Ok my hands up I got sucked into believing that a gravel bike would be my one bike to rule them all,luckily I managed to flog the damn thing when I realized my 29 er with some skinny tires and bar ends did the business much better.

I’ll second the “try touring tires” I run some 47 mm conty tour rides for graveling around here and they are bloody excellent. also got some 38 mm schwalbe cx tires for 12 quid each and there pretty good to.

My commute involves about a mile of unsurfaced farm track which is nominally dirt/gravel, with various degrees of potholing dpending upon how long it has been since it was ‘graded’.

My cyclocross bike on 28mm Schwalbe Duranos copes with it fine, even when trying to ride it as hard as possible.

The XC 29er is quicker on most (non-sealed) terrain, though.

A 29er with drop (or Mary’s/Midges) bars would make for a quick all-day, all-terrain bike.

I do like the cyclocross bike for rides that involve roads and nipping onto light trails.

I think a lot of people are seriously over tired, I tried some 2.25 tires and found my self knakerd out it felt like the brakes were on the whole time.

Over tyred?…get the right 2.25 tyres then, a lot will depend on tread pattern, compound, and pressure. Tyre size doesn’t make a tyre draggy or slow.

DiscJockey – Member
Ride the 3 Peaks CX, and you’ll realise 35mm tyres can cope with anything…

Of course they can.

If your idea of a good day out in the bike isn’t consumed with the need for speed, then you will probably enjoy the lack of vibration from fatter tyres, the lack of need to be intently focussed on the 5 metres immediately in front of your wheel, and the lack of needing to drop your riding companions.

You’ll be able to enjoy the views, the stops, the company, and the whole being out in the countryside thing.

It’s also nice not to so concerned about dinging your rims or getting punctures.

A good comparison was made earlier about the difference between a race bike and a sportive bike. I’d reckon race to touring bike is more like my idea.

For me the difference is in how much road you are having to do, a ‘gravel’ bike would be fine for a big portion of road work and you should be able to keep up with average roadies. A 29er XC bike can cope with much steeper, rougher terrain but is a bit of a slog on the road.

You’ll be able to enjoy the views, the stops, the company, and the whole being out in the countryside thing.

I do that when walking the dog. When on my bike I want to go as fast as possible and a bike on tough road tyres is great for my use of 40% road/60% easy off road. I don’t own what would be called a gravel bike though…

kerley – Member
I do that when walking the dog. When on my bike I want to go as fast as possible and a bike on tough road tyres is great for my use of 40% road/60% easy off road. I don’t own what would be called a gravel bike though…

Fair enough. I don’t think “gravel” bikes are really the optimum tool for the fast people.

I’m lucky enough to have hundreds of miles of gravel roads on my doorstep or riding distance away, and it’s easy to concoct a 80 – 100 mile loop with mainly offroad, especially if you’re prepared to do some short hike-a-bikes between them.

I’ll take a 2″ plus tyre for that any day.

Scotroutes mentioned the Flow country up in Caithness and Sutherland. There’s some long rides that can be done up there where an mtb is overkill and a road bike is ok but lacking. I can highly recommend it, and there were some great books written by Ralph McGregor to whet your anticipation.

Another difference between ‘gravel’ bikes and CX bikes is that the former often have drillings for front and rear racks and mudguards. Manufacturers have also been recently pushing ‘adventure’ bikes, but from what I can tell these are the same as gravel bikes.

I also read that gravel bikes sometimes have slightly more relaxed head angles and shorter stems than CX bikes, which makes them slightly more stable on fast, smooth offroad ‘gravel’ tracks.

As for tyre clearance, I don’t think there’s much difference between gravel and the latest CX bikes, as both are built round 29er disk wheels. A few years back CX bikes were built around road wheels, but those days are over thankfully. I had the choice between both types when buying a new frameset last week and went for CX, as it looked better without all the rack mounts and other gubbins….

As Ollybus says, having a gravel/CX bike does lead to discovering new trails and using road sections to join things up. However, people have been doing this for many decades on touring and CX bikes.

