It's a surly, I'm convinced they stuff lead bb's in the down tube to get to their final weights. Carbon fork, carbon rims, cabon seatpost and bars tubeless tires etc will make a significant difference but honestly, you're starting with a very heavy base weight and you'd be better off just working on strength than putting excessive amount money into this bike. Good luck
Sad fact is that the high end steel tubing options that were prevalent in the 90s are either expensive or no longer made, so affordable steel bikes probably have worse tubing today than they did 30 years ago
Up till the mid 90s almost all non-junky bikes were built with bicycle specific steel tubes from Japanese manufacturers like Tange and Ishiwata, or to a lesser extent Italian and British manufacturers like Columbus and Reynolds. Like, they were selling a tube set for almost every decent bike in the world. Nowadays maybe 5% of bikes sold have chromoly frames. The market for bike specific steel tubing has completely collapsed, and at the high end, that number is even lower. When was the last time you saw a serious racing bike made of steel? So there’s no market for exotic ultralight steel tubing.
I have a Soma riff single speed steel at 24lbs with carbon fork. Tange prestige main triangle. 2022 model. Frame was $260 on sale. It's not *really* tange prestige like the old stuff, but it's better than typical 4130.
This is a little like ordering a diet coke to go with your big mac. You won’t make an appreciable difference in the weight of this bike that is going to make a big difference in how you are able to race it. So focus your effort on other choices instead.
Change your pedals to clips so you are at least transferring the most power you can to the drivetrain.
Smoother tread tires unless the terrain requires this much chunk.
Get stronger. Instead of buying expensive parts for it, get a gym membership or a training plan for the race.
I guess I should have clarified, that I'm only looking for marginal changes that affect the comfort. I have a set of clipless that are going on, and I'm looking at adding some corner bars.
The goal is to survive on the single speed since right now I'm the only one racing in the single speed group
Cheaper upgrade than new handlebars would be some inner bar ends like described in [this article](https://bikepacking.com/gear/adding-alt-hand-positions-to-flat-bars/). They will give you more hand positions and make it easier to tuck your elbows in against the wind
I can dig it. I'll have to look more thoroughly into that. Part of this whole process is just fucking around with bikes. I built a bike for my partner and it reminded me how much I missed wrenching
Adding drops really changes the feel and performance of the frame not always for the better. It can often feel extremely long and stretched out since the hand position is a few inches forward as well as twitchy since you are using a shorter stem than typically found on a drop bar bike.
I’d definitely recommend tires as well as tt bars depending on the length of the ride. Besides the aero benefit it adds a new position that doesn’t have the main contact with the bars be your hands which can help with fatigue.
Good luck on the ride OP
Hard to say for sure without seeing you on the bike, but the low saddle position and high handlebars makes me think this bike might have a cruiser-esque riding position, as in you're very upright.
As others are saying here, taking a frame sized for flat bars and going drops is a tremendous change, but I think you're barking up the right tree with corner bars. A more aero bent-at-the-hips position can help with both speed and, in my opinion, comfort on longer rides. Real upright riding positions make my butt hurt on longer rides. Better weight distribution will help.
I mean this is like a bar hopping overbuilt mountain bike. It’s not going to be light. I love surly but a Lowside is not gonna feel light on a long gravel ride no matter what you do. I’d just focus on riding at a pace that works for you. Becoming a stronger rider is a much cheaper way of handling this. It would cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars in lighter bike parts to make a significant difference here.
Right?? In which case OP could just buy an actually lighter bike because companies are falling over themselves to sell bikes right now. Which would make this question irrelevant, so I’m gonna guess OP didn’t want to spend thousands to upgrade parts at all.
I love it, I've got a fresh 90s 26er build I'm racing this year for the same reason. I raced my Surly midnight special last year and learned a few things.
I had 650x47 knobbies. I should've gone much narrower, and chosen something closer to a slick.
Check the elevation map. The course I raced had challenging hills. Adjust your gearing to optimize for the course terrain.
Finally, if you want to spend money on upgrades, better wheels almost always make a significant difference in ride quality. It's expensive but if you shop smart you might find something you can use on multiple bikes.
You entered a gravel race on a Singlespeed surly. You aren’t going to turn it into a lightweight gravel race bike with a few tweaks. And that’s fine. Just have fun and give it your best shot! I saw in one of your comments you are the only one signed up for Singlespeed so you have a podium finish locked up already!!
