My dream gravel bike build

Back in March, my bike got stolen.

I own a few different bikes, but the stolen one was my main rig. It was my do anything, long distance, off-road, on-road, gravel bike that covered 90% of my riding.

It was a load-bearing bike. And I was lost without it.

Planning a new bike

After losing my bike, I immediately started planning a replacement. This'd be my fourth gravel bike over the last 10-15 years and I wanted to build it perfectly fit for my needs. So I came up with a list of build ideas.

I want a "forever bike" built with "forever materials"

I own bikes made with all sorts of different materials. I wanted to return to a titanium frame because they really do feel bulletproof, have fun ride properties like a steel frame, but can also be stiff like carbon or aluminum. I wanted to avoid carbon fiber for everything, even though I still have a couple bikes with carbon frames. I'm a big, heavy guy and I planned to ride this over rough terrain so I wanted a bike that was more metal than plastic that could really last forever.

I settled on a Bearclaw Thunderhawk in size 60cm as the base for the build. Bearclaw had one in stock so I bought it and it shipped so quickly I had the frame in my hands within days of losing my last bike. I've waited up to two years for custom frames to be built for me before, so getting a titanium frame within days was a revelation.

Durability and capability are king, speed and lightness, not so much

There are trade-offs when building a bike and usually it's between things like aerodynamics versus comfort or lightness over capability. If you ride in a hunched-over position, you can go faster due to less wind resistance, but you won't be comfortable after a long ride. Same goes for running narrow tires. Sure they'll go fast on pavement, but the first time you take a high-speed turn in deep gravel, you'll wish you had fatter tires with more traction.

The bike industry is obsessed with lightweight things and I've raced <16lb bikes before and honestly, there's not a ton of difference riding ultra light bikes versus slightly heavier bikes after an entire day out on the roads.

I deliberately didn't focus on light weight on this bike, and fully loaded, the bike probably weighs about 23lbs with water and gear.

The importance of cushioning

For years, I raced bikes in all sorts of genres and during one of my last cyclocross races before the pandemic hit, I decided to skip my lightweight, suspension-free cyclocross bike and instead I raced on a full suspension enduro MTB. The bike was easily 10lbs heavier than my race bike and I expected to finish in last place, but on the final lap of my race, I had so much energy still in the tank that I was passing people like they were standing still. My body wasn't hammered by bumps for the previous hour and I felt superhuman by the time I hit the finish line. I finished 15 places higher than I usually did in the same age class even though I was on a slower, heavier bike.

That result was an eye-opener, as I had never suspected suspension was all that important in racing bikes, but to this day, whenever I can, I opt for comfort.

For this bike I wanted a dedicated suspension fork. Gravel bikes don't typically have front suspension, but over the years I've experimented with several, using a stem shock absorber in my previous Specialized Diverge bike as well as Redshift's suspension stem on my Canyon Grizl. I knew a suspension fork would be smoother on rough downhills, so I picked a Rudy Ultimate XPLR 40mm gravel suspension fork.

This fork adds a couple pounds to the bike but the comfort and safety are worth every ounce. I can bomb down gravel downhills like I'm on a mountain bike and the sense of control is fantastic compared to being bumped all over on a solid fork.

Future proof as much as possible

Lastly, I wanted my bike to support new features so it was relevant for as long as possible. This meant ditching a derailleur hanger in favor of a frame mounted shifter, aka a Universal Derailleur Hanger (UDH). This has been around the MTB world for a few years, but it's still new in gravel bikes. Another reason why I picked the Bearclaw Thunderhawk was the frame supported a UDH.

I bought the newest SRAM Red XPLR group and it comes with a 10-46 tooth rear cassette that I paired with a 38 tooth front single chainring.

Reflections after the first couple hundred miles

I basically built a 1990s hardtail MTB with drop bars and I love it. Here are some photos of it in my pal Jared Souney's photo studio and in action on the road.

Lesson 1: Direct-mount shifting is a game changer

Over the last 30 years I've ridden bikes with either Shimano or SRAM shifting and the Shimano options were always quieter, smoother, and more accurate on shifting. SRAM is famous for cheaper, clunky stuff that works, but not as well.

SRAM's new direct mount shifting is phenomenal. Every shift is instant, quiet, and perfect. Honestly, this is the first SRAM setup I've ridden that feels as smooth as the best top of the line Shimano electric group sets. The frame mount means there's no chance of bending the mount so shifts are accurate without the need for minor tweaks, it just always works perfectly.

