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Been running a caad x Tiagra for the last 18months as my commuter. Bought 2nd hand for £550 but was like new. Stuck some 40mm gravel king sk tubeless tyres and roval wheels on as a £700 upgrade and it makes my commute 41km Round trip joy as I can now ride the bridal paths and forest roads and link up with tarmac stretches for a fun route to and from work. Just needs a new 105 hydro group set on which will make it perfect for me.
you’d be daft to buy a gravel bike if you’ve no intention of bikepacking up a Scottish bog on a bike where the bars are higher than your shoulders, are more flared than the bay city rollers
Here you go, yesterday, Route 7 through the Forest of Galloway.
Been riding a Kaff on bridleways to join up road rides since 2011, but the difference is it's now fun rather than just capable, so even is commuting through town. Recommend 650b and tyres in the 40s at least.
Of course it's slower than the MTB off road and the Road bike on tarmac, but for some reason they are both gathering dust at the moment. I'm lying, I dont actually have a MTB anymore. Worked out that the amount of times I go to a trail center each year it's cheaper to hire one.
For me found I didn’t like my gravel bike off road, and it annoyed me on road. Would rather sacrifice the road speed (as I’m not quick anyway) and have more fun off road, hence in your shoes I would buy a rigid 29 mtb. If I was mostly doing longer rides a Jones bar or similar on it would also be on the list in order to give more hand positions.
Weird, I just recently gave up my (rigid drop bar 29er) monster-cross for a rigid 29er+ MTB (Longitude)with a loop bar. The Longitude is much more predictable and safe in the rough, but I’d be lying if I said it was more all-round fun than the Vagabond. Close call tho. Wide drop bar wins for comfort by a mile. IME of course. Close second the MTB with flat bars + Ergon grips w/bar-ends. Also v comfortable. Yet, for distance, the wide drops with gel/cork tape are no contest in the comfort stakes, and also climb better. Half a mind to try out Woodchipper or Midge bars + bar-end shifters (on the MTB)
hence in your shoes I would buy a rigid 29 mtb
Yeah, I think that's also a good choice. Ideally you'd get to give both a good try before making a decision.
Rigid MTBs are quite hard to find these days - what have you got?
I thought I knew what a gravel bike was then I discovered the Masi CXGR. No one would call it a CX bike, despite the name. Room for 45mm tyres and dropper post routing. Does a dropped post on a dropbar gravel bike make sense?
Buy a bike that makes you smile even as you walk past it in the hall. Then the tinkering and maintenance become a pleasure not a chore.
Make sure it has flats so you can just get on it with the shoes you are riding. It's not about efficiency. Its about availability. Always have a combination chain lock wrapped around the seat post so you can just nip to the shops on it if you want. Or go out for the afternoon totally unprepared but knowing you can get some water and flapjack in the coop.
Just go out and ride the bike you buy just as you did when you were a kid. Not even beginning to think if the tyres are the right width or if the stem is too short or long.
Even if the rides are short, get out there and see the sun rises and/ or the sun sets.
Enjoy buying the new bike but remember it's the same legs that will be pedalling it.
Buy a bike that makes you smile even as you walk past it in the hall. Then the tinkering and maintenance become a pleasure not a chore.
Make sure it has flats so you can just get on it with the shoes you are riding. It’s not about efficiency. Its about availability. Always have a combination chain lock wrapped around the seat post so you can just nip to the shops on it if you want. Or go out for the afternoon totally unprepared but knowing you can get some water and flapjack in the coop.
Just go out and ride the bike you buy just as you did when you were a kid. Not even beginning to think if the tyres are the right width or if the stem is too short or long.
Even if the rides are short, get out there and see the sun rises and/ or the sun sets.
Enjoy buying the new bike but remember it’s the same legs that will be pedalling it.
10/10
I've warmed to our Boardman Team CX. Bought ex-display, with scratch on forks, for just under £500.
It was bought as commuter on a route that has broken tarmac and running water/mud on it most days and for middle_oab to complete DofE expeditions.
It's now done all that plus road tours of Argyll and Perthshire, rattled round Glentress red, QECP Red and Cairngorm woodlands.
It really needs bigger tyres, the bar bars are too narrow and the gearing is just too high.
I keep finding myself pricing up gravel e-bike for mrs_oab and 'proper' gravel bike for me, plus eying up threads about mild and wild Scottish trails...
Sure, you can do it, but there’s an appreciable difference between 28s at the limit of frame/caliper clearance and 37s/42s/whatever with room to spare, especially if the ground is soft and you want to get some tread in there.
There really isn't. I have been riding gravel roads for 20 years (loads of them where I live). I have ridden cross tyres, road tyres, 38c and 43c gravel tyres and up to 2.4 MTB tyres over those years on cross bikes, track bikes and MTBs. It all depends what the gravel is like where you ride but where I ride it is compacted with bits of looser gravel now and again and a 28c tyres is the fastest when combined with a bit of road and just as comfortable on gravel as on road. Tread is only required in winter on any single track that gets a bit muddy bit that is not really gravel at that point.
Of course someone else may find differently but that goes back to my point about just ride the bike you like to ride and get on with it.
I went through a phase of wanting one and tried an Escapade and then a NS RAG. Just found them to be a bit lacking on anything other than roads and easy bridleways once the novelty had worn off. 29er HT or rigid would be my choice.
Now got a Stooge Speedball and it’s possibly one of the most fun bikes I’ve ever had. Like a huge BMX monster truck and makes me laugh like an idiot every time I ride it. It’s also bloody quick which makes no sense considering the tyres I’m running. Saving for some smaller, quicker rolling all round tyres to find out how fast it’ll go. Just awaiting delivery of my Junker bars to finish it off. Surprisingly capable at everything I’ve thrown it at and it’s also purple.
I did some offroad tracks on my Arkose with marathon plus tyres a couple of weeks back. I avoided the woods (too rooty/bumpy in combination with the kit I was carrying) but on everything else it was fine. The Arkose is my commuter, hence the tyres, but unless it's twisty stuff where you really need the grip I found it to be very acceptable on tame off road stuff
I ride mine probably more than any other bikes. I have a Croix de Fer with 35c Clements on it, which does all my rainy or winter road stuff, light road touring, light trail bikepacking and bits in between. I also have a Vagabond which is used for bumpier stuff touring, riding round the nearby windfarms and some tame natural big loops (west of Scotland). My MTBs get used for purely off road hilly stuff, the odd trail centre etc
Of course you could do it on a road bike, I ride gravel roads and singletrack on a fixed gear track bike with 28c tyres and it is absolutely fine.
I have too (although with 25cs). Tbh it's easier in some ways on (flattish) gravel on a fixie, because you've got full control over the rear wheel. But the number of fixies that can fit 28s in is fairly limited... And there's no doubt my gravel bike is a better bike for the conditions, even with 28c road tyres on
^ great vid, but you see I can’t think of any way (other than a marginal weight penalty) that wouldn’t make that rocky ride better with fatter tyres. 40c even. 2.1s would belt through that.
It would be faster on an MTB (he even says that would be the ideal bike in the video) but better is subjective. It would not exactly be challenging on an MTB but it would be on my fixed gear which is the point.