I think the OP was asking about events/races. People forget how hard it is to organise and run events. There are only so many people willing to help out with such things, and the UK scene is getting quite saturated, especially with the amount of sportives. Having said that, there were many more events than I could have done this year if I’d really wanted to go as quick as possible on trails with my CX bike. They weren’t, however called ‘gravel’ events.

Aristotle – Member
The Land Cruiser is particularly good for all-round, on/off road use.

The land cruiser is a horrible tyre.

plus 1 for the horribleness of land cruisers.

It’s a go anywhere approach, big distance, self sufficiency, not seeking technicality, but covering the miles in a big place etc….

What the hells bells does any of that have to do with “gravel bikes” ?

You can do that on a normal MTB. I reckon in the UK a rigid 29er is the best tool. Set it up right it’ll be fast enough on road but you’ll be able to link up your ‘gnarmac’ and ‘gravel’ with the rocky trails and enjoy them. Drop bars optionally available.

I don’t think there is any meaningful difference between a cx and gravel bike – see what people ride in stuff like the Dirty Kanza.

My old Kona Major Jake below does events like Cross Mountain and HONC and long CTC day on mostly roads all equally well and comfortably – and its got road wheels and cantis.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/wu2xWt]P1000429[/url] by jamesanderson2010, on Flickr

What the hells bells does any of that have to do with “gravel bikes” ?

Nothing, for us. Just marketing. Probably relevant elsewhere though. Sure I said this already, more or less.

It’s a reaction to the ‘Endurofication’ of XC mountain bikes. Half the folk I ride with have gone down the bigger bike/pyjamas/big helmet route of Enduro. MTBs have variously become XC race, Trail, Enduro, Freeride, All Mountain, Fat, Plus, etc, etc. We all want the niche that plays to our abilities/desires.
I stuck bigger tyres and discs on my CX bike a few years ago to increase the fun to be had from those old skool MTB routes – bit of road, forest tracks and non MTB specific singletrack. Loads of folk have done similar and the industry is now just tuning into it here. There’ll be loads more kit available in 2017 for those who want to spend on it. It’s not about speed. Diversity is good mkay.

Apart from thinner than MTB tyres, or bigger than road tyres, what’s so special about a gravel bike, is it the drop bars? If not why can’t you use a flat bar commuter type bike with the right tyres? Would that just be a 29er?

Something like a Fargo seems ideal, no limit to the mud clearance when you’re running 45mm tyres and it should be as quick.

I’m not sure why people are so bothered by what bikes other people like to ride but buying my gravel bike got me back in to riding after a big layoff.

I love it’s versatility as I have done great rides ranging from 100mile paved all dayers to 2hr blasts through the woods with exactly the same setup.

Yes, a road bike is faster on the road, and MTB faster offroad but around many of the mixed surface routes I do from my door, neither are as quick or enjoyable as the gravel bike.

I have just put some Panaracer Gravel Kings 700×40 on my bike, I have done a 150 miles on the road so far and they seem to roll quite well, Also a 2hr ride in the woods and they handle everything pretty well but were a bit sketchy on loose gravel…but possibly the tyres were over inflated. I have also had a crack at 2 dry and dusty Cyclocross races on them and I had no issues.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/M7vYNY]dirti-travers-56cm-titanium_orig[/url] by Michael Travers, on Flickr

happybiker – Member
Apart from thinner than MTB tyres, or bigger than road tyres, what’s so special about a gravel bike, is it the drop bars? If not why can’t you use a flat bar commuter type bike with the right tyres? Would that just be a 29er?

Something like a Fargo seems ideal, no limit to the mud clearance when you’re running 45mm tyres and it should be as quick.
The Fargo is a great bike and almost there.

A bike is a bike. As far as I’m concerned anything you can stick high volume tyres on, allows a decent riding position for road use and still have room for the more active positions offroad can do the job. All the rest comes down to aesthetics and what material you want it in.

There’s lots of good bikes out there that can be used like this, but none are quite there yet IMO. Ideally it should be possible to have the high volume tyres (I mean at least 2″ and preferably 2.35″) and fit mudguards. It should also be possible to fit luggage – although with a larger front triangle than an mtb, there’s plenty room for a frame bag which is better, again IMO.