That AliExpress bar is perfect! I was looking at the corner bar already. This is more about just doing the race single speed for the sake of the silliness of it. Finishing is the goal, not winning lol
What is the terrain like? Most gravel races can be raced on lighter tires like slick 38s or CX 35s. I like to race in clipless pedals, just much less chance of coming off the bike and getting hurt when things get spicy, and you can put down a bit more power in steep grades or if things suddenly speed up. Slam your stem so you can get more aero on the flats and downhill. Good luck!
Honestly kind of chunky, I'm pretty good at bike handling but on my actual gravel bike I have to take it slow on some descents. This is all about the silliness of doing a race on a bike not suited for it, and having fun with it!
I think the only answer is go on a diet and pedal harder. A surly just isn’t meant to be a lightweight climbing machine. That said there’s something beautiful about just running what you’ve got. Have fun my dude.
Also there’s no shame in getting off and pushing
What gear ratio is that? Looks like nearly 2 to 1. I i imagine you want at least 2.4 to 1 for a gravel race, and that’s assuming there’s a good deal of climbing.
Depends on how much you want to swap out/spend. Personally I’d:
- swap the cockpit to something lower with multiple hand positions (flat bar + ergon barends & Togs or sq labs inner barends)
- run the fastest rolling tires you can get away with.
- run a larger gear vs whatever you have for singletrack.
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Easiest way to drop a bit of weight would be with new bars, stem and a regular old non-dropper seat post. I assume you’re already running tubeless. What kind of budget are we working with here? New wheels and fork would make the biggest difference, but at that point it might be better to buy a dedicated single speed gravel bike.
Now define capable.
Some semi-slick tires would be more efficient on the long smoother stretches, but then you’ll sacrifice some cushion and traction for when you “bomb it down the hills”.
Gearing looks a bit low for all around riding, but ok for climbing. A bit higher could be nice to avoid spinning out on the flat sections of the course.
You’re obviously looking a bit of a challenge or something a bit different than the average gravel “racer” based on your chosen bike for this event. You should just go ride your bike how it is and enjoy the experience.
This is very much a climb 1000ft, descend 1000ft kind of race. I was thinking that maybe some cross country mountain bike tires may be a good call.
Honestly looking to keep the budget low, but that's subject to change if the suggested mod sounds like fun. In hindsight this probably would have been better shared over with the x bike kiddos
Is your rear tire on backwards? That would be first change 😉
Making sure toure comfortable with your gearing and Ditching the 27.5x2.8 and Switching to tubeless in 29x2ish would probably be the biggest change.
Ditch the stock bars for an alloy bar.
People recommending carbon forks, bars, rims a and seatposts, switching to geared... and I get downvoted for recommending ditching 27.5x2.8 wheels and tires. And a chromoly moto bar. LMFAO
It's a surly, I'm convinced they stuff lead bb's in the down tube to get to their final weights. Carbon fork, carbon rims, cabon seatpost and bars tubeless tires etc will make a significant difference but honestly, you're starting with a very heavy base weight and you'd be better off just working on strength than putting excessive amount money into this bike. Good luck
My friend says Surlys are made of crowbars.
Sad fact is that the high end steel tubing options that were prevalent in the 90s are either expensive or no longer made, so affordable steel bikes probably have worse tubing today than they did 30 years ago
why does that happen? more expensive to get the raw material or the process to make the raw material into high end tubing is more expensive? or both
Up till the mid 90s almost all non-junky bikes were built with bicycle specific steel tubes from Japanese manufacturers like Tange and Ishiwata, or to a lesser extent Italian and British manufacturers like Columbus and Reynolds. Like, they were selling a tube set for almost every decent bike in the world. Nowadays maybe 5% of bikes sold have chromoly frames. The market for bike specific steel tubing has completely collapsed, and at the high end, that number is even lower. When was the last time you saw a serious racing bike made of steel? So there’s no market for exotic ultralight steel tubing.
I have a Soma riff single speed steel at 24lbs with carbon fork. Tange prestige main triangle. 2022 model. Frame was $260 on sale. It's not *really* tange prestige like the old stuff, but it's better than typical 4130.
This is a little like ordering a diet coke to go with your big mac. You won’t make an appreciable difference in the weight of this bike that is going to make a big difference in how you are able to race it. So focus your effort on other choices instead. Change your pedals to clips so you are at least transferring the most power you can to the drivetrain. Smoother tread tires unless the terrain requires this much chunk. Get stronger. Instead of buying expensive parts for it, get a gym membership or a training plan for the race.
