I've always ridden BMX or mountain bikes and currently have a hardtail that I use for my 'do it all'... i mainly ride trails, canal paths, woods and general bumbling about, but of late I find myself being drawn to and looking at gravel bikes. My questions are, am I going to use it, will I benefit from a 'gravel' bike? What can it do that my hardtail can't? I guess I'm trying to understand the real purpose of them. Please, no jumping down my throat, im not slandering them at all.
Well for me they're all about exploring tracks and bridleways - mainly from home - kinda exploring really - and being able to link bits together via road / lanes. I'm certainly back to where I started late 80's with mtb'ing - "wild but mild" in now my kinda thing - and I love it.
There's about three squillion threads on this, with all viewpoints represented. Scroll back a bit until you find a couple.
Not sure even any scrolling required but I CBA to confirm.
What can it do that my hardtail can’t?
Nothing, really. But it'll be much quicker on road/flat gravel, in a headwind and more comfortable for long days/lots of miles (multiple hand positions on the drop bars).
They're nearly as fast as a road bike on tarmac or towpath or any smooth gravel, and will make tame bridleways/forest tracks more 'interesting'.
Well for me they’re all about exploring tracks and bridleways – mainly from home – kinda exploring really – and being able to link bits together via road / lanes. I’m certainly back to where I started late 80’s with mtb’ing – “wild but mild” in now my kinda thing – and I love it.
Yep!
I use my gravel / all road bike for all you suggest and as others mention it is great on road sections as well as off-road and the extra hand positions aid comfort.
That said, I do find that I spot things I’d like to come back to on a MTB. I didn’t have one till recently after mine was stolen. But I recently went for a LLS HT for a contrast and to get playful on the steep stuff but as it is a HT it is still fairly good (albeit slower) to get there.
What ta11pau1 said. Anything from “road rides using off-road to bypass the nasty bits” to “foraging for tucked-away singletrack linked by bits of road” to “out for a big, long day taking in whatever looks nice along the way”. See also tourers, audax bikes, anything that’s got curly bars and takes at least 37mm tyres. But it depends where you live: if all your off-road is babyheads and boulders then I’d stick with a hardtail.
OP, do you have any friends that would let you borrow one to try out?
Failing that, buy some skinny tyres for your hardtail, lock off the fork and rattle it round a few of your local places.
did 100k on the north downs recently and rode all the popular trails in the surrey hills this weekend on mine.
there is definitely a gravel bike scale from road to almost mtb so you have to pick carefully.
A gravel bike will get you to the bits where a gravel bike is shit much quicker.
Hth
Thanks Kayak. That Emporer really is naked.
my gravel bike is a mtb in disguise. Curly bars, but 2.2" tyres. So, not great at anything as its slow on the road, and slow off road, but it goes anywhere and everywhere.
Honestly for what you do a gravel bike will be perfect. im in zone 3 london very flat and a few small woods dotted around so its perfect to link them together using my gravel bike. if I want a longer day I can do like a 60+ mile loop to the edge of the m25 and back or even head out to surrey from my door. All these things would not be possible even on a HT, i mean it would but it would just be hard going.
People that moan about gravel bikes likely don't own one or realise there are other types of bike riding to do than their normal blue trail at a trail centre. Also the other joy if you commute the bigger tyres make them way more comfortable on our awful roads.
I like mine, but not as a replacement for an MTB (or a road bike, for that matter), not by a long stretch. But then again I live where:
all [my] off-road is babyheads and boulders
I use mine as a bike for everything. Family rides, pulling a trailer, commuting etc. But especially taking the longer route home from work taking in some singletrack, which was the main reason for buying.
If I could have only one bike, it'd probably be a gravel bike but fortunately I don't have that constraint.
People that moan about gravel bikes likely don’t own one or realise there are other types of bike riding to do than their normal blue trail at a trail centre.
They'll do that too 😀
Still need to take mine around bedgebury, they're really sanitising the place now, new section that has been redone just opened up and it's gone from a semi techy, rooty climb, to smooth as a snooker table gravel trail, with a strange set of 3 or 4 rollers, at the top of a climb...
Also the other joy if you commute the bigger tyres make them way more comfortable on our awful roads
This so much. 47mm WTB Byways roll quick as you like but with 30psi they're comfy too.
I originally bought my gravel bike for commuting and so I could take in some light trails/singletrack on the way home. I still prefer riding my MTB when I can but it's much easier to hop on the gravel bike and go for a ride places where a full suss is too much effort, which means I get out more. I think another plus is that it has made my MTB skills sharper and it keeps me fitter as I tend to do more miles on it. I did destroy the stock wheelset on the gravel bike though, so have to remember to reign it in a little on the rough stuff!
