[Closed] How much do you use your gravel bike?

My gravel/adventure bike is also my touring bike and was also used as my commuter. It's easily done the highest mileage of all my bikes.

Every day for me, because I use it for commuting. But I've even used it as an alternative to my mountain bike on hard trails on one occasion, in order to see what it could do.

I'm North Downs based and just sold my gravel bike for this reason.

It was too compromised for everything, I can do the short local fast loops on mtb or road bike without feeling I'm missing out on combining the two.

Plus it releases funds for improvement to both bikes which increased motivation to ride them!

I bought one and never used it. Sold it and bought a modern ht which has been my most used bike this year.

Same as you, limited time so the ht is set up to grab out of the garage and ride when I have a spare hour or two.

I used it for almost everything, 5+ times a week 😀

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Get one, they're ace!

And even just these few responses have highlighted my dilemma ...

You commuting types can really make use of gravel bikes by default. HTs, especially with tyres being more whippy these days, can do the whole gravel thing especially over short blats. And yet gravel bikes are that middle ground that offer a blend of what one already had but in a different way.

Surely there's a paradox in there somewhere.

Hmm.

I use mine for a mixed surface commute. I also don't like proper "road" bikes as I find them cramped and twitchy*.

I do fancy a modern HT though.

* I appreciate other non-twitchy/non-cramped road bikes are available, but I don't need one...

I use my cx bike more than any other and it's been that way for the last year or so. Living in London it's great for cycling out to trails. I even chose to use it at swinley the other week when the wife and friends were on mountain bikes

I use my cx bike for commuting, to an extent where it now has roadie tyres on. I initially used it for gravel and easier trail centre stuff. Now almost exclusively commuting. It’s most ridden bike, but that’s for commuting. It gets used a few times a year outside of commuting.

I’ve always planned to go on some decent length rides, off road but on fireroads etc. But I’ve always grabbed my mtb’s and had more fun on them instead.

Had a couple a few years ago. Fun for a bit but then got a 29er HT and it was barely slower off-road, allowing lots more fun and fewer punctures.

The CX bikes were frustratingly slow on the road too, for me.

My gravel bike is my only drop bar or thin tyre bike. I don't really have hard tail. So it covers a lot of roles

With a racy carbon hard tail and a road bike it would be much harder to justify

While you can obviously ride any "gravel" route on a MTB, don't rule out the enjoyment that comes from taking a less-capable bike on tougher routes. It might mean picking different lines and you might not be challenging any Strava times but it can also be more rewarding.

It's my most used bike.

get one they are ace especially green Escapades!!

If anyone see said green Escapade ^^ let me know 👿

I have one (Arkose), use it as much as my other bikes. If you have a road bike may be overlap but for me for those road then bridleway rides it’s unbeatable. Miles quicker on the road than a mountain bike, slower off but still really good. Just let’s you go where you want. I have a hardtail for proper trails or if it’s too icy for skinnier tyres .

I tried it but decided it was so compromised on anything technical it wasn't much fun.
Much prefer a XC 29er with fast rolling tyres.

I also have a full-sus and road bike. The roadie and 29er get used the most as they are better on local stuff (South Downs).

Cx/gravel was useful in London though as I used to ride out to the North Downs along various roads, bridleways and cycle paths but if i was based there to start with i'd stick with a 29er.

The 'nice roads' (quiet, narrow, grass up the middle type roads) round our way aren't that pleasant on a road bike but with something more forgiving (fatter tyres and slacker angles) they're great fun. Add in a few bits of fire road or easy-ish bridleway and it really opens up options for riding from the door.

All that makes a gravel bike great for commuting too - particularly with poor lighting, potholes, leaf mulch and unsurfaced bridleway. Just way more confidence than on a road bike a quicker than the mountain bike.

I don't notice it being that much slower (at the speeds I ride!) than a road bike (maybe 1 or 2 km/h in 30?) - obviously no use if you're racing but for general riding it's fine. Still considerably quicker than the mountain bike too.

Original plan for me was a commuting bike that I could use to ride home from work offroad in the summer (well, dry) months. It worked when I had a job which had a 75% offroad route home a couple of years ago. Now it's mostly a road bike for commuting, but has the occasional off-road excursion. Still my most used bike by a long way.

I had one (well, Kona Jake the Snake) for a bit and found it too compromised as others had said. Not as fast or as comfortable (fit wise) as the road bike and slower and less comfortable than my carbon 29er hardtail.
Happy to have sold it.

- Use my ti road bike to commute on as well as do proper road riding.
- Use the hardtail for short and long local rides off road incl. bits of road connecting up the bits for said off rides.
- Use the 29er full sus for big days out, holidays and more technical riding

I would like my road bike to take more than 25c tyres and can appreciate the benefit of disks in the winter and for commuting in various conditions, but will eventually buy another road bike that fits like my current bike and ticks the boxes when the current one dies.

