A couple of weeks back I posted this thread New Road Bike musings. Shimano 105 – decent wheels. – Bike Forum – Singletrack World Magazine Forum
Thinking I wanted a road bike. Since then Ive done some searching, thinking and testing and ended up in a place where I didnt think I would ie looking at a gravel bike with storage, and places for luggage.
Ive ridden a Orbea Terra, Terra Race, Ridley Astr and Giant Revolt. The Orbea's didnt do it for me but the Astr was nice, just a bit racey. The Giant was the one I thought I would like the least but actually liked the most. It felt much more lively than the Orbea's and felt like it transmitted more power.
Revolt Advanced Pro 0 (2026) | Gravel bike | Giant Bicycles UK
SO am I wrong to look at a Giant Revolt? It ticks a lot of boxes, certainly when I am considering getting a 2nd wheelset ie Zipp 303s etc for road.
Its the ability to do events like this below
North Wales Gravel X - Glorious Gravel – Off Road Adventures in Cycling
or even get into bike packing in the future just made it feel a much more head based purchase rather than a head down race machine...lets face it I havent entered a bike race since doing the 3 Peaks CX nearly 10 years ago.
Will I regret getting a Revolt?
A Revolt will never feel quite the same as a road bike, even with the same wheels. Whether that feeling amounts to much only you can know/decide. I prefer riding a road bike as how it feels is very important to me as I ride for enjoyment. There may not be any difference speed wise with same wheels/tyres but it just feels more how I like it (steering, handling, climbing etc.)
Kerley is right in that it will not be truly the same...
although there will be a spectrum of road bikes and a spectrum of gravel bikes. So might be chalk and cheese, or might be barely perceptible.
No upside is without a downside though - otherwise all bikes would be the same. That light responsive eager to accelerate wunderbike race replica might become agonising after 2 hours for those of us who aren't 60kg, 25 yo and with a full time team physio.
Is keeping the rim braked KTM for summer road jaunts and getting a more relaxed all-road / gravel bike on the cards?
Giant are not renowned for their warranty support, which may or may not be a consideration. On a £5k RRP bike with a PF BB I'd be a bit cautious. Sorry to be a bit glass half-empty.
How about a Trek Checkpoint or a Scott Addict Gravel? They're both a bit better on the support side (Trek very much so).
Or, back to the road with the new '26 Scott Addict which takes 38mm tyres and has a very good spec for the money?
Is keeping the rim braked KTM for summer road jaunts and getting a more relaxed all-road / gravel bike on the cards?
The KTM is consigned to the turbo.
The Revolt was just as spritely as the KTM . Even with its stock gravel tyres on
I don’t expect the Revolt to act just like a top of f the range modern head down road race bike. I think the revelation for me has been understanding that’s probably not what I need these days
When I bought a 'proper' road bike I got a Ribble CGR, my thinking being I could do road, gravel, etc on it. In hindsight, a good endurance bike would've been a better bet - probably a touch faster on road, and would've felt faster (which I value), and would've comfortably been able to do all the off-tarmac riding I've done (bridlepaths, fireroads mainly). My MTB is still my preferred choice for any proper trails.
The good thing about "gravel" is (as mentioned above), it's a very broad church and you can get very road-like gravel bikes.
My Canyon Grail is one such bike; it's easy to use on the road without feeling like a barge but it's capable on a wide range of off-road.
To muddy the waters even more, you could go for an all-road type bike, more road focused but still with a bit of lighter gravel / crap road capabilities.
Fairlight Strael sort of territory.
I'd suggest trying a Specialized Crux if you can, mine gets a lot of use on the road and feels very similar to my road bikes.
My riding buddy and I have a 50 mile route that we do. We both have very nice road bikes but since 2 years ago have hardly ridden them as we bought Specialized Diverge STRs. The last time we did the trip , on the last gentle climb I asked if the bike felt draggy or slow or hard work compared to the road bike. No they didn't, all we had done is pumped up the stock tyres a bit more.
Yes, we were a bit slower on average speed but the gritty and potholed roads weren't a worry, the "long cuts" through the dirt track down to Ironbridge and the bit alongside the river Severn to Bridgnorth were nice and we enjoyed it.
My experience is a gravel bike can make for a decent road bike (with a second set of wheels and road slicks). However that's with the caveat my current road bike is endurance geometry so not far off my gravel bike, the difference would be a lot more noticeable if I had an aggressive geometry road bike like a Tarmac (most in handling feel rather than outright speed).