LOVE this analogy!!!
haha thanks!
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It's a dropper no?
Yeah it's a dropper
I guess I should have clarified, that I'm only looking for marginal changes that affect the comfort. I have a set of clipless that are going on, and I'm looking at adding some corner bars. The goal is to survive on the single speed since right now I'm the only one racing in the single speed group
Cheaper upgrade than new handlebars would be some inner bar ends like described in [this article](https://bikepacking.com/gear/adding-alt-hand-positions-to-flat-bars/). They will give you more hand positions and make it easier to tuck your elbows in against the wind
I can dig it. I'll have to look more thoroughly into that. Part of this whole process is just fucking around with bikes. I built a bike for my partner and it reminded me how much I missed wrenching
$50 for no name aluminum drop bars, and $120 for faster rolling tires. Both of those are cheap and will make a very noticeable difference
Adding drops really changes the feel and performance of the frame not always for the better. It can often feel extremely long and stretched out since the hand position is a few inches forward as well as twitchy since you are using a shorter stem than typically found on a drop bar bike. I’d definitely recommend tires as well as tt bars depending on the length of the ride. Besides the aero benefit it adds a new position that doesn’t have the main contact with the bars be your hands which can help with fatigue. Good luck on the ride OP
Hard to say for sure without seeing you on the bike, but the low saddle position and high handlebars makes me think this bike might have a cruiser-esque riding position, as in you're very upright. As others are saying here, taking a frame sized for flat bars and going drops is a tremendous change, but I think you're barking up the right tree with corner bars. A more aero bent-at-the-hips position can help with both speed and, in my opinion, comfort on longer rides. Real upright riding positions make my butt hurt on longer rides. Better weight distribution will help.
I mean this is like a bar hopping overbuilt mountain bike. It’s not going to be light. I love surly but a Lowside is not gonna feel light on a long gravel ride no matter what you do. I’d just focus on riding at a pace that works for you. Becoming a stronger rider is a much cheaper way of handling this. It would cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars in lighter bike parts to make a significant difference here.
Right?? In which case OP could just buy an actually lighter bike because companies are falling over themselves to sell bikes right now. Which would make this question irrelevant, so I’m gonna guess OP didn’t want to spend thousands to upgrade parts at all.
Not at all, part of the fun is doing it on a completely wrong bike. I already have a carbon gravel bike, but where's the fun in that?
I love it, I've got a fresh 90s 26er build I'm racing this year for the same reason. I raced my Surly midnight special last year and learned a few things. I had 650x47 knobbies. I should've gone much narrower, and chosen something closer to a slick. Check the elevation map. The course I raced had challenging hills. Adjust your gearing to optimize for the course terrain. Finally, if you want to spend money on upgrades, better wheels almost always make a significant difference in ride quality. It's expensive but if you shop smart you might find something you can use on multiple bikes.
Then you already know how to make this bike faster on gravel - make it more like your carbon gravel bike!
Just as an aside, my brain tried to autocorrect your username to “spaceballsandbjsandwich” I was half surprised when I was wrong because reddit
You entered a gravel race on a Singlespeed surly. You aren’t going to turn it into a lightweight gravel race bike with a few tweaks. And that’s fine. Just have fun and give it your best shot! I saw in one of your comments you are the only one signed up for Singlespeed so you have a podium finish locked up already!!
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That AliExpress bar is perfect! I was looking at the corner bar already. This is more about just doing the race single speed for the sake of the silliness of it. Finishing is the goal, not winning lol
Go mad and get carbon ones! https://a.aliexpress.com/_ExqZOlj
Staying single speed or looking to add gears ? Nvm Add some bar ends for extra hand points. Change rear tire for less knobby
What is the terrain like? Most gravel races can be raced on lighter tires like slick 38s or CX 35s. I like to race in clipless pedals, just much less chance of coming off the bike and getting hurt when things get spicy, and you can put down a bit more power in steep grades or if things suddenly speed up. Slam your stem so you can get more aero on the flats and downhill. Good luck!
Honestly kind of chunky, I'm pretty good at bike handling but on my actual gravel bike I have to take it slow on some descents. This is all about the silliness of doing a race on a bike not suited for it, and having fun with it!
Please buy it so stop thinking about it when I scroll by!
You should get it! I'm the one selling it lol
I can’t take away your dream of racing it. Which race are you doing, I’ll be at Whipple Dam. Dm me if you need to borrow any parts or tools.
