There’s a lot you can do to upgrade your gravel bike for off-road riding. Some extras, like more padded bar tape or a saddle upgrade, will add a little more comfort to a bike that’s going to be jolting you around, often for an extended period.
Others, like tubeless tech or tyre inserts, will increase reliability and reduce your potential down-time for punctures or other mechanicals. Then there are upgrades, like new wheels or a dropper post, that will increase performance. Still others, including bags, lights and straps, will equip you for bikepacking expeditions.
You don’t have to spend a fortune to make some real differences to your gravel experience, so here we’ve rounded up some inexpensive options, as well as some costlier ones.
We’ve plenty of suggestions and have explained why we reckon each will make a difference, and we’ve also recommended some specific products for each, most of which we’ve tried and tested here at Cyclist. We’ve also added links to our other buyer’s guides if you are looking for more options for a specific item.
14 of the best gravel bike upgrades
1. New bar tape
Much like bar tape for road bikes, there’s a lot to be gained by choosing the right bar tape for your gravel bike. You can buy gravel-specific tape that’s extra thick to cushion your hands, usually at least 3mm thick, and extra-grippy to help keep them attached to the bars.
As usual, there’s an earth-coloured gravel template usually on offer, although sticking to black seems sensible to cut down on the inevitable clean-up.
- ODI Performance 3.5mm bar tape (£19.99 at Tredz)
- Fizik Terra Bondcush bar tape (£22.00 at Merlin Cycles)
2. Cargo straps
While road riders can usually fit everything into their jersey pockets and maybe a saddle pack, gravel riding often involves carrying more stuff. Bikepacking means strapping a whole lot of stuff to your bike and the ability to lash small items somewhere convenient makes things a lot easier.
Cargo straps come in many designs but Voile straps (sold under both the Voile brand and licensed alternatives) are really versatile and quick to use, with a range of lengths to suit everything from a pump to a tent and you can link up multiple straps to hold larger loads. There are some great colours too.
If Voile is too rich for your blood, there are some decent cheaper alternatives,
- PDW Voile Strap 15″ (£8.50 at Condor Cycles)
- Ortlieb O Strap 190mm (£5.00 at Tredz)
3. Tyre inserts
If you’re fed up with punctures, it may be time to try tyre inserts. They won’t stop punctures from occurring, but may help you to keep moving when one does occur. They also allow you to run lower pressures, for better grip in poor conditions, with a lower risk of sidewall damage or burping.
- Vittoria Air-Liner tyre insert (From £24.98 at Merlin Cycles)
4. New tyres
Gravel bike tyres can be tricky as they need to be adapted for the conditions. A set that works well in the mud of winter will usually feel lifeless on dry summer trails.
Conversely, a low profile tread that works well in the summer will see you slipping around once things get damp. So although an all-rounder tyre might work well most of the time, it’s worth having a few different options that you can swap in as the seasons and the conditions change.
For a versatile all-rounder, consider the Schwalbe G-One R or the Vittoria Terreno Mix.
- Schwalbe G-One R Evo (£62.99 at Merlin Cycles)
- Vittoria Terreno Mix (£25.49 at Tweeks Cycles)
5. Bar bag
Further to that how to carry extra things problem, a bar bag is a great option when riding gravel. On your bars, it’s easier to get to while riding and it’s not as prone to get dirty as a saddle pack.
We’ve reviewed a range of the best bar bags in a variety of sizes, from the compact, allowing you to carry a few ride extras, to full-sized bar bags which can carry a substantial part of a bikepacking load.
- Restrap Cannister bar bag (£50.00 at Sigma Sports)
- Altura Vortex 2 bar bag (£29.00 at Merlin Cycles)
6. Tubeless tech
Running tubeless is a godsend off-road, helping to avoid down time for fixing punctures and keep you running more smoothly. If you’ve not set up tubeless yet, you can buy everything you need – rim tape, valves, sealant as a tubeless kit, making setup easier.
