the ultimate quest for comfort: open wi.de. vs niner mcr 9 rdo
I am a huge fan of bikes that makes the ride as comfortable as possible and I believe that we are now approaching the limit of what is possible in terms of comfort of our gravel bikes. I mean we have a bike that can take 2,4 650 b tire (Open Wi.De.) and a full suspension gravel bike from Niner. Both are promising a magic carpet ride but both are doing it in a very different ways and I am very interested in finding which will be better...
A 61 mm tire run tubeless and with low pressure will act as a low travel suspension (like 40 mm found in Niner MCR 9 RDO) but it will also affect handling quite a bit (especially in corners, but also on asphalt). Niner will use much narrower tires with higher pressure to avoid this kind of problems so it looks like Niner could be better but then we go to the bikes geometry and we see that Open Wi.De. is much lighter and shorter so it will be much more nimble and fun to ride (and there is no real suspension that will affect your ride and pedaling power).
So it looks like a draw but then if you can dd to Open Wi.De. a Redshift sunspension stem, Canyon VCLS 2.0 seatpost and increase tire pressure a little bit you will resolve the low pressure handling problems and in the end possibly get the most comfortable yet fun to ride gravel bike ever.
What do you think?
A 61 mm tire run tubeless and with low pressure will act as a low travel suspension (like 40 mm found in Niner MCR 9 RDO) but it will also affect handling quite a bit (especially in corners, but also on asphalt). Niner will use much narrower tires with higher pressure to avoid this kind of problems so it looks like Niner could be better but then we go to the bikes geometry and we see that Open Wi.De. is much lighter and shorter so it will be much more nimble and fun to ride (and there is no real suspension that will affect your ride and pedaling power).
So it looks like a draw but then if you can dd to Open Wi.De. a Redshift sunspension stem, Canyon VCLS 2.0 seatpost and increase tire pressure a little bit you will resolve the low pressure handling problems and in the end possibly get the most comfortable yet fun to ride gravel bike ever.
What do you think?