Use it more than my mtb at the moment. & not for commuting. Whether you would do likewise is an unanswerable question, because it depends on you as an individual and where & how you like to ride.

[i]How much?[/i]
Over 6000 miles this year

2 sets of wheels FTW 😉

I almost forgot.

For Rusty...

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+1 what Simon said.

My drop-bar, steel-f+f, 29er, 2x10 Deore-equipped gravel rough-tourer shod with 2.1 Nanos has (since new )suffered all manner of long-term storage and (unsuccessful) attempts at being sold on.

Criminal lack of use all-round - however this has been due to entirely to complicated injury/poor health. But it turns out that it still loves me so deserves some reciprocal bonding.

I rode it last night in the slush and cold, and it still feels more 'bikey' than all of my other bikes. It might weigh 27lbs yet gobbles those back-roads and farm-track miles in comfort better than anything. So it's a keeper. Due next year for a wheelset upgrade (also laced with SP hub-generator) and maybe some carbon post/stem combo. A possible foray into tubeless to further lighten the load

I'll keep an MTB hardtail for playing in the woods and hills, and an old road bike for sentimental restoration, fettling and summer jaunts

But the Do-it-All bike gravel/ATB suits me finest most of the time. I'm not out to set road or trail records, just for enjoying all manner of cycling, bike-packing, and low-maintenance grins.

Lots.

[My gravel/adventure bike is also my touring bike and was also used as my commuter. It's easily done the highest mileage of all my bikes.]

+1

I love heading out on it knowing that I can be quick on the road but also tackle some single track should I see it.

My Vaya?
My 2nd most ridden bike.
My Fargo?
Not so much.. Shame really, as I do enjoy it.. 😳

I've been riding CX bikes since 1996 so the newer breed of 650b drop bar bikes basically just extends the kibd of riding that I did already, just with disc brakes, 48mm tyres and electric gear changes. Admittedly my steel, frame built for me, 1996 CX bike takes 700c x 40mm tyres with ease already so it was future proofed 😉 unlike my 2010 carbon CX race bike which struggles with 34mm tubs.

I probably use mine more than my MTB, simply because it suits riding from the door better, I can hop on tow paths and bridalways, trundle for a few miles and then go on the road to link up with the next bit of bridalway or woodland. The rides often end up 50/50 on/off road but the bike is a bit more efficient for that sort of stuff... it's efficiency means covering more miles more quickly for the effort than an MTB would, but obviously it's not so great for Shredding Gnar.

I have a fixed roadie commuter which I did toy with retiring recently in order to make the gravel bike a dual purpose commuter/weekend fun bike but TBH having throught about it the fixie makes better sense for weekday commuting, and keeping the gravel bike as it is for weekend fun (and the odd ride with my kids) simply works...

I think the whole issue of lacking time makes being able to jump on the gravel bike and just ride more appealing, to get the most from my MTB I tend to be shoving it in the car and driving somewhere to ride it these days, and yes there's nothing preventing me riding my MTB for the same stuff as the Gravel bike from the door, but the gravel bike is a better tool for the job TBH...

The road bike is for road rides, sometimes on my own or with mates it will go further and faster, but can't be taken offroad so is quite a bit more specific in it's use...

Having the four different bikes which all cover different usage and let me enjoy quite different types of riding works but I can understand it wouldn't suit everyone.

Forgot obliga-pic:

(Day tour in Cornwall/N Devon - a brief rest before heading down to Coombe Valley for some fast fire-road)

It's nice to explore knowing that if the going gets tough/you find yourself on the moor/rupps then it's still doable before navigating back to the lanes without too much fuss and barely any hike-a--bike.

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I sold my CXer and bought a racey-ish hardtail 29er (Trek Superfly). The 29er is not much slower on the road and much faster off road. I'm not technically adept, though.

I had an old tourer set up as a 'gravel' bike (i.e. with big tyres).

It didn't get ridden much, on road it just wasn't sprightly like a road bike, off-road it was just crap. And the number of days I could actually motivate myself to ride for fun in the rain was very low.

That won't stop me getting a CX bike at some point and adding slick tyres and guards. But there is a fine line between making non-technical off road a bit more interesting, and making a towpath bimble a stressful experience. A rigid 29er or Fat bike makes the trails sufficiently different. A gravel bike sometimes just makes cycle-paths stressful rather than allowing you to sit up and enjoy the scenery.

That said I also want a Vagabond or Gryphon to try and ride Swinley from my door (about a 60mile loop), although I suspect the rigid 29er wouldn't be any slower.

