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OP - Where in Cheshire are you?
I use mine for linking up the country lanes and bridleways with bits of singletrack in Delamere. Straight from the front door. Its pretty much perfect for that.
mashr
Not in my world. I’m still “racing” along the path/trails on my gravel bike, i don’t use it for bimbling...
You don't have to be going slow to enjoy the scenery. 🙂
Well all i’m thinking is eventually I’d like two bikes – a full suss around 130mm in travel, and a hardtail (or Gravel?) for going out from the house.
So its really just a feeler as to whether the bike with no rear suss is going to be a hardtail or a gravel.
This is all immaterial really – I’ve got no cash! And a full susser will come first…
That's my aim too, I've just taken delivery of the gravel bike and I have a 140mm travel FS bike for proper trails.
I'd like a titanium or steel hardtail as well, but that's well down on the list.
For me the key thing is the geometry accomodating the drops - moving to a standing position for climbing is just much more natural on a gravel/road bike than it is on a hardtail.
OP – Where in Cheshire are you?
Just south of Chester nr Carden Park. Easy drive to Llandegla but out the door is pants, or walking trails which are barred from bikes (i.e Sandstone Trail)
epicyclo
Subscriber
You don’t have to be going slow to enjoy the scenery.
You do if your trail demands concentration
mashr
You do if your trail demands concentration
That's the whole point of large volume tyres on a gravel bike.
You are totally right, but those trails are a lot of seat of the pants fun and an adrenaline rush on a drop bar bike.
Totally agree, I've enjoyed under-biking most things since I had an 80s ATB and maybe that's where my idea of how fast should feel comes from. A bit rattly and not actually that fast compared to a big bike, more seat of pants stuff at times.
epicyclo
Subscriber
That’s the whole point of large volume tyres on a gravel bike.
They steer the bike down twisty trails for me so that I can look at the scenery? Otherwise, you've lost me
'Knocking out epic loops'
Thats what I just bought mine for. Really fancy doing some mixed 50-80 mile routes with loads of bridleways etc. But there would still be 20 - 30 miles on the road and that's not something I want to ride with a flat bar hardtail.
I did a 50 miler last year on my 14.5kg FS bike, along pilgrims way - a mixture of road and gravel/byways. At about 15 miles from home I was really thinking how I'd like to be on a nice, lightweight hardtail...
I reckon I'll try and beat this ride this year on the gravel bike.
Reasons why I like my CX/Gravel bike
1) It opens up country lanes as a valid travelling method. It never feels slow on them. Widens the scope of rides from home.
2) It completely changes the experience of riding on local trails/areas - I do some things backwards, some boring tracks are now a blast and some techie climbs are actually faster.
3) When the trails are awful, I can still go for a road ride (I don't own a road bike).
4) I can load it up in a way that I can't on my full sus due to dropper/shock/etc, so most of my recent bivvies have been on the CX
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I use it as a compliment to my only mtb - a 140mm full sus and love it. Don't really feel the need for a hardtail. It's cheap to run (£15 tyres) and feels so different that it refreshes rides. If I go out alone - it's usually on this.
I should mention, that I went for something on the light/racey side of the spectrum.
I went from a a fairly heavy Geneis CdA gravel bike to a very light Cube XC hardtail and I preferred that.
The Cube was a lot lighter and cost around £1000 to build using second hand bargain hunting for most of the parts.
I suppose it depends on which bikes are being compared though as they vary loads from make to make.
I would like to have a ride on a decent light weight gravel bike though for comparison.
I've done 80, 90 100 mile road rides and a triathlon on my London Road with 28mm road tyres on. Whack the 35c off road tyres on and it's great for canal tow path and bridle way bashing or commuting.
Would rather be on my MTB when trails get gnarly though. Gravel bikes are great and give you more freedom if you're not bothered about a proper road bike.
my rigid 29er is 8.9kg. Most gravel bikes aren't sub-9kg.
It's all about the trails. On road/gravel and towpath/easy stuff the gravel bike has the edge. Anything rockier/steeper the 29er is better.
Been out quite a bit on my Graventurex over the last few weekends and the rides have been a total blast. Was off the bike for a few months after Christmas, went out on an old retro bike a couple of times and I felt like my legs and lungs were encased in lead. Took the gravel thing out and felt like I was flying, on road, off road, up hill, down dale. Felt like my first MTB all over again. Just brilliant fun on tame trails. It is 10lb lighter so that probably helps quite a bit.
