# cross on a gravel grinder



## toddre (May 17, 2004)

Anyone have experience racing cross on a "gravel grinder"?
Wondering your thoughts on how it worked. 
Thanks


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## krisdrum (Oct 29, 2007)

From my perspective the geo differences between a "gravel" bike and a "cross" bike seem pretty nuanced. In my mind there might be some slight trade offs using the typically more stable gravel geo, but they are likely not noticeable to the average rider and may be an advantage for certain courses or conditions. I've seen plenty of Niner RLTs out on the CX course.


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## RRRoubaix (Aug 27, 2008)

I've seen a sh*tload more CX race bikes used for gravel, than I've seen gravel bikes used to race CX.
But if your main emphasis is on gravel, and you only do the occasional CX race, there isn't any reason you couldn't do it.


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

with many of the new school cx bikes having lower BBs the difference these days is pretty minimal

for me I'd race gravel on a cx, not race cx on a gravel

use my cross bikes for gravel grinding a lot (have for well over a decade, and the advent of 'gravel bikes')


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## toddre (May 17, 2004)

Sat down and looked at numbets of different bikes.... screw it, I'll keep my cross bike for now....


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## bikerector (Oct 31, 2012)

From the cross and gravel bikes I've looked at to compare numbers, the difference I see is a taller headtube on the gravel bikes and a slightly slacker headtube angle. Some have longer chainstays.

So basically you have a more relaxed bike, something CX bikes don't need as much of since CX races are short. If you run a lot of spacers under the stem on your CX bike, then you're roughly on a gravel bike.

I'm sure there's some other differences in the engineering of the frame to be more compliant since gravel road racing doesn't require the same cornering and powering out of corners ability of CX races but do need to help reduce the punishment from the gravel.


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

bikerector said:


> From the cross and gravel bikes I've looked at to compare numbers, the difference I see is a taller headtube on the gravel bikes and a slightly slacker headtube angle. Some have longer chainstays.
> 
> So basically you have a more relaxed bike, something CX bikes don't need as much of since CX races are short. If you run a lot of spacers under the stem on your CX bike, then you're roughly on a gravel bike.
> 
> I'm sure there's some other differences in the engineering of the frame to be more compliant since gravel road racing doesn't require the same cornering and powering out of corners ability of CX races but do need to help reduce the punishment from the gravel.


yes, gravel grinders have slacker head tubes for more stable handling. Cross bikes, due to their courses have steeper angles for quicker handling


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