If I could only keep one bike it would be the gravel bike without hesitation, my road riding is mostly z2 pootling/cafe rides though so speed and aero efficiency aren't really factors for me.
I looked at the Revolt myself (ended up with an Argon 18 Dark Matter), main thing that put me off was lack of UDH meaning you can't run 1x 13 E1 XPLR (which I wanted over 2x) but for you 2x might make more sense anyway (if bike packing etc.). The other issue is it only has 45mm tyre clearance at the rear with a 2x drivetrain, for me that's not enough, I'd want a minimum 50mm on a new gravel bike.
Giant are not renowned for their warranty support,
I put a deposit on a Revolt Advanced 3 a 2025 bike with a hefty discount. When being built up the shop found a fault with the rear brake caliper mount..long story short ended up getting a 2026;advanced 2 for the same price as that was all Giant had available....
The other issue is it only has 45mm tyre clearance at the rear with a 2x drivetrain
Not saying you are wrong but I'm surprised, mine has 45mm tyres 2x and seems to have loads of room left.
A Revolt will never feel quite the same as a road bike, even with the same wheels. Whether that feeling amounts to much only you can know/decide. I prefer riding a road bike as how it feels is very important to me as I ride for enjoyment. There may not be any difference speed wise with same wheels/tyres but it just feels more how I like it (steering, handling, climbing etc.)
This.
A road bike for me is about feeling fast as much as being faster. That's fast snappy geometry and very light wheels, 28mm tyres.
A gravel bike, even a roadified one, will just feel slower - weight, gearing, position on the bike etc...
I'd consider keeping and replacing worn drive parts on your road bike and buying a gravel bike to supplement, perhaps a slightly less expensive one if needed.
A gravel bike, even a roadified one, will just feel slower - weight, gearing, position on the bike etc...
The spesh crux could be the unicorn bike here.
The revolt is surprisingly fast on the road but is pretty barge like as far as handling goes on the road...how much of the is tyres though I don't know.
The spesh crux could be the unicorn bike here.
There quite a few other bikes in that niche, ie Ridley Astr but I like the idea of frame storage, extra bolt on points etc.
I know it will be less racey than a full on race bike but as I say the Revolt wasn’t as sluggish as I thought it would be.
In comparison the Orbea Terra felt much longer in the seat stay and sluggish etc
I have a mate who rode a revolt with shimano 2x and 2.1" ralphs for a while. I don't remember how big the clearance was, but it was fine for dry weather riding.
I think the 45 mm limitation might come from the battery on AXS front mechs.
The revolt makes a reasonable winter bike, but the position is a bit high for me for road use. Whether that is an issue depends on your fit.
Bit of a generalised term to say that a road bike will feel stiffer and more responsive whereas a gravel bike won’t feel as responsive and ride slower. Put a pair of 50mm carbon wheels with decent road rubber on a good endurance or gravel bike will feel just as good. Unless you’re really hammering it, sprinting etc about 95% of riders wouldn’t notice much difference. In fact when I was road racing, my stiff, unyielding race machine could be a hindrance unless riding really smooth tarmac - it would skip and hop about on Surrey’s finest roads meaning you couldn’t get 100% of your power down. I actually preferred my ti/carbon bike because it had better road manners. These days I do most of my riding on a carbon Diverge with 2 pairs of wheels. Likewise the days of riding 23mm tyres at 100psi for a couple of hours would really beat you up - tubeless 32mm tyres at 45psi feel far, far nicer.
For the OP unless you’re road racing, these days an endurance or race-oriented gravel bike is likely to suit 99% riders better.
I have previously been quite happy to treat my gravel bike (Free Ranger) as my road bike. I'm just looking for a road bike at the moment. That may (or may not) be the right answer for you so this is what I've found.
The FR is set up with 28mm tubeless road tyres on 700c wheels and running 42 * 11-42
Every so often I get a short spin on my son's Felt F5 (usually in my duties as mechanic for testing repairs). The Felt runs 50/34 * 11-?? And also sits on 28s.
Things I notice now I ride the FR on the road nearly every week.
1) when group riding the FR is really under geared and I spend the vast majority of my time in the top 3 cogs and run out of cruising gears at a bit over 20mph (I'm a lower cadence pedaller). That's some long stretches on a bad chainline at the limits of my high rev endurance.
2) the weight - there's a very noticeable amount of extra mass to the FR vs. the Felt. The Felt is wearing it's "heavy" winter wheels (Aksiums) at the moment and it still feels like it'll blow away in a good breeze Vs the FR.
