I didnt read through everything here but honestly I use my Diverge as a;
Road Bike
Gravel Bike
Cyclecross bike
Light XC MTB
I cant find the ends to the bike, I have different wheels for different things and gearsets on it and combine that with a rotor crank switching the front chain ring is a breeze. I am primarily a 1 x user now and my two typical gear choice is 38T x 10-42 and a 38T x 11-28.
The funny thing is I have a high end road bike, CX, and MTB but I just reach for the diverge. My sundays are a ton of fun as I do part gravel, part road and part local mtb trails on it.
I find that between my road bike and gravel (road setup) that if I am going to get dropped on the Thursday night world group ride that it would have happened on my road bike also…
That’s my feeling on this.
Wheel combos;
Gravel/MTB - Zipp 303 with Pirelli Cinturato H (40) - 38 x 10-42
Road - Mavic Ksyrium with GP5000 (28) - 38 x 11-28
CX - Roval SLX with Specialized Tracer (38) - 38 x 10-42
CX MUD - DT Swiss (something cheap) with Terra Pro (33) - 38 x 10-42
that’s the thing with multiple bikes, we usually reach for the same one over and over…this is why I like the “one bike to rule them all” idea. I also have a Diverge and I love it.
Have a Grail in XS which comes with 650b wheel size. I haven’t tried but it seems like there would be enough room for a 700c road set.
Didn’t realize when I bought the Grail that tire clearance, even with 650b, is about 42. Not ideal. Not saying I regret the Grail in any way but wish I would have been more aware of this.
If a bike is specced 650b, there should be no clearance issues putting a road 700c set on it. Occasionally an issue the opposite direction, when the overall wideness of a 650b can cause a clash with certain stay shapes etc.
A “bad” choice? Probably not…but I think the 3T would be a “better” choice (assuming you can work with a 1x drivetrain). Like the Aspero, the 3T seems to be a “gravel bike for roadies”…well suited for gravel rides, but more “at home” on the road than most.
I had a previous version of the Exploro and sold it due to geometry and the fact that I could never really get into a position that worked for me.
My Factor LS is much better with steeper head tube (and maybe seat tube as well).
Not as aggressive for strict gravel riding but I’m convinced that marketing departments are selling us a level of aggression in gravel bikes that just aren’t needed for many of us and the terrain that we ride (my opinion, my experience)
I also haven’t read through everything, but since about mid June I’ve been using my CX bike as my do everything. Someone crashed into me at a crit and dented the seat stay, never felt comfortable racing the allez after that. I raced steamboat gravel on it, road races, crits, and now it’s finally time to use it for cx. I do have two wheel sets - some deep dish disc wheels for road and some dt swiss something for gravel. I just put my cx tires on that. Been running a 1x: 50 t up front, 11-32 for crits, 11-36 for two hilly road races and gravel. I did switch out to a 42t ring for steamboat and after the last road race next week i’ll go back to the 42 for cross. I have three top fives, two podiums with this setup racing crits, and a couple of top tens. Def not the bike.
I think the new Domane or Aspero would be a great option as well.
I’m looking to get some insight from those who are still using their “Groadie” as their main bike.
I built up an Aspero several months ago with aspirations to turn it into my main bike for both gravel and road. In fact I went with a 2x drivetrain with this in mind.
Before this, I had both a dedicated gravel bike and dedicated road bike. In early 2020, I took up TR and paired that road bike with a Wahoo KICKR. Because I didn’t want to go through the “hassle” of removing it from the trainer, I mainly took my gravel bike on both gravel and road rides throughout the year. In fact, I only took out the road bike a handful of times last year. As of today, the road bike remains my trainer bike but I ended up stripping off the groupset to fund the Aspero build (rebuilt with mixture of cheap parts bin stuff I had around).
Now I’m trying to get more pure road riding back in, so I’m facing a dilemma about what to do:
Get another wheelset for the Aspero with road tires. Probably the most obvious answer, but not sure if I’ll be disciplined enough to spend a few mere minutes swapping wheelsets before a ride.
Get a new groupset and rebuild the road bike. The idea about having a pure road bike again is really nice and tempting, but I like the idea of having a single bike with familiar touch points, etc. Again with the question of whether I’d be bothered to remove it from the trainer every time. Plus my road bike “only” fits up to 25mm wide tires (I’d like to get at least 28mm width).
Replace tires on the current wheelset on the Aspero with fast rolling smooth tread tires (GK slick, Challenge Strada Bianca, etc.). Certainly the cheapest option, but I think I’d be compromising grip/traction too much on the gravel side. The gravel around here is loose and rough with steep climbs and descents so some sort of knobs are desired.
Try out other fast rolling gravel tires. I have probably one of the fastest rolling gravel tires out there at the moment (Pirelli Gravel H). Does pretty well on road but can’t deny that a pure road tire is both faster and lighter.
I thought I’d give a bit of feedback as to how things have been going with the Aspero doubling as both a roadie and a gravel bike.
So far, it’s been great. It has actually seen far more use as a road bike than in gravel mode, including doing a 9 day 980 mile Land’s End to John O’Groats ride here in the in UK. With road wheels and tyres (Zipp 303 firecrests with 28mm Schwalbe pro-one tyres) it certainly didn’t hold me back, and I probably crept into the quickest 5% of riders (of the about 900 doing the event). It generally felt like a really good choice - feeling no different to a fast endurance bike. The smaller chainrings (48/31) meant that I did end up spinning out on some of the descents, but given the nature of the event that really just provided a good opportunity for a little bit of recovery. Combined with an 11-32 cassette though the smaller chainrings made the massive amount of climbing much more comfortable (especially the +20% stuff).
It’s fun in gravel mode - difference mainly being using 650B wheels with 48mm Rene Here Juniper Ridge tyres and an 11-34 cassette. The bike frame is super stiff and is never going to give the most cushioned ride, so the huge tyres are doing a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to making the bike comfortable off of paved roads. They are overkill for most uses, but roll surprisingly quickly on tarmac sections and given my lack of skill off-road I would rather over-tyre than under-tyre, if that makes sense.
A second set of wheels is a solid investment. I do a lot of road riding on my aspero, and wouldn’t want gravel tyres on it for that, so most of the time the bike sits ready and waiting with road tyres on it. When I want to ride gravel, I just spend the 1 minutes it takes to swap the wheels to my second set that has proper gravel tryres on. I’ve not had any issues with rotors rubbing, so I’ve not needed to adjust the brake callipers (which can make switching between wheels less attractive).
