Do it all bike, Exploro, Exploro Racemax, or other?

[JMeinholdt]

I'm looking to downsize my fleet and move to N=1. I know, sacrilege. But, I've gotta be honest with myself and realize I'm never going to be competitive enough where marginal gains are going to be the difference between winning or losing. Plus, as an amateur, it's just too damn expensive chasing marginal gains when there's literally no return on it.

So my goal is to build up a gravel bike (or endurance bike if enough clearance) that's capable of completing USAC road races and crits (no TT's for me) as well as being able to swap wheels/tires and ride a belgian waffle ride or unbound (this may rule out endurance frames). The ability to mount mudguards would be nice for my summer commuting as well. It will 100% be 2x AXS. I currently have all the bits to cobble something together. Likely 48/35 chainrings and a 10-33 for road and 10-36 for gravel.

I currently have a 3T Exploro Pro (original design), which I like and it's a good gravel bike. My main concern is that in my size, the inside triangle is SMALL. To the point that running two 750ml bottles is near impossible. Additionally, I absolutely HATE the hang loose rear derailleur hangar for wheel changes, which could be frequent in this case.

I ride in an aggresive position even during long gravel races.

I've mostly been set on a Racemax frame. There's a used one local to me I could probably pick up for $800, but it's a 54 and I generally run 51. My Exploro is a small. I could make the seatpost work but I'm afraid stack would be huge compared to my current set up. But I like that the racemax is capable of being very competent on-road and off as well as having mounts for fenders that my Exploro does not.

Hoping I can get some input from others. Is an upgrade to a Racemax worth it? Or should I save the money and build up my current Exploro and put that money towards nicer wheels for road and gravel? Or is there another option that blows both of these out of the water?

[req110]

What tires you want to swap? One thing i can't stand about gravel bikes in "road config" is that it just don't look right with the length of a chainstay and tire clearance everywhere. It is unnatural.

I can imagine some bike like domane or cervelo caledonia 5 and run two wheelsets with:
a) 28mm road
b) 35 or 38mm gravel tires.

[JMeinholdt]

What tires you want to swap? One thing i can't stand about gravel bikes in "road config" is that it just don't look right with the length of a chainstay and tire clearance everywhere. It is unnatural.

I can imagine some bike like domane or cervelo caledonia 5 and run two wheelsets with:
a) 28mm road
b) 35 or 38mm gravel tires.

100% agree. I think for a road wheelset, it would probably be Zipp 303S or equivalent with ~32mm tires. I've run 26mm tires on the Exploro and it looked really goofy. And I think the speed delta between a 28 and 32 is negligible. Actually, I think the Exploro frameset is aero optimized for larger tires so a 32 may actually be faster than a 28.

My concern on an endurance frame isn't just about max size, but clearance around those tires. Most of the gravel races around me recommend a minimum of 40c with a lot of people running much bigger. Even with my Exploro I, like most last year, had massive problems with mud caking around the tires at Unbound.

[req110]

Sounds like you should have two bikes... And why not. Get some good wallmount if you don't have enough space in your home.

I thin having two bikes is always better than one.

[saverin]

I have a Racemax and run it as a road+ bike with AXS 2x (46/33 and 10-30) and setup with 50mm wheels with 32c Panaracer Gravelking slicks. I've also run it with 1x and 650b x 2in tires and that opens up a lot of terrain. I love it, but there are some limitations that are worth bringing up:

• Dropped chainstays - I (and others) have had a few instances of chain suck when shifting from big to little chainring. The nature of the dropped chainstay makes this unavoidable if you have sticky chain lube (read: SRAM factory grease).

• Tire clearance: if you run a normal (non-wide) SRAM FD, you'll still be limited to approx 38mm tires. Decent clearance to the frame in most areas, but still limiting. If you get your hands on a newer version of the frame with 418mm chainstays, could increase clearance a bit more...

[eli76141]

The Vitus Venons seems like a very good option for a do it all. Up to 40 mm tires with 2X and 45 mm tires with 1X. It has aero features, and completely hidden cables. So not bad for road either.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=172879&hilit=vitus

[JMeinholdt]

I have a Racemax and run it as a road+ bike with AXS 2x (46/33 and 10-30) and setup with 50mm wheels with 32c Panaracer Gravelking slicks. I've also run it with 1x and 650b x 2in tires and that opens up a lot of terrain. I love it, but there are some limitations that are worth bringing up:

• Dropped chainstays - I (and others) have had a few instances of chain suck when shifting from big to little chainring. The nature of the dropped chainstay makes this unavoidable if you have sticky chain lube (read: SRAM factory grease).

• Tire clearance: if you run a normal (non-wide) SRAM FD, you'll still be limited to approx 38mm tires. Decent clearance to the frame in most areas, but still limiting. If you get your hands on a newer version of the frame with 418mm chainstays, could increase clearance a bit more...

This is good to know. I know I had issues with chain drops and chain suck when I was 2x when I first go my Exploro. I chalked it up to the Praxis chainrings. I'm hoping a 48/35 AXS combo may do better.

As for tire clearance, I didn't have an issue with 40c and that's as big as I'll go in 700c. I may do 650b later on for some more volume. TBD.

I think I've talked myself into keeping my OG Exploro. It's easy since I already have it. Plus it's more aggressive geometry than a racemax from what I gather. I keep my stem low + I have a -17 degree stem on it and the stack is super tall on the racemax. I like my position as is so why reinvent everything? I'll have to deal with the annoying derailleur hangar but I did go ahead and order a couple side loading bottle cages to resolve the small triangle issue with bottle clearance. As I gather more parts I'll start documenting the changes.

[ghdana]

I have an Exploro Ultra and a set of road and a set of gravel wheels/tires. End of the day I have 0 desire to road race this thing, a true race bike is just so much better. Sure it can hang on easily on group rides and stuff like that, but never would I take it on a crit and my road bike is just better at road racing.

[slngshot]

SRAM drop chain issues can be somewhat mitigated by upgrading to CeramicSpeed OSPW.
the placebo part of the OSPW benefits can be argued elsewhere, the main benefit is the Sram clutch mechanism is weak and the OSPW allows you three settings.

If stiffest is selected, chain drop happens less.
In a pinch you can also go one link shorter but that's not ideal.

[ghdana]

My Ultra is set up 1x and has had chaindrop caused by things like once my hub got messed up and went like fixie mode - chain then forced off of the chainring - scratched up the BB area. Other chain drop that scratched my bb area was 100% my fault, I was riding in muck for like 2 weeks straight and I think maybe just wiped down the chain one time.

I do find it weird that it is such a commonly brought up issue with Exploros, but I have a hunch that someone that buys something like an Exploro probably rides their bike more than the average user.