3) the 2* setup of the Felt gives much better gear spacing and personally I notice the benefit of that more on the road. A 2* gravel bike would alleviate that.
4) the gravel bike is taller and more relaxed and I never worry about it's robustness on bad roads.
5) the FR is far from slow but it also doesn't feel spritely/responsive like the Felt. When you stand up and shove then the Felt really does feel like it wants to go. What that translates into in the real world for speed I don't know.
There's nothing inherently wrong with the FR on the road, I did a 90mile road ride on it last year (my personal longest ever) and it was more than fine.
I am riding more road than anything else right now and the FR's compromises are more noticeable than when road riding was a relative rarity.
I have a Revolt. I like it but only use it for fairly light gravel and crappy back roads, like a sturdy road bike. I don’t find it sluggish and have done quite a few plus 100 k rides on mine in rolling country and hills.
I took it up to Grwyne Fawr dam and found its comfortable limits. Forest roads, canal towpaths and the odd bridleways would be grand though.
I think the 45 mm limitation might come from the battery on AXS front mechs.
That makes sense mine is cable and has loads more space with 45's on.
I have a pinarello x7 and a grevil f5 gravel bike. The x7 is setup with 35mm rubber which is just comfy the grevil with 45mm gravel tyres. I have been comparing the 2 a lot recently. The grevil f5 is more racy and faster on the rough stuff but for absolute speed and all day comfort it has to be the x7. I have done loads of 200km+ rides on the x7 which I wouldn't dream of doing on the f5 as it's just too stretched out and racy. Having 1 by on the gravel bike really makes a difference too. I can get to about 55kph on the f5 but with the right hill 90 is achievable in the x7 . Cruise speed on the x7 is 40 kph on the flat but it's 35 on the f5
What do I enjoy riding more ? Well at the moment it's the grevil as it goes anywhere I would take a mountain bike but for the summer races it will be the x7 all the way as its more comfortable and faster. But if I could only afford 1 it would be the grevil as its just more versatile
My titanium cross (now gravel) bike has road bike geometry and is a lovely ride. I swap wheels for road rides with the club. A Revolt with slack geometry will never feel like a road bike I am afraid. A sporty cross bike like a crux will. Get the crux not the revolt if you want one size fits all.
Bit of a generalised term to say that a road bike will feel stiffer and more responsive whereas a gravel bike won’t feel as responsive and ride slower. Put a pair of 50mm carbon wheels with decent road rubber on a good endurance or gravel bike will feel just as good.
If that is the case for you then good, but it is not the case for me. It simply will not feel the same and to me will not feel as good. There is more to it than wheels and tyres for me. Yes the differences are small but they are there and as I said before that may matter less to you than it does to me which is why this discussion is a built pointless as only the person riding the bike can feel any differences, or not, and decide based on whether they make any difference to them.
nah you’re not wrong at all, Revolt is kinda the smart choice here tbh. you already felt it rides nicer than the Orbea and that “more power” feeling matters way more than specs on paper. plus with a second wheelset you basically get 2 bikes, throw slicks on and it’s like 90% of a road bike anyway. unless you’re racing seriously, gravel just gives you way more options, events, random rides, packing stuff, all that. regret usually comes from buying too niche, this one’s the opposite.A couple of weeks back I posted this thread New Road Bike musings. Shimano 105 – decent wheels. – Bike Forum – Singletrack World Magazine Forum
Thinking I wanted a road bike. Since then Ive done some searching, thinking and testing and ended up in a place where I didnt think I would ie looking at a gravel bike with storage, and places for luggage.
Ive ridden a Orbea Terra, Terra Race, Ridley Astr and Giant Revolt. The Orbea's didnt do it for me but the Astr was nice, just a bit racey. The Giant was the one I thought I would like the least but actually liked the most. It felt much more lively than the Orbea's and felt like it transmitted more power.
Revolt Advanced Pro 0 (2026) | Gravel bike | Giant Bicycles UK
SO am I wrong to look at a Giant Revolt? It ticks a lot of boxes, certainly when I am considering getting a 2nd wheelset ie Zipp 303s etc for road.
Its the ability to do events like this below
North Wales Gravel X - Glorious Gravel – Off Road Adventures in Cycling
or even get into bike packing in the future just made it feel a much more head based purchase rather than a head down race machine...lets face it I havent entered a bike race since doing the 3 Peaks CX nearly 10 years ago.
Will I regret getting a Revolt?
