I’ve guess that I’ve been riding gravel for years, long before the designation ever existed, it’s just that I’ve been enjoying doing it on steel hardtails. I’ve never been in a position to spend a lot on bikes but as my 50th birthday approaches (November) I’m toying with the idea of my first new bike in years.

I’d been thinking along the lines of building up something based around a Singlular Swift but I’m starting to wonder about a ‘proper’ gravel bike; the thing is, will I be blown away by one or end up wondering whether I’d have been happier sticking with what I know?

I’m no speed freak or racer and my current ride is a portly 27 and a bit pounds (although it gets me everywhere I want to go); something like a Pinnacle Arkose works out about 5lbs lighter (although a steel Genesis Vagabond actually works out a pound or so heavier and I reckon that I could put together a drop bar Swift a fair bit under that).

Am I going to have much more fun on a nice light gravel bike or just get around a tad quicker?

For reference, this is my current ride and I really enjoy riding it:

will I be blown away by one

I would say “unlikely”. They are by definition a compromise, I ride mine a lot, but on most rides there are bits were a road bike would be better, others where a hardtail would be better. But I know I can grab my ‘gravel bike’ (it’s a cyclocross bike) and head out for 50 or 60 miles in the cotswolds and ride pretty much anything I see.

New Tripster?? Alu or Ti

http://www.kinesisbikes.co.uk/Catalogue/Models/Adventure/Tripster-AT

Yes, you need one. I got one in January to replace my old commuter, and I love it. It’s a Rapide RL Disc 2, and weighs in at 11-ish kgs – so pretty heavy – but it rides brilliantly, and is a nice addition to my road bikes and mountain bike.

Am I going to have much more fun on a nice light gravel bike or just get around a tad quicker?

Less fun, get round quicker sometimes, when not fixing punctures after getting cocky about what your gravel bike can handle.

THIS

MTB wise it is rarely faster than my MTB on loops as you are faster up and slower down

However you can ride it anywhere

Nah, they’re rubbish.

🙂

Get an old touring bike for peanuts & adapt with WTB nano tyres, sorted. Plenty then left to spend on coke/hookers for 50th.

It depends on the style of riding you do. I bought one but didn’t really get on with it as the local riding didn’t really suit it (busy roads but lots of local woods).

If you live somewhere with nice country roads and gravel farm tracks then it’d be perfect.

I had similar thoughts but went down the monster cross route and have not regretted it so far. I expect its significantly better than a genuine crosser off road which is what I like about it. Initially it felt quite quick on road through the winter, certainly more comfortable with the drop bars. Now that summer is here I realise that its actually quite slow on the road. I could probably quite easily find some quicker tyres but I expect its still going to be on the slow side.

So tell me, do I want a gravel bike?

I remain unconvinced.

I brought one last autumn and still remain a bit underwelmed.

Better than a road bike but not as good as a mountain bike.

Never got this notion of it being a go anywhere bike. Yes you could take it down some technical stuff but you will be compromised. A mountain bike is a true go anywhere bike.

Definately a compromise. I do like my gravel / gnarmac / touring / not really a cx bike (croix de fer with 40mm nano’s). Its great for commuting but that’s about it really. For all other riding I find my self grabbing the solaris or the rigid with skinnies….can ride on the road fine with minimal drop in speed and then off road you have all the fun.

Probably personal preference a bit too as I have never really got on with drops.

Happily take the croix round swinners red trail which it copes with Hapily. It murders the fire roads but on anything a bit bumpy (and for those who ride swinley the cobbles of doom) it’s not that fun In all honesty (despite trying to force myself to enjoy it and remember all the glossy adverts I saw in the magazines).

I had visions of me riding off road shredding the gnarrr like a pro but to be honest a mountain bike is just better and more flexible – fit fat tyres for off road… Or something like a marathon or big apple on road. It really is not that much slower at all.

Road bikes are another thing so won’t comment on them as they are the devils work and should be nuked from orbit as well as the riders (IMHO of course)

bob_summers – Member

I remain unconvinced.

That looks rubbish.

The green bar tape, I mean. Obviously.

Depend where you ride.

