GRAVEL ROAD HOW TO

That will increase their durability with the sort of riding an Exploro lets you do.ДonвЂ™t waste your money on ceramic bearings. How do you test bearings and seals? ThatвЂ™s tough if youвЂ™re not an expert, but for starters inquire if the bearings are stainless. So focus on a bigger rim width (there are still mountain bike wheels with 19mm inner rim width (you donвЂ™t want those!!) and focus on the quality of the bearings and seals quality rather than saving a few grams. Expense often equals weight savings, and for your 650b setup you likely want durability more than lightweight.

While your off-road wheels are arguably more important, the things that are important here are not necessarily expensive. If you have some budget but not unlimited, put your money in the road wheels, save some money on the off-road wheels. In alloy, wider rims quickly get very heavy, so there itвЂ™s more of a balancing act between rim width and weight. I may be biased (I am!), but we designed our Discus 45 | 32 carbon wheelsetВ specifically to be aerodynamic with wider road tires (for the Strada) so it is a great option for an Exploro in road set-up too. Just make sure the rims have a large inner width to match wider tires.В Especially if you go for carbon rims, get at least a 23mm rim, so you can use a 28mm tire but also a 40mm tire if you ever want to. Zipp, Fulcrum, Hed or WTB, there are plenty of good brands to choose from, some with more road pedigree and some more towards the rougher stuff. Wheelset 1: road wheelsДЄgain many choices, alloy or carbon, aero or light, some of which are a matter of budget. Maybe you regularly ride a 47mm tire вЂњaround the houseвЂќ, but you now have the option to throw on 2.1вЂі mountain bike tires for the really crazy rides. After all, you will already have a 700c wheelset for your road riding, so having 650b as a second set gives you the most options. One general comment is that I would urge you to consider 650b wheels and tires for this setup if you live in an area with tough terrain (or travel to such places regularly). You can match them to the particular area you live in. There are many choices and I wonвЂ™t discuss them here in detail as they are all listed in the links just above for Ultra and Racemax (and those also fit on the Exploro PRO, TEAM and LTD). For all the options we like on- and off-road, check out our tire recommendations here:Д«est tires for Exploro Ultra Wheelset 2: Off-road tires But also some вЂњslickвЂќ gravel tires could work. Great вЂњpure roadвЂќ tires to consider are the Pirelli Cinturato 35mm, the WTB Exposure (in a variety of widths), the Continental GP 5000 (Tubeless) 32mm (it fits big, 34.2mm on our Discus 45 | 32 carbon wheels) or the Schwalbe Durano 32mm. Want better on-road performance than youвЂ™ve ever had? DonвЂ™t put standard 25/28mm road tires on your bike! And so youвЂ™re left with more comfort, more puncture protection, more grip, and a 35mm tire that even gives you some off-road capabilities вЂ“ should you not be able to control yourself at the sight of that beautiful trail you ride by every morning. So now that you have all that clearance on your gravel bike, why not use it to give yourself some more paved comfort? Going to a 32mm or 35mm road tire, you will actually DECREASE your rolling resistance.ДЄerodynamics will worsen a bit, so that is the trade-off, but unless youвЂ™re racing, neither of these changes (which even partially cancel each other out) will make a meaningful difference. Seems logical, butВ I would argue that most paved roads are not that smooth and comfortable. I often see people spec 28mm or even 25mm tires on their вЂњroad wheelsвЂќ. This one may seem easy, for your road setup you get road tires. If youвЂ™re more the type of rider who rides off-road one day and on-road another, setting up two wheelsets as described in this post would be a great solution.If you often mix on- and off-road within the same ride, you need one setup that can do it all, which I write about here.How you ride determines which approach is best: But you can also do some further tweaking yourself, based on your riding style and locations. Some may be more race-oriented, some more for the toughest terrain, etc. To a great extent, thatвЂ™s my job when I create the complete bike specifications, and thatвЂ™s why I always put a small synopsis at the top of the specification listings for all our bike modelsВ so you know what the bike is specвЂ™d for.

GRAVEL ROAD HOW TO

It can feel daunting to figure out how to best spec a gravel bike for on-road and off-road performance. A bike like the Exploro performs so well on such a wide range of terrains.

Gravel road