9 Of The Best Gravel Bike Upgrades

If you want to ride faster, further, or simply treat your gravel bike to some long-overdue improvements, try one of these nine brilliant upgrade ideas.
From suspension forks to puncture protection, there should be something for all gravel riders here. But have you tried any of these upgrades already? Let us know in the comments.
Chapters
00:00 Intro
Suspension 00:20
Redshift Stem 01:52
Ass Saver Mudguards 02:34
Puncture Protection 03:27
Easier Climbing 04:33
Tubeless Repair Tool 05:17
Dropper Posts 06:21
Navigation 07:10
Cargo Bib Shorts 07:44
Outro 08:30
The Best Gravel Bike Tech In 2023
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• Canyon's BEST Gravel B...
ALL The Tech From The 2023 Gravel World Championships
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Watch This BEFORE You Buy New Gravel Tyres
• Watch This BEFORE You ...
Are Wider Gravel Tyres Faster?
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Suspension Gravel Bike Vs. MTB | Which Is Faster?
• Suspension Gravel Bike...
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• 1 Gravel Bike, 4 Setup...
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[@bikeradar]

Whats your next upgrade going to be?

[@lexington476]

Not any of these. A lot of your videos are pretty good, this one is not. Thumbs down on this video.

[@nabenduroy8680]

not the mpr😅, maybe the mrp

[@JenkinsB]

Carbon wheels. Been looking at the Hunt 35

[@michiganstate149]

Redshift stem was the best upgrade I did on mine. Yeah, it added weight. But on some imperfect roads/gravel, it it worth it's weight in gold.

[@imark9386]

I love my gravel bike but would never put suspension on it, if you ride where suspension is needed then just get a lightweight xc mountain bike

[@hansschotterradler3772]

same here, I put a lot of happy miles on my Lynskey GR250 over the past 6 years; it's comfy enough with 45c tires. But I just got a carbon XC hardtail to ride some of the trails in the area I live (40% off on 2023 stock). It's a blast, but I wouldn't want to ride these trails on a drop bar bike (with or without suspension fork).

[@scottwatson7844]

I recently bought a xc full squish and it’s blown me away at just how fast it is. My gravel bike is great on multi surface rides but on anything rough it just can’t complete with the xc bike.

[@hansschotterradler3772]

@@scottwatson7844Very simple, you need the right bike for each surface to get the most pleasure out of it. I had a full sus trail bike and didn't enjoy it that much. Too heavy, and the suspension didn't fully lock. I ride paved trails and sidewalks to get to my MTB trails. My new hardtail is perfect for that application especially considering that most MTB trails in my area are fairly smooth and flowy.

[@jonathanzappala]

If your riding over gnarly terrain, the best upgrade for your gravel bike is called “mountain bike”

[@matijajerman2005]

Facts

[@Hintonbro.]

Ugh will this ever end?

[@michaeltilney1298]

If we have front suspension on a gravel bike we basically have a hard tail, drop bar, mountain bike.

[@charliecook6909]

Was going to put the same thing 🤣🤣🤣

[@PabloMollAN]

Agree…if your ride is more than 50% single tracks then go and grab a mtb

[@chiplitch]

Great video. Thanks for the suggestions

[@hardmtnbiker]

I use CushCore in my front tire. I have a carbon fork and wide i28mm carbon rims with 700x45 tires. What I would like to add how to ungraded and improve your ability to smash through chucks on trails is the CushCush paired with wide tires and wide rims adds stability and dampens the compression similar to how a shock gets adjusted. This is an often overlooked aspect of having tire inserts.

[@-Steve-01]

Suspension stem for smoothing out rough gravel - or in reality, rough gravel AND roads - the surfaces are more or less identical in the UK. Well not quite true, gravel often better.

[@jasonisaac1]

Dropper post was the first and one of the best upgrades for my gravel bike, since I live and ride in a mountainous area. Redshift suspension stem was also a great upgrade. Win wing rear fender is in constant use on my drop bar atb, and easily swappable to my gravel bike.

[@skinheadjc]

Dropper posts are by far the best upgrade to any offroad bike for providing more control and manoeuvrability. Far better than a tiny suspension fork will give. Sus gravel forks are great for long endurance rides, providing extra comfort and compliance but cirtainly wont go far when it comes to aiding skills on the 'rad' stuff.

[@MikemoRides]

Best gravel bike upgrade is to turn your gravel bike into a baby mountain bike. 😂Kidding aside I love my gravel bike for ripping around on single track, I'd love a Rudy or 32TC and a dropper on it. I'm in the process of selling off some bikes to fund swapping the drivetrain to a T-type 10-52 cassette and derailleur to match up with my 40T chainring to help with climbing the steep-steep stuff.

[@marekbabal392]

Totally agree. From the mentioned I have the Redshift stem, since then I feel noticeably less shaken out after rides and can ride longer and in more comfort as it reduces fatigue - one of the best upgrades!!! Gearing, since my bike has SRAM Apex group set, I got the 1x12 Ratio technology 12sp upgrade and use SRAM 10-50 cassette. Which ever my next gravel bike will be, definitely I will go for Apex Eagle 1x12 or Shimano GRX 1x12. I carry with me the Weldtite TL repair kit. Used it once on my tyre Panaracer Gravelking SS 38mm when the hole was to big to be sealed, it worked perfectly. Suspension on a gravel bike, that is something I do not want since I also do MTB, but for those that ride only lite terrain max and want just one universal bike, why not. What I do not agree - dropper post on a gravel bike??? How often will it be needed? You can ride trails on a gravel bike, but it is not fun as you have to be super careful. That is for MTB. As you mentioned in a video some time ago, with a dropper on gravel bike you will be missing vibration reduction features of a carbon post (possibly with some damper, Ergon, Canyon CF, Specialized CG-R, etc.) which is a lot more important for gravel.