Besides the questionable guarantee, I like how the Revolts have clearance for 53mm tyres.
Over the last ~9 years of riding the western South Downs lanes, gravel bikes or road bikes that have clearance for more than 32mm tyres are needed more than ever, most tarmac is in such a state!
My neglected road bike (Cube Attain GTC) doesn't put me in a noticeably different position than my year old gravel ebike (GT eGrade Bolt), but I much prefer running ~40mm tyres on the GT with clearance for 47mm, especially while I'm still 94Kg instead of as light as ~73Kg before long covid.
I was going to suggest a similar gravel bike on your original road bike query. Buy it and get riding.
I wouldn't have concerns about a Giant with a press fit BB. I've done over 34,000km on 2 Giants and 20,000km on another bike all with Shimano PF BBs without a squeak from any of them. I'm getting well over 10,000km from each BB, including all weather commuting and winter riding
Given the state of the roads (both the tarmac and the drivers) that I experienced on my recent trip back to the UK I doff my hat to anyone riding seriously on the road.
I would think just about any gravel bike is a more suitable bike than an out and out road bike in the UK.
I bought a Ribble CGR ti a few years back. Have upgraded the wheels with DT Swiss G1800 and run 45mm G-Ones and am happy riding around on mixed surfaces. Yesterday was 85km on a verity of terrain..... Tarmac, compact gravel, rough gravel and a couple of trails.
Today I've ridden up a pass to France on tarmac.
I like the versatility of a gravel bike.
It's a very personal thing. How much do you want that 'road bike' feel compared to something a little less 'sharp'?
I've got a road bike which to me feels pretty aggressive. I have to run 23mm tyres - not enough clearance at the back end for anything larger - and it feels like a scalpel. It moves around with barely any thought, accelerates instantly even with my puny power output & does feel like the right tool for the job if I was on dead smooth tarmac and wanted to go fast.
I've also got a Sonder Camino running 45 or 50mm tyres - can't remember. It is a completely different prospect. Heavier, much lazier handling, nowhere near as twitchy & dynamic.
The road bike barely gets ridden now. Pace-wise the gravel bike is slower, but not by much & I don't really care. But the Camino is more enjoyable (for me) to ride, feels more secure & I can get away with running it through the inevitable pothole or tramline cracks that litter our road. Nothing fazes it & I really enjoy riding it. The only thing that occasionally niggles is the 1x drivetrain feels a bit gappy & sometimes I would like a faster gear or two. But, the simplicity of 1x means I'm happy to stick with it.
I keep thinking I should just get rid of the road bike, to be honest.
I have a Supersix Evo SE that I use mostly as a road bike with 45mm rim wheels 30mil tyres now (so road bike wheels). Quite often gets odd looks as people looking at it are clearly seeing road bike...but something's not quite right - other than the fork it doesn't look far off a SuperSix Evo, and other than the 71deg head it really isn't. Echo others that it doesn't feel *quite* like a full on race-fast road bike, but it's not far off.
One thing I would say is get one with a double chainset - 1x gearing still has noticeable gaps that feel odd when tooling along road bike style.
Thanks for all the feedback I am listening and taking it on board (well some of it 🤣 🤣 )
The first thing I am going to do is going and get a bike fit. I am slightly odd dimensions ie short arse, short legs, longer body. I think it the past Ive always bought bikes too big.
I cant pretend to understand geometry. Chat GPT is helping, but I will speak to someone who can see what it means for me. What AI has suggested though, is that because I am a short arse the Revolt might not be right for me as the stack is relatively high on a short reach. Even I can work out that puts you pretty sat up (relative) and would fit with the bar feeling fairly close.
So revised shortlist is now Revolt, Cannondale Super X, Ribble Ultra Grit (great vfm)
Will wait and see what my bike fit comes out with in terms of what I should look for in a bike
I have a Giant Revolt. They are really good bikes and you can normally get a discounted one, trick is to buy last years colourway. I run a double chainset on mine SRAM Rival with50mm wide tyres. Plenty of clearance on the frame and fork. Visually it looks a bit close to the front mech battery but it’s fine, I’ve never had a problem with it in over a year of riding. It doesn’t come with fast road gearing as standard. My chainset is 43/30. For me I’d want something bigger for road racing or chain gangs but you can spin it up to30mph ish. Probably helped by the bigger wheel/tyre OD. I reckon I could average 20mph on the road riding it with road tyres. Not so easy on gravel tyres.
You can run 53mm wide tyres on it if you don’t fit a front mech.
