Working On The Gravel Bus

Before.....

I like to try to get all my bikes ridden in the year, and if I have had one sitting for too long unridden it starts to wear on my brain. I don't like that I don't ride a certain bicycle I have and the longer it goes on the worse I feel about it. 

So, lately one of those bikes on this "list" came off the list as I started to ride the Twin Six Standard Rando v2 again. This is the bike I've dubbed "The Gravel Bus" because of the yellow and black scheme it sports which is not unlike the school bus paint schemes you may be familiar with. 

I decided to use the Gravel Bus for the Delium tire review I did recently and as I was doing that I noted I was feeling pretty beat up after one particular ride. Sore shoulders and rear end. Hmmm.... 

I considered swapping out the saddle, thinking it was the profile of the WTB saddle that was bugging me, but after comparing it to the Silverado I was going to swap over to, I noted the profile was nearly identical to the Silverado, so it wouldn't have been worth swapping to. The Silverado is a very comfortable saddle for me, so I'm chalking it up to a bibs issue. 

But I didn't particularly care for the Delium tires and I had a Redshift Sports ShockStop stem on another bike (that IS on the "List" of bikes to get out on) and I swapped the stem while going ahead with the tire change. 

.....and after.

The Gravel Bus has limited tire clearances, compared to many currently offered gravel bikes, at a claimed 43mm maximum. I ended up sliding in these WTB Raddler 700 X 44mm which are measuring out right at 44mm on GRX wheels with 25mm internal rim width. I've still got 'breathing room' too, so this should be a good pairing and I have always liked how Raddlers handle looser gravel. 

Now I need this ridiculously hot and humid weather to pass so I can test out everything in the country. I'm hopeful that I have hit on a good combination here and I will not have to keep experimenting. But you never know, and perhaps more changes will be coming.