Putting the marketing to one side for a mo,if over many years you have riden a lot of different bikes ,on lots of different (and sometimes unsuitable) terrain,it's easier to decide what is going to work for your needs. Most of the key features of a good 'gravel'frame are exactly what I have searching for,for a long,long time.
Yeah but…For me at least the attraction of MTB back in the 1990’s was that I could now buy a bike that was decidedly, unapologetically “better for” off road. That’s why we all bought them…It wasn’t a road bike, It wasn’t your dad’s overweight tourer. The whole ethos of this new sort of bike was that they could go off road…We’ve now seemingly got to the point where “marketing” is trying hard to convince us that what we’ve all been striving to achieve – a better mountain bike for any and all terrain has all gone a bit too far, and what we really want is a slightly more capable road bike, or in fact, a slightly less capable MTB.
My 1990s mtb really did it all. Single track, commuting, long tours, time trials, road rides
My full suspension mountain bike is better at one of those things and worse at the rest
My gravel bike is worse than my MTB on proper MTB terrain. But better at everything else
I don’t really care what others are riding. But I do find it odd that people are so sure that the gravel bike was invented by marketing folks. Before you could buy a gravel bike people were using old road bikes, rigid mtbs and cx bikes as gravel bikes. Now you can buy a gravel bike that’s designed for what people were already doing. Just as good you can buy a road bike and put 35mm gravel tyres on it and use it as a gravel bike. There was a time when a road bike had 23mm tyres with no space round them for anything much bigger
For me I think of my gravel bike as a road bike for a MTBer. I have been MTBing since the early 90's, and my old Orange C16R became my winter "road" bike. Unfortunately it's getting a pain to keep it running - 26" wheels, rim brakes 1" steerer. I brought a road bike about 7 years ago, to explore the countryside over a larger range but frankly it's bone jarring over most of our local roads, suffers toe overlap and is useless on anything off road. So I have brought myself a gravel bike. It's almost as quick on the road, much more comfortable over the pot holes, no hint of toe overlap, and fun on the local bridleways and byways. Does it replace my MTB? Off course not, but it's probably going to make the road bike redundant. As far as I'm concerned more choice can only be better. If a gravel bike works for you then great, if you'd rather use a hardtail then that's fine too - more bikes can only be a good thing 😀.
I’m lost. Why would I buy a winter road bike over a gravel bike? Is there actually anything the road bike does better?
My winter road bike is a gravel bike (Spesh Diverge) with mudguards and 30mm GP5000s on it. I also also have a FreeRanger without mudguards, with RedShift Stem and 50mm gravel tyres on it. I ride both offroad, but the 30mm GP5000s put quite a restriction on where it can go. The FreeRanger can pretty much go anywhere.
I’m lost. Why would I buy a winter road bike over a gravel bike? Is there actually anything the road bike does better?
Winter road bike is lighter/cheaper(no gravel tax) and can take guards etc. now I’m confused 😐
. If you’re at Pembrey on Sunday, see you there!
It’s next Sunday not this Sunday! But yes I will be there, I still haven’t cleaned my cx bike since the Welsh champs at Pembrey last year 😂
I think there’s more fuss about what the ‘fuss’ actually is.
Yup, and of course those of us already gulping down the coolaid will always jump to defend gravel bikes, but I don't think we really need to.
It's a case of you either 'get it' or you don't. And if you don't there's really nothing to worry about, curb your FOMO if you're happier with an MTB, just crack on...
^^+1000's
I have been MTBing since the early 90’s, and my old Orange C16R became my winter “road” bike. Unfortunately it’s getting a pain to keep it running – 26″ wheels, rim brakes 1″ steerer.
Same here although mine's is a P7.
tbh, I'm finding no trouble keeping it going. There is never going to be a shortage of pads for rim brakes and 26" rims and tyres aren't going to be disappearing any time soon.
Admittedly, a 1" steerer makes things a bit more interesting but since I found a 1/8" shim it's been no problem to run oversize bars (although having a bike with handlebars thicker than the downtube does look a it weird).
Plus the fact that the F7 is just about my favourite rigid fork ever.
I really don't see any issues with easily running this bike very cheaply for many years to come.