If I was designing one for myself I’d want a touring bike style for the general outline because their steering heads are higher, about 72º for HA, plenty of braze-ons for the bits that need to be attached and of course plenty tyre room.

The result would be useless for racing, but all you fast guys buy specialist bikes anyway.

However if you had to have one bike, it would be the one you could ride anywhere and if you live in the Highlands there’s plenty of anywhere to ride it. 🙂

(At the moment my modified TD-1 is doing the job for me. It lacks mounts for mudguard and luggage, and I have a huge stack of spacers to get the bars right ,which looks ugly. A Scandal is also good, so maybe we need Brant to design the perfect bike 🙂 .)

People have been riding UK by-ways since the days there was only one sort of bike. Looking at what RSF (http://www.rsf.org.uk/) people are riding these days, most seem to favour bog standard MTBs:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelely/sets/72157671127066760

As people have said above, we don’t have long distance graded gravel roads like North America, where a specialised bike might be more appropriate. In my experience, the variety of terrain and surface that you can encounter on a typical UK off tarmac ride makes an MTB the best all round choice.

kcr – Member
…As people have said above, we don’t have long distance graded gravel roads like North America, where a specialised bike might be more appropriate…

That may apply in England, but up here you can get in a decent days ride on them.

They make good sense n Aus too. Lots and lots of graded roads once you are a short way out of the CBDs.

I bought a Norco Search, will take 40c but currently still running the XPlor it came with at 35c. Mate has 40c Gravel Grinders on his and those will be my next tyres I think. Depends on how they wear at the price though.

Strava tells me I have done more distance on this bike than any of the others in the last two years and I only got it in January.

Well my commuter bike is now being touted as an “adventure bike” I think it was a CX bike when I bought it. Who knew that a bike could adapt to become a new species? 🙄

I’ve often said that the CX bike is closest to what was once called “a bike”. This is before the original mountain bikes came on the scene. You had a choice between a “bike” and a “racing bike”. (OK, there were also the odd-balls like the Raleigh Chopper) What’s changed frame wise? Slacker geometry; room for wider tyres; disc brakes. That’s about it really. Cheap manufacturing in the far East means things like double butted tubing are available further down the price range, STI rather than down tube shifters, more gears (derailleur and internal hub), disk brakes rather than cantis or rim brakes. At the end of the day, it’s “a bike”.

My commuter/CX/Adventure bike has 35C tyres on it, there looks like clearance for 38C, not sure about 40C but if it won’t take them I won’t beat myself up about it.

The “problem” with the various niches like fat bikes, semi-fat/Plus/+ bikes, gravel bikes, etc. is precisely that: they are niches. One of my LBSs claims to be one of the UK’s largest independent bike stores and they don’t have either fat or semi-fat tyres on show, looking at their website they have just one model of 650b+ tyre available. The 650b+ “niche” has been around for a couple of years now and still not a lot of choice. When you look at the sheer number of tyre options around then it’s no surprise that the generic bike shops stick with the core sizes and models, having three or four tyres each of half a dozen models that *may* get one customer a year asking about them doesn’t make good business sense – every square metre of shop floor costs money and the stock that occupies that space has to earn its keep. This “risk aversion” (for want of a better term) by the mainstream bike shops allows smaller shops to target those markets and make a business out of it by standing out from the crowd.

The downside for us as customers is that there’s less choice and what choice is on offer doesn’t benefit from the economy of scale so the tyres are more expensive. In biking as in nature, being a specialist is high risk.

I actually think it’s great that we now have the Gravel category. It means that CX can just be used for those bikes most suitable for Cyclo-cross.

Back to tires.

This thread comes at an interesting time, this week I have been testing tires.

the caste

onOne inbred 29er with a gary fisher G2 80 mm tora air fork.
Schwalbe 2.25 rabid rob
Contiinental 47mm tour ride
Schwalbe 38mm CX pro

all tires had for less the 15 quid each from CRC I dont pay car prices for bike tires.
all tires run at manufacturers lowest recommended psi
all tires run on same wheel set several days of rest between each ride.

The course.

28 km
20 km of canal tow path path mostly quite rough and grassed over slick with wet leaves some gravel fire roads.
4 km woodland mainly flat not many rocks or roots
4 km road mainly flat yes its all flat here.