- Muc-Off Ultimate Tubeless Set-Up Kit (£26.99 at Merlin Cycles)
- Peaty’s Tubeless Conversion Kit (£24.74 at Tredz)
Alternatively, buy the parts separately. Many tubeless-ready wheelsets will come pre-taped, but tubeless tech isn’t fit-and-forget, so you’ll need a bottle of sealant to keep your sealant levels topped up as it dries over time.
- Stan’s No Tubes Sealant (£16.00 at Tredz)
- Muc-Off No Puncture Hassle sealant (£22.99 at Merlin Cycles)
Checking sealant level usually means popping a tyre bead and then adding more sealant and reseating the tyre, but the Milkit valve system uses a syringe that can be pushed through the special Milkit valves to check the sealant and top it up if necessary. It’s pricy but very useful.
- Milkit tubeless valve kit (£38.99 at Condor Cycles)
Tubeless valves also offer an opportunity to pimp your gravel bike, with a range of colours and designs that inner tubes just don’t give you.
- Muc-Off V2 tubeless valves (£19.99 at Merlin Cycles)
- Peaty’s x Chris King Tubeless MK2 Valves (From £22.00 at Merlin Cycles)
If you do get that pesky flat that’s too large for the sealant to seal, it may be time for a tyre plug. The best tyre plugs are quick to use and can save a ride. Many tyre plug kits are also very compact and easy to carry around, so they won’t take up too much space even if you don’t need to use them very often.
- Muc-Off Puncture Repair Plug Kit (£8.99 at Merlin Cycles)
- Stan’s Dart Tubeless Repair Tool (£21.50 at Merlin Cycles)
Finally, a TPU inner tube can get you out of trouble if all else fails. It’s expensive, but a lot more compact and durable than a standard butyl inner tube.
- Tubolito inner tube (£27.99 at Condor Cycles)
- Vittoria TPU inner tube (£29.99 at Condor Cycles)
7. Saddle
Your saddle is critical for your comfort, so if you’re not getting on with the stock saddle on your gravel bike, it might be worth looking for something specifically designed for gravel riding. Gravel bike saddles tend to have more padding than models designed for road use, but may have a wider central pressure relief channel.
If there’s a cut-out it may have a rubber membrane under it to stop dirt from spraying your shorts. It may have a more grippy surface to help you keep in place and could have more durable metal rails rather than carbon.
- Fizik Terra Argo X3 saddle (£139.99 at Tredz)
- Prologo Dimension AGX Tirox 143 saddle (£104.99 at Tredz)
8. Dropper post
If your gravel riding is taking you to more technical terrain, you might benefit from a dropper seatpost as fitted to most decent mountain bikes. This allows you, via a lever on the bars or a repurposed left shift lever, to release the seatpost locking mechanism and lower the seatpost,
Dropper posts for gravel bikes typically offer between 50mm and 120mm of travel to get the saddle out of the way when you are descending, helping you to push your weight back and lower your centre of gravity.
Many gravel bike frames are now designed to allow you to fit a dropper seatpost with internal cable routing, so apart from the extra cable from the bars to the frame, there’s no external change to your bike. Make sure that you get a dropper post that’s the right diameter for your seat tube though – many designed for mountain bikes will be too large.
- RockShox Reverb Stealth dropper post (£159.99 at Merlin Cycles)
- Easton EA70 AX dropper post (£189.99 at Chain Reaction Cycles)
9. Wheels
As with any bike, a wheel upgrade to your gravel bike can change the character of your ride. The best gravel bike wheels tend to have wider rims than many road-going wheelsets, to better support wider gravel tyres.
They’ll certainly be tubeless-ready and designed for disc brake use and they’ll often include shallow aero rim profiles. Surprisingly, despite the extra abuse they’re likely to get off-road, many high-end gravel bike wheelsets are as light as road wheelsets, helping to liven your bike up.
