[Joe579]

Wasn’t sure if I should post this on here or the off-road.cc forum, but it’s a road perspective I’m after I guess.

I’m currently riding a Trek Domane with Tiagra. For most of the time it’s great, and I use it both on tarmac and forest roads and so on. Sometimes on 35mm Gravelkings, sometimes on 32mm slicks, both of which seem fine.

However I do sometimes find myself wanting some lower gears than the 34/34 the Tiagra gives me, both on really steep road climbs and gravel tracks. I’m up in the Highlands so some of the off road exploring can get pretty steep.

I might be after the impossible but I’m looking for something that’ll still be good to ride on long road rides, but with the gearing to give me a bit of help on super steep stuff.

Was looking at the entry level carbon models of the Trek Checkpoint and Merida Silex. Trek has 1×13 AXS, Merida has 1×12 GRX820. I’ve got Hope 20Five Pro5 wheels on my current bike so can swap them over (with a new freehub) if they’ll be better than the stock wheels.

Any thoughts on which of these might be better on road? I know the Silex is supposedly more MTB-like, but there isn’t a version of the Mission that has like for like specs (unless you go over £3k)

Cheers

Topic

[Aluminium can]

😎

[Joe579]

GRX600 46/30 Chainset, GRX400 F&R mechs and 11-36 cassette on the way. Cassette and chain needed replacing soon anyway so thought I may as well do it in one go.

[Joe579]

Sounds like a plan! Cheers.

[Aluminium can]

Ah yes…. luckily there are other brands like FSA that also make road sub-compact chainrings. The shimano one might work but might require a grx front derailleur. Bike shop would be able to offer the correct advice. 😅

[Joe579]

Good point. Are the chainlines the same for the GRX stuff as the road groupsets?

[Aluminium can]

Why not just change the crankset on your current bike? It’s a bit expensive but a lot cheaper than another bike, especially as you already really like the bike you have. I assume that your tiagra is 10 speed. As an example, there is the GRX 46-30 crankset that will give you a 30×34 bottom gear, at which point, staying balanced at <5km/h becomes the issue, rather than climbing. Then 46*11 is still a big top gear. There is also the option to use a ‘wolftooth road link’ to permit the use of a larger cassette.
Anyway, if you go to your friendly bike shop and say you want lower gearing, they’ll be able to sort you out with either a smaller crankset or a larger cassette.

[Author]

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