[Closed] Giving up MTB for Gravel...?

I predict a post in a few months, asking "which MTB"...

FWIW I've 3 main bikes (HT, FS and Gravel), and they all get used - make more time.

Lol... There's every chance of that.

Just tricky with time - small kids, commitments. Plus, not really been feeling it when I've been out the last few ride. Basically have enjoyed the gravel rides a lot more.

Gravel bike + mountain bike covers pretty much all types of riding. Why limit yourself to one. I'd keep the MTB for days when you can get out.

I've got too many bikes, but they all fill a different role. If I downsized, there would always be at least 2 bikes; one to cover rough stuff, and one to cover more mellow/ long distance stuff.

Depending on where you ride and what you ride, gravel can make a lot of sense. I have a variety of trails near me and so a variety of bikes.

Partly it's because I've got my eye on a particular bike, which really I could (should) only afford if I sold both my current bikes. Or take advantage of 3 year interest free... 😂

Gravel routes round here (SW London) are pretty good - and can stretch out to the Surrey Hills/South Downs on nice big days out...

I'd rather cut my hands off than restrict myself to "gravel" but each to their own. Do what makes you happy but bikes are never an investment given the depreciation as soon as it first gets it's tyres dirty.*

*Lockdowns excepted

I ride my do-it-all curly bar bike on road and gravelly things. I have very different experiences and expectations when I go out on it.

I ride my MTB on local trails, trail centres and proper mountains. I have a totally different experience when out riding it, and enjoy that the rides are so different.

...I sold both my current bikes.

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I did about 10 years ago before people even called it gravel riding. Mainly because where I live is more gravel than MTB and a faster, lighter bike makes more sense 90% of the time.

Most of the riding I do from home is Gravel and has been since lockdown. Even though I live on the edge of the peaks and have access to loads of MTB trails and I own a fairly nice road bike. I ride gravel as it's safer than road biking and MTBing and I have struggled after a series of bad injuries and a couple of serious road bike crashes.

The only time I ride my MTB is with the kids at either trail centres or on holiday as it's what they do and enjoy. I like the fact you can really press on with a gravel bike so get the workout but don't have the cars to deal with that you get on a roadride. I'm lucky I have a few routes that hold up in the winter around the peaks plus the canal and local bridleway network to ride when it's dry.

i've barely ridden my mtb since I got a gravel bike back in november.

but the trails have been manky and the motivation for sliding around low. I'll be back on the mtb once it dries up a bit.

Nope - but if I lived in a 'gravel.area' I could see me doing more of it.

Gravel routes round here (SW London) are pretty good – and can stretch out to the Surrey Hills/South Downs on nice big days out…

When I lived down in London village we used to go out on some pretty epic cross rides (gravel wasn't a thing back then!)  But then we'd also do some equally epic MTB rides to the north and south downs.  The bridleways were great fun on the CX bike.

I ended up ditching my road bike and now just have a gravel bike and a MTB.  Covers all the bases for me.  But I don't think I could have just one or the other.

Lol - Gotta keep N+x to D-1 (where D=divorce)...

I've got a MTB ride this weekend (weather permitting...) so that'll give me a better idea as well.

Hardly use my lovely old Cotic Soul, the gravel bike does all I need from the door, just seem to have cut right back in travelling to ride where I'd need an MTB

Just keep a HT if you can only have one. Why limit your riding with just a gravel bike. You can pretty much take the HT anywhere, the gravel bike is restricted to road and other tame stuff.

Gravel routes round here (SW London) are pretty good –

Yes, getting cx bikes pretty much killed my mtb’ing five or six years back, or more likely saved my off road riding. I was getting heartily sick of driving out to Surrey or swinley and then slogging back into town. The cx bike removes that gripe and we use them for the vast majority of our cycling now. Having said that I am now slightly getting back into the mtb. Got a hardtail about a year back, although not used it masses and plan to get the full sus, which hasn’t really been used much since a trip to Canada in 2018 back and running.