The concept of mixed on-off road riding can be great. I love doing long rambling rides around the Valleys where there are lots of roads linking up lots of tracks. However because it’s pretty rocky, and lots of it is steep, a gravel bike would make it just too difficult to enjoy. I use a rigid 29er which is perfect. A little slower on road but still entirely comfortable; but far more capable off-road than a gravel bike. I can do most technical and rocky descents albeit slower than on my sussers, and I can ride as fast as I like on the rough stuff.

My commuter is a serviceable gravel bike (actually a drop bar hybrid but the only difference seems to be 5mm on the rear axle) and I gave up trying to plan local rides where it made sense to use it and not the rigid 29er.

If I lived somewhere else though I’d probably have one.

if i had the cash it would be spent on one of these

For me the main advantage of that sort of bike is it’s a road bike that when you see an interesting looking farm track you can go down it rather than noting it for later. It’s also nice to be able to plot out a route on a map safe in the knowledge that if it turns out that one of the tiny roads you picked turns out to be not very roady the bike will cope. I’ve once or twice done that on a road bike and it’s no fun.

It’s also nice if your local roads are at the poorly end of the maintenance spectrum.

If I was going to be riding mostly off road all day then I’d take the 29er because I like to be comfortable and it’s not that much slower even on smoothish tracks. No matter what anyone tells you 40mm tyres and drop bars are never going to be as pleasant over anything bumpy as 2.2+ inch tyres, flat bars and suspension.

The new Arkose LTD looks nice.
But if you’ve got a hardtail with some fast tubeless tyres, then you’ve already probably got the bike you seek.
On anything more rough than the most sedate fire road the bigger volume of a 29er race tyre is just faster and more comfortable.

If i was going for an adventure/gravel bike i’d be looking at something like the Mason Bokeh with two sets of wheels. That way you’ve got a gravel bike and an audax bike all in one.

Just bought a Genesis CdA for a bargain price as I really wanted to try one.

Enjoying it so far. Need some better tyres (got my eye on some Nanos). Think I want to try some flared drops too.

It’s a bit heavier than I imagined, but it feels faster on less techy stuff and it’s fun to ride!

I don’t really have any desire to do laps of the local trail centre but I am now exploring my area and going further, faster than I ever would have done on a mountain bike. I don’t have to worry about maintaining a load of shock components and bearings, I can ride from my door, it is less mucky, it is fast and I can tackle almost anything.

All bikes are a compromise, but I think gravel bikes make the fewest.

Vagabond or something similar. That’s what I’m thinking of getting. Pretty much a rigid MTB with drops.

I have been following these threads with interest. At the moment I’m using a Cannondale trail sl 29er as my all purpose all road tourer. It can go anywhere, it’s comfy but slow on the tarmac. I have been looking at a Norco Search with hyd brakes. Must resist!

I stuck rigid forks on my hardtail and since doing so have felt more strain in my wrists, especially the wrist I fractured a couple of years ago. Riding rigid is interesting as an exercise but not long term for me (not a fat bike owner).

I don’t know if the experience would be similar on a cyclocross bike, perhaps their forks have a little more flex (than Exotic carbon forks) ?

Depends what you want a gravel bike for. I regard them as go anywhere bikes.

Your Singular Swift would make a perfect gravel bike IMO.

If you fit 2.35″ tyres like the Schwalbe Big Apples you’ll find they handle almost all offroad surfaces when the pressure is right. My 29er is set up as a gravel bike and I love it – it goes anywhere.

I’ll make a prediction:
The current crop of gravel bikes will be obsolete in a few years as folk discover the benefits of fatter tyres on offroad surfaces. They’ll be like how you couldn’t give away an mtb that couldn’t fit 2.35″ tyres.

That said, there’s some lovely gravel bikes being made now, and you never need an excuse to do an N+1, so hang on to the Swift. 🙂

I fancy a ‘gravel’ type bike, but I’m also CX curious, and need it to work as a fairly fast road bike.

I’ll mostly be riding back lanes as local main roads are fairly manic, mixed with fire tracks in the woods and a few bridleways.

I’m just gonna do what everyone did before gravel was a genre of its own and get a CX bike with big clearance and rack and mudguard mounts, probably a genesis. Lower end CX bikes seem quite a bit cheaper than gravel bikes with similar kit, though I accept are a bit of a different shape. It worked before, no reason it won’t now.

