It’s gravel week here at Cyclingnews which means a focus on all things gravel. We’ve got eveything from Unbound tech galleries to the best gravel bike shoes and gravel e-bikes.
In this spirit, I’ve pulled together a few tips you can use to help keep your gravel bike rolling that little bit smoother. It’s probably fair to say that gravel riding does place some additional demands on our bikes, due to the rougher terrain we encounter, and the muddy, sandy, rocky conditions. At this point, I do have to include the by-now almost obligatory line that gravel riding means many different things to riders all over the world.
This does ring true however when it comes to bike maintenance and the demands gravel riding places on our bikes. The wet and muddy gravel riding of a British winter (and often summer) won’t be the same as the sandstone and shale found in Colorado as my fellow tech writer Wil Jones outlined in his gravel geology article recently.
I’ve tried to list some ideas and advice that hopefully prove useful no matter where you ride. I hope there’s at least one idea in here you find interesting and try out in the future, they are all things I do to look after my own bikes. One thing is for sure though, no one likes ending up stranded on a ride, walking for miles in the middle of nowhere due to a mechanical, if you look after your bike generally speaking it will look after you.
Gravel riding does increase the chances of having a little tumble off the bike from time to time, whether it’s losing momentum riding a steep climb or trying to negotiate a slightly too challenging descent for your bike whilst your riding mates cheer you on.
If the bike lands on the drive side, there’s a fair chance the rear hanger will be bent out of alignment. A badly bent hanger out on a ride can affect your shifting which is an annoyance but also poses the risk of the rear mech going into the spokes of your wheel and ripping off, which can be a real disaster.
Most Co2 cartridge threads are the same as most derailleur hangers. (M10 x 1.0) If you bend your hanger in a spill you can simply unbolt the rear mech (5mm hex key) thread on your co2 cartridge and you have a small and convenient hanger alignment tool to help you gently correct your hanger and get it close to straight, even if it’s just enough to smooth your shifting out to get home. This can really help if you’re out…
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