Best Adventure Gravel Build 2024

I did it myself, I’ve done another 3 mountain bikes before the mog and the mog was a lot easier given the fact it’s a much simpler frame than a mtb, also the frame is a lot lighter to flip around in the stand, a standard round seatpost helps, make sure you remove all the plastic things, the chainstay, and the FD mount, unfortunately the downtube protector is 3m sticker so can’t remove that, took me probably 2hours - 3hours to get it done.

I used regular helicopter tape - a mix of the 2 inch and 3 inch widths. I have a Blur TR, and I didn’t try to wrap the entire frame. I did wrap the top tube, downtube, seat stays, chain stays, and a lot of the area around the pivot and BB. I wrapped the area over the BB because that’s where the second bottle cage sits on the frame, too.

Helicopter tape is nice because you can redo something when you mess it up the first two times - just cut another strip and re-lay it in place! Ask me how I know :crazy_face:.

And even if some of it only lasts a year, it becomes really easy to replace the sections that don’t last - maybe 20 minutes tops.
It worked so well I put it on a steel road bike of mine whose paint job I really wanted to maintain:

I bought the 2 inch and 3 inch 30-foot rolls on this page I think: ISC Helicopter-OG Surface Guard Tape - 8-Mil Outdoor Grade

Do you guys reckon the frame protection tape will help keep the carbon intact, or is it just for the paint? Recently got my first carbon bike, I ride some gravel occasionally, not sure if it makes sense it I’m not bothered about paint.

It’s purely for cosmetic protection. If you ride/race a lot of gravel, your paint basically gets sandblasted by all the rocks hitting it. I guess if you ride long enough, it could eventually wear through to the carbon, but not in any reasonable amount of time. Mine is pretty beat up on the down tube, leading edges of fork, etc., but not approaching anything that would have me concerned about structural damage. My checkpoint came with a plastic protection plate that covers the lower downtube and bottom bracket area where you get the the biggest beating. I’ve had some big rocks hit my frame at speed and I think it’s possible you could get structural damage this way, but plastic protection film isn’t going to do anything against a big hit like that. For me, a gravel bike is a tool, not a pretty thing to look at. Scrapes and chips are just part of the patina.

It won’t save you from anything big, but protection from Minor rock / sandblasting, abrasions from cables, number placards (or unbound mud?) and to be honest, only reason I’m considering this is it will be a brand new bare frame which makes it a lot easier. I don’t think I could be bothered on a bike that was already assembled and ridden. Most I’d do there is hit specific sections.

My MOG is the first bike I’ve had it put on for. Seems like overkill for a road bike, but gravel bikes tend to get beat up a lot more and I figured if I was buying a new bike might as well.

I Ride Wrapped all my bikes, MTB, Gravel, even my Tarmac SL8. Like the reduced worry about little scuffs, scratches and chips, If I absolutely eat it, the Ride Wrap won’t help but may limit the damage, I’ve torn through the Ride Wrap on the forks in a few spots on my MTB in crashes but I assume there would be a lot more cosmetic damage without the Ride Wrap.

I have a v4 Stigmata.

But I also have a Titanium adventure gravel bike too.
(One of these - Boken MIRU Titanium Gravel and Adventure Frame + Fork)

I live in Scotland and thus I ride a combination of adventure rides like this:

And events such as Dirty Reiver, The Gralloch (UCI Worlds qualified) and The Traka in Girona (200km for me, though considering if I have the 360k in me for next year).

The titanium bike has front fork mounts, and generally was perfect to get set up for a comfortable ride, a mullet groupset and pull adventure duties…

However - it just wasn’t fast and fun. I rode the Dirty Reiver 130km event on it in 2023 and just felt a little sluggish.

So this year treated myself to the new Stigmata, set up with Reserve wheels, SRAM AXS mullet setup (52-10 cassette, initially had a 44T front on it but switched to a 40T power meter quarq for The Traka).

It is a terrific bike. It might be the most fun gravel bike I’ve had for riding singletrack stuff, and I made up tons of time in those sections of the Traka, people were pulling over to get out my way.
I knocked tons of time off my Dirty Reiver ride this year on exactly the same route. Descents feel sturdy, on the flat you can still lay power down since its a bit stretched out geometry of the frameset.
So to me its giving you the fun and agile aspects of MTB expertise and pairing it with a bike that can race.
There was one in the top 10 of the Dirty Reiver (can’t recall the rider, but they had it set up quite similar to Swenson’s Unbound setup with a slightly longer stem and a 50T front ring, 10-50 cassette), and then same again in the 200km Traka a guy in the front end of things riding one.

So you have a bike that fast people can keep up with road professionals like Nathan Haas or Greg Van Avermaet, it can handle what was pretty much steep MTB descents on the Traka (it had rained heavy in the days before this year), and it can carry a fat lad like me firing around wooded singletrack.

Where it lacks, is mounts. If I am going out for 2 or 3 days I’m still going to take the Titanium bike. With the top tube angle you can only fit a half-frame bag in the triangle, and there’s no top tube mount nor fork mounts. The glove box really is just for inner tube, a small pump and things like zip ties. I could just wedge a mini torque wrench in there, but actually its a faff having to open it all up to get to stuff if you just want to tighten a bolt.
Its also limited to 50mm tyres on 1x, 45mm on 2x. Personally in Scotland in winter there is no gravel, its all thick mud for ~4 months. So 650b wheels with 2.1"-2.4" tyres are generally the best option. Again the titanium bike lets me do that, the SC could be a stretch.

So it depends what your interpretation of adventure is. If its up to a 12 hour ride, if its all in one sitting, and over terrain as wild as it’s possible to go with a gravel bike then this is a tremendous option.
If you’re bikepacking or overnighting, I find it lacks a touch.

Not sure who you’re replying to, but the OP started this thread over a year ago, and pretty sure already bought and set up his bike.

Do it and have the pro’s do it for you. That’s what I did.

And I love it

this is 23/24… let’s keep this going! why not?

Are you running thunder burts 2.1 fron/rear? How do you like it on the MOG?

Love them. Bombing chunky descends now. 22 psi.

Just did mine myself. Very easy. Look quite good actually.

@oldandfast what size are those Thunder Burts? How do you like them? Do they corner well (I tend to prefer big side knobs and fast rolling middle)? How puncture resistant have you found them to be? I’m considering some 2.1 or 2.25 for my Lauf for really chunky gravel.

Also, just out of curiosity, what wheels are those? Nice spokes, too!

2.1
Like them a lot. Big difference in rolling resistance and cushion to my previous RH 44 knobbies.
Berd Wheels

If you can fit them go bigger.
You don’t really need big side knobs for gravel, if you use them, next you are in the ground.

It’s quite-clear to me that the best adventure bike is a ultralight HT with the proper gear ratios.

Basically, the optimal bike you’ll bring to Leadville.

Spesh epic?

Lauf with RaceKing 2.2s has been a fun one for me. I recently swapped out the suspension fork for the rigid, bike weighs ~17.5lbs with a power meter and is just a ton of fun on nearly any surface.