Thanks for all the thoughts. Perhaps the simplest option would be to see if I can rent a gravel bike for a couple of days and see how I get on.

I don’t own a Swift, but it’s always been top of my upgrade list when the time came; I reckon it’d build up into a decent gravel bike (or Monstercross), but again, whether it would be a massive step up from my current ride is another question entirely.

I would say no. Have ridden some CX bikes (with bigger tyres) for the sort of stuff you are talking about.

My opinion is, it’s basically one big, sh*t compromise. Decent HT is better on anything, near on as fast on boring stuff & they tend to feel just as slow and sluggish as an HT compared to a road bike on the road.

Love mine. If I had to keep one bike only, it would be this one.

If I did it again, I’d be looking at a drop bar Swift. There’s a bunch of tyres that I can’t use that I’d like to, 2.2-2.35.

I am no longer tempted by a proper gravel bike, I wanted one but because of sore wrists etc. decided I still wanted suspension. Ended up getting a 100mm travel 29er (a Trek Superfly).

Have since fitted 40c slicks (Kenda Kwick Tendrils) and narrower bars/longer stem. Effectively turning it into a gravel bike but without the drops and with 100mm travel.

First proper ‘gravel’ ride I’ve done was linking together some remote, dead end singletrack roads with 10km of landrover track.

The ‘gravel’ set up allowed me to enjoy the road sections, the bike was fast, smooth and I didn’t feel like I was wasting energy chewing at tarmac with big MTB tyres.

The landrover section was OK, the climb was good, tyres gripped well etc. but the flat and the descent wasn’t much fun, even with 100mm travel and 40c tyres (albeit probably overinflated at 60psi) I just got kicked around a lot, couldn’t settle into a rhythm pedalling and generally just yearned to get back on the smooth tarmac!

Guess I’m just getting old and don’t like jolty, lumpy riding, but at least having fatter MTB tyres would have made that landrover track section more enjoyable, or perhaps just lowering the tyre pressures 🙄

Aaaaanway, point I’m trying to make is that for me, the only benefit was being able to link the two tarmac roads by tolerating the landrover track in the middle. If I thought I would be riding lots of the landrover track style stuff (unless I knew it would be smooth forest road style stuff) I would probably stick to an MTB.

Bear in mind the above experiences are on an MTB with 100mm forks, I would have enjoyed the bumpy rocky stuff even less on a rigid fork.

I’ve had CX bikes (trendy new category-defining label to sell more bikes now is ‘Gravel Bike’) for the past 30 years, and just sold my current one in favour of a lightweight, fast 29er.

I’d say it all depends on the trails and terrain you will be riding. While Gravel Bikes are pushed as ‘go anywhere’ bikes – while they can ‘go anywhere’ I all-too-often found myself going slower on the rougher bits than I would on an MTB, and slower on the smoother bits than I do on my Road bike.

Their versatility is wonderful – but as others have stated, its also a compromise.

I reluctantly acknowledged to myself that the majority of routes I ride on my CX/Gravel bike are in fact faster, more fun and more pleasurable on a lightweight 29er, but YMMV.

See if you can take a ride on a borrowed CX/Gravel bike and ride your local terrain…

So you got a mountain bike and fitted narrow tyres at silly high pressure any wonder why you were “kicked around”

Try 35/30 psi

I’ve done all sorts on mine.

It’s brilliant for commuting in the winter with some 25mm tyres in “road” mode.

It’s great for summer, when I can take the occasional trail on the way home with my 38mm tyres in “gravel” mode. Also, perfect for the sort of rides I do with Mrs Dubs (mostly canals / that sort of mixed use path).

It’s not that comfortable for multi day long rides over bumpy terrain, even with 40mm tyres.

I’m weighing up whether to replace it with a Trek Superfly for “all duties” or keeping it and just getting a Genesis Longitude for the bikepacking stuff.

Thread hijack – how much of a “head down/arse up” machine is the Superfly?

+1 Genesis Vagabond for rough surfaces and all-day comfort. I’m quite amazed at the range of terrain it covers with often just a change in tyre-pressures. I’d ideally like a spare wheelset shod with 35c to complement the Nano 2.1s but the Nanos are so far a great do-it-all compromise. I was going to sell the Vagabond and replace with an MTB for ‘playtime’ and social riding/trails, but it pains me so to lose the Vagabond that N+1 is the smartest answer. I can wait.:)

Just stay off the more sketchy MTB stuff unless you’re in control deep in the drops. Same goes for any drop-bar offroad machine.