Mate of mine did this in the first lockdown and has not regretted it. He put loads more miles and rides in since he switched. He talks about maybe getting an MTB again in the future (n+1) but shows no signs atm.

As he had one, I got a GB too and it's been my most used bike since although that's maybe due to my main ridding pal not having anything else!

Just keep a HT if you can only have one. Why limit your riding with just a gravel bike. You can pretty much take the HT anywhere, the gravel bike is restricted to road and other tame stuff.

Sliding scale isn't it, the HT will be as bad on road as the GB is on rough off. GB is no more limited, just better at different things so it depends what your rides involve.

I ride gravel, road and MTB and in terms of time doing each over a year it's probably 50:30:20 in that order. So if I could only have one bike it would likely be the gravel bike as that's the one I use all year round. They're all fun, in slightly different ways.

I cut back on the MTBing when I stopped bouncing on a bad landing. Tried road, hated riding with cars so got a gravel bike. Revelation, but I'm lucky enough to live in a forested area of South Germany. Reduced my bikes but kept my stumpjumper.
I ride 90% gravel now, but would hate not having the option of the MTB.

Re: getting a HT - that would meme selling my FS (which is ‘only’ a 130/115 29er) and ending up with something really quite close to the gravel bike (especially considering that I’m possibly looking at a Diverge).

A pertinent point has popped up in a few posts, actually - I do more gravel riding with mates now (especially after introducing them to it…) and my main trips to the hills (mainly the Lakes) are likely curtailed for the next couple of years (life getting in the way for me and my friends…)

Looking at the split for riding last year it’s almost exactly 85% gravel bike and 15% MTB (and even some of that 15% was riding the same routes as the gravel bike)!

Are you not allowed to ride an MTB on gravel?

Meh, most of my riding is from the door on a gravel bike, so I suppose that makes me a "Gravelist" more than a "mountainbikerist" but so what, it's really just that the gravel bike is more convenient and suits my local terrain a bit better.

There's no way I'd be without an MTB because when you do want to do something a shade more gnarly than a gravel bike can accommodate an MTB is the obvious tool for the job. I wouldn't maintain a top spec full carbon #Enduro bike just for a podgy middle aged bloke to trundle about on a handful of times during the summer. But a mid-low spec, 120-130mm travel, 29/27.5er with some useful gears, decent tyres and working brakes will cover most MTBing 'bases' and need not be replaced for several years...

I'm turning that way. 2020 saw me travel very little to use the MTB's so I bought a used Specialized Sirrus which is ace for getting round the local tracks. Except it's heavy.
So I've just ordered an On One Free Ranger.
No intention of getting shot of the HT or FS though.

Grand - thanks for everyone’s input. Much appreciated.

Interesting point as well, I've got mates who are into MTBs and mates who are into road bikes and the gravel/CX/bridleslayer bikes are kind of the crossover point, roadies get a Gravel bike to mix things up a bit, try going off-road, maybe avoid nastier traffic routes during winter, MTBers seem to get them to commute, maybe do some "road riding" and keep the miles off their nice MTB. You can go for a gravel bike ride with either group and it's quite a different experience, my MTB mates clearly find themselves in turmoil when I turn up in lycra and they're in baggies; should they take the piss or not? We're going to play in the mud but the bikes have curly bars, who wore the wrong uniform?

Roady mates are quite funny, they think your a wizard because you know to drop more gears sit and spin where there's no traction and you can pick a line while they get cross rutted or slide off sideways grabbing fist fulls of brake in the mud, but then they normally have the stamina for a good long ride and won't stop as often for a chat and snacks...

The people you ride with and the type of riding is a bit more diverse IMO.

I'm actually going the other way round. I have a lovely gravel bike but miss the mtb and only have room for one bike so selling the gravel and getting another hardtail. I live in a great area for gravel biking but there are times I just miss the mtb.

Stanton Sherpa fits the bill for me, just need to decide between a carbon fork or maybe something like the Sid ultimate. I have a mint condition Orro Terra Ekar in XL if your interested 😁

Road is for fitness,
Gravel is for exploring/trekking,
MTB is for fun!

