I use DiscoBrakes for my pads…take your pick.
Whether you use them or not there’s plenty of info there.
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Excellent stuff, cheers!
So sintered for winter and ceramic for dry and no noise 
Seatpacks are okay. Maybe if you pack something heavy at the outer end it’s not so good but I’ve never noticed an issue even well stuffed full. Mine’s only a cheap PodSac.
Frame bags are neat but they’re surprisingly small capacity. Think I’d get Reiver required kit in mine plus pockets, but not with flipflops or any spare clothes. Top tip is get side entry bottle cages. I’ve got two of these.
Your wheel budget = my bike budget so can’t help there but I have 700c and 650b and swap them. It’s okay but derailleur needs a couple of turns to adjust (easy) and discs are about 0.5 mm out (pita). You can get centrelock shims but I haven’t tried yet (mostly appalled by the price 
) CENTRE LOCK SHIMS – CYCLO CROSS RACER
Disc brake pads seem hit-and-miss to me. Unlike rim brake pads I’ve so far not noticed a clear difference based on price. Yes, resin are nicer in summer but if it’s muddy/gritty, hilly, and wet you can go through a pair in a single, long ride.
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I’ve always run Shimano metal pads until recently when I had to get a new caliper which came with resin pads. Can’t say I’ve noticed any noise difference between the two, they’re both pretty quiet
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Just added you (if a weird name pops up)….
I went for Galfer (Blue I think) replacement pads after it was getting too hard and expensive to get the Shimanos. I personally didn’t fancy the likes of the cheaper rebranded ones from uberbike and the likes and preferred something from an actual brake pad/disc manufacturer.
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Organic ones are shite, if you want to actually slowdown. Think you’ll need sintered.
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When I did Brevet Cymru, I used a Topeak frame bag and a bento bag for handy bits. When it got dark the remote headlight battery went in the bento/top tube bag.
I zip tied a bottle cage behind the seat, but didn’t use in the end, as there were always places to replenish, using the 1ltr bottle on the seat tube. Might be different for you?
I would take a good quality compact pump, as you don’t want to rely on CO2 in the middle of nowhere. I think mine is a Lezyne Road Drive, anyway it expands as you use it. I had a tool/spares caddy on the downtube.
When is the event? We need some early bike pics.
I can get 32mm gravel tyres on my Canyon with reasonable chainstay clearance, so could possibly do an event that wasn’t too chunky surface wise.
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Going tubeless, so won’t be using that, as the sealant doesn’t work 
DR200 is 22/04
3-day trip is sometime in August, I’ll just do it on the nicest days.
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What tyres are you running for DR?
Pirelli Cinturato H 40mm
From what I’ve seen, it’s all fire roads or tarmac, so no need for knobblies.
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40mm will be like pillows then 
When I’ve seen images of the American gravel events, they seem to be riding pretty conventional bikes with maybe 30-33mm tyres. I guess they have millions of kms of smooth gravel there.
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They are!!!
I went out on the 28mm winter road bike tyres on Friday and they were like rocks in comparison.
It feels like I have suspension, totally absorbs all cobbles, they are brilliant 
I might go a little narrower and slicker, depends on what the weather has been doing.
And yes, the US stuff is more like “proper” gravel.
Over here, it’s a mixture of muck, mulch, mud, grit and bricks, with not much actual “gravel”
Mind you, the Trans Pennine Trail is proper gravel, as is a lot of Macclesfield Forest, so I’ll have to go and check those out soon.
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I asked this on another thread but keen to up my cycling in a fun way this year. Do any of the gravel events in the UK have mtb riders in them, or are there too many road/fast sections to not make it viable?
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From what I’ve seen - LOADS!!!
You would not be on your own at all
just search YouTube for “Dirty Reiver” and have a watch of some of the videos and you’ll see
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The UK used to have lots of gravel roads, but as a small highly industrialised nation we metalled them all in the 20th century and now we call them B roads.
IMHO much of the UK’s “gravel” is probably far better suited for a hard tail 29er MTB with a good lock-out on the front fork, but road bikes with fat tyres (aka gravel bikes) are fashionable currently because America.
@Poet… Those Pirelli tyres look 
.
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Yeah, cooler than just calling them CX bikes without canti brakes!
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I have used these on my Endurace in the winter, and on Bridleways; quite a nice tyre. Mine are branded Clement, before they changed the name of the company. Strada USH.
remember real CX aren’t allowed fat tyres
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