[Closed] Can we stop with this gnarmac nonsense please

I quite like it.......... and I don't even own one.

I guess its only as silly as calling a bike a mountain bike then pottering about in the woods in Surrey

No.

psycorp - Member

I quite like it.......... and I don't even own one.

+1.

OP

Is your sense of humerus still broken?

or

Is it just a slow day in the sales division ?

😛

I'm restoring my Super Dalesman, finally after 30 years it'll be on trend!

I guess its only as silly as calling a bike a mountain bike then pottering about in the woods in Surrey

😉

😉

The term Gnarmac is a bit like being a hard core Annie Lennox fan.

Fleetwood Mac surely

Ha Ha. Fleetwood Mac. I like what you did there.

I must admit I don't even know what gnarmac means. I generally ignore posts with it in the title.

Just you wait, I bet EnduroCross is with us by the spring...

Don't forget Mountain Cross predates Gnarmac by at least 3 years.
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makes me want a caramac

what about kriskross?

I agree. I'm after a GT Grade which is enduroad rather than gnarmac. A world of difference.

fasthaggis - Member
OP

Is your sense of humerus still broken?

or

Is it just a slow day in the sales division ?

This.. 😛

enduroad

So is it just a term for being under biked? Or is it just a term for bikes being ridden where you're more likely to pinch puncture or look at a rough trail and think bugger, if only I had a 29er MTB? 😆
I'm lucky not to have to have a gnarmac bike as I have one of everything else 😆

I think its a humorous not-taking-ourselves-seriously response to the industry using terms like adventure, enduroad, allroad etc. It is a genuine enough niche to need a reference - they're not as racy angled as CX bikes, have far more tyre clearance, slacker angles and (usually) disc brakes compared to road bikes, so what would YOU call them?

People have mocked the industry term Enduro for the latest MTB fashion, I remember ~20 years ago when "freeride" became a Thing and people sneered at the term "what, as opposed to paying to ride?!".

Would you prefer to see threads with "which big clearance slack angled disc braked not quite a CX bike for £1000?"

I'll have you know that I officially ride a Countryside Bicycle.

Zipper ,I think you mean an

[b]ATB[/b]

😉

Wasn't gnarmac a term invented on here as a joke? So wot crashtestmonkey says.

[quote=fasthaggis ]I'll have you know that I officially ride a Countryside Bicycle.
Zipper ,I think you mean an
ATB

MTB would, officially, be fine too. Multi terrain, innit.

We had out drive re-surfaced by a lad that rides a FATbike.
Yup,you've guessed it, his name was gnarmacadam.

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🙂

What about sickmac as an alternative?

I think its a humorous not-taking-ourselves-seriously response to the industry using terms like adventure, enduroad, allroad etc.

This. ^ 🙂

The industry term is Gravel bike so what not just use that?

Larger clearances than a road bike, smaller than a CX bike (generally)
BB height more like a road bike
Disc brakes

I did mention in another thread that there really isn't much difference between any of these when actually riding them on hard packed gravel/dirt but just got some narrow minded responses...

But the point is that there are multiple terms in addition to the 'industry term' 'gravel bike'.

'Gnarmac' is the gravel counterpoint to 'gnarpoon'

The industry term is Gravel bike so what not just use that?

But gravel bikes are for riding gravel roads, and we don't really have those over here. And, [i]because[/i] the industry term is gravel bike.

I do quite like the ambiguity TBH, an ill defined niche is bound to lead to lots of confusion and that is always fun, just like when someone tells me they're into mountain biking, covers a multitude of activities now.

My roadie mate looked at it and called it a CX bike, a work colleague referred to it as a "Road bike for tow paths", I've called it a "Gravel bike" but it's been on other surfaces and hasn't spontaneously combusted and I'm keen to use it for a a dabble with CX racing, and maybe some touring/bikepacking...

If "Gnarmac" floats your boat then go with it, not my own preferred term (not sure what is TBH) but I see the humour...

Maybe just call it a "Bike" and leave it there...

