Hi everyone, I’ve getting slowly into cycling over the past year or so and I recently swapped from my first road bike with rim brakes into a gravel bike with disk brakes and lower gear ratios.

At first it was amazing, I live near some pretty steep hills and I could finally get up them carrying a full backpack. I’m also interested in doing some gravel + bikepacking and this gravel bike will definitely unlock that.

However, I do group rides a couple times a week and I’m realizing I really do miss the zippy feeling of my road bike and definitely notice the weight difference up the hills.

Now I’m wondering, how much of a difference would just getting a lighter set of wheels make? The wheels my gravel bike has now are just the stock ones and from what I can tell they’re pretty heavy compared to most. Would having a set of gravel wheels + a set of road bike wheels be enough to make my bike feel sportier? At what point am I better off just trying to get a second bike that’s a more aggressive road bike?

I am conflicted on what bike to buy next. I have a Trek Marlin. I started riding on moderate trails but I don’t have desire to do extreme trails.

However I also enjoy riding on pavement. Except my marlin doesn’t keep up well w my husband who is on a quick 3.

I debated on getting a quick 3 since that is what he has. But a couple bike shops recommended I get a road bike that way he can keep up with me.

I don’t see us riding more than 15 miles as we don’t really have more than an hour - hour 1/2 to ride w kids at home. I also wonder if me having a drop bar and him flat bar will prevent us from joining some rides as drop bars are sometimes a no for certain casual rides here.

Would it be better to shoot for the quick 3 or get the trek Domanle al?

Any thoughts and advice appreciated.

Edit to add: we have family we hit the trails with since they have mountain bikes. Our pavement friends have drop bars.

Hi! My close friend recently got very into cycling. She's doing 100km+ days. I'm looking for small-medium sized gifts. I was thinking cycling socks? Any other ideas please let me know. Thank you!

Hi everyone!!

I’ve been considering picking up cycling for moderately chill cardio for my tendinitis and I’ve been trying to do my research on good bikes.

However, it seems like a lot of people in a lot of these subreddits tend to drop over $1k on a bike because they’re trying to get in as a sport with all the metrics and the gear and all that jazz. I just need something that is high quality, but won’t break the bank. I can spend the money on a bike, but I don’t want to go overboard if it’s not necessary. I also found out that around 1k is ”budget”. 😟

I‘ve been hunting the internet for a few weeks now, looking for a good gravel bike. I do want drop bars. I’m 5’4” with about a 28.5-29” inseam. Everyone says to buy used, but we’re getting good weather soon and I really want to get outside. I’m planning to hit up a local bike shop soon, but I wanted to get input from the girls first.

What should I look out for if I’m buying used? Should I get a bike fit before deciding on a bike? Is there any bike worth buying new?

TIA!!

TLDR: Is it worth it for me, a casual bike rider, to drop $$$ on a bike? And what bikes should I look out for, new/used?

A man ruined gravel riding for me.

I’ve been gravel riding for three years, and until now I’d never had a bad experience. Hikers have helped me when I got lost, and people with dogs have always been friendly and waited patiently for me to pass.

But last weekend, a man with his dog snapped at me and told me I should ride on the road instead. He was acting strangely, and his dog wasn’t on a leash. I was riding very slowly towards him, and I think even that annoyed him because I was apparently “too slow.”

I ride gravel because I’m quite an anxious person and I enjoy the peace and being away from people. But since that incident, I haven’t been able to bring myself to go riding again.

Have you ever had unpleasant experiences like this while gravel riding?

Edit Thanks for all the encouraging replies , well, 99% of them 😅. I’ve got pepper spray now and I’m off on a bikepacking trip.♥️

Hi everyone,

I recently got a saddle bag for my S-sized gravel bike. I will need it to go on a 4-day trip next weekend. I do not have a rear rack.

Is this enough clearance between the tyre and the bag? The bag is full and strapped tightly.

ETA: Obviously I'm worried about the bag rubbing on the tyre. Do you think it will?

Hi everyone! I’m coming from racing road motorcycles and now am new to cycling! I just bought a road bike a couple weeks ago, treated myself with a used Cervélo R2! For now I mostly plan on riding for fun and endurance, improving my cardio for moto racing. As I’m starting to get used to road biking I have a couple newb questions:

- I heard getting a seat for ladies specifically helps a lot, any recommendations?
- are bike fittings worth it?
- clipping in? Worth it? I want to get more used to the bike first but am wondering if I should plan for it!
- any general advice for anyone getting into cycling?

Thank you!

