Wheel and Tyre advice for Singular Gryphon build

[gentjim]

I'm reliably informed that there's a Gryphon frame and fork on its way to me, with a pair of Luxy Rgly bars, to be built up for general bike-packing duties.
Deeply excited!

The "brief" is one bike to rule them all (i.e. inevitably a bit of a compromise, but hopefully a fun one). So it needs to cope with WRT in May plus Turin-Nice in September, and a bit of Ridgeway type outings in between.

Will be set up 1x10, possibly with a Sunrace wide 11/42 rear cassette, not yet certain what front ring (i.e. how scared I need to be of Torino-Nice!), and Avid or possibly Spyre discs, to keep things simple.

HUBS
I'm thinking dynamo front hub, as I want this for longer multi-day rides, and to charge batteries / gadgets and not be dependent on either plugs or my map reading skills (once decent, now a little dusty!)
For the Rear hub, I've always liked Hope Pro-Evo 2, and never had issues with them.

RIMS - advice needed
I'm coming from a 26" rigid Cotic Soul, and so I'm a bit lost on 29" kit, I'm afraid, and need recommendations for something "sensible". Not too fussed, but want something good quality that will last, but dont' need to gold-plate it.
I thought Hope Enduro might be reasonable value for something reliable but not to spendy - any thoughts?

TYRES - help really needed
Oddly, I think this is the trickiest thing for me to think through having never owned a drop-bar MTB, and having not ridden enough gravel track, with stretches of tarmac thrown in! Plus I'd ideally like them to be at least "alright" across Welsh mountains... Help!
I *think* the widest I can get away with is 2.4" and I want to set them up tubeless (first time for me )

So, with apologies for for the numpty question, but what should I be seriously looking at, and why?

Grateful for any advice!

[ianfitz]

In terms of 1x11 it is pretty easy to swap chainrings so I'd not worry too much there - obviously chain length needs adjusting too but not a big dela in the grand scheme...

I'm a fan of stans rims, arches or crests have always been good for me. Also heard good thing about Pancetti rims recently too.

I'll have a think aboutthe wheel I have and maybe send a PM later today.

[Gari]

I have a WTF set up much the same as you describe, I am currently trying Nano 2.1's on it for a possible trip later in the year and am really liking them so far. Great on gravel/singletrack and not too bad on blacktop. I am doing the Turin/Nice ride but will be using a set of 40mm gravel tyres for that (yet to be decided)looking at the new offerings from Schwalbe, Vittoria and Clement.... hoping that they will be available here by the time I need them!

I have 2 sets of Hope wheels, one with Stans(not sure what they are but the are a PITA to get most tyres on) and the other with Mavic 719's, which have been great, even managed to set them up tubeless without issue.

The rear cassette is a Praxis 11-40 with a 34t front ring, I will probably swap for a 32 for Turin/Nice, but is gets up most things around here at a steady pace, and I am far from a racer.

You are obviously obliged to post pics up for the rest of us once it's built, just the cost of doing the advice business I am afraid

[Bearbonesnorm]

I'm struggling to see why you would choose 1 x 10 for a 'do everything' bike. Adding an extra ring, mech' and shifter won't cost or weigh much more but could make all the difference to those long, loaded days ... especially back to back ones.

[gentjim]

Cheers Stu

Partly lazy thinking - I have a 1x10 on my Cotic, and it "works" - seldom spin out on flattish stuff, seldom worry about pedalling hard downhill.

Partly I like it sleek and minimal (unlike my physique)

Partly I just don't like front mechs - they always feel to me like quite a lot of faff (cockpit, cabling, and mech itself) for a setup that always feels a bit imprecise at best at the front end, and always has a bit of overlap.

On my mountain bike I've never missed the closer gearing intervals I have on my roadie, and would (mentally at least) trade bigger steps up and down, for less to go wrong. But that provided I don't run out of gears (at least uphill).

That's why I was interested in your 11-42 sunrace review recently.

I'll definitely take it away for a less lazy rethink though.
And will have a play around on Sheldon Brown's gear calc.
Out of interest where do you think that plan falls down most?

[Bearbonesnorm]

Out of interest where do you think that plan falls down most?

I don't really think it does Jim. My only concern with 1 x 10 is what sometimes appears to be 'blind faith' in it by people who haven't tried it. There's nothing inherently wrong with it and there are some advantages but the reduced range can be a step too far for some folk ... and the industry don't seem very willing to remind people that 32 x 36 is much harder work than 22 x 36

However, you already use it, so all the above can be ignored

Still very impressed with the Sunrace cassette, appears to represent very good VFM when compared to every other option, including cobble together expanders.

[gentjim]

Out of interest where do you think that plan falls down most?

I don't really think it does Jim. My only concern with 1 x 10 is what sometimes appears to be 'blind faith' in it by people who haven't tried it. There's nothing inherently wrong with it and there are some advantages but the reduced range can be a step too far for some folk ...

Great, glad that's it. I like the idea of a simple system even if it's a bit lumpier in intervals.
I'd hate to have missed something more fundamental.

I suppose whatever I do it'll leave me a little either slower or spinning hard on the faster sections. But I'm out to enjoy myself rather than flog myself.

Gari - I quite like the look of the praxis too, although it's a bit less "granny" at the bottom end, and a touch more expensive... Will have a look.

