My TIME 45 ADHX Gravel Build

I’m really starting to discover a lot gravel these days. It all started in 2019 when I went to the old ST HQ and got on one of Dan’s OPENs. It had vast amounts of rubber tires wrapped around 650 wheels. It had been sitting outside for the winter so the SRAM 1x was all rusty looking and I think I broke like 2-3 seat bolt clamps trying to get the seat adjusted so I could ride it. I cruised around his yard for all of about 5 mins and then he came out and said, “Let’s go. I’ll take you to the trail head.”

Dan was going running, and I was going riding. He dropped me off at about 6,000 feet and pointed me in the direction of a California fire road. He was going to run for about 90 mins and I was was either going to meet back up with him or I was going to take the main road back down the hill to his house.

After about an hour or so of climbing, I ended up at the top of Jackson Flat Campground. I finally had a cell signal and so I texted Dan and told him I would meet him at the house. I had finally started to get the bike set up the way I wanted it so I figured I would put some more time in. I road around the fire roads high over the San Gabriel Mountain range looking over parts of LA in the distance. I figured out I didn’t have a lot of water with me and so I should probably start to head back. On the way down I realized just how steep it was on the fire roads. The camp round had been closed for what looked like a couple of seasons and so the roads where all sorts of “chunky.” It was at this point I remembered the story of Gary Fisher and what inspired him to make his own bikes. Insert me falling over the handlebars. OK, I’m going to lower the seat. That’s better. Once I got to the main road its about a 8-9 mile fast decent on pavement. Then it was a couple of miles of rollers back to Dans. Over the next couple of days I put lube on the chain and rode the OPEN a lot. I explored every single piece of pavement and dirt road that I could and I left Dan’s house ready to buy a gravel bike.

Three months later, I started doing some YouTube reviews here on slowtwitch. We reviewed the Argon 18 Dark Matter , the Niner MCR 9 and then the Ventum GS1. I was having the time of my life. I was testing all sorts of bikes, and I was learning what I liked and didn’t. And to be honest it was giving me something to do as COVID was starting to get weird. Then, all of a sudden, boom. Everyone started buying bikes, and the bike companies had zero reason to send us bikes to review. So a couple of years later, I still had my Ventum GS1, and I was getting pretty busy with some other things anyway. Getting back into about 2022, gravel was entering its really big peak of the crazy and we were starting to get some of the bike brands to have new things to talk about. “All Road” was the newly coined term from the big companies that weren’t quite ready to embrace what companies like Salsa, OPEN, and even Lauf were putting out. Tires and tire companies were also starting to be the sticky point. 38c was “Big” when it came to “gravel” everyone else was slapping on mountain bike tires.

So, while the industry was learning and coming around, people started returning to work, and the dirt roads became less packed. Overstocked, all road bikes were highly discounted on the internet, and small tires were all put on closeout. Five years after my first gravel ride and three years after the big companies started to really work together on bike frames, wheels, and parts, here we are, and here is what I chose to put on my gravel bike. Not what was just left around the garage — some of these parts where given to me for long-term review purposes; the rest I bought and/or traded for photography work.

Now that I have bored you with my long short story (or short long story), let’s lay the foundation quickly on this bike and the “why” behind it. The first thing for you to understand is that I wanted to build a gravel bike around a dropper post. Why? Because in good old Utah, I feel like I need and/or want one. And because of that, I want everything on this bike to be able to handle all the places and situations that drop post is going to allow me to comfortably ride. So that means massive gearing, strong frame, big tires, and a comfortable seat. Oh, and I want it to look RAD AF, too. Just like the rest of you bike geeks, the thing has got to turn heads.

DROPPER SEATPOST

This is is the foundation of the “whys” on this bike:

• Material: alloy

• Diameter: 27.2mm

• Length: 350mm

• Offset:zero

• Travel: 70mm

TIME 45 ADHX FRAME

BCS Carbon Fiber – Dyneema® Enhanced with the RTM build tech is the most robust carbon fiber bike frame on the market It’s not the lightest, but OMG, does this thing feel good underneath you, And it doesn’t have some special seat post that I can’t add a dropper post too. Just your normal, standard 27.2mm post.

SHIMANO GRX 12 Di2

Hoods. The #1 reason I will choose Shimano over SRAM is the ergonomics of the hoods. I have a Cervelo Aspero with SRAM, and every single time I ride downhill on that bike , and I want to stop, I feel like I need two fingers on the brakes. With Shimano, I don’t. I can be on the bars, going down a 30% gravel grade and I can use each of my pointer fingers and boom. I’m stopped. The hoods are 70% of my decision.

GEARING = 2x

The other 30% of my decision is gearing. 1x is excellent, but it’s not always great for everything, and unless you are going to run the new SRAM RED, chances are the front derailleur will be troublesome for you. So, while I wish Shimano would figure out power on GRX, this drive train is what I’m looking for.

FRONT GEARING

• 170mm Crank with 48 and 31 chainrings allow me to take this everywhere my riding ability can handle.

REAR GEARING

I have an 11-34t because I didn’t want to run the 105-level cassette. But I can do that later if I need that extra two-tooth range as this GRX RD-RX825 allows for a 36t cassette.

Shimano provided us this for the launch a while back, as well as long-term reviews.

POWER AND PEDALS

Because Shimano doesn’t yet feel like gravel riders care about power enough to put a meter in the GRX crank, and because I have a dropper post on this machine, I felt like I wanted an SPD-type pedal system, as it’s a lot easier to get in and out of. This is one thing I might change up a bit as I get into longer rides on this bike. But for now, it’s a power mountain bike pedal. And no, Garmin didn’t give me these. And yes, I will review these in the next coming month.

WHEELS AND TIRES

These are 100% review wheels and tires, but I also have five other sets I could have put on the bike. Reminder: I want this to act like a downhill mountain bike at particular times and places. So these new Zipp 303 XPLR with a 32mm inner hookless rim gives me all sorts of options here. Now, time will tell if these do hold up on the downhill single track I want to try to bomb, but for now, they are holding up.

ZIPP 303 XPLRSW with Goodyear 45 Tires. I also plan on doing a lot of other tire tests with this wheelset.

SADDLE

The WOVE MAGS. I owe this saddle its own review. This is by far the most comfortable I have sat my underside on. Now at $499 bucks, it’s a tough pill to swallow, but to never deal with pressure points — It’s worth it.

BAR AND STEM

This is a Discovery handlebar, and they are also part of a long-term review these feature a 30-degree flare and sweep of 5- Degree. I’m running the 42cm width on this bike.

I am also using a 100 mm Discovery Stem, ± 6 degrees.

There you have it, folks…wish me luck.

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