Category: Drive Train Parts

A Quick Guide To Get Your Bike Ready For Sloppy Roads – by Guitar Ted Spring is here in North America and along with that…

Shimano GRX Components: At the Finish – by MG As the deep freeze of winter begins to break, it’s time to wrap-up our long term…

At the cross roads I thought, “Huh. I could go a bit farther and drop down this winding canyon connector road.” OK, why not? And this rambling continued, even when the road choices kept coming along and even when I knew the conditions would be much more than any road bike would be comfortable in.

Without a doubt, one of the hottest stories of 2019 in the gravel world is the introduction of Shimano GRX. Today, we’ll share Guitar Ted’s impressions of the 1x GRX group he’s running on his Noble GX5, and I’ll give my thoughts on the 2x mechanical and Di2 versions of the group.

We’ve been talking about Shimano’s new GRX components for nearly five months now. Back in September, we introduced you to our review of the GRX 800 mechanical (2x) group. Now, it’s time to give you the first installment of our GRX Di2 groupset review, which we have installed on our 2020 GT Grade Carbon Pro test bike.

We had the opportunity to attend the recent Shimano GRX Press Camp in Columbia Falls, Montana. There, we received a glimpse into the future of gravel bikes and components, including Shimano’s awesome new GRX Di2 electronic gravel groupset.

In May, Shimano caused quite a stir when it announced GRX, the world’s first dedicated gravel road components. It’s a bold move from the Japanese component giant, and it’s a sign of the direction they see cycling moving in the future. We recently got an exclusive first ride on Shimano’s GRX mechanical group and here are our first impressions.

I applaud the coming of ‘adventure’ geared cranks and kudos to Shimano for finally jumping in. I think that the 46/30 is a nice thing to have for a large segment of the gravel population, bike packers, etc. Unfortunately, if it is not perfect for your needs, it’s not like you get a chance to choose a different crank set-up when you buy your bike, forcing you to make what could be a costly swap to get what you want.

But frankly neither one are what I want. What would I want? How about a 46/36 or 46/34 with an 11-40 rear cassette? Not with the components I have though, unless I could make it work with something like Wolftooth’s Road Link, but with 2x, I still have to deal with the capacity of the rear derailleur to handle chain slack.

Gravel Grinder News: Shimano Debuts First Dedicated Gravel Road Group- by Guitar Ted Editor’s Note: All images and information courtesy of Shimano Corporation [adrotate group=”4″]…