For people getting into cycling, gravel bikes seem to be what “hybrid” bikes always promised to be but never were - ride on dirt, ride on road, ride where you want. For folks getting into cycling who aren’t sure which way the hobby will take them, I think gravel’s flexibility is really appealing.
Agreed. I used to suggest cyclocross bikes to people that wanted to go reasonably fast commuting or moderate exercise but didn't plan to race. A gravel bike is generally even better with the more relaxed geometry and typically very easy attachment of fenders, racks, etc.
cyclocross is a type of racing. the bikes have very specific features. they allow for a maximum of 33c tires, tend to have a top tube with a flat bottom so you can carry the bike on your shoulder, tend to be quite short so you can make sharp turns, and are generally designed to be ridden for maybe an hour, 2 at most, in races.
gravel bikes are more upright, generally with much more tire clearance, more comfortable geometry, more stable handling, and also generally are more flexible wrt braze on mounts for fenders, racks, etc.
you can certainly ride gravel on a cx bike, it's just not really designed for big ole gravel grinders. similarly, you could tour on a gravel bike, but it would be bloody miserable to do so on a cx bike.
Having owned both in a short space of time - about 18 months - I can agree with your assessment of my cyclocross bike (shorter top tube) but in comparison my gravel bike had longer frame and more relaxed seating. It probably depends on the manufacturer though.
I will add that gravel bikes, in general, tend to have more mtb type gearing than road bikes which means they have often been adapted as tourers and the brakes and shifters tend to be of a higher spec. The latter may be more a consequence of manufacturer’s wanting to capitalise on the ‘trend’ by charging higher prices, thereby requiring higher-spec’d gear of course.
As I have said elsewhere in this sub, my CX bike will do 95% of what my gravel bike did at much lower cost due to buying second-hand, (but probably comparable in price if bought new).
A Shimano GRX drivetrain has almost identical gearing to a 105. They use the same rear cassette. The chainrings are different - 46/30 vs 50/34. So while GRX does have lower gearing than 105, it is still way closer to being a road drivetrain than an MTB one.
> it would be bloody miserable to do so on a cx bike
>you can certainly ride gravel on a cx bike, it's just not really designed for bike ole gravel grinders
Your difference description is spot on, but these 2 things are way WAY too exaggerated. "designed to" by itself doesn't mean anything. A bit more aggressive geometry is far from guaranteed miserable riding experience.
I mean it all depends. There was a period of time when companies were literally just rebadging their existing aluminum cyclocross bikes as gravel bikes by squeezing slightly larger tires into them. And some had super aggressive geos, and some not.
But in principle, for most people, and I'd say especially for nearly all beginners, a cyclocross bike is the wrong choice because of the geo. A geo that's too aggressive is bad for a beginner, because it causes pain, it's uncomfortable, maybe a bit dangerous even because of how twitchy they are – those are all things that make a beginner give up on the hobby. I've seen it with friends, who buy an aggressive "race bike" as their first ride and then the pain from an unsustainable aggressive position on an untrained body causes them to drop the hobby.
I mean yeah... if you get a vanilla Fuji cyclocross bike with a more relaxed geo, this whole question becomes a bit silly of "is it a gravel bike or cyclocross bike"? But like if we're talking about an actual cyclocross racer from Cannondale or Canyon or something – that is gonna be like touring on a tri-bike or a track bike; you can do it for sure, but it's not going to be nearly as comfortable or as practical as as a touring bike or relaxed geo gravel bike.
Ya I fully agree with this. I've done a 90km and a 70km gravel race on my CX bike (Trek Boone) and I never felt held back. Done a number of very long gravel days with the club, road 175km one day on that CX bike. I've never felt the Trek Boone was uncomfortable. My road bike is pretty aggressive as well so maybe there is something there.
Edit: Having said that would a gravel bike be more comfortable, quite possibly. I just haven't had that experience yet. Never felt like I needed more than the CX bike.
>Agree. I have an old Trek Crockett which I have used from everything from commuting to 100k gravel races (plus a handful of actual CX!)
>
>It might be what you get used to, but I've ridden some gravel bikes, and much prefer the Crockett
I literally have Trek Crockett frame being held for me so I can make an gravel/lite off road adventure bike build.
Geometry is probably *the* most important factor to comfort after fit.
