Love my Stigmata. I have a 700c wheelset with 38 semi-slicks for pavement and hardpack. Then 650b wheels with various tires from 47 to 2.0 for different off-road conditions. It’s my favorite bike for sure.
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This is definitely a double-edged sword. What makes you lose traction on the pavement gives you extra traction offroad. Plus, you have to deal with the transition when leaning over. Personally, I also prefer rounder offroad tires with a smoother transition between the knobs than squarish tires with a harsher transition.
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What model year do you have?
The MI.ND won’t happen for a few months at the earliest. The wife approved the purchase, but I suspect
I’ll need to remind her.
Ask and ye shall receive…
Agree. The Byways were better on pavement.
I suspect I’ll be changing my preferred tire when I move to Boston.
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It’s a 19.
I have Pirelli Cinturato H’s on my Exploro. So far my favorite gravel tire for the road. My riding is 95% gravel but I don’t bother changing them for pavement use. They roll well with none of the knobby drag and the tread is pretty consistent across the tire so it doesn’t get weird and squirmy in the corners.
Bonus points for making through Unbound and the entire season with no flats.
My road bike collects dust since I bought the Exploro. You can’t put a giant 700c on it but 38-42 are what I use most of the time anyway. I have a set of 650x48s that I use in the shoulder seasons and when I find myself needing something for trail or chunk.
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@jwellford I ride medium sized bikes so the geometries between the three (Revolt, Shafer, and Seigla) are a little closer but I think your overall assessment of handling is still valid.
From a value proposition I’m still leaning toward the Seigla. I want SRAM Rival to match my road bike and XPLR (versus a higher tier) is fine for me. The Weekend Warrior Wireless includes a suspension fork, handlebar I think I’ll like, and a power meter.
The Revolt Advance 1 is roughly the same cost but lacks front end suspension and a power meter, and I’m uncertain about the handlebars.
The Shafer is 20% less expensive than the Seigla but also lacks front end suspension and a power meter, and I’d definitely change the handlebars. Additionally the water bottle mounts aren’t where I like them so that means spending more money on a B-Rad system or equivalent. Then there are concerns with the handling that you noted.
Anyway, thanks for your perspectives on the handling.
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Depends on the application, I guess….I put 38’s on my gravel bike for SBT GRVL this year. For the majority of my gravel riding (kitty litter over hard pack), they weren’t great. Could never really trust them in corners because of the sketchy feeling across the transitions.
But for SBT GRVL itself, they were the perfect tire and I didn’t think about them once during the event.
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That looks pretty European (the Alps to be more precise), the cows on the trail, the benches made of logs and the shape of the mountains!
Yeah, this is hard to nail. I still love Schwalbe’s Racing Ralphs for this (ok, this discussion is on gravel tires and this is a MTB tire, but anyway): the transition between the different lugs is quite smooth. And they didn’t feel slower than e. g. Maxxis Treadlite, which is essentially a gravel tire for the mountain bike (a squarish tire with file tread and some lugs for cornering).
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Been awhile, but IIRC, I was running them in the low-30’s….I normally run 40’s around 25.
It is definitely not a pressure issue…II have had similar experiences with other tires on our normal gravel. The “loose-over hard” combo doesn’t work well for low-knob tires, IME.
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I love the Exploro. I’m thinking of getting one as my do it all and selling my crit bike as I do more gravel racing and really can’t afford to have two nice-ish bikes.
Someone locally is selling the new racemax grx 2x mech for sub 3K. I have my road racing wheels to throw on and I don’t really mind mechanical.
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That’s a great deal, compared to 3T’s MSRP that’s $1,300 off!
3T also sells the first-gen Exploro with 1x11 Rival mechanical for $3,300. With GRX 2x, you have to pay 3T $4k for it. But I’d probably go for the RaceMax version, which costs only $300 extra if I didn’t have a bike dealer with one lying around. The only thing that keeps me from some of the RaceMax’s are that the color combos are not to my liking.
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I have an Open UP and ride 40mm on gravel. Tons more room…love the bike btw.
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Isn’t tire clearance only 40mm on that one, too?
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Thanks for the heads up. It does appear the Racemax can do 40/42s with 700s but can go much larger with 650. Which I guess is ok. But my race wheels are 700s. Maybe I"ll look for a used Exploro limited or Aspero. I want to to run 42/45s with ease but still have the fast road feeling.
A friend sent me this. He has one and likes it. Prices went up from 2800 shipped to US to 3300, but looks super intriguing: https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-cgr-sl/
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That looks like the Lightbicycle/Winspace frame
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Similar for sure. But 3300 shipped with rival 2x AXS and some aero properties. Looks pretty good. TBD if I pull the trigger.
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I do like the amount of customizing you can do with these bikes
Looks like the Ventum GS1. I’d take the Kanzo Fast as the do all if it were me.