The Revolt geo might feel a bit upright if you are used to a racey fit road bike, but it's more racey than the Cube Attain geo!
My "57cm" Cube is 388mm reach and 610mm stack (with 11cm stem and 75mm reach bars), but a medium Revolt is 386/586mm (7cm stem) and a ML is 391/602mm (8cm stem), while my GT is 405/577mm (with 9cm stem and 75mm reach bars).
Stumpy legs here for someone a fraction under 5'10" (~177cm), typically run ~71.5cm from bottom bracket to top of saddle. I would probably chose the medium Revolt and think about a longer stem, especially if riding on the road a vast majority of the time.
I have a nicely specced road bike (zipps, di2, etc). I have a nicely specced gravel bike (sonder camino ti, di2, carbon wheels etc). I really only ride the gravel bike. It's fine on the road, it's fun off road, and given the state of the roads most riding is gravel round my way! I'll take the road bike to the alps in the summer tho but if I was only allowed one i'd keep the sonder.
I'm about a year in with my "one bike two Wheelsets" experiment where I assembled a cheap Gravel bike from an Ali-express Frameset (Aluminium), slapped a 2x10 mixed Tiagra/GRX/Ultegra groupset on it and built two pairs of wheels; one for road and one for Gravel use. I honestly don't think the geometry differs that much between Endurance Road bikes and Gravel bikes these days, tyres and finishing kit (flared drops, shorter crank arms, etc) are arguably of more significance than +/-1deg of Head angle (IMO).
It's far from a high-end build (especially the frame) but the difference the change of wheels and tyres can make is still noticeable: Lighter wheels with ~32-38mm TR slicks work well for long (4+hrs) stints on the road, I'd call it "endurance Road". Having a frame/fork that can take heavier duty 45mm(+) off-road tyres does change the bike significantly, and I was recently mulling the idea of a 27.5" rear wheel (but opted out of that for now).
Gearing that covers all bases is the main trick IMO, I'm not racing or riding in fast chain gangs on the road so a 46/30 with 11-32 (Road) and 11-36 (Gravel) cassettes means the bike can be setup to suit both use-cases a smidge better with an acceptable compromise on the top end gears. There is still the option of a 48/32 set of rings, but I'm not missing bigger chainrings on the road generally, and obviously newer groupsets would offer 10t sprockets if you ever wanted to reproduce or exceed the range of old compact road 50/34 + 11-32 (or similar) that could easily be done with 2x12 GRX I believe. I'm sort of ruling out 1x12 as I don't find it quite covers the full range of uses, but YMMV of course.
I also have both Road and MTB SPDs to swap over for it, which isn't strictly necessary, but something I've chosen to do.
Other points to note: I do have a "Winter" road bike, with similar gearing, 28C tyres a dynamo and permanently fitted guards that saw plenty of use through winter as well as a cheapo 1x CX "Race" bike that can fill in for the Gravel setup if it's out of commission so it's not really a fair "one bike" test but it is my primary drop-barred bike now.
I chopped in a reasonable spec (Ultegra/105) Carbon framed Rim-braked "summer" road bike to go down this rabbit-hole and honestly don't miss it (for the type of riding I prefer doing) obviously YMMV.
If I was working with more budget I'd probably be looking at a nice Steel frame/carbon forked Gravel frameset (Ritchey, Fairlight, etc) with some barnacles for luggage, a 2x12 GRX group, a sensibly light (carbon rimmed) Road wheelset and a suitably robust (Al rimmed, higher spoke count) Gravel wheelset ideally with slightly different cassettes for each. Slightly flared bars, Carbon Seatpost, comfy saddle. Comfort before gram counting and/or Aero.
If I do ever magically become richer I will put that suggestion into practice...
I actually think a light weight xc bike makes a better gravel bike for the uk. They're unfashionable though so can be found quite heavily discounted, if I'm doing big rides in the Highlands or bikepacking then I'd take my Cannondale HT mtb over my Trek Crocket cx/gravel bike. Then I'd have a relatively cheap road bike for road cycling. As with everything, there are compromises no matter what bike you choose and is probably why I have 3 of them.
I actually think a light weight xc bike makes a better gravel bike for the uk
Not when OP wants a roadie gravel or gravellish road bike. For a mix of tarmac and forest roads, I'd always choose a drop bar gravel bike over an MTB.
I'm with you on bikepacking etc though - MTB for me unless it's a big majority of tarmac/fire roads.