See if you can take a ride on a borrowed CX/Gravel bike and ride your local terrain…

^. This. I bagged a demo from LBS (having never ridden a monster-cross before), and was immediately smitten. Like all bikes, it’s not a bike for everyone, so deffo try first.

So you got a mountain bike and fitted narrow tyres at silly high pressure any wonder why you were “kicked around”

Try 35/30 psi

Wot he sed. I have my 28c road tyres at 65/75

I all-too-often found myself going slower on the rougher bits than I would on an MTB, and slower on the smoother bits than I do on my Road bike.

Of course versatility comes at a price. If there was one bike that could do everything, was as good at each bit as bikes specifically designed for those bits, then all bikes would look like that one bike.

So you got a mountain bike and fitted narrow tyres at silly high pressure any wonder why you were “kicked around”

Try 35/30 psi

Well no, I didn’t ‘wonder’, I knew fine well, as I said in my post. But that wouldn’t really have changed much, at 30/35psi I’d just have been stopping to fix punctures instead (as someone pointed out above) and would have been slower on the road. Simply dropping tyre pressure doesn’t make the difference between hanging up and getting jolted around on rocks, and skimming over and maintaining your pedalling rhythm. That’s what higher volume MTB tyres and suspension are for.

Sure you could say I should have gone tubeless etc. but what I’m trying to get at (as others have pointed out) is that it’s a compromise, and depending on the OPs preferences perhaps all he really needs/wants is a faster MTB.

JimW – as stock the Superfly really isn’t head down/arse up, I actually had to retrofit a longer stem and flip it to get a position closer to a gravel bike. Stock stem and bars are 90mm and 780mm wide, it was a great position for proper off-road, could pick the front wheel up easily and even managed to loop out a couple of times getting carried away manualling puddles 😳

Tried it and didn’t like it.
Never seemed to be very forgiving. I guess there’s only so much flex you can build into a rigid disc fork.
I have an old 90’s Raleigh M trax – that is comfier off-road.

I use a 100mm 29er hardtail instead now.

That looks rubbish.

The green bar tape, I mean

To be fair, it doesn’t spoil a pretty bike.

Rather than a compromise, I think of it as enabling new stuff. I like the GT for linking up two or three local MTB loops. I’d generally only ride one, getting to/from by train, but the GT makes short work of the road links. I run 32mm slick road tyres, massive compromise for the dirt even at 40psi, but they’re OK as long as I don’t go daft. Pumped back up when passing a garage.

I also commute 2h a day on it, racking up 1200m on a mix of semi- and unpaved mountain roads, which I’d not bother with on my road bike.

Just get a rigid 29er, if you feel the need you can always monstercross it later, in fact I recon your Swift idea is best, gives you complete versatility between hardtail, monstercross, tourer, rigid 29er 🙂

I have an old 90’s Raleigh M trax – that is comfier off-road

! Strangely, I moved my well-beloved 90s M-Trax on to make way for the Vagabond. Both double -butted cromo with rigid steel forks. I’d say both bikes are very (if not identically) comparable in comfort, I just prefer the bigger hoops, wider tyres and drops.

This just goes to show exactly how sharply ‘YMMV’. Another pointer to try before you buy.

Just get a rigid 29er, if you feel the need you can always monstercross

Sounds sensible. It can also work the other way – ie my monstercross may well be due to try some straight bars/loops or similar. Versatility is much easier these days.

*edit – forgot gratuitous pic

Gravel bikes are a bit like what we knew as ‘Bikes’ years back, they just have drop bars now

It does a bit of everything, doesn’t excel at anything, but it gets around anything you need it to and it’s fun

My Arkose is my commuter and my most ridden bike. It’s basically a road bike with 32c tyres, rack and mudguards. I can take it off road, and do, but only on light off road tracks. Nothing serious as it’s not much fun with my marathon plus tyres and extra bits on it (D lock, rack, guards). But it does everything I ask of it, and doesn’t complain

It gives me more options that a pure road bike would. Technically my only pure road bike is my Brompton!