# Bianchi Conversion to Gravel Bike



## stoogez (Aug 31, 2021)

Good day. I am new to this forum and this sport. I have been riding an old GT Edge from 1999 for years as my daily road ride. I just moved to the Ozarks and live walking distance from the Katy Trail which goes across Missouri. The trail is perfect for a gravel bike and that is where I want to spend my spare time. I bought an old Bianchi Forza over the weekend ($50). I am stripping it down, painting it celeste and upgrading the components. I don't need anything special. I am not looking to wow people, just enjoy riding my bike. My questions are:
Is this an OK choice frame to use?
Can I get away with Sun Rims 700c wheel set and Clement Cycling X'plor Tubeless Tire, 700 with Shimano Deore FH-M525 hub
Set of decent disk brakes ($100 +/-)
Suggestions for rear/front derailleur 

I am completely new to gravel and need direction. Thank you.


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## burgrat (Nov 18, 2005)

Isn't that frame set up for rim brakes?
I Googled it and it looks like it's a road frame. Tire clearance will be a problem. Maybe I'm wrong though.


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## stoogez (Aug 31, 2021)

Actually you are right. I just realized there's no way to convert to disc brakes. So now I'm rethinking this whole thing. I'm slowly backing away in embarrassment from this post.


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## Lombard (May 8, 2014)

stoogez said:


> Actually you are right. I just realized there's no way to convert to disc brakes. So now I'm rethinking this whole thing. I'm slowly backing away in embarrassment from this post.


The question is how much tire clearance is there? How wide a tire can you fit? That will be the main limiting factor as to whether you can make this a gravel bike.


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## hfc (Jan 24, 2003)

My philosophy is a gravel bike is the bike you’re riding when you hit the gravel section. You don’t need disk brakes. Mount the wheels and tires you have now to get an idea how big a tire you’ll be able to fit. Pay attention to the brake bridge as I’ve had a few bikes where the tire runs in the bridge before the chain stays. Up until recently, my main bike for gravel riding was an early 90’s Ciöcc that‘s kind of beat up that I could squeeze 28 mm tires on.


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## NoCanSurf (May 1, 2021)

You could still go forward with you're plan but you'll need to find skinny gravel tires. A gravel bike is anything you want it call a gravel bike, at least until the UCI starts mandating and banning things... I think that's one fun aspect of gravel right now, its the wild wet of bikes.

I have a Niner RLT; I like the more relaxed riding position over a 'normal' road bike. I've yet to take it off road, and it might be a while before I can. The roads here are terrible enough I think they might count as rock course... (a joke, but the roads are terrible). The guys I ride with are amazed by the wide 700cx35 tires I have on it. They all ride super skinny tires inflated to triple digits. That's what they think is needed to go fast. I just like that hurt after a long ride.








The view of Diamond Head from the east (Port Lock) on Oahu. 40 miles that day.


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## Lombard (May 8, 2014)

NoCanSurf said:


> You could still go forward with you're plan but you'll need to find skinny gravel tires. A gravel bike is anything you want it call a gravel bike, at least until the UCI starts mandating and banning things... I think that's one fun aspect of gravel right now, its the wild wet of bikes.
> 
> I have a Niner RLT; I like the more relaxed riding position over a 'normal' road bike. I've yet to take it off road, and it might be a while before I can. The roads here are terrible enough I think they might count as rock course... (a joke, but the roads are terrible). The guys I ride with are amazed by the wide 700cx35 tires I have on it. They all ride super skinny tires inflated to triple digits. That's what they think is needed to go fast. I just like that hurt after a long ride.
> The view of Diamond Head from the east (Port Lock) on Oahu. 40 miles that day.


Well hey, if you can keep up with the roadies, does it matter what you're riding?


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## ogre (Dec 16, 2005)

You don’t need much for the Katy Trail. I’ve done it twice on 34c tires, lightly loaded panniers, and disk brakes are not a necessity. Could have gone 32c no problem. A hybrid would be fine on the Katy. But if you want your bike to have uses in more varied terrain, bigger tires and disk brakes help.


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## Lombard (May 8, 2014)

Hydraulic disc brakes are a nice to have, but definitely not necessary for dry riding. If you will be getting into situaltions where rims will be immersed in water/mud or will be riding in rain, that is where disc brakes shine.


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## Finx (Oct 19, 2017)

It comes down to how much tire volume do you want/need, vs what that frame (and the brakes) can support.

There are a lot of factors, including your weight, how fast you ride (how hard you hit bumps, potholes, rocks, etc..).

For me, I want as much tire volume as I can get (within reason), and probably wouldn't try to convert a rim brake road bike to ride gravel. However, what works for me, and what works for you are likely not the same.