Last weekend riding around Ranmore common and the local trails and byways, and some of the descents were properly bumpy, literally holding on for dear life, unable to see, losing teeth, like a rodeo ride, but the most fun I've had at 15mph for a long time. Interesting strava result. 21 miles off road, 1 mile on it - brilliant ride. It would have been fun on my Stooge, but up Whitedown, off-road, with one gear would not have been.
There was one bridleway across a field near St Teresa's school that was just so horribly bumpy - dried horses hoof prints - that I was cursing my rigid steel frame, but I got over it ok and then back into the woods.
I ride the same stuff on my MTB as I do on my 'gravel' bike. On some bits, the MTB is better/faster. On some bits the 'gravel' bike is better/faster.
Just bikes innit?
Exactly, but if 99% of your riding is on the bits where the gravel bike is better/faster then a gravel bike is a good choice and why they exist.
Quite straight forward really.
mashr
They steer the bike down twisty trails for me so that I can look at the scenery? Otherwise, you’ve lost me
If you don't get what I meant, I've definitely lost you.
Do you want a search party sent out? 🙂
I ride my drop bar road/gravel bike (Steel disc thing which weighs more than a XC MTB) more than my MTB these days, just easier to take it out of the shed, hit the road, pick up the coastal routes, jump into the woods and back out onto the road all on the commute to work. Would be tedious on the MTB.
Not sure whether GeeX actually rides a gravel bike, he implies not but has an opinion anyway.
@TINAS I *actually* ride lots of bikes. And have ridden loads of 'gravel' bikes.
Do i own one? No. Would i own one? No. Why? Because of my opinion of them (based on riding many). The only drop bar bike I have (or want) is a roadbike. I've pretty much always owned and ridden roadbikes since the age of 7. I love them. the effortless acceleration. ease of speed, lightness, nimbleness and crisp handling are all awesome traits. Gravel bikes simply don't have that. On road they all feel like handicapped roadbikes. I completely "get" that drop bars have multiple hand positions and folk like that for long rides. I wonder. Do you "get" that standard mtb riser bars also have multiple hand positions? Especially if trails are dull AF or roads are ridden on them.
I did an mtb century about a month ago. Rode from Nottingham across to Cannock chase, did a lap of the dog and rode back.
Mostly canal path with a bit of road.
I was on an xc rigid 29er and a mate on a gravel bike.
North of 15 mph the drop bars become very apparent he was in an aero position, I spent the road bits sat behind him as the different positions means holding 20mph on an mtb for a period is a lot harder work as you are like a sail sat more upright with arms out. I run thunder burts on my xc bike so tyres rolled pretty similar.
Also a lot of gravel and canal paths have those annoying horse gate things that are narrow. You can ride straight through on drop bars maintaining speed- with an mtb you have to stop and waddle through with your bars at 45'
So they make sense if you aren't gonna get too gnar and ride on gravel and road.
chilled76
So they make sense if you aren’t gonna get too gnar and ride on gravel and road.
Nicely put, thanks. 🙂
So can we define gravel bikes as a useful general purpose bike for everyone but the gnarfast?
(Gnarfast, the evil twin of the hero Fastgnar of the Icelandic Sagas)
For me a big part of it is that I have zero interest in 'proper' road riding, but still want something capable of smashing out the miles on (potholed and gravel covered) tarmac.
Commuting, towpath gnar bashing, getting lost in the countryside. Mmmm, Isn't it?
I've fairly recently bought a Giant Toughroad and it's quickly becoming my favourite bike! Stick some 700c 42s and it will eat the bridleways, a quick wheel change to some slick 35c tyres and it will happily munch the miles on the road at an acceptable pace.
I really didn't get on with the drops though, gave me sore shoulders and neck pain so I fitted a set of the the Planet X "Geoff" bars (like Jones bars) and it's now brilliant. A great position to ride bridleways and enough different handholds to be comfortable on longer road rides
The only drop bar bike I have (or want) is a roadbike. I’ve pretty much always owned and ridden roadbikes since the age of 7. I love them. the effortless acceleration. ease of speed, lightness, nimbleness and crisp handling are all awesome traits. Gravel bikes simply don’t have that
Have you ridden a G2? or a Ruut? .
So can we define gravel bikes as a useful general purpose bike for everyone but the gnarfast?