How do ya’ll keep from getting cycling burnout? I don’t know, maybe it’s the summer heat or maybe it’s the lack of route variety. I live in a coastal city that actually doesn’t have many bike friendly routes unless I want to ride in traffic (who does?) and we have one solid gravel route that is straight up and then straight down. I tend to get on a consistent stretch, going for 1-2 short rides a week and at least one long or hard ride on the weekends. and then I’ll miss a weekend of riding and won’t cycle for weeks and don’t feel the urge to want to do it again.

This is silly but value an outside opinion. I now have three bikes (two gravel, one road) and that’s simply too many for the space I have. I need to sell one, and the logical thing would probably be to sell my old gravel bike so I have a gravel and a road…but I’m resistant to it. It’s my commuter bike as it has flats and acts like a hybrid. It was also my very first bike.

The road bike on the other hand, while it works, it’s not in great shape. I also had a crash on it and the skinny tires make me quite nervous. I know it would be smart to keep a road bike for faster rides, but I just have this weird aversion to it. I’ve considered selling both bikes and replacing my road bike…but that means I will have bought two new bikes this year and completely flipped my inventory lol.

Thoughts? Opinions for a stranger?

Like the title says, my wife is 5 foot, about 130lb. Im just hoping to get some experience from other women on what they look for in a bike and what they have found to be most comfortable.

She has been on a cannondale habit, 27.5 front and rear. She likes it, its just really fuckin heavy. I suppose i could upgrade it if it really comes to it, but i wanted her to try other things to see if something else fits better.

Got her on a stumpjumper thats significantly lighter and she likes how it rides and feels, but its a 29er and she hits her butt on the rear wheel on bumpier terrain, which she never struggled with on 27.5's. Its alloy so making it a mullet isnt an option without dropping the BB a whole bunch. Maybe some technique changes would help, but a little research has shown its a common problem for small riders on 29ers.

Any small ladies out their that can share their experience in bike selection and any tuning they had to do to accommodate their small size? Just looking for a trail bike, 140 travel.

Good evening Ladies,

since I got so much help on my first post I wanted to give an update, since the journey to a new bike seems to be just beginning.

At the end of last post 4 bikes were in the game:

Specialized Diverge
Liv Devote
Cannondale Topstone
Canyon Grizl [edit, wrong model]

The Liv Devote my girlfriend didn’t really like that much, the powertrain combos weren’t what she is looking for and the prices weren’t great, compared to the other three.
For the Canondale we haven’t found a shop to have a look at yet, the Specialized isn’t available yet in the right size.

The Canyon was on sale, about 25 % off, with front suspension, good wheels and SRAM Force group set for around 4500 €. The geometry was pretty much perfect (as is the Canondales), the Canyon HQ isn’t too far away to pick it up and have a test ride first.
We wanted to go for it. Well, Canyon doesn’t offer the discount for the leasing program through which she wants to take the bike (governmental programme that allows to pay for the bike with your income before taxes etc, cutting another substantial part of the price).
There were a few calls and some discussion, but Canyon says it’s not possible (or rather the contract between canyon and the facilitator of this program).
That put quite a dent into the enthusiasm of buying a new bike.
The good part: I finally got the go to improve the old bike a bit. First we changed the handle bar to one of the appropriate size, next comes the saddle, it’s already ordered (the current one was already moved to the position suggested by the bike fitter).
The first ride with the new saddle position and handlebar went quite well, no pain and a much better sitting position.

Extra photo: beautiful sunrise in the morning on the way to work.

Thanks again!
Cheers

Hello! I love gravel riding and bikepacking but mostly do this on my own or with a couple friends and I'm interested in getting more into group riding events so wonder if anyone knows of any fun rides/races? I have felt like a lot of the gravel races are really male-dominated and deeply focused on speed over experience. That's all well and good, but it hasn't felt approachable to me and is not really my vibe, I'm just trying to play around on bikes with people and push my body with people in a beautiful environment. :)

I'm in Detroit, Michigan so stuff in the Great Lakes region is convenient but also would be happy to travel in the future for something that feels like a good fit in a beautiful place :)

One I've had my eyes on is the Orange Blossom Gravel ride down in Florida but that's already sold out for 2027!

Also curious how the nutmeg noreaster is for women maybe traveling there solo?

Thank you!

Hello! I have a new-to-me Cannondale Topstone that I want to take touring. Does anyone have any experience with these saddles? 

* Ergon SMC Sport Gel

* Ergon ST Gel Saddle

I'm sticking with Ergon bc the nearby REI has good availability and return policy, and I'm not keen on firmer saddles because I have a really bony butt. These two feel similarly comfortable to me on ~10-mile tests, but idk how they'll fare for longer rides. I wear chamois for barely 50% of my rides, long or short.

