2018 Specialized Diverge-- BB too low?

Does anyone who owns a new 2018 Diverge find that the bottom bracket height is causing pedal strikes? \n \nAfter looking at the geometry chart this was the first thing that jumped out at me.

Don’t run a 700x23 and you’ll be fine, especially on gravel roads where you’re not leaning into corners like it’s a crit. \n \nI ran 650bx42(label, actually slightly narrower) tires on a bike with 80mm BB drop - never had any real problems.

Not a problem if you run 38mm or larger tires. With that size rubber the ground to bb height is virtually the same as the roubaix

Have had one strike running 32c tires. Having come from bikes with higher bb's like road and cx race bikes it seems to feel better with larger tires to me. Will be riding it with the 32's for now though. 

Cheers!

Lemon_grass wrote:Does anyone who owns a new 2018 Diverge find that the bottom bracket height is causing pedal strikes? After looking at the geometry chart this was the first thing that jumped out at me.

Agreed.  That is a big turn off for me.  I road last year’s model and found that already too low.  The only frame related thing that really causes me to crash (or near misses) is pedal strike.  That will lift my rear wheel up off the ground, and the results are usually not pretty.

Of course, if you never ride pavement and never pedal through a strong turn, its not a problem...

chas wrote:
Agreed.  That is a big turn off for me.  I road last year’s model and found that already too low.  The only frame related thing that really causes me to crash (or near misses) is pedal strike.  That will lift my rear wheel up off the ground, and the results are usually not pretty.

Of course, if you never ride pavement and never pedal through a strong turn, its not a problem...

Some of us never learn...  You should hear some of the reactions of the people racing behind me! 

When riding gravel I don't feel I lean nearly as much as when I'm on pavement so for me a low BB wouldn't be a big concern for a gravel bike.  Pedal strikes on my gravel and mountain bikes have only been from hitting rocks and other obstacles on singletrack.  Touring bikes also typically have low BB's but again I don't think many people on touring bikes are likely to be pedaling while leaning the bike hard thru a turn.

Agreed, if it is a purely gravel bike, low BB is good

I’m looking for one bike to do it all and a grave/CX bike does that for me (well, technically it will never replace my mountain bike (suspension) or track bike).  

Requirements for N-1 are different than N+1 (a versatile bike vs a gravel specific bike)

but when I had pedal strike at over 30mph - I'm sure the people behind me had quite the reaction.  I was more concerned about not going into the ditch at 30+  

The height of the bottom bracket (not the drop) on the S-Works Tarmac is 3 mn higher than the Diverge Expert(268 vs 265). And that’s with the stock 38mm Trigger Pro’s on the Diverge that actually measures 37mm. With a 40mm tire that actually measures 40mm, or a 42mm tire, you’ll have a bb that is the same height as the Tarmac. And I haven’t heard Peter Sagan complaining about pedal strikes.

scotjonscot wrote:The height of the bottom bracket (not the drop) on the S-Works Tarmac is 3 mn higher than the Diverge Expert(268 vs 265). And that’s with the stock 38mm Trigger Pro’s on the Diverge that actually measures 37mm. With a 40mm tire that actually measures 40mm, or a 42mm tire, you’ll have a bb that is the same height as the Tarmac. And I haven’t heard Peter Sagan complaining about pedal strikes.

Interesting. They've lowered the bb on the new Tarmac then. On the last gen Tarmac (and the current Venge) the bb height is 274mm a full 9mm higher than the Diverge, and 6mm higher than the new Tarmac.

goneskiian wrote:
Interesting. They've lowered the bb on the new Tarmac then. On the last gen Tarmac (and the current Venge) the bb height is 274mm a full 9mm higher than the Diverge, and 6mm higher than the new Tarmac.

\n \nAccording to their website the ‘18 Venge Vias has a bb height of 272.5 \n

I haven't had an issue with pedal strikes.  My only concern on the low bottom bracket is when I've ridden this bike on some light singletrack.  I'm running X1 and I don't want to taco the front chainring going over a log.  

bwepps wrote:I haven't had an issue with pedal strikes.  My only concern on the low bottom bracket is when I've ridden this bike on some light singletrack.  I'm running X1 and I don't want to taco the front chainring going over a log.  

this has been my concern with my 2018 Diverge.  It's not a singletrack bike unless it's fairly smooth singletrack.

2 improvements and the bike would be perfect:
1. Better tire clearance
2. Slightly higher BB/less 'intense' BB drop

It’s a gravel bike, not a mountain bike