My questions are, am I going to use it, will I benefit from a ‘gravel’ bike? What can it do that my hardtail can’t?
It can go a bit faster on road and gravel with same effort
It can be more comfortable on long rides on road and gravel due to body position along with change of hand positions
If you don't do long rides or have a desire to go very slightly faster for same effort then can't see how you would benefit from one over a hardtail
Here you go Essentially the same thread from a couple of days ago...
All the salient points and put-downs are covered. Nobody can be arsed anymore...
It'll not just be quicker on road - a bike built will feel overall more positive and rewarding for your effort on road. But of course worse off it, so.you choose..it won't revolutionise anything but you might enjoy it.
Another weekend, another long shift on the gravel bike.
The last few big rides I've done have incorporated roughly 45% tarmac, 45% gravel track, 10% easy MTB.
The tarmac is relatively fast and easy, certainly not a chore, useful place to chill out, enjoy scenery, rest legs for gravel sections. I've also taken to exploring a lot of 'dead end' tarmac climbs to reservoirs etc. that I might not have bothered with on the road bike, especially if the tarmac ends and continues as landrover track.
The gravel tracks are awesome, the bike flies along so it needen't be 'easy pootling' it can be balls out puddle dodging, loose corner sliding, undulation pumping flat out fun. I guess if you don't enjoy pedalling as much then that mighten't appeal, think of it as a fun downhill section but you have to propel the bike, not gravity.
The MTB stuff we do is the old 'classic MTB' territory (a point I've been labouring in some write ups) so it can be muddy singletrack, old cart tracks, rocky quad tracks etc. None of it is truly 'gnar' so by the time the gravel bike gets out of its depth (on my rides this is typically the steeper looser climbs where 40mm slicks get overwhelmed) I'm not really losing out much to an MTB, an extra 5 minutes hike-a-bike perhaps. Descents are a bit more careful but as others point out, it just means that a descent that might be tame on a modern MTB becomes exciting again...
Overall, it's brilliant, a new way of exploring the highlands and those routes that would maybe just have been a chore on the MTB but impassable on the road bike.
My questions are, am I going to use it
Ask where would you use it? You may find that there is nowhere you wish to ride that would be improved by having a gravel bike. You may find that you love the speed and efficiency that a gravel bike gives you to get from your door to explore. You may instead find that your hardtail does everything that you want it to do.
will I benefit from a ‘gravel’ bike? What can it do that my hardtail can’t? I guess I’m trying to understand the real purpose of them
Gravel bikes (IMO) at their best are just versatile bikes. I can see how they would be confusing to younger generations especially from an BMX/MTB background. Actually I was confused when I first saw a Genesis Vagabond in my LBS. For about 10 minutes. 10 mins after that I had it in the back of the car on a long weekend demo up and down the Tarka Trail, local commutes on farm tracks and lanes, cheeky SWCP and 🤣. For me it felt so much better for all that than on my hardtail. I couldn’t give it back.
I sold the hardtail as it was now evident that it wasn’t being used properly since moving/needs changed. I just still had a hardtail because I’d had hardtails for decades and was a serial swapper/upgrader. Even though my current riding didn’t at the time really benefit from a hardtail as 90% of my riding was paved and tracks commuting, bimbling and exploring. Long hours in the saddle. Lots of little lanes, steep road climbs, etc.
To an old duffer like me who started his cycling life on road bikes/road bikes hacked into cross bikes (and then ‘ATB’ before MTB took off) then a gravel bike seems to sit between road and ATB/MTB. Hence ‘versatile’
I tended to call the Vagabond my ‘ATB’ (it wasn’t a ‘gravel bike’, it was a monstercross) but very much a 1990s feel of ‘ride most anywhere any distance from your front door on a rigid bike’.
IMO a gravel bike (ironically) makes sense in the way that everyday bikes used to make sense before everything became a niche within a niche. It’s just an allround bike without an emphasis on either roadie racing or mountain-biking/performance. The cynic in me would say it was a way to get dyed-in-the-wool mountain bikers to buy a second bike, or to confuse them into revisiting the 1980s and 1990s now with disc brakes. Or worse still - a gateway to roadie fundamentalism 🤨
The rationalist in me would say that either a dedicated road bike or mountain bike is not necessarily a ‘versatile bike’ so the ‘gravel’ gap in the market was there for people who want a bike for exploring, bimbling, commuting, light touring, keep fit on local multi-surface routes etc without paying too hard a penalty if caught on a long stretch of perfect tarmac or imperfect gnarmac.
You can do it all on a hardtail. Or a BMX. Whether you’d want to is a different matter! Same goes for a gravel bike. Depends what ‘all’ is to you, I suppose?