Day one the conti tour rides.
very fast rolling great on gravel but dodgy on the slimy bits
came home at the sprint great ride.

day 2 the schwalbe CX pros
Fast fast fast good grip was two gears faster most of the route and came home at the sprint.

day 3 Schwalbe Rapid rob
Rapid thats a joke these tires felt like riding in treacle the bike wont roll at all and feels like a chore I came home shagged and no sprint finish . this tire was more comfortable than the others over the rough.

ok please dont slag me off this is a test i did for my own benefit to find what suits my riding and conditions flat mainly hard pack and mainly smoothish terrain here in central France

conclusion for me the fat tires just sucked my energy I felt tired the rest of the day and really did not enjoy the ride the other two are keepers conti for summer Schwale CX for winter.

That may apply in England, but up here you can get in a decent days ride on them.

I live in Scotland, and I’m sure you can do a decent day’s ride on a gravel bike. However, when I’ve done a big day out in the Highlands it is not unusual to have tarmac, well graded dirt track, heavily eroded Landy track, big rocks, steep loose climbs and a bit of heather single track all in the same ride, and the MTB handles that range of stuff best (for me).

wicki – Member
…conclusion for me the fat tires just sucked my energy I felt tired the rest of the day and really did not enjoy the ride the other two are keepers conti for summer Schwale CX for winter.

Cheap fat tyres do that.

If you want an easy rolling fat tyre, then it has to be supple. You don’t get that at £15. That’s BSO territory, and as the tyre is the most important part of the bike, it’s one area not to economise on.

Have a read of this.

What KCR said.

Down here in the Welsh Valleys a long ride can include quite a bit of road, but it’s usually steep singletrack lanes that can be quite rough; then the big tracks are stony and rough – at least the ones you want to ride on. Then there are also some cracking steep rocky technical descents that you can put in if your bike can handle it, and also chossy bits of rooty forest that are fun.

My Salsa’s the perfect bike for it. I’ve got 2.35s on at the moment, wanted some 2.0s this summer for use in Swindon though but never got round to buying any. I had 32c road tyres on it for a road ride this summer and they didn’t look too small really, so perhaps some chunky 38 or 40 would work well.

However, when I’ve done a big day out in the Highlands it is not unusual to have tarmac, well graded dirt track, heavily eroded Landy track, big rocks, steep loose climbs and a bit of heather single track all in the same ride, and the MTB handles that range of stuff best

OTOH,it does crease me up when I see folk piloting their £4k endurosleds round Rothiemurchus forest….

Horses for courses you can ride a shire in a race but don’t expect to win

Tell him what you’re after and he can have it built for you.

scotroutes – Member
“epicyclo » so maybe we need Brant to design the perfect bike’
Tell him what you’re after and he can have it built for you.

I have designed my own, just need to get around to building it. 🙂

I recently put some Kenda Flintridge Pros (700×40) on my mountain bike for commuting. My commuting route is 50% offroad, 50% on. I didnt want fatter tyres as I wanted to park in the secure bike racks at my destination. The bike flies both on and offroad and is hopefully puncture existent. It didnt take long for me to want luggage on the bike rather than my back and with winter approaching mudguards look like a good option so a gravel/adventure bike seems the perfect choice.

If you can’t get the tyres you want in the UK there are plenty of places in Europe happy to oblige.

At the Cycle Show yesterday and Upgrade/Kinesis had Vee Rubber Rails on the Tripster etc. Rory rode and rated them on the DR200 in April and, while not especially light, they look a decent tyre for the sort of riding you describe. They’ll not break the bank either. Contact Upgrade for availability, but they have them.
Previously on CRC – I know this link is for 27.5″, but they do 700x40mm

I have been running the vee rail in 29×1.75 this Summer, been great fun. Plenty of room out back, little tight up front, but a dry summer it’s been fine. I’m moving to Ritchey Megabite 38c for the winter, when the bike is not in full cross mode.

Ooh, that’s a Barbie bike from circa 1983! They’re rare!

I wasn’t allowed one, and was forced to ride BMX and then a mtb in the 80s. Forward to 41 I’m answering that pain.