As many others have said, my go-to bike is a cyclocross bike (Crosslight). It mostly runs on 32mm road tyres. I also have some CX tyres and some 35mm Small Block 8s.

It is a bike that is non-specialist.

It is used for on/off road commuting, wet road rides and general errands. Fat (Marathon Supreme) tyres are great on the road and cope well with rough, stony stuff.

Quite a lot. It really my rough stuff bike as it does do a little bit of bridleway and off piste stuff but over the last 7 years on this bike I have done around 4000 to 4500 miles a year most of which ,with the few hundred miles mentioned above, is pure gravel. FC type stuff. I average 90 miles a week of this riding which is 4 of my usual daily circuit. My road bike is my nicer CX bike which in the winter gets mudguards fitted. This also sees a bit of gravel if it enhances the road ride. Occasionally it gets stripped to do a CX race. The gravel bike is a Cotic X so thus is really reformed anvils. Several of them. Occasionally my gravel circuit is done on my pre war fixed wheeler or the SS monster .

My Arkose sees more use than any other of my bikes.

If it's wet I use it as it'll take guards, if it's off road but I don't want to drive I'll ride in. Used mine for Dirty Reiver and Audaxes from 100 to 1400km.

Probably the cheapest of my bikes too..... 😆

Bought one, but sold it on after a few weeks after I realised how painful it was on our (cobbled in places) local trails, and remembered how much I don't like drop bars!

Hardtail 29er with semi-slicks and nice comfy riding position is now my gravel bike, and my mountain bike.

1980's raleigh racer for commuting and pub duties.

Tangent - why don't gravel enthusiasts use MTB-style mudguards to catch the worst of the spray?

Aesthetics?

I do but they are crap really thus its usually sodding great wide SKS ones.

Tangent - why don't gravel enthusiasts use MTB-style mudguards to catch the worst of the spray?

At my club I've sometimes had some pitying comments about my bikes because I'm not riding a road bike like wot they bought from Evans. Although I sometimes surprise them by actually coming out on a road bike.
I've ridden road club runs on a cx bike, a 29er curly drop bar bike, and a 650b drop bar bike. I've never had a problem keeping up with the others, and maybe if I've had enough I'll peel off and pick up a dirt track/ bridleway at some point.

Tangent - why don't gravel enthusiasts use MTB-style mudguards to catch the worst of the spray?

They keep your arse/face clean-ish. But not as well as proper guards, and do nothing for your lower half.

So the upshot is pretty much as expected;

- lots of commuter use
- a fair bit of "didn't get on with it ... it's too compromising ... want to sell it ... can't sell it ..."
- road speed not nearly quick enough
- road speed plenty quick enough
- particularly engaging on the rough stuff as one needs to seek new lines
- 29ers are much better all round

I guess you never know until you own one. I really didn't get this any thought until a week or so ago - now I want one and am getting closer to justifying it. Some good secondhand deals around. Less so on new as those with hydro discs/105/newer Tiagra/un-crap wheels are not yet discounted enough from the £1500+ mark. Will keep looking.

I like a lot of you have been very undecided about a gravel bike even though some of my riding mates have them. In the end I decided I couldn't justify the cost. However I had just upgraded the wheels on my disc road bike so had a spare pair of 700c wheels. A pair of cheap discs from eBay and they fit in my 26" ht to make a very reasonable gravel bike. Why bother? Well I used to get fed up of trailing behind my gravelled-up mates on easy tracks and totally dropped on the road bits . I had the wheels anyway so for £10 for the discs I have a handy commuter/gravel bike

If you have an itch to scratch then get a secondhand one now, it's the cheapest time of year to buy used bikes.

You can probably make a few quid selling in spring if it doesn't turn out to be for you.

Be honest with the type of riding you enjoy and is practical where you live. If you live somewhere with a lot of quiet country lanes and gentle off road routes, then a CX bike is brilliant. Similarly if you plan on commuting a lot with one.

I bought one and never really got on with it as most of the offroad routes near me are better with a mountain bike, and the roads are far too busy to enjoy. The only thing I ended up using it for was commuting along a canal towpath every so often. I replaced it with a hardtail as my second bike instead.

And even just these few responses have highlighted my dilemma ...

I think you may possibly be overthinking it. I ride the SDW area and am aiming to pick up a gravel bike mainly because I want one/N+1 etc.
The idea is to link up the easier trails/BWs with longer stretches of pot holed roads in order to create fast'ish 20-30mile loops - then pull out the hardtail for pure trail riding.
I also intend to ride to the footie more often, which is a 40mile roundtrip, but made more direct with the ability to cross a couple of off-road sections rather than keep purely to the busy roads on my road bike.

I could do all of the above on my current bikes, but I wants a gravel bike.
YOLO. etc.