Has anyone ridden a Wilier Rave SLR ID2? Very similar geometry to a Giant TCR with longer chainstays and slacker fork
So much depends on what you want the road bike to do. I'm a MTBer whose always had a road bike but I don't do road club rides, I just want to go out and have fun.
I upgraded my ancient road bike to a fairlight secan with two wheelsets and I have to say I absolutely love it as both a gravel and road bike. I now actually want to go out on road rides.
But yes, the position is relaxed, that's good in my mind, it might be slow compared to a full on road bike but for me it's amazing, I love it.
If you want a racing position road bike for club rides and racing you probably want a more roady bike. If not I recommend the gravel option.
Has anyone ridden a Wilier Rave SLR ID2? Very similar geometry to a Giant TCR with longer chainstays and slacker fork
To me that looks like it would be absolutely horrible to ride on anything remotely technical. But then I've got a stack of spacers and an inverted stem on my gravel bike
That Wilier looks gorgeous, but it's obviously a roadies idea of a gravel bike - just like the TCR, that's race bike geometry, and you wouldn't want to be doing anything vaguely technical and downhill on it. But it looks fast af on road!
But yes, the position is relaxed, that's good in my mind, it might be slow compared to a full on road bike but for me it's amazing, I love it.
Whereas for me that would be dull which proves my point than only the OP can decide what they want no matter how many other people tell them what they ride...
Out of curiosity Kerley how does the geometry of your bike compare to a modern pro's bike used at Flanders for example
I do enough miles to justify dedicated bikes, but in the past I've run one bike with two wheelsets. If I had to have a single drop bar bike I would definitely go for an all-road / light gravel - it all depends on what your riding is like.
My main drop bar bike is similar to a new Revolt - a custom frame from 9 years ago that has survived surprisingly well due to serendipitous choice of angles & standards. I've experimented with various builds, settling on flared drop bars, wider tyres etc. Ride it everywhere and it does everything well. But at the end of the day it doesn't have that whip-crack feel of a sharp-angled light road bike that I crave from time to time, and no wheel swap will fix that.
Out of curiosity Kerley how does the geometry of your bike compare to a modern pro's bike used at Flanders for example
It doesn't matter as it is my bike that I enjoy the feel of and I don't care what pro's are riding in Flanders I will not be comparing geometries to answer an out of curiosity question but feel free if you want to - my current bike is built on a CAAD7 Cannondale frame.
The OP may not like riding what I ride and I may not like riding what they ride which is the point here.
I have been road riding with a mate.
I'm on a Cannondale synapse road bike. All the carbon light weight, road gears.
He's on a sonder Camino on road tires. Dropper post and 1x chainset.
I'm not convinced the bikes make any difference other than our absolute top speed on long downhills.
Bikes, they are all good.
If you are looking for the exact answer to what bike you will never find it. There will be a faster/ lighter/ slacker/ steeper/ cheaper/ one along any moment
That Willier looks mint. I wouldn't want to ride it off road, I'd love to ride it on road.
This. All those up there saying that a Gravel bike is "too slow" and will "handle really badly" are probably riding some sort of monster cross/drop bar MTB derived grvel machine. And at the other end of the spectrum you've probably got head down, arse up hardcore racers with 20cm of saddle to bar drop and a corncob cassette saying that any gravel bike will "weave all over the road" and be "really unresponsive" and "weigh a shit load more".So much depends on what you want the road bike to do.
Meanwhile i've got plenty of friends riding 2x gravel bikes for road racing and the occasional TT, and some riding endurance geo road bikes (with big clearances) for Gravel, none of them seem to be dying, or suffering more than usual when racing.
And FWIW my favourite CX bike fits nicely into the head down/arse up gravel racer/endurance road geo envelope, and i've had no issues taking it round technical and steep MTB trails. It doesn't even have a dropper (or discs). I've also done (one) road race on it. Which i didn't enjoy as it's got no bottle bosses.
Meanwhile i've got plenty of friends riding 2x gravel bikes for road racing and the occasional TT, and some riding endurance geo road bikes (with big clearances) for Gravel, none of them seem to be dying, or suffering more than usual when racing.
Maybe it is just me but I enjoy riding a certain type of bike. The fact it has 1 degree difference geometry or less tyre clearance or whatever is not going to make any difference to my speed but it does make a difference to the enjoyment I get while actually riding it.
Right, but it might not be what everyone wants, expects, or defines as a road bike.
(Ergo my q' on geometry relative to a pro's bike which may be less lively, more stable for that situation)
I have been road riding with a mate.
I'm on a Cannondale synapse road bike. All the carbon light weight, road gears.
He's on a sonder Camino on road tires. Dropper post and 1x chainset.
I'm not convinced the bikes make any difference other than our absolute top speed on long downhills.
Bikes, they are all good.
Yes, agreed except tyres, tyres make a bigger difference than anything else (IMO/IME) for a road bike.
Rolling resistance, internal volume, suppleness of the carcass (& tube?) and the derived comfort/fatigue levels really make a difference, especially as distances increase...
My race Propel and my gravel/cross titanium bikes have very similar geometry, identical aero narrow flared bars and both run sram 1x11 eTap red. The gravel bike has 40c tyres on open pro rims. The Propel has 60mm carbon wheels. Weights are 7.2 vs 8.7 kilos. Of course the Propel is much faster. But swap the wheels and i would road race the gravel bike. As @mert says. Big overlap. But i need every watt saving in races! My Defy with 30c GP5000s is fine on gravel too.