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It's a cravel bike. Or cyclogross. If you put some bikepacking kit and a 130mm fork you could call it Gnardventuro+.
I’ve put flared drops on my Ridley X-bow. Is it still a cross bike?
IF you want it to be, then yes.
I’ve put flared drops on my Ridley X-bow. Is it still a cross bike?
Cross? It's probably effin livid!
thisisnotaspoon
...Could read that either way. Either you’re under using your gravel bike of over using the tourer!
Motto, any bike, anywhere.
If there's an interesting looking track and I'm on a bike, there's a good chance I'll take a punt along it regardless of suitability of the bike. I want to see what's at the other end or along the way.
I suppose you could call me a gravel tourer... 🙂
Now here comes a story that’s never been told......They're all just bikes.
Motto, any bike, anywhere.
If there’s an interesting looking track and I’m on a bike, there’s a good chance I’ll take a punt along it regardless of suitability of the bike.
Good motto and one I have applied. All of the people I see riding around the New Forest on road bikes are really missing out by not heading up one of the many gravel roads or track but they would dare try it on their 'road' bike.
Good motto and one I have applied. All of the people I see riding around the New Forest on road bikes are really missing out by not heading up one of the many gravel roads or track but they would dare try it on their ‘road’ bike.
Been there done that, trashed an expensive pair of road pedals in the mud.
Well it was Yorkshire rather than a suburb of London which didn't help.
Not sure why riding along gravel roads on road pedals would damage them even in the London suburb of the New Forest.
Not sure why riding along gravel roads on road pedals would damage them even in the London suburb of the New Forest.
Because unlike mtb pedals with steel cleats they're made of plastic, which lasts about half a mile before the little tabs have worn of the front and back of the cleat when exposed to mud.
Really it depends if the CX bike was actually a CX bike intended for racing or something designed to be £999 for c2w purposes and never expected to be more than transport. Both are equally valid bikes incidentally, just different. There are ‘cx’ bikes that blur the lines because they’re not really meant for race use
As above, the CX will be shorter, steeper and more aggressive with no need for anything bigger than mid 30’s tyre wise and will probably prioritise shoulder carrying under the TT. Cables will thus never be routed there. It’s an angry bike for 60 muddy minutes. Gravel bikes have a much less rigid design spec and may make better everyday bikes. Of course this depends on the person, I love the rocket-ship feel of my CX and the aggressive/steep doesn’t cause me problems.
I think really it’s about what you want. If you want a comfortable bike that will go softroading, look at Gravel first. If you prize sprint performance over longride comfort or plan to race cross at some point then CX.
wait - did you just write 'softroading'? Is that a thing? Has anyone launched a clothing brand for it yet?
Has anyone launched a clothing brand for it yet?
Quick, contact Rapha!!!
Rapha? Ha! No credibility for corporate sell-outs in the nascent Softroad scene. Softroaders follow a different path to the Rapha clones. A gritty, slightly compliant path. A path (just imagine there's some kind of folktronica backing track playing over this VO and the video is all kind of lensflarey and authentic) that takes them away from the white lines of the road and (there's probably a campfire shot at this point) and onto the route less travelled. Softroad - it's The Way Of Life. (close to logo and wide landscape shot as the rider disappears t'ward the horizon.
joemmo
... Or cyclogross....
Excellent name!
I immediately envisaged a cx bike with fat 650B wheels.
Now I will have to build a cyclogross bike so I can be a cool kid*. 🙂
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*Yeah, I know, that'll never happen. My daughter made it clear.
Touring bike doesn’t sound cool tho
Does "gravel bike" actually sound cool? I doubt a duller name could have been found for the genre, even if everyone had tried really, really hard.
I recently created the following utility website for finding and comparing gravel bikes:
http://www.gravel-bikes.co.uk/
You may (or may not) find it useful.
The site doesn't include any CX bikes though. In my opinion these are race bikes specifically for competing in CX events.
The site doesn’t include any CX bikes though. In my opinion these are race bikes specifically for competing in CX events.
Yet you include bikes like the cannondale synapse? that's not anywhere close to a gravel bike, certain way less so than most CX bikes.
ETA: this is how Giant describe their TCX 'cross' bike
Move up through the field in heated cyclocross battles, or go long on gravel road epics. With a superlight ALUXX SLR aluminum frame, matched with a composite fork and front and rear thru-axles, the TCX SLR gives you smooth, confident handling on all types of terrain. New flat-mount disc-brake technology provides added control on tight CX courses or wide-open dirt road descents. Symmetrical chainstays add pedaling stiffness, and the D-Fuse seatpost helps smooth out rough terrain.
I was watching the highlights of the CH CX (Bern?) on TV last night and noted a few riding with bottles and cages
Going soft?
(this is i think practice but there definitely were)
It may be that the temperature was reasonably high, but not high enough to allow drinks from support (under UCI rules). Hand-ups aren't allowed in cx so in order to get a bottle a rider must come into the pits, change bikes and exit with a new bike with a water bottle attached in some manner.
Almost all modern CX bikes now come with water bottle bosses, when I went up to be measured in '95 for my islabike cx bike I should have asked for bottle mounts but didn't and I've rather regretted it ever since, My carbon argon18 Arsenic has bottle cage mounts. I think I shall go out on my islabike tomorrow, with gravel tyres obvs, for riding gravel/ tow path and tarmac (oh and Feltham goods marshalling yard motorcross tracks).