[@jreemz2832]

I did 40 miles on my gravel bike today with mixed terrain and literally thought about suspension 😂 👍

[@mountaincruiser817]

You forgot to mention that there are just a view gravelbikes that can handle a suspension fork. These forks are 4/5 cm longer and will screw up most geo's.

[@davec5615]

Gravel suspension, stem plus eesilk+ seatpost, is awesome. At least now a road ride isn't too much worse than a dual suspenion mtb ride. WTH, where do you live that you have smooth pavement? I travel all over the west and pavement sucks. I wonder if the people making the mtb comments ride more than a mile on a road, say from parking lot to trailhead?

[@gregweever5895]

Love my rock Shox fork, I love it

[@turbo_nerd86]

lol if you're going to go after all that suspension just gets an XC mtb and just put drop bars on it. Heck, put thick gravel tires on an XC mtb, that will be a cheaper option.

[@monty2078]

Bar bags are a lot better than cargo bibs.

[@kidShibuya]

7:10 sorry but that was the navigation section and none of those bike GPS are much use in navigation. Like if you are out somewhere and then see a path you want to explore... Nope. Those devices need pre planned routes loaded up before you set out. Some have a limited ability to make a route on the fly but are difficult to use, and good luck if you actually don't know where you want to go and just want to be navigated to the nearest coffee shop. They are made for viewing power numbers, but something more simple like a Beeline just blows them away for navigation, it's not even close.

[@ronaldomac4918]

Glad i read this now, i'm gonna look into the Beeline cheers :)

[@ViktorNavotny]

I prefer the kinekt / vecnum suspension stem over redshift for their parallelogram design

[@tiagobel]

modern gravel bikes are evolving to 90's mountain bikes

[@vwgtiron]

Being comfortable can be done while adding in the "adventure"

[@AlbaTech]

Dynaplugs are good but spare plugs have been almost impossible to source in the UK for months - any good cycling journalist could tell you that.

[@saxon1376]

Just bought two packs of spares in tiso Perth Scotland £10.99 a pack . But yea took me a month to find those 😂😂

[@BalamTryba]

dynaplug is the only plug worth using and it's excellent, also made in Chico California by a family business

[@aznwierdone]

@1:20 mpr? :p

[@billd6565]

At the start of the video while highlighting the forks, why was the Fox 32 Taper Cast fork shown only from the back?

[@spdaltid]

Now, add a flat bar....

[@verdi6092]

Slowly shifting to an xc bike 😅

[@goodeggnogg7038]

Flat bars and Suspension!😄

[@Jacob99174]

Upgrade to a XC MTB 😂

[@andrewblakesley4202]

So much cheaper for a better ride

[@stiffjalopy4189]

I like drop bars, tho!

[@vault-boydan4984]

Buy a 29er hardtail and never look for a gravel bike in the first place.

[@germi1]

After researching and testing quite a few gravel bikes… I bought a Specialized Epic HT 😂 So happy about it

[@lexington476]

All those suspension upgrades, you're trying to retrofit a gravel bike into a mountain bike. If you're on that rough of terrain or gravel road ride the mountain bike 🙂.

[@tornagawn]

Er yeah, short travel hard tail mountain bikes are the dogs danglies….as they were in the 1990’s

[@jarosawniekrasz5123]

nooooooo Gravel is not MTB XC

[@nabenduroy8680]

mrp not mpr😅

[@CreativeFishDesignsCharlotte]

your work is great but the choices here are the worst, especially if u know anything about the difference of mtb and road head tube angles . thats the review we NEED case i can use almost any 200-500 mtb fork and it kills all of the ones given here

[@usagiyojimbo5944]

Please do not beg the 80% non-subscribers to subscribe, make them want to subscribe by making more consistent and charming videos like Andrew Dodd did on GMBN-Tech. Sorry, but the bar is set to "high" (extremely high, actually).

[@duncanking5272]

Shocks without lockout are a climbing killer. Expect 30% of you effort disappearing into your shocks.

[@rdanby]

I left when I heard 'suspension' 😞

[@jazzechos1372]

Here is more crap that you need to buy to be able to ride...lets make something that was intended to be off the beaten path type riding and a bit more towards the endurance type riding as smooth riding road. Welcome to the inflation of the bike industry of unnecessary shit and its downfall. (commercialization at all levels)

[@JogieGlenMait16]

First item and it's already giving me BS vibes. 😂 Gravel bikes, yeah right.

[@kjracz15]

When are we gonna have "mud" bikes? Oh, those don't exist yet. Shit, did I just give manufacturers an idea? 🤣🤣

[@Da-id3xn]

Next thing will be wider tyres, and then we will discover the mountain bike.

[@terrykeller5495]

If you are riding terrain that requires a suspension fork, then you need a mountain bike.

[@chaotictattoo]

The first upgrade is the stupidest upgrade lol Good job bud but try again and let’s keep the gravel bike an actual gravel bike

[@HLS6935]

Too many ads!! Thumbs down.

[@erikhanhy9033]

You lost me with suspension

[@alikabok-es4sx]

Gravel bike, the biggest marketing hype since bottled water. I remember the pain and discomfort of riding my MTB before suspension were invented. Totally asinine. If you are out on the trails, ride a MTB. Gravel bike is nothing but an old MTB, no suspension.