I honestly don't think the geometry differs that much between Endurance Road bikes and Gravel bikes these days, tyres and finishing kit (flared drops, shorter crank arms, etc) are arguably of more significance than +/-1deg of Head angle (IMO).
You're not wrong...
These are my two bikes,
The Colibri will take me as far as I want to go on road (LEL, a JOGLE maybe) + the occasional bit of light canal path or bridleway.
The Grizl* runs on 50s and does pretty much any off road I throw it at, but I've also used it to tour from Edinburgh to London.
https://bikeinsights.com/compare?geometries=64c8ed8ce60244001a7ea021,609eb44d1f13ce001e58f235 
* to be fair, the 2025 Grizl has a bit more of a difference.
You're not wrong...
These are my two bikes,
The Colibri will take me as far as I want to go on road (LEL, a JOGLE maybe) + the occasional bit of light canal path or bridleway.
The Grizl* runs on 50s and does pretty much any off road I throw it at, but I've also used it to tour from Edinburgh to London.
The quuestion is would you ever consider Ditching the Colibri and Just having the Grizl with two wheelsets? Or is that still considered a bit ridiculous?
You're not wrong...
These are my two bikes,
The Colibri will take me as far as I want to go on road (LEL, a JOGLE maybe) + the occasional bit of light canal path or bridleway.
The Grizl* runs on 50s and does pretty much any off road I throw it at, but I've also used it to tour from Edinburgh to London.The quuestion is would you ever consider Ditching the Colibri and Just having the Grizl with two wheelsets? Or is that still considered a bit ridiculous?
For a while the grizl was also my road bike, but when I got into longer audaxes it made sense to have two separate setups as there are subtle differences that would be a pain if swapping regularly (wider bars on grizl, colibri usually have aero bars attached and is 2x)
My Revolt has been the best drop bar bike I've owned. 2 sets of wheels for road/gravel and even with a 1x set up its been great. Easy to install mudguards for winter too.
It might not be quite as fast as a road bike but it's fast enough. I was sceptical of pressfit BBs having always had threaded, but not had a problem in over 2 years and 2 BBs.
I have a CX bike - why, needed rim brakes as I have lots of spare wheels. Advantage is it is very much road bike geometry, so rides similar to my 'race' orientated road bikes when I've got road tyres on.
Does allow me to run fatter road tyres, limited to 25c on the 'classic' road bikes. Also capable off road, I've bike packed with it, but because there are no frame mounts, I've bought an axel mount rear pannier rack. Bodging one with P-clips gave some interesting handling as the rack would sway with the bike packing weight.
I'd definitely look for an all rounder bike that can do bike packing easily - e.g. mounts. My mate is building up a 'Chinese' special with Shimano 105 - should come in lightweight - some carbon hoops, BXT carbon frame and a dodgy looking lightweight Chinese saddle ! - I never compromise on saddles.
TBH I used to run 2 sets of wheels on my gravel bike (3T Exploro)but found that I was riding on more rougher roads on road only rides that my bigger gravel set made more sense,I’ve rolled trough nasty potholes on them that wouldn’t have done the road carbons much good. (Oddly the potholes were hidden by shadows.)
The road wheels were slightly quicker than the gravel 650b road plus tyres but I found where I am in Spain that the wider gravels were easier to live with and gave me more choice of route variation and more air volume for the tubeless to work it’s magic.
I do have a pure road bike that I’ve not yet built up (3T Strada )which I will, just hadn’t had the fitness to really make use of it.
A gravel bike just gives you way more choice on what you can ride on and you can always chuck some bikepacking stuff on it.
(Only stuff I find grim to ride is the ramblas with lots of sand , even the mtb with knoblies is meh)
I don’t own a road bike anymore. These days I have an Open Wi.De (had it since 2019), now with a mullet setup of Force and XX1 AXS Eagle. 2 wheel sets (well 3 if you count the 650b, which don’t get much use), one with wide’ish gravel and one set with more road focused, but not quite slick, tyres on. It is my Swiss Army knife of a bike. I don’t really plan to get another road bike anytime soon - although would still love a Moots at some point.
I sold my road bike during the height of Covid. I sold my Supercaliber on here last year and am currently waiting to see what the Epic 9 will be like (have a reservation in for one when they arrive)
Open Wi.De
What's the deal with the super dropped stays?
I suppose Open was one of the first makers to drop chainstays - main reason I believe is to increase tyre clearance. There are clearly more modern frames with better clearance - but at the time it was ahead of the curve. It just fits me very well - for me stack and reach are spot on.