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## ogre (Dec 16, 2005)

Lombard said:


> Hydraulic disc brakes are a nice to have, but definitely not necessary for dry riding. If you will be getting into situaltions where rims will be immersed in water/mud or will be riding in rain, that is where disc brakes shine.


The Katy Trail has a max gradient of 1%


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## stan01 (Apr 30, 2014)

Should you back out of this now just because the bike isn't disc brake compatible? There's nothing wrong with running rim brakes. As others have stated, the only limiting factor for that frame is tire size. But tire size only matters when the terrain you're riding on is mixed ie loose rocks, sand, gravel or mud. But the Katy trail looks to be fairly well packed gravel. So your frame shouldn't be discounted yet.

Here's your options. Get an aftermarket carbon disc brake fork that can handle bigger tires. You can pick one up cheap online . Going with with a wider tire on the front gives the best bang for the buck in this situation. For the rear, you can still go disc but the tire will be narrower. Rj the bike guy on youtube has a video on how to do this easily to convert any rim brake frame to disc. 

Because your frame doesn't have bosses for hydraulic hoses, you have the options of either mechanical disc brakes or hydraulic cable activated brakes. I've just done something similar & got some Zoom HB100 cable activated hydraulic discs. The creme de la creme is the TRP Spyre's. There are a lot of options out there & it all depends on what you want to spend. As for your rims, I would choose a rim with at least 20mm internal rim width for gravel. 

The second option is you don't have to go disc brake route & just leave the bike as rim only but I would still get a replacement carbon fork that can handle a bigger tire. As I said, there is a lot of bang for the buck by doing this. You'll be saving a big amount of weight with the carbon fork. Running bigger tire on the front increases stability, handling, comfort & control. By running rim brakes, you'll be saving a big amount of weigh because when all added up disc brakes add a lot of weight to a bike. Rim brakes have been working fine since the first Tour de France & stopping has never been an issue with them. Hope this helps.


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## stoogez (Aug 31, 2021)

You all have convinced me to continue with my quest. I thank you all for the advice. It's very helpful. I think I will focus on updating the components and wider tires. I should be able to get some 32's in there with no problem. However, last night I worked on getting the seat stem out of the down tube with NO LUCK! It is like welded in there. I even tried hitting it with a sledge hammer to loosen it up. Also tried my pipe wrench with no luck. I'm going to repaint the bike frame once everything is stripped off. What do y'all think about heating the down tube so it will expand?


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## ogre (Dec 16, 2005)

stoogez said:


> You all have convinced me to continue with my quest. I thank you all for the advice. It's very helpful. I think I will focus on updating the components and wider tires. I should be able to get some 32's in there with no problem. However, last night I worked on getting the seat stem out of the down tube with NO LUCK! It is like welded in there. I even tried hitting it with a sledge hammer to loosen it up. Also tried my pipe wrench with no luck. I'm going to repaint the bike frame once everything is stripped off. What do y'all think about heating the down tube so it will expand?


Don’t. There are tons of threads on breaking frozen seatposts and quill stems free. Start With hanging the bike upside down and several doses of a good penetrating oil over several days.


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## stoogez (Aug 31, 2021)

ogre said:


> Don’t. There are tons of threads on breaking frozen seatposts and quill stems free. Start With hanging the bike upside down and several doses of a good penetrating oil over several days.


I am going to Lowes tonight to pick up some loose nuts and trying that for a few days. And I will NOT use the heat.


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## ogre (Dec 16, 2005)

Get Kroil or PB Blaster, you’ll probably have to go to an automotive store.


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## stoogez (Aug 31, 2021)

ogre said:


> Get Kroil or PB Blaster, you’ll probably have to go to an automotive store.


Going for the PB Blaster.


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## NoCanSurf (May 1, 2021)

Post pictures of every step of you adventure. One day some like you will stumble on this thread and your experience will help them, plus we all like gawking at some else bike/project.


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## stan01 (Apr 30, 2014)

If you don't have any luck with any of the penetrating oil, you might want to consider one of these methods. Do you have access to an impact gun? It can be electric or if you have a compressor then even better. RJ the bike guy on youtube easily removed a stuck post using an impact gun. Obviously the post is no good after removal but problem solved. Another method is using boiling hot water. My friend used this method with success but it wasn't easy & took 2 persons & a lot of muscle & time. 

He boiled a couple of pots of water to the boiling point. Get the bike setup so that its upside down with the bottom braket up in the air. If you have a bike stand, perfect. And if not, its ok too. Attach a hose to a funnel & put the hose into the hole of the seat tube in the bottom bracket. Make sure that the old seat is attached back on to the seat post & make sure you are wearing protective GLOVES. 

