[Westy]

We can't seem to go more than 24 hours around here without a significant amount of rain this year. Riding trails has become nearly impossibly. As a result I've gotten a little more adventurous in my road rides and have been exploring the vast amounts of dirt roads in the mountains.

Some of these are absolutely brutal with long stretches of disturbingly steep grades, 15-20%. I've done it both on a MTB and road bike. MTB is overkill but my roadie, even with a triple, doesn't have the gearing. Thinking about building up a crappy old wheelset with the fattest tires I can fit in the frame and an MTB cassette. Anyone else ever set up a road or CX bike for this kind of riding? What would be a good set of tires?

 

[Mike B.]

One of the guys here runs his road bike with a traditional road double, 11-34 mountain cassette and long cage XTR derailleur. I think he runs 28s but like you said, just get the widest thing you can for your frame. For tires, I used the WTB Allterrainasaurus (30 or 32s) for some commuting and dirt roads on my rigid 29er. They're heavy being wire bead but I ran them tubeless for a little nicer ride quality and didn't mind the weight. Serfas also has some inexpensive, decent rollers in wire bead that will set up well for tubeless if you're so inclined.

 

[ire]

My teammate runs a mtb der. and cassette on his CX bike during his base training time....keeps him from having to mash gears. As for tires I've had good luck with this tire. More recently I've been running cheaper tires with a 23c tire on the inside with the bead cut off....the tread isn't the greatest but I never flat.

 

[JRogers]

I love riding dirt roads. There aren't many around here, but I did a lot of riding on them when I lived in Vermont. I had a cross bike, so I usually used cross tires, especially in winter. A good one for that was the Panaracer Cross Blaster. It's light, rolls fast and wears a bit quick (not really a bad thing if used on the road- get a smoother center tread after a while). They are pretty narrow, but not sure they'd fit in a standard road frame.

 

[MMcG]

What about an inexpensive 29er for this type of riding?

 

[Westy]

What about an inexpensive 29er for this type of riding?

I'm riding my 29'er, the road bike. Buying a bike specifically for this purpose is not worth it. If anything I will get a CX bike and throw an MTB cassette on it.

 

[Wumpus]

Haven't tried one, but what about something like the Ruffy-Tuffy.

 

[SuspectDevice]

25c Vredsteins or Michelin Pro Race's are all the tire I find I need for some wicked serious gravel action... Anything wider is just to heavy to be fun. (Warning, I am a princess)

 

[ire]

25c Vredsteins or Michelin Pro Race's are all the tire I find I need for some wicked serious gravel action... Anything wider is just to heavy to be fun. (Warning, I am a princess)

It should be that SD doesn't believe in training on a cross bike....he uses a road bike with fat tires

 

[SuspectDevice]

It should be that SD doesn't believe in training on a cross bike....he uses a road bike with fat tires

That's damn straight. Cross bikes are for racing, and racing only. A good road race bike is perfect for everything you do with 700c wheels short of 'cross. (Take that 29er people!)

For the type of riding the OP is talking about, a long-reach caliper or canti-break'd road bike is the ideal tool. I would likely build him a bike with standard road geometry, clearance for 32 Roly Poly's (And some fender clearance), use parallel 73 angles for neutral weight distribution, and spec the bike with a triple crank and a 12-26 casette.

A build like that on a good frame is just such a phenomenally versatile bike. And it doesn't have to look as antiquated as a rivendell!