Sounds fair to me. Also not everyone who wants to ride on the road wants or needs a lightweight carbon race machine. I have recently bought a pair of Diverges (his and hers) as replacements for ageing road bikes and to be ridden by ageing riders. I don't want or need the extreme position these days, something a little more relaxed is far more suitable. Plus I can take in the odd track if I wish too. They take mudguards and racks and will be pressed into some light touring duties. Put into context, if I want to ride on the roads around Derwent reservoir the Diverge will do nicely, if I want to do spud alley, Lockerbrook, etc. I'll take the MTB.
Be careful with geometry though. I have a desire to run the top of the bars at the same level as the saddle, even a little higher. Some gravel bikes are still stupidly long on top and low at the front for that racy, aggressive position. Err, no thanks. Despite being 6'1" I like a reach of around 380 and a stack of around 620. Looks a bit gawky, but it works for me. Run an 80mm stem. If I want to get lower I get in the drops and the bar tops are nice and upright for winching up the hills, hoods are just comfy. No neck or back ache to speak of, only sore legs. YMMV considerably.
Oh, and the shorter top tube means you can get your weight right back over the rear wheel for the steeper downhill bits, a bit like one of those MTB contraptions.
This picture sums up a gravel bike for me.
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Gravel river towpath, cows, countryside, fresh air. You wouldn't ride this on a road bike and it would boring on an mtb, but on a gravel bike with 47mm 650b tyres soaking up the bumps, it's awesome fun!
You wouldn’t ride this on a road bike
You may not. I however ride plenty of surfaces like that (and worse) on a fixed track bike with 28c tyres. And it is great for it as well as being fast on the road too. My fastest times on gravel are on my track bike especially when going uphill.
This is my "gravel" bike, all 6.5 kgs of it.
You wouldn’t ride this on a road bike
You could easily.
They're one of those things that alot of people convince themselves that they need, but the reality is they'd be better off with something else. But, drop bars are cool since road cycling took off.
They should be a road bike with wider tyres, great for over in the States where you've got miles of gravel roads to cycle. Instead, people seem to set them up with really short stems and an upright position (just noticed there's a whole page of them here https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/psa-px-tempest-rival-1-for-1299/page/3/ ). This means poor handling and no aerodynamic benefits.
Why not just ride an MTB which is more fun and also faster in almost all offroad situations. Fit some bar ends for climbing. And you don't have to wear lycra. It's ironic that these gravel bikes are often made with the highend performance materials like Titanium and Carbon as well, when the whole bicycle package is anything but high performance!! Like a Ti frame is gonna make any difference when you're struggling to stay in control with your drop bars down a rock strewn path! Like, just fit some flat bars and save yourself about two grand! People are bloody stupid.
Oh, and the shorter top tube means you can get your weight right back over the rear wheel for the steeper downhill bits, a bit like one of those MTB contraptions.
Pass. I’ll take my longer reach and centred position just like my mtb
You wouldn’t ride this on a road bike
TBH, I've done rougher than that on 28mm tyres. However, there's definitely a point where it all gets a bit too much and wider/higher volume tyres are an advantage.
Hilarious. One post says ride it on a track bike and the next says use a mountain bike. If only there was some middle ground 😂
Something tells me that Forked isn't feeling it.
Hilarious. One post says ride it on a track bike and the next says use a mountain bike. If only there was some middle ground 😂
Crazy talk!
What I should have said that 'most people wouldn't ride this on a road bike' - on that ride there were some rooty sections, and some wooden bridges with slats missing, and the odd 6" step - I was grimacing ready for the impact on these but it never came. On that light offroad/gravel the 650b 47mm tyres were both faster than an MTB, and comfier than skinny road tyres. And bloody good fun! You could really get a lick on without worrying about lack of grip, or the dd root or rock giving a snakebite puncture. There's a nice singletrack descent near me which is fun and very fast on the MTB, I'm looking forward to trying it on the gravel bike. it'll be much slower having to pick lines over the roots but should be good.
They’re one of those things that alot of people convince themselves that they need, but the reality is they’d be better off with something else. But, drop bars are cool since road cycling took off.
I'd honestly see it as the antithesis of that, in the bigger picture. Yeah there may be a lot of bollox in the marketing of gravel bikes (starting with the actual word gravel), but the vast majority of people who own mountain bikes in the UK would be better off owning a gravel bike IMHO
I'm talking about the millions who have a cobwebbed carrera wedged in the back of the garage, who have no real interest in technical riding but quite like the idea of getting out in the countryside with the kids. But stopped after 3 rides because the bike was shit and they couldn't relate to the MTB image that was being marketed to them.
forked
...They should be a road bike with wider tyres, great for over in the States where you’ve got miles of gravel roads to cycle. Instead, people seem to set them up with really short stems and an upright position...