As someone above said - make a little time for some proper FUN.

Even if only once per month, take that time, it’ll pay it back in spades.

I say this as someone with two small kids, a very busy job, a wife with a similarly busy job and no family to support.

Trade with your partner for fun time, but make sure you use it!

Earn it, use it, live it!

Funnily enough, I decided today to finally sell my MTB (a Canyon Grand Canyon); I bought it in in August 2019, with the idea of driving to NWales (or Gisburn)once a month to ride in it's natural habitat. I'd previously had a Chisel Expert which I had for about 18 months and only rode about 5-6 times on proper MTB trails.

I promised myself I'd only buy another MTB if I regularly rode it on MTB trails; which I shortly broke that promise. I've really only used on the Leeds/Liverpool canal path, Cheshire Lines path....and when the first Lockdown started I gave it to my youngest brother to use. I got it back in May, and never managed to get out anywhere.

Currently I have no use for it, as a Gravel/CX bike is more than capable enough for were I ride. If circumstances change, and I move somewhere nearer to trails, then I may get another one.

Sliding scale isn’t it, the HT will be as bad on road as the GB is on rough off. GB is no more limited

What does 'bad on the road' mean? 5mph slower? You can ride a HT on road/gravel (whatever that is...) but you can't (yes ,sorry, it's true) ride a gravel bike on many MTB trails. GBs are inherently more limited, which is fine.

Anyway, each to their own. 2 x MTBs for me. 29r HT for trail centres and local exploring, FS for occasional UK gnar and long summer trips to the mountains.

Gravel routes round here (SW London) are pretty good – and can stretch out to the Surrey Hills/South Downs on nice big days out…

I'd find a Diverge really frustrating as soon as I got onto the SDW or Surry Hills - bikes like that are fine on easy open byways and fun for a while on a singletrack, but he fun wears off pretty fast if you're an MTBer at heart. Either that or there's damage. I like gravel bikes, always have done, but they're mostly mis-sold when pitched as off-road bikes. They're road bikes that do more imho.

Light, rigid 29ers with the right geometry and 'rangy' bars (wide flare drops, alt swept bars, flats with inboard bar ends etc) can be good road/lanes bikes and loads of fun off-road. What you're after is a bike that feels brisk enough on road to get to the tracks, then feels at home on the tracks even if a bit XC-lively on the real MTB trails. There's a few bikes like the Fargo or Gryphon that have been made for this sort of use and there's a few that are more MTB-like but are aimed at the drop-bar set up.
Jack of all / master of none, it depends. I prefer a bike that is wider-ranging yet really good at something rather than 'does it all' and is compromised everywhere, but that something can be that middle ground if that's the terrain you ride most.

What does ‘bad on the road’ mean? 5mph slower?

This is a fair point, but despite some very fast semi-slick tyres and stretched out bar ends to mimic the hoods of my gravel bike, I still can't bring myself to take the 29er out on rides with lots of tarmac or long flat stretches. I think maybe if you're already used to a road bike and 'proper' gravel bike, it will always just feel a bit slower or less efficient or something. Once off road there isn't much to distinguish the fast 29er from the gravel bike.

For me, I don't have any quality MTB immediately on the doorstep, and once you get used to road or gravel bikes having to pack the bike up in the car etc. to go for a ride just starts to seem silly, plus it deprives my wife of the car whilst I'm away riding which is double negative brownie points, I'm away having fun AND she's stranded at home with the 4 year old. So yeah. horses for courses but I get a lot more value out of gravel rides from the front door than I ever would out of an MTB.

12 years on the forum and I still can’t work out how to quote :-/

“plus it deprives my wife of the car whilst I’m away riding which is double negative brownie points, I’m away having fun AND she’s stranded at home with the 4 year old”

This is a big part of it (with a 4 and 7 year old with activities and never ending parties…)

Annoyingly, my back’s started hurting, so Sunday’s ride is now a doubt…

12 years on the forum and I still can’t work out how to quote

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blockquote

Like others on here I'm pretty much down to my MTB (SC Hightower) and a gravel bike (Diverge), both used for very different things - the diverge is just used for anything... riding into town to meet friends, longer road rides, bridleway exploring.