Pour the hot water into the funnel slowly & when the pot is empty wait till all the hot water runs out of the frame before trying to twist the post free. This will take 2 persons to do. If it doesn't come out, repeat process. Using hot water is much more gentler on the frame as you are not melting any solder & not damaging the paint or parts with a torch. But seriously, check out RJ the bike guy's channel.


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## stoogez (Aug 31, 2021)

stan01 said:


> If you don't have any luck with any of the penetrating oil, you might want to consider one of these methods. Do you have access to an impact gun? It can be electric or if you have a compressor then even better. RJ the bike guy on youtube easily removed a stuck post using an impact gun. Obviously the post is no good after removal but problem solved. Another method is using boiling hot water. My friend used this method with success but it wasn't easy & took 2 persons & a lot of muscle & time.
> 
> He boiled a couple of pots of water to the boiling point. Get the bike setup so that its upside down with the bottom braket up in the air. If you have a bike stand, perfect. And if not, its ok too. Attach a hose to a funnel & put the hose into the hole of the seat tube in the bottom bracket. Make sure that the old seat is attached back on to the seat post & make sure you are wearing protective GLOVES.
> 
> Pour the hot water into the funnel slowly & when the pot is empty wait till all the hot water runs out of the frame before trying to twist the post free. This will take 2 persons to do. If it doesn't come out, repeat process. Using hot water is much more gentler on the frame as you are not melting any solder & not damaging the paint or parts with a torch. But seriously, check out RJ the bike guy's channel.


I've got the PB on there right now. I'm going to wait a few days and then give it a shot. I like the impact gun option. I wish I had one. Maybe O'Rileys has one to loan out. 🤞


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## ogre (Dec 16, 2005)

stoogez said:


> I've got the PB on there right now. I'm going to wait a few days and then give it a shot. I like the impact gun option. I wish I had one. Maybe O'Rileys has one to loan out. 🤞


Rotate the frame each day so the penetrant collects at different 'low spots' each time and gravitates from different high spots. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I think impact wrenches have minimal benefits. They have a bit of a shock effect to help break bolts free, but you can really get a lot more torque by hand with a long enough extension. If it won't break, get a longer cheater bar. And most impact wrenches are pieces of crap that are really weak, and their stats are under optimal conditions with no resistance. Milwaukee Tools advertises a 0.5 in impact with 1,400 ft-lb of torque, but I know that getting 350 ft-lb by hand with a 0.75 drive system is way more than you'll get with that impact wrench and any industrial air compressor.


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## stoogez (Aug 31, 2021)

ogre said:


> Rotate the frame each day so the penetrant collects at different 'low spots' each time and gravitates from different high spots. Lather, rinse, repeat.
> 
> I think impact wrenches have minimal benefits. They have a bit of a shock effect to help break bolts free, but you can really get a lot more torque by hand with a long enough extension. If it won't break, get a longer cheater bar. And most impact wrenches are pieces of crap that are really weak, and their stats are under optimal conditions with no resistance. Milwaukee Tools advertises a 0.5 in impact with 1,400 ft-lb of torque, but I know that getting 350 ft-lb by hand with a 0.75 drive system is way more than you'll get with that impact wrench and any industrial air compressor.


I like the idea of rotating the frame I wont be going with the impact wrench. But I do have a long thin cheater bar that would be perfect. I will keep y'all posted as soon as it breaks free.


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## RedirWols (Oct 9, 2020)

Here is a little inspiration, Bianchi Project 3 (early 700c MTB), using mini-v brakes. The advantage I had here is the brake bosses for cantilevers and the tire clearance....










Started as:


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## daniel.norrell13 (10 mo ago)

RedirWols said:


> Here is a little inspiration, Bianchi Project 3 (early 700c MTB), using mini-v brakes. The advantage I had here is the brake bosses for cantilevers and the tire clearance....
> 
> View attachment 480892
> 
> ...


How wide are your drop bars? I like the looks of your setup and want to try to match it with the bike I picked up last year?


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## RedirWols (Oct 9, 2020)

daniel.norrell13 said:


> How wide are your drop bars? I like the looks of your setup and want to try to match it with the bike I picked up last year?


I went wider with 46cm width bars to gain a small bit of steering leverage and to open up the cockpit a bit.


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## Lombard (May 8, 2014)

RedirWols said:


> I went wider with 46cm width bars to gain a small bit of steering leverage and to open up the cockpit a bit.


Nothing wrong with going a little wider. It allows you to breathe easier.


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## Easterly (9 mo ago)

I'm new to this sport as well.


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