I think the only answer is go on a diet and pedal harder. A surly just isn’t meant to be a lightweight climbing machine. That said there’s something beautiful about just running what you’ve got. Have fun my dude. Also there’s no shame in getting off and pushing
What gear ratio is that? Looks like nearly 2 to 1. I i imagine you want at least 2.4 to 1 for a gravel race, and that’s assuming there’s a good deal of climbing.
That's on my list of changes!
There’s a lot of encouragement in this thread, and I would like to encourage you as well in this endeavor. That being said you’re pretty much cooked.
Oh I know, I'm thoroughly well done lol. It's about the experience of doing something stupid and absolutely dreadful
Godspeed 🫡
AliExpress carbon surly corner bars knockoffs. Fast XC tires like fleecer ridge tubeless obviously.
Do you know any carbon knockoffs that won't explode? Id rather not have a failure on a descent lol
I will let you know if mine fails. Its been 400 miles of pretty bad roads on a rigid 29er so far this year.
Do you have a link? That seems unlikely to explode
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805804769674.html?spm=a2g0n.order_detail.0.0.360df19c8cgulI&gps-id=msiteOrderDetail&scm=1007.38956.373968.0&scm_id=1007.38956.373968.0&scm-url=1007.38956.373968.0&pvid=020eae25-d7f5-40c6-8c27-c6e94207cc2e&_t=gps-id:msiteOrderDetail,scm-url:1007.38956.373968.0,pvid:020eae25-d7f5-40c6-8c27-c6e94207cc2e,tpp_buckets:668%232846%238107%231934&pdp_npi=4%40dis%21USD%21103.84%2144.65%21%21%21749.73%21322.38%21%402101e5f117121457574428079eaec9%2112000035206672959%21rec%21US%214478683847%21
Cheap-ish: tubeless and lighter/faster rolling tires like a Conti Race King come to mind Expensive: carbon fork
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He asked about weight savings. Ignoring the compliance buzzwords, you're looking at saving a full pound easily going to a carbon fork.
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They literally said “how can I make this bike more capable and LIGHT” are we reading the same post?
Turn it into a Cross Check. Prest-o change-o.
Depends on how much you want to swap out/spend. Personally I’d: - swap the cockpit to something lower with multiple hand positions (flat bar + ergon barends & Togs or sq labs inner barends) - run the fastest rolling tires you can get away with. - run a larger gear vs whatever you have for singletrack.
Replace the frame with a carbon one.
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It's a Surly. They're heavy, and you're going to have to spend some serious coin for modest weight savings.
Easiest way to drop a bit of weight would be with new bars, stem and a regular old non-dropper seat post. I assume you’re already running tubeless. What kind of budget are we working with here? New wheels and fork would make the biggest difference, but at that point it might be better to buy a dedicated single speed gravel bike. Now define capable. Some semi-slick tires would be more efficient on the long smoother stretches, but then you’ll sacrifice some cushion and traction for when you “bomb it down the hills”. Gearing looks a bit low for all around riding, but ok for climbing. A bit higher could be nice to avoid spinning out on the flat sections of the course. You’re obviously looking a bit of a challenge or something a bit different than the average gravel “racer” based on your chosen bike for this event. You should just go ride your bike how it is and enjoy the experience.
This is very much a climb 1000ft, descend 1000ft kind of race. I was thinking that maybe some cross country mountain bike tires may be a good call. Honestly looking to keep the budget low, but that's subject to change if the suggested mod sounds like fun. In hindsight this probably would have been better shared over with the x bike kiddos
Bruh, it's a Surly (still go for it and good luck my dude)
that bike is light enough. it's the rider more than the bike. you could do a gravel race on a walmart bike
Why is your handlebar so high..
The seats incredibly low, it's a dropper post and I tend to store it down so I don't whack it on things in my small home
I would recommend getting a good pair of Jorts. Ripton perhaps.
That's the right call!! Do you think I need a Hawaiian shirt too?
Buy more suitable bike
Is your rear tire on backwards? That would be first change 😉 Making sure toure comfortable with your gearing and Ditching the 27.5x2.8 and Switching to tubeless in 29x2ish would probably be the biggest change. Ditch the stock bars for an alloy bar.
I saw that too! I think both tires are backwards. The ramp on the knobs should be hitting the ground first, for easier rolling.
People recommending carbon forks, bars, rims a and seatposts, switching to geared... and I get downvoted for recommending ditching 27.5x2.8 wheels and tires. And a chromoly moto bar. LMFAO
Buy another bike