You can also shift under load without dropping a chain. For the past 40 years I've had to instinctively ease up while pedaling before every shift, but with the derailleur mounted directly to the frame, you can shift while sprinting, or on a hard climb while pedaling full blast, and there are no issues. I wish I moved to SRAM's new system sooner.

Lesson 2: More gearing is always better

The largest cassettes I could run on previous bikes were usually in the 30-40 tooth range, and those were just barely enough for the steep hills where I typically ride. The new 46 tooth rear setup feels like having an additional set of low gears on my bike and it's amazing when you can slowly spin up any hill at 3mph no matter how steep.

I considered going with SRAM's Eagle transmission MTB rear shifting for the 52 tooth rear they offer and maybe someday I'll give that a try. Having lots of low gearing is amazing when you're riding hills and you don't have to sacrifice top end speed while getting it. Since every SRAM cassette has a 10-tooth small gear, with the 38t front chainring, I can still crank up to 30mph on flat roads.

Lesson 3: Simplicity is king

My last bike was my first time trying a single front chainring on a gravel bike and I stuck with it for this new build. With a 1x setup, I shift much more often because I don't have to worry about maxing out the gear range of either front chainring and I don’t have to think about when to switch between them. Instead, when speeds change, I instinctively start shifting to a better gear because it's so quick and easy, even if it's just a few hundred feet before another climb.

SRAM's wireless electronic shifting is customizable, and on my bike you tap the left lever to make pedaling easier (lower gears) and right lever taps make it harder (higher gears). I also run Camelbak water bottles with valves that stay open without spilling water, so you don't have to unlock them to drink, you just squeeze.

On long, exhausting rides when I'm low on energy, I don't like overthinking anything, and I love that shifting is left-easy, right-hard and drinking water is just grab-a-bottle-and-squeeze.

Lesson 4: Suspension and dropper seatposts make descents safe and easy

After a couple hundred miles of riding I tend to keep the suspension fork locked out on pavement, and opened up on gravel roads, and it's been great, especially on rough descents. It looks like a mountain bike and rides like it too, and I can hammer downhill at 30mph+ on the chunkiest roads and be in perfect control of the bike.

This is my second gravel bike with a dropper seat post and I continue to love having this option for downhills, both paved and on dirt. Whenever I see the road ahead is headed steeply downhill, I drop my seat several inches and my center of gravity drops as well, making high speed turns easier, and it also means I'll never get bucked off my bike by the saddle on bumpy roads.

Some final bike nerd notes

• I custom painted the Wolf Tooth 38t front chainring, Specialized 46cm gravel flared bars, K-edge bike computer mount, and PNW design stem in a blue ceramic cerakote that's tougher than powder coating and done up to match the rest of the anodized blue bits.
• I used every Portland-made Chris King product in their turquoise matte finish that I could including the bottom bracket, headset, headset spacers, seat post clamp, hubs, and gravel wheel set.
• The titanium cranks are Cane Creek's 170mm "eewings" model in a special ocean finish.
• The King bottle cages are titanium in their "unicorn" finish.
• The chain is pre-waxed from Silca and so far it's been flawless for months. The bar tape is also from Silca and is super cushy.
• I run an Ornot mini front handlebar bag for everything I used to put in my jersey's back pockets.
• I'm running a MagicShine rear radar light that pings my Hammerhead bike computer when any cars are approaching from behind. I still love radar taillights, ten years later.
• The downtube cage holds a storage bottle with a multi-tool, emergency tube, extra SRAM batteries, and a compact USB-C inflator inside.
• I'm running 700x50mm Schwalbe gravel G-one tires with Wolf Tooth tubeless Clik valves, and the new valves work so much better than normal presta valves that I'm converting all my bikes to Clik.
• There's almost no carbon fiber on this bike. I am pretty sure the brake levers and the wheel rims are the only things on it made of carbon, as everything else is either titanium or aluminum.
• Getting a professional bike fit after a month of riding the bike was a godsend. We only had to adjust a handful of things 10-20mm here and there but the bike felt night-and-day better afterwards and was worth every penny.

I really love this bike and will enjoy it for many years to come. It was expensive, but everything on it is bulletproof, strong, and designed to perform. I haven't built a bike up from scratch in a long time, but getting to research, test, and pick every single part of it makes it feel custom made for my needs.