I quite enjoy tootling around old railway tracks, canal paths and local bridleways at the moment. I have a gravel bike but fancy trying the road bike on stuff like this , I am just a bit concerned that a road bike carbon fork may not be beefy enough even though the riding is not that demanding. I have a Genesis Zero Disc and considered buying a tougher fork , around £80 on t’bay , will be using Specialized Roubaix 2 Bliss 30 mm, and will only use this bike in dry conditions . What are your thoughts as have been scouting around for a carbon gravel frame and think this may save acquiring another bike /frame .

I’m no lightweight and I do it. Did you see what the pros rode at Paris Roubaix? Way worse and twice as fast as my average gravel fireroad detours

*cough* Road Bike Party on YouTube *cough*

It’ll be fine. As long as you don’t ride things as though you were on a 160mm full-sus.
Years ago I rode Paris-Roubaix on a full carbon bike with 25mm tyres. It hurt me a lot, but the bike was perfectly ok.

some of the lanes in Surrey are rougher than a gravel fireroad…..one road outside Aldershot way seems to have been made from pingpong ball sized stones embedded in the bitumen. It’s not pot-holed, and it’s ‘flat’ but any loose fillings are soon revealed.

I did similar on the shop demo trek domane, 32mm slicks where fine in the dry. When things got sticky lots of stones ; grit get dragged through and start taking the paint off. Swapped to a check point then

Great way to pinch milder off road Strava KOM’s I’ve found. Have at it. 😁

I’m confused, genuine question as I don’t own a gravel bike, isn’t this the sort of terrain a gravel bike was intended for, what would you gain by using a road bike, especially as you intend to adapt it?

sounds like thinking of getting rid of the gravel bike or avoiding upgrading

have been scouting around for a carbon gravel frame and think this may save acquiring another bike /frame

Ah, That makes sense as long as you can accept the possible beefing up of the road bike.

I wouldn’t bother changing the fork

You’ll probably be pushing the limits of tyre clearance, and probably encounter mud, so I’d be conscious of mud grinding at the cbainstaays

Otherwise go for jt

I’ve done loads of gravel rides on my Domane, runs 33mm knobblies with plenty of room to spare. South Downs Way and the Ridgeway being two routes most will know, SDW was very dry so used 32mm tyres, Ridgeway was very wet and muddy, used 33mm knobblies.
I was a bit beaten up after the SDW, I think the folk will be fine, biggest issue will be the tyres (and that’s just a comfort issue)

I have spent the last 20 years riding road and track bikes on gravel (mostly on 25c tyres).

No problems encountered with equipment at any point, I don’t even find comfort a problem and find rough tarmac roads more uncomfortable than gravel roads as the surface is much harder.

Road based tyres puncture every 10 minutes where I ride however.

Fork will be fine.

I’ve got a big clearance endurance type road bike (it called ‘all road’ now). I run 30mm g ones. I do some off road bits now and again. It’s ok, and as above, us often faster than an off road bike.

But if the ride is anything more than about 10% easy off road it gets annoying.

You want a new bike. Not need, just want.

In theory the bike will be strong enough. They take some big knocks in races (pot holes, speed bumps). The pros race things like Paris Roubaix.

It may shorten the life of components though, they are normally built for weight and speed. Pros occasionally snap things and get handed a new bike off the car. Not an option for most of us.

I’ve been wondering something similar with wheels. Looking at DT Swiss the endurance road are lighter than the gravel wheels but are designed to last, there are also more models to choose from. The only reason for the gravel ones appears to be a slightly wider rim. Both have the same ASTM rating and weight limits (as do the performance road models). They look perfect the the light gravel of the New forest.

Nixie, I did the SDW on a set of 50mm Hunt Wheels, absolutely fine. I did the ridgeway on my winter wheels, 40mm carbon lightweight wheels – just applied some extra grease and had no problems.

You are riding on gravel, not a downhill course. Any road bike will deal with it with no problems whatsoever. The bike will get dirtier (especially in winter) and you will get stone chips and you will get more punctures but the bike will be fine if you don’t mind any of those things.

You won’t be getting any Strava KOMs where I live by the way as that chance disappeared with onset of gravel bikes and fit road riders using them. A gravel bike tends to be faster than a road bike as still able to get into aero position but the wider/lower psi tyres ‘float’ over the gravel more effectively than road tyres.

Thanks @w00dster 👍

I’ve ridden Strada Bianche type trails in Italy plus various gravel paths like old railway lines, well-graded footpaths etc in the UK on my road bike with no issues at all. Did a really long gravel route around a reservoir in Italy once without realising that it was going to be gravel – got to the top of the road climb to the dam and the trail around the lake became gravel. Bike handled it fine although it did get quite dusty.

A lot of the lanes around here are little more than gravel in places, some “tarmac roads” can easily be rougher than routes like Tissington Trail, Monsal Trail and other old railway line routes.

It’s probably not something I’d be riding every day just for longevity of components but the bike will usually be fine. Should see some of the stuff that is ridden on the old Eroica Brittania rides by vintage road bikes!

You are riding on gravel, not a downhill course. Any road bike will deal with it with no problems whatsoever. The bike will get dirtier (especially in winter) and you will get stone chips and you will get more punctures but the bike will be fine if you don’t mind any of those things.

This.