Mainly it's a road bike I can take off road if I need with bigger volume tyres. I'm not fussed about speed, I don't ride with a club. The country lanes around here aren't great and the bigger tyres are far more comfortable than 25's.

The gravel bike gets used from the front door, which is it's main advantage. To ride the MTB it always means at least an hours drive somewhere. Which is fine if time allows.

I also have an older rigid Spesh Carve ... which is great fun to ride over winter. And it sometimes gets used on the road, but I generally dislike using flat bars if I'm riding for any decent distance.

Interesting topic.
I found myself in the curious situation of moving to one of the MTB world mecas (Switzerland) and finding myself riding proper trails much less here than where I was before.

Here since November, most trails with any elevation tend to be either covered in snow or frozen for most of the winter so the motivation to drive or catch a train with the enduro bike to have a ride is not great.

Ended up buying a gravel bike for commuting in January, a Fuji Jari with loads of tyre clearance even with 29x2.0 and a relatively high stack. It's just amazing, I'm addicted to the thing. It makes every road or trail interesting and fun. I can just leave my doorstep and spend the day riding and exploring, connecting the dots between the forests here and covering lots of ground fast.

I'm sure a light XC MTB would be even faster in some of these situations, but you can't beat the comfort of drop bars for long hours, the cargo capacity or the reliability of not having suspension seals or pivots.

I replaced the stock tyres (700x40 WTB Raddlers) with a pair of 29x2.0 Schwalbe G-One Ultrabites, the 40t chainring with a 36t and the 11-42 cassette with a 11-46. The thing will do pretty much any trail, at it's pace

I've got a FS MTB and have paired it with a gravel bike, which was great for local tame stuff, and also the 45 min commute which was mostly on road.

Changed the gravel bike for a hardtail last year and will be building a set of "gravel" wheels for summer local rides. The gravel bike was better/more comfortable on the road but the hardtail, even being much heavier should be nearly as good on the fire roads and tame stuff with the right tyres. And it can do proper MTB stuff also.

What about an adventure type MTB? Like the ones used for bike packing. It'll be nearly as fast as a gravel bike on tame stuff but will be able to do much more on trails.

Would never give up MTB for gravel. Road yes I have given up for gravel though.

But here in Germany there's a million km of forest tracks rideable pretty much from the door, so a gravel bike makes the most sense for most local riding. But the hardtail is still the one I use the most, by a factor of roughly 2x.

12 years on the forum and I still can’t work out how to quote

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Every day's a school day! Cheers!

Thanks for the input everyone - your comments are all really interesting.

I went to dark side (road) when the kids were wee. It was great for all the reasons you said (ride from home etc) but I always kept a mountain bike, nothing fancy, just a hardtail. Glad I did as it did get used when I managed to get the time.

Deep down I will always be a mountain biker, just sometimes I'm on other types of bikes.

Just rider what you have when you have the time, no need to feel guilty. All bikes are great. 👍

Best motivator for when I lost my mountain bike mojo in 2016 was to build up a rigid singlespeed. It does not allow you to just 'go through the motions' when out riding.

Road is for fitness,
Gravel is for exploring/trekking,
MTB is for fun!

Exactly right. For the past couple of years the ratio for me's been zero road, maybe 10% gravel/Xbike, 90% local mtb on mainly f/s but I need to get out for some longer road rides for things coming up this year. Living on the edge of the dales with some good local mtb, it's still good to get out up the road for a longer ride on dales xc mtb routes, which go perfectly well on a crossbike, you're just a bit slower on the downs, at least I am. And it's less fun. And it makes my bad shoulder hurt. Ah bollocks, at least it's not zwift/turbo.

pretty much given up, i think i rode an MTB 3 times last year, but then I am kinda invested in gravel bikes via the website. I do want to ride more mtb this year though. I have just put a surly corner bar on the hardtail though 🙂