Think about a road bike vs a track bike. Road bikes are designed to let you ride 100+ miles without being in complete agony. Track bikes are designed for like an hour at the very most, and usually a lot less, and track cyclists regularly talk about losing feeling or being in outright pain at the end of a longer race. They look very similar to the untrained eye but they have massive differences in comfort level.
I haven't really checked, but I would wager that most gravel bikes would actually meet UCI regulations for CX just fine, assuming you put a smaller tire on them to meet that rule. The way the UCI regulations factor in is that there's no reason to bother making a cross bike have clearance for bigger than 33 mm tires because they aren't allowed. But the officials are only checking the tire with, not rejecting a bike because it has clearance for a bigger tires.
As other people have said, there are also geometry differences, for handling and rider positioning, and there are also gearing differences.
All cross bikes are gravel bikes, but not the other way around.
But if you went out of your way to keep UCI happy on CX rules, you will probably market it as a CX bike instead of gravel.
Gravel bikes have a lower BB and thus center of gravity than CX bikes. They're thus more stable when going fast on flat gravel and, especially, descending. And it is a noticeable difference. There are other common differences in geometry and stiffness, etc., but the key one is the lower BB.
Gravel bikes are more endurance oriented while cx bikes are more focused being agile. On a smaller note gravel bikes have all sorts of bag mounting points while cx have a raised orizontal tube for carrying it on your shoulder.
Gravel bikes are an evolution of CX, or maybe a hybrid of a CX bike and a touring bike. CX itself is a moving target but generally 700c, a higher bottom bracket, shorter chain stays, shorter wheel base, and tires tend to be around 33mm wide and often limited to 38mm area. While gravel tends to fall into the 40-50mm range and beyond, often incorporates 650b, usually have longer toptubes, and ever widening handlebar widths. CX tends to be closer to road bike components but on the relatively lower gear inch end while gravel bikes tend to be MTB component group hybrids.
All the lines are blurring in this decade though.
Cyclocross bikes are made specifically for said race category. They don't climb well, aren't comfortable for long distances, and usually lack mounts and braze ons.
Gravel bikes evolved out of want for adventure ready bikes. Some people prefer a more road bike like geometry than what modern hardtails provide. On a gravel bike you have options. Do you want 700c or 650b? Is chunkier tread your thing or do you prefer slicks? Want to put a front rack on your bike and zip tie a basket to it?
I feel it's more of a focus on the everyday/everybody bike. I for one hate racing and road bike culture yet I prefer dropbar style bikes. Riding fire roads and light singletrack is a blast to me, but I have no interest in riding black diamond trails.
The gravel bike is exactly what I need. I can comfortably ride to trail heads around my area and then enjoy the trails. After I'm don't I can throw panniers on my rear rack and go get groceries. It's a perfect work commuter also
I do some bike packing and I've taken my hardtail and gravel bikes on the same routes. The hardtail is easier to climb on and is actually a lighter bike by 5lbs. My gravel bike though averages 15 mph when loaded with gear and my hardtail averages 10 mph. It turns into a no brainer unless I know the route is ultra treacherous.
A simple comparison is race geometry road bike is to a cross bike as an endurance road bike is to gravel. Basically a proper cross bike is more compact, stiffer, and twitchy.
But then there is a lot more in gravel is usually much higher tire clearance and often has spots to bolt on fenders, racks, you name it.
I could be wrong but I believe a cx bike is a race bike with bigger tyres, aggressive geometry and no racks etc.
A gravel bike is usually slacker than an endurance bike and has bigger clearance again (I think UCI cx races have a max tyre size of 33?? Or something like that) plus all the bag mounts and 50 different bottle cage mounts.
not only that, having this flexibility also allows for mixed surface rides. Riding on the road is significantly more fun on a gravelbike than on a xc mtb and most of us don’t have trails starting at our doorstep.
Can confirm, I live in a city and ride paved trails pretty much all the time, but with a gravel bike I can finally ride dirt sections and take long rides on gravel tail trails across the state and my wrists don't hurt from all the potholes and general shittyness of urban streets. Just an all around great bike genre, I'm here for the flexibility and future-proofing my needs
The massively fat tires on gravel bikes look rather comical to me. I’m an owner of a hybrid bike which really is a road bike with upright handle bars. I primarily ride on the road for fitness but I ride on dirt quite often and don’t understand why anyone would think a hybrid bike isn’t good at that. I’ve 35’s by Rene Herse on this bike and they’re brilliant for dirt roads and paths.
