravel bike build. Too bad there's a pandemic so I can't go out to check prices in bike shops. My plan is to buy components and assemble the bike, instead of buying a fully built one.
Out.