- Mavic Allroad S gravel wheelset (£349.00 at Merlin Cycles)
- Enve Foundation AG25 gravel wheelset (£1,850 at Merlin Cycles)
10. Cockpit
Another gravel-specific component, gravel bars come in a range of widths, drops and shapes. Typically, gravel bike handlebars are wide, with a flare to the drops, which are quite shallow, although some gravel bikes are fitted with bars which are more like those on a road bike. Gravel bike bars are usually made of aluminium alloy, so they’re relatively cheap to replace.
- Zipp Service Course SL70 XPLR gravel handlebar (£121.00 at Sigma Sports)
- Deda Gera gravel handlebar (£64.99 at Merlin Cycles)
A wider bar can improve ease of steering by providing more leverage. Some have a very pronounced flare, which positions your brake levers at an angle. Some riders like the wide flare, others not so much, but it does increase the room available if you plan to carry a wider bar bag, perhaps to stow a sleeping bag for bikepacking.
If you want to increase your comfort more on uneven ground, you could consider a suspension stem, like that made by Redshift Sports.
- Redshift Sports Shockstop stem (£179.00 at Sigma Sports)
11. Brake pads
An appropriate brake pad is another item that can make a difference to your gravel rides. Heat dissipation is important, as opportunities to release your brakes may not be as frequent on a long gravel descent as on a faster descent on tarmac.
Low wear is also important. So you can buy gravel-specific brake pads that are designed to cope with riding off-road. They’re particularly useful when bikepacking or if you have an electric gravel bike which will be heavier and may be ridden faster.
Look out for compatibility with your brake calliper though – no two pads are the same shape and size.
- Shimano disc brake pads for GRX callipers (£22.99 at Merlin Cycles)
- SwissStop SRAM HRD brake pads (From £17.99 at Merlin Cycles)
12. Gearing
Gravel bike groupsets are usually, but not always, designed with wider, lower gear ranges to handle climbs off-road. Most modern groupsets will allow you to select gearing down to 1:1 and gravel bike groupsets often go significantly lower than this. If you don’t think that your gear range is right for you, it may be worth seeing if you can fit a cassette with a different range.
- Shimano 105 11-34t cassette (£51.95 at Merlin Cycles)
- SRAM Rival 10-36t 12-speed cassette (£118.00 at Tredz)
Super-compact crankset with 48/32 or 46/30 ratios are now usually fitted to gravel bikes. If yours has a standard 50/34 compact crank and you want lower gearing, a super-compact chainset may be worth considering.
Unfortunately, this usually means changing the entire crankset though, as most compacts cannot be used with super-compact chainrings. Some of SRAM’s single ring groupsets give you more flexibility in choosing your gearing though, with smaller chainrings available.
- SRAM X-Sync direct mount chainring (From £61.00 at Tredz)
- Shimano GRX RX600 chainring (From £33.30 at Tweeks Cycles)
13. Short mudguards
At any time of year, conditions off-road can be wet and muddy, so the extra protection offered by mudguards is an advantage. Although many gravel bikes have mounting points for full mudguards, these aren’t ideally for gravel riding on really rough or muddy terrain. Short mudguards can be a better bet as they avoid clearance and clogging issues.
- Ass Savers mudguards (From £7.00 at Tredz)
- Kinesis Fend Off Shorty mudguard (£29.00 at Merlin Cycles)
14. Off-road lights
If you’re going to be riding after dark, a high-powered front light will help you to see what’s ahead of you a lot more easily off-road, lighting up obstacles so that you can ride with more fluidity.
In fact, a pair of lights is often useful, one on your bike and one on your helmet. Between 500 and 1,000 lumens output will give a good level of illumination, but lights are available that provide much greater output, which can be useful if you’re tackling particularly technical terrain at night.
- Lezyne Marco Drive 1300XXL (£64.99 at Halfords)
- Exposure Joystick helmet light (£170.00 at Tredz)
Looking for more upgrade suggestions? Read our guide to the best road bike upgrades