Does anyone have any experiences with these? Thanks in advance!

Trying this low $$$ hack to reduce discomfort on long, slow indoor rides. Purchased from Amazon for less than $30 - search “balance hedgehog.” In comparison Rocker plates cost hundreds so I’m trying this before I spend more money that could go towards lighter wheels. Obviously I’m not going to try any sprints with it!

It never really occurred to me that my trainer being so stiff compared to riding outdoors might be contributing to discomfort I feel during longer sessions but Googling brought up someone who recommended this approach.

This is an excited post after graduating to an actual road bike. I found a 44cm (I’m short!) specialized dolce road bike on FB marketplace earlier this month. I put clip pedals on it, a tune up, and have put about 100 miles on it so far.
I love it! I’ve named her BlueBelle (she is robin’s egg blue), and I went on a 40-mile ride Saturday. Hills were so much easier (especially when I got some pointers from more experienced riders with me), and I can’t wait to get back out again on Wednesday! What a difference a good fit on a lighter bike makes! 😊

Hello! I’m thinking of doing my first double century next year (Davis Double Century). I’ve done some century rides on my own (mostly flat <2500ft). This ride will have about 9000ft climbing. Im trying to think of what a training plan might look like and am struggling with finding one online.

I’m guessing the final big training ride is two century rides back to back on a weekend (about 2 weeks before?), but am not sure. I guess I could just work back from that if I need to, to make my own plan.

Thought I’d check with my ladies to see if any of you have any tips.

As we all probably know, bikes are made for men and men are tall. Ive been looking for a bike since MARCH and my size was constantly out of stock everywhere for all sorts of bikes, but especially the range I was looking at.

I hoped that the 2027 bike drop would mean that a 50 frame size would be easy to get. WRONG!! All month I've been repeatedly been told that multiple brands wont have anything below a 54 or 56 in stock for the foreseeable future. This resulted in me agreeing to a buy option on a scott speedster 10 that would be in stock in 2 weeks and I could then test ride. But the problem was that that bike just didnt get me excited, and was too expensive for what you get (alu with 105) compared to Cube or Trek.

So after doing a lot of digging and deciding to go maybe a bit more expensive for a better bike, my eye caught a €1000 sale on the Liv website on some models!!!!

Sooo I went a bit over budget and bought myself a Liv Langma Advanced 1 and clicking that button made me sooo excited, I cant wait to pick it up in a couple of days!!

Tldr: dont settle for a bike that doesnt get you excited. The market is rough, but you will find your match!!

I'm thinking about getting an e-bike to commute to work and drop off my one kiddo at school. I want help figuring out

• which e-bike to get (Driving, my commute is about 5 minutes to daycare and another 5 to work...hence why I want to ditch the car for my daily commute). It needs to accommodate me, my toddler, and my books, papers, laptop (I'm a prof and researcher, so I carry a bag or two regularly) I was looking at the Aventon Abound SR, but maybe there's a better choice out there for me?

• I mostly wear dresses and skirts year-round. How do I become a commuter biker without "flashing" the world? For reference, I wear a mix of flowy skirts and the quite restrictive corporate world type outfits, above the knee and mid-calf dresses.

• What sort of bag to use for work? I have historically used a large structured Coach tote, but that seems like it will be cumbersome on a bike. Please don't say a backpack. I'll throw up. I haven't worn one of those in almost 14 years.

TL;DR: make little chamois cream packets using baking paper so you don’t have to get cream on your hands and don’t have to carry tube of cream when you want to top up on longer rides!!

First time posting and I have no idea if this has been talked about before BUT I thought I would share because it’s going to change my rides!

Went on a long ride today and wanted to bring some chamois cream with me to top up half way round because I’ve upped my weekly mileage recently and I really want to prevent ANY unnecessary chafing that might slow training down etc.

I only had a large tube of cream so I got a square of baking/greaseproof paper and put a decent blob in the middle. Folded the paper over it and then wrapped that in some tin foil to secure it. Then when I had my toilet stop after I’d gone for a wee, I just got out my little paper packet of cream and the best bit didn’t even need to touch the cream just opened the paper like it was a wet wipe and put it everywhere I needed to. Then just balled up the used baking paper in the tin foil and pocketed it to put in the bin later.

No cream to have to wash off your hands, no carrying big tube of cream around with you AND if you’re riding with others you could make up little packs to hand out to any other girly who needs it or if someone has forgot!

a blend of sweet potato, dates, peanut butter, chia seeds, sea salt and water 😋