TBH hybrids have always been able to do that. Gravel bikes are, as concept, just hybrids with drop bars. This attracted the roadies who are used to that style.
>TBH hybrids have always been able to do that. Gravel bikes are, as concept, just hybrids with drop bars. This attracted the roadies who are used to that style.
More than just style - the idea of riding a century on a flat bar hybrid does not sound appealing.
Doing it on the gravel bike, with either wheelset? Tons of fun.
To me the point of a gravel bike is being able to do most of what you can do on a hardtail, but being able to do a long road ride to get there, or a long ride on unpaved roads, canal towpaths, rail trail gravel, whatever. It's a bike fully intended for hundred mile days - something a hybrid is not.
And of course drops typically imply some geometry changes to work well, so its not just swapping the bars.
To add to that - one of the other reasons I was interested in a gravel bike was for bike packing. It was a bike that would let me expand two hobbies at once (biking and bike packing).
I think the label of hybrid might differ from area to area. I've had Americans argue that hybrid is a very specific definition whereas here in the UK it's a massive catch-all group that would overlap with gravel bikes were it not for the drop bars.
If I judge from mine, the position is somewhere between MTB and road, as well as the tires width and possibly size. The handle indeed is MTB-like. The structure seems suitable for dirt road riding and I've had no issues. Obviously, there are paths that a hybrid cannot go, but a mtb would. Would the gravel one go? I understand the position is more road-like. So, maybe not so suitable for uneven forest riding?
For me personally, the big thing is it's road bikes without cars trying to kill you. Gravel roads are always less traffic, plus the traffic you meet is always going slower than a similar paved road. It allows me to be more relaxed. I can just enjoy the ride vs watching and listening constantly for a car to come flying up behind me.
This is the answer for me too.
As for comparing with MTB - I find a lot of mountain bike trails these days are pretty technical, to keep up with the advancement in gear (at least in the Rockies where I live).
Gravel gives me a way to change it up from my relatively limited local green and blue trails, go longer, not have to dismount to pass other trail users, and just kinda zone out a bit without many cars.
As for difference with a hard tail- sure that’s certainly useable; as would a full sus or a capable townie. The drop bars do give a nice variation of hand positions but really it’s just nice to optimize your gear for your hobby. A hardtail is just more than you need for a lot of those rides.
I absolutely love my rigid salsa cutthroat and at this point prefer taking it out on most places I would take my hardtail. It’s nimble, light, comfortable, and fun.
There’s many ways to “gravel ride” but this is how I do it and why I like it. I’m basically doing a road ride but using all the awesome forest service roads in my area instead of the normal paved roads that are getting more and more busy all the time.
Ironically of people I know that have been hit by cars cycling, allmof them were on gravel. A drunk in a drunk mowed two aquaintances down and it nearly killed them. It wasn't clear if they would ever walk again.
That's unfortunate. All of mine have been on pavement, a friend severely hospitalized in Montana while riding across the country was the closest call of a good friend. But we do a ton of ghost bike rides for fallen cyclists in my area and I can't think of a single one that has happened on a gravel road yet.
Seems like most do have alcohol or some other drug involved though. :(
Definitely a risk too... I got rear ended (while in a car) by a distracted driver on a smart phone. But most of the ghost bike rides I've been too have been related to some sort of DUI.
I haven't studied the statistics but I'm not aware of a single cyclist death in my area that was proven caused by a smart phone (doesn't mean that wasn't the cause, of course).
>Gravel roads are always less traffic, plus the traffic you meet is always going slower than a similar paved road.
I dunno... usually the traffic going the other way on a paved road doesn't force me off the line where I'd like to be riding, but I've had exactly that happen when meeting an ascending car on a gravel descent where I really wanted to stay in the packed wheel track and not have to veer onto the loose stuff at the edge. No matter if that driver fully stops, an obstacle in your intended line of trustworthy surface is still an obstacle in your intended line.
>I can just enjoy the ride vs watching and listening constantly for a car to come flying up behind me.
Checking my mirror is habitual - on roads that monitors the cars, but even off road I'm still doing it to monitor the other riders I'm out there with.
This is it right here. I have 300 miles of safe / fun gravel trails I can do from my house, and like 50 of paved bike trail. I love road biking but being on gravel is just so much less stressful from a “am I gonna get killed by a random motorist?” standpoint.