Also easier to hoick over gates/styles, that 3-4 kg makes a difference. It's a one handed shoulder press, unless I've got 2 full water bottles. Versus almost giving myself a hernia lifting the FS bike with fox 36's/coil etc...
I'm looking to replace an old Dawes touring bike with a more modern gravel equivalent. I think the trick for me is remembering no matter what the marketing says they are ROAD bikes. Capable, more interesting, different handling whatever but ultimately road bikes. So if your someone who doesn't like or get road bikes....
For me living near the south downs and with loads of bridleways and poorly surfaced country lanes with lots of places to stop and look at, they make sense.
I think the trick for me is remembering no matter what the marketing says they are ROAD bikes. Capable, more interesting, different handling whatever but ultimately road bikes. So if your someone who doesn’t like or get road bikes….
Dunno if I quite agree with you. For starters "Gravel bikes" appears to cover a broad range of definitions from 2.3" tyre clearing, 'would be an MTB if not for the drop bars' to 'pretty much a road bike but it clears 32mm tyres'
I'm always a bit sad to see "altura-man" specials, where he's clearly gone to the Local Evans, C2W voucher in hand, been wowed by the disc brakes. Then had them fit every possible pannier available for pedaling to work with a months worth of food, clothing and a massive laptop. After a week having found it a bit much effort he's gone back and made them fit 28c road tyres, almost always marathons.
Those bikes are only ever going to do "work packing" on a 10 mile tarmac commute, 3 days a week, and never really get used for what they're capable of...
Surely if fitting 2.3 tyre is the appeal of a certain bike your very close to being in denial it's a mountain bike?
With the caveat iv not ridden Amy gravel bikes with that setup and j may be totally wrong.
Schwalbe marathons do have a place.... But dear god it's impressive how utterly joyless they can make any bike.
They are great for canal towpath and bridleway riding. Comfier and more robust than a road bike with a slightly less arse up riding position (depending on model) and less drag than a MTB. Plus they are fun. Fun is always good. I’m about to buy another one.
I use a Cannondale Topstone (G-One Allround Tyres) as a one bike solution for mostly road and light trails and gravel and it's great at both. It isn't slow, it is more than capable of keeping up with road bikes and should I turn off down a forest track or gravel path, I can. The folk that think they're a marketing gimmick, simply haven't ridden one.
I think the biggest drawback to my hardtail that is making me consider a gravel bike is that local to me is a lot of tarmac to link up the off road parts I enjoy tearing through, and on the 2.8 tyres I run it gets a bit of a chore after a while. I think I need to borrow or demo one rather soon. Thanks for all the views and opinions guys!
I think the biggest drawback to my hardtail that is making me consider a gravel bike is that local to me is a lot of tarmac to link up the off road parts I enjoy tearing through, and on the 2.8 tyres I run it gets a bit of a chore after a while. I think I need to borrow or demo one rather soon. Thanks for all the views and opinions guys!
Mine flies on tarmac. There's a pleasure in hustling a gravel bike on 47mm 650b slicks along at 20+mph on a flat with a touch of tailwind/slight downhill.
Don't tell anyone, but I even go out for rides mostly on the road... SHHH!!
I avoid main roads though and end up exploring the single lane roads that criss cross the kent countryside.
Surely if fitting 2.3 tyre is the appeal of a certain bike your very close to being in denial it’s a mountain bike?
It's all a spectrum. I don't have gravel bike but I have a rigid 29er with narrow (660mm) high sweep bars and 2.3" fast tyres; and it has old school angles which are a lot like gravel bike angles, meaning a 73 SA and 70.5 HA. The geometry makes a massive difference as it's really positive feeling when bashing along roads and winching up fire roads. And it's surprisingly capable on rough stuff too. It's a hybrid sitting squarely between gravel bikes and XC 🙂 The fat tyres are essential for me in South Wales, and the flat bars really add lots of control over drops. But on the other hand, it's still pretty good on road - much better than a trail bike, because of the geo really, and much better than my XC FS which has the same geo, because of the narrow bars and so on, and because the shocks are never really locked out on my FS.
Surely if fitting 2.3 tyre is the appeal of a certain bike your very close to being in denial it’s a mountain bike?
Quite possibly, but then like I said "Gravel bike" is a pretty broad term.
But yeah the cynical part of me can't help thinking that the bike industry is now very keen to differentiate "Gravel" from road bikes (which now have discs and a bit of tyre clearance too) so they're pulling a mini swizz by stuffing 650b rims and 50mm(+) rims on gravel bikes where apparently rather than "bringing the trail alive" they kill the lumpy bits... Who knew eh?