The industry term is Gravel bike so what not just use that?

some narrow minded responses

[img] [/img]

Chillax bro'

But gravel bikes are for riding gravel roads, and we don't really have those over here. And, because the industry term is gravel bike.

+1

Gravel bikes are for racing on gravel roads, USFS roads etc. A bit like fire roads are in the UK, except you'd struggle to hold a crit in most UK forests, and the Yanks do them over hundreds of miles.

They are not because your "roads round here are so bad...........". That's a pothole, use your eyes, look up and ride around it. What you have bought is what used to be a touring bike, then became a CX bike, and is now an enduroad/gnarmac/adventure bike. A road bike on 23mm slicks will happily deal with the Paris-Roubaix, your cul-de-sac is not the Koppenberg.

I've no issue with them, I just like to mock peoples reluctance to admit that they're buying a touring bike.

I didn't take the term to mean cx rides/bikes directly but rather a type of riding: riding urban environments (tarmac) with a bit of gnar, i.e. getting some enjoyment by simply cycling anywhere, whether that be off-road in the woods, down the canal, along the street, and injecting a bit of gnar.... jumping off curbs, track standing at traffic lights, beating cars off the line & (one of my favourites) riding as fast as you possibly can down urban hills.... all this on whatever bike you are riding.

I have a towpoon an bridleslayer Does that count.

thisisnotaspoon - Member

That's a pothole, use your eyes, look up and ride around it.

must be nice to live/ride somewhere where potholes are single, rare, avoidable entities.

The industry term is Gravel bike so what not just use that

+1 mikectually

because that's the industry term [b]for the US market[/b], where gravel roads are a real and expansive phenomena (especially in Colorado for instance- think Pikes Peak hill climb, or some of the US Pro Challenge stages), and there is no direct equivalent here.

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[img] [/img]

I sort of agree with TINAS- I have one, I ride it on actual genuine off road so feel it's justified. But using one as just a road bike a) is making life difficult for yourself b) horrid and c) daft.

Does that make my commuter a hypoon?

...bridleslayer...

YES!!!

"Bridleslayer" is waaaaay better than gnarmac.

😆

But gravel bikes are for riding gravel roads, and we don't really have those over here

I am surrounded by them, in fact it is what I mostly ride on.

I sort of agree with TINAS- I have one, I ride it on actual genuine off road so feel it's justified. But using one as just a road bike a) is making life difficult for yourself b) horrid and c) daft.

I bought mine to cover some touring duties as well, so I wouldn't disagree,
But I also use it about 50/50 on/off road for my local riding, it's much better on the road than an MTB, it's a lot better off-road than a road bike, just a different set of compromises, TBF some people buy fat bikes without living in the Arctic circle or the Sahara...

I was chatting with a fella at work the other day, who had changed the tyres on what he called his "CX bike" for 25mm road slicks @~100psi...
He did this as soon as he bought it, and has never actually ridden it off-road, I suggested then it was really more of a disc-braked tourer, this apparently offended him slightly, he sees it as more of a "winter road bike" (although he won't fit guards) personally I can't see the point of buying an off road capable bike and then adapting it to use it only on the road, he might as well have just bought a normal road bike...

"Gnarmac/Gravel/allroad" bikes sell because the brakes are generally better, and they still look/ride much like a normal road bike, a good chunk of the target market simply ain't interested in the full spectrum of potential uses these bikes have, fair enough, I wouldn't say they're making life difficult or unpleasant for themselves, and it's not all that daft really, they've just missed the point of such capable bikes a bit...

I just spent the past 10 days riding up cols in the pyranees on my GT grade and I might have been a bit slower but I tell you I wasn't finding as difficult as some of the guys with normal chainsets and 23 tooth cassettes. Plus I felt a lot safer on the decents. It will now be doing a week towing the 3 year old on the forest tracks in the vendee. It's saved me taking two bikes on holiday.

chip - Member
I have a towpoon an bridleslayer

Very clever, very clever indeed..

Have a

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KrissKross?

Only if you're hitting up the doubles.

(Jump, jump)