[Gari]

I have to say that I was happy to trade the loss of top end speed, for the simplicity and better chainline etc. In reality I have found that it is only really an issue on good road surfaces, which the bike doesn't spend a lot of time on( I admit to thinking about putting an inner ring on for the Turin ride) and I certainly wouldn't like to ride it at the top speed even the single front ring could manage, on a loaded bike on the surfaces it spends most of it's time on. As has been mentioned above, the odd occasion where I have felt under geared I just settled into a steady cadence and lived with the pace of travel.
With regards the front mech, like James, I don't like them much at all. The plan was/is that I shall run 2 rings w/o a mech, seeing the rings as 2 separate 1x10 sets. I was thinking of basically using the inner for climbing/hillier sections, changing(by hand) to the outer on flatter/faster sections. I have done it with a bike I had with an Alfine8 far hub, which worked well enough. Just need to work out the appropriate combination of inner/outer rings so that there is not too much overlap, as I am not looking to run it as a usual 2x linear progression gearing set up.








Edited for bad spelling!

[Gari]

The Praxis is great. Works really well(with a Lindarets) on a med road mech, shifts faultlessly IME, and is really well made. I believe you usually get what you pay for. That said I need another extended cassette for the second wheel set and will definitely be looking at the Sunrace, esp given Stu's review. Those 2 teeth wouldn't go amiss either, perhaps allowing me to go to a 36 up front for the same climbing gearing.....win-win?

[fatbikephil]

If your 1x10-ing it go with a small front ring so you still get a decent granny gear - 26 or 28. Race face now do a cheap(er) direct mount crank which looks good for which there is a wide choice of chainrings from different manus. Or go for a Sram direct mount as they do steel 28T rings for 16 quid. I went with Middleburn cranks which look nice but rings are an eye watering £80 and they don't seem to have bothered with a 28 or 26 as originally promised. This means you have to try and bodge up a square taper spider (attack it with a lathe basically) to enable you to fit either a Surly 28t 58 bcd stainless ring or an absolute black 64bcd ring Rims wise go with Mavics as they are half the price of stans and have a neat tubless system which doesn't require sticky tape and allow you to fit and remove tyres without levers. For a do it all seat I like WTB speed Ti - a bit dear but dead comfy and pretty light.

[gentjim]

Cheers htrider

Cranks are next on my list and hadn't realised the 28t option wasn't there with some.

As yet undecided, but was thinking somewhere between 28-32 up front.

Pictures of completed beast of course be provided if, I mean when, completed.

[ctznsmith]

My tuppence worth is if it's a bikepacking bike and you want to go offroad, get offroad tyres you are comfortable riding across welsh mountains and just get used to them on the road.

To a certain degree it depends on your level of skill and confidence. If you're one of these people who can pick a line down something gnar on a cyclocross bike then obviously a narrow, lighter, faster rolling tyre is going to work for you. However if you think/feel you need the grip/air cushion of something wider then go that route and suck up the drag on the road.

You could also make the decision to walk up/down anything your tyres can't handle, it works for the RSF.

[DoctorRad]

Rims wise go with Mavics

Seconded. I have never had a problem with Mavic rims unless I've been riding like a complete wazzock.

[Gari]

Middleburn do a 29t and 27t duo inner, I have a 29 as well as the 32. That's on a RS7, may be a different spline on the RS8 X thing. Guess I should look as that's what I plan tpy get next!

[YetiTony]

I ran my Gryphon with various different tyres, cyclocross to full off road versions and settled on Continental X-Kings 2.2. I doubt you could get some 2.4 rubber in there as the X-Kings filled up the frame pretty well.

Gryphon - Day out mode. by Tony Clark, on Flickr

Rim wise I started with some Bontragers but found these pretty harsh and got some numb hands even with 2.2 rubber.
I moved to Carbon rims and this was so much better, its an expense but a worth while one and meant I can ride for full days with no issues.
I bought Chinese carbon rims and apart from a wrong length spoke issue the rims were great.

Loved that bike, its gone now and I miss it. Had Ragley Luxy bars as well which were really comfy.

[gentjim]

I ran my Gryphon with various different tyres, cyclocross to full off road versions and settled on Continental X-Kings 2.2. I doubt you could get some 2.4 rubber in there as the X-Kings filled up the frame pretty well.

Gryphon - Day out mode. by Tony Clark, on Flickr

Rim wise I started with some Bontragers but found these pretty harsh and got some numb hands even with 2.2 rubber.
I moved to Carbon rims and this was so much better, its an expense but a worth while one and meant I can ride for full days with no issues.
I bought Chinese carbon rims and apart from a wrong length spoke issue the rims were great.

Loved that bike, its gone now and I miss it. Had Ragley Luxy bars as well which were really comfy.

Great news, to hear it's missed! Especially as I've not yet actually ridden a Grypon and so I'm slightly winging it, and always good to hear something nice about something it may be too late to change your mind on!

I think 2.2 Contis are probably shaping up as a good option. Whether X-Kings or Race Kings, not sure.
Another I'm still thinking about is Maxxis Ikons?

Any thoughts?

[Bearbonesnorm]

I found a 2.4" X-King ont' front (they come up big) and a 2.2" Race King out back works well.