See also gravel specific droppers, gravel specific suspension forks/stems/seatpost/frames...
To my mind a gravel bike is really just a simple ruffty-tuffty on/offroad drop-barred (if you like) hacking about/touring/exploring thing. The width of the tyres isn't really all that important...
How are they at pulling trialsy moves?
The folk that think they’re a marketing gimmick, simply haven’t ridden one.
Not many people saying that on this thread are there? The question was what can it do that an MTB cannot do. Bearing in mind there are even more variations of an MTB than variations of a gravel bike.
Take an XC MTB with fast XC tyres versus a gravel bike with very similar tyres and there isn't really much the gravel can do over the MTB.
Take a more road focused gravel bike versus a 160mm full sus MTB with knobbly tyres and there are loads of things each bike can do over the other.
To my mind a gravel bike is really just a simple ruffty-tuffty on/offroad drop-barred (if you like) hacking about/touring/exploring thing. The width of the tyres isn’t really all that important…
+1
Some of the best rides I've done are when I head in a vague direction with the idea that I'll follow any bridleway signs I pass and see where they come out. Sometimes this involves 50 miles on tarmac in between the off road "sectors" & while an MTB would be over kill for my local bridleways it would also be a chore on the road bits. The gravel bike makes the road bits more interesting & the tame off road bits more of an adrenaline rush.
Cool, a gravel thread, not seen one of these for ages....
Cool, a gravel thread, not seen one of these for ages….
Yet you read and bumped it back to the top of the forum posts
#closetgravelleur
It really depends on where you live, I reckon. In N.Wales I have a CX/gravel bike for "old normal" commuting, but do little else with it. I'm in Yorkshire/Peaks for a few days though and it makes total sense here, being able to blat around lanes, old cart horse trails, sand/stone singletrack (compared to slate/rock) and some mild descending. Great fun.
#closetgravelleur
And another faux french biking tag, bravo lad!
The width of the tyres isn’t really all that important…
Ssssh, don't tell people that. I have ridden the gravel roads in my area for 20 years on a range of bikes with tyres from 2.4 down to 25c. For the majority of the ride 25c are fine and it is what I have been using for the last year however they do become a bit sketchy when hitting sandy gravel or looser gravel with larger stones but they still get through it.
I am not bothered by comfort as I never ride more than 2 hours so my bike of choice for gravel roads is pretty much a road bike (just with much tougher tyres)
I have a gravel bike that I more or less use a road bike. I don’t know what the roads are like where you live but my old bike had 25c tyres and frankly it made riding horrible on the battered potholed roads where I live.
Gravel bike is fine on the road and I don’t notice much difference.
The width of the tyres isn’t really all that important…
I dunno... I'm still trying to figure out what it is that, frankly, makes my gravel bike feel so fast in almost every scenario. I'm beginning to wonder if fast rolling 40mm semi-slicks are just the 'sweetspot' of all-rounder tyre design.
...or maybe I've just gotten very good at finding the sort of terrain that 40mm tyres excel at, I'm certainly not going out looking for steep muddy roots any more and not trying to climb steep grassy stuff (no Capital Trail for me!)
And another faux french biking tag, bravo lad!
😀
How are they at pulling trialsy moves?
Not the best, but they're just slightly different shaped bikes, so if you can do trialsy moves on other bikes, you can use the same techniques. See Road Bike Party, RBP2, Chris Akrigg's back catalogur for more.
The width of the tyres isn’t really all that important
I think it is. Last night I did a couple of farm track descents where the surface was just loose stones. Because I'm on 2.3 tyres I could carve them up and have a blast - there's no way I'd have cornered that fast on 37c on that surface.
Also the bike is perfectly balanced, so when I slip I just drift. Now I've not had the chance to pin a gravel bike but whenever I've ridden drops having a low front and a high back which makes me fast on road also makes me front-heavy which suggests that in the event of slippage I'm going to lose the front first.
I'm surprised at how long it's taking for gravel bikes to have 29x ~2.35" tyre clearance to become mainstream, besides the odd brand such as the Salsa Cuttroat, anything above 700x45 still seems to be quite rare.
Wider tyres are obviously not going to fastest on easier terrain, but they will open up harder terrain.
The drop bars will normally make you more aero than a flat bar, so you will get more speed for your power and you will cover more ground over the same time period, often resulting in you feeling far less fatigued for your time on the bike... So instead of say doing a 4-5 hour road ride, you might do 2-3 hours on a flat bar bike.
The boundaries are getting quite blurred, if you have "gravel lanes" right on your doorstep then a flat bar machine might make more sense, but if you have to ride 5-10 miles on tarmac to reach your "gravel lanes" then perhaps a gravel/adventure bike makes more sense.