Therein lies the problem. Road bike these days means race bike to some people.
The set up you're describing, short stem, upright position, is the traditional bike set up for road use - top of the bars usually level with the saddle.
For race use they'd slide the stem down - a bit more faff these days since quill stems have gone out of fashion.
The thing that puzzles me when I'm out riding in the mountains on the unmade rods, is where are all these 23mm skinny tyred bikes?
From the talk here it sounds here, there's heaps of them, yet I never see them.
Do they only ride on the blackest of nights wearing the blackest of clothes with no lights? Or are they hiding in the shrubbery fixing their pinch flats and straightening their rims?
Or maybe there's special chocolate smooth gravel for the chosen few. 🙂
And you don’t have to wear lycra
I'm not a roadie, therefore why would I wear lycra on a gravel bike? MTB shorts and helmet all the way, although I did have to push my helmet peak up a little as it was blocking my view 😀
Question is, are kneepads overkill? 😀
but the vast majority of people who own mountain bikes in the UK would be better off owning a gravel bike IMHO
They would probably be better off with a hybrid as the drops of a gravel bike wouldn't get used. A hybrid is the perfect bike for anyone who just wants to ride on road, fire roads, bridleways etc,. yet be in a comfortable position with widish tyres lots of gears and easy handling bike.
Seems I’m in a minority about wanting an upright position. My
Main mtb is a stooge and I’ve got a fairly upright position on that and it feels great. Probably more of a rigid thing as it keeps the weight off the hands, the same as being upright on a drop bar. I’ve had enough neck and wrist pain in the past to know what works for me, and doesn’t hurt. If I want to get low and ‘aero’ on the gravel bike I have these amazing handlebars with a secondary bar 5” lower than the top where I can still reach the brakes and change gear. Works for me. We’re all different, which makes it interesting to see just how varied people’s bike setups are.
I’m interested in trying one of these huge reach mtbs or gravel bikes. I might love them, who knows?
kerley
They would probably be better off with a hybrid as the drops of a gravel bike wouldn’t get used.
If you're used to riding with straight bars, I'd agree, but for a while there weren't many hybrids with a decent spec, and even now most of them carry an anchor up front masquerading as a suspension fork.
If you are used to riding dropbars, then you might find the geometry on a hybrid too 29er, ie long toptube - which is why early mtbs are better for conversions than later ones, shorter TTs and suitable HAs.
On-One/PlanetX Brian dropbars are worth a look because they have a short reach which might work ok with a longer TT if you're doing a conversion.
The advantage of dropbars (other than aero) is being "hooked" in by the bend on rough stuff which gives a more secure grip with loose hands, and that's why I prefer them.
BTW much is made of the ability to get into an aero position on a drop bar, but you can do this with any bar with a low stem although not as comfortably or as efficiently.
I discovered this when I accompanied a mate on a 200 km audax through Caithness on my upright shopping bike. We were facing some extremely strong headwinds and by tucking my elbows in and getting right down to the stem, I was getting as flat as he was on dropbars - otherwise I'd have never kept up. (Not a recommendation, just an observation 🙂 ).
If you've ever ridden Strathnaver in a headwind, you'll wonder why my mate is grinning. That's because he lives up there and does headwinds just about every day.
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Sorry to flag the elephant in the room, but isn’t ‘gravel bike’ just a bit of American puff advertising? Yeah, they look great on the endless gravel roads of Colorado, but in Britain we pretty much have tarmac, mud and cow poo, proper steep off-road or canal paths. ‘Canal path bikes’ doesn’t really evoke the same Wild West spirit of adventure though.
The thing that puzzles me when I’m out riding in the mountains on the unmade rods, is where are all these 23mm skinny tyred bikes?
From the talk here it sounds here, there’s heaps of them, yet I never see them.
Do they only ride on the blackest of nights wearing the blackest of clothes with no lights? Or are they hiding in the shrubbery fixing their pinch flats and straightening their rims?
Or maybe there’s special chocolate smooth gravel for the chosen few. 🙂
Last bank holiday Monday I took my SS hybrid with 23mm tires for ride. Suddenly thought let’s pop up the Ridgeway as it is bone dry. It was fun in a kind of way, it put the back wheel out of true and there were some bits on the flat where much over walking pace would shake me apart. On some bits like tge chalk climbs out of the saddle it was great, but it really wasn’t the tool for the job. Even the badly maintained B roads in the local villages are a pain. I now have 35mm tires coming.