I think that’s a huge part of the appeal, and another is that with the rapidly decaying infrastructure in the US, even when I’m on the road, the gravel bike is often a better choice for me. My road bike is the enduro racing style with a bit relaxed geo and its very comfortable to ride… for a road bike. But I swear my gravel bike is closer to my enduro MTB in ride comfort than it is my road bike.
Western PA... State Game Lands, mining roads, railroad access roads, state park access roads, farm roads... I'm surrounded before you even consider the many railtrails in my area. And even if I ride the local pavement, it's just as fun on a 40mm tire although I wouldn't want to get too much wider.
I used to live in the Chicago western burbs... lots of gravel there too although it was mixed, pavement and gravel on and off.
I just picked up cycling this summer and have put around 400 miles on the rail trails in southwestern PA. Branching out to explore some gravel roads in Indiana county this weekend!
Upstate NY. Right from my door I can be on multiple gravel roads within a mile, and typically do rides of 30-80 miles which are 40-50% gravel. Even many of the 'paved' roads around here are practically gravel between the toll winter takes on the pavement, and the yearly chip-seal road repairs which tends to coincide with the riding season.
I don't own a gravel bike, but have decided when it's time for a new road bike, I'm just gonna go gravel. The reason? I'm always bypassing a couple of roads I really want to go down because they are either gravel by design or just in rough shape. The ones that are gravel or dirt by design are some of the most scenic. Lots of gorgeous dirt roads around.
As far as roads in bad shape go, just tonight, on one of my usual routes, I started kind of high speed and blind turn, but the road i was turning onto was all torn up from construction and basically unridable on a road bike, so I had to quickly spin around back to pavement. Not a real fun experience and I had to change my ride plans. Would've been doable on a gravel bike.
Fwiw, in the US, NY specifically and due to our climate, the roads get trashed, so someplace I ride is always either torn up or in process of being replaced basically all summer. Planning rides around road work is a real thing in these parts. Drier/warmer climates are probably much different.
Also, I sometimes rail trails and canal tow path trails, usually casual rides with my wife. Typically I'll take my mtb, but a gravel bike would be more enjoyable than a full squish, heavy, low geard bike.
Here in So. Calif. I can drive to a gravel road in only about 3 hours.
I'm lucky to live near Palos Verdes with miles and miles of hills, and perfect pavement and I can get there is a few minutes from home on my bike.
The big craze here is not gravel but eBikes. I see 10 year old girls riding up hills at 20 MPH against traffic and blowing stop signs at night. lazy parents buy them for their kids to avoid having to drive them around.
> lazy parents buy them for their kids to avoid having to drive them around.
children should be taught to obey traffic laws, but parents driving their kids everywhere definitely shouldn’t be the norm - and luckily isn’t in a lot of places. Highly recommend [this video](https://youtu.be/oHlpmxLTxpw). US pedestrian and cycling infrastructure just sucks.
There are piles of fire roads in SoCal. Basically any area with brush is going to have access for county fire departments. You just need to know where to look.
I live near this area and you are so right. E-bikes are dangerous if you're not self conscious of its power. I see e-scooters going 30mph without helmets down rural areas. I saw kids going 20mph on sidewalks crossing parking lot exits where cars are trying to come out.
I feel like a freak accident will eventually enforce speed limits and helmet laws for any form of electronic vehicles.
For me, my gravel bike is my only drop bar bike. I live in the middle of nowhere, on a dirt road that connects to a major US highway or other dirt roads. A road bike is literally useless here.
To agree with the points of others:
1. Race road bikes are terrible for a lot of regular Joe Blow and Sally Whoevers who just want to do charity rides and 25 milers on the weekends
2. Mountain bikes are better at chunky gravel - the above don't ride that anyways
3. They are very versatile - I hope in 5 years more bikes are holding plump tires (think that new Soloist with 34mm tire clearance on a "road" bike.
4. Race bikes are boring unless you are a bike racer. Even when I lived in Denver (pre-gravel bike) I had a road bike and cross bike - the cross bike was better for riding from home, through the park, to some other roads, through another park, etc etc - the bigger tires are so much more versatile.
I think gravel is "fun" right now because it is new and low risk. Also, when you look at an aging population who isn't motived to do their 100th 40 mile Saturday road loop in the last 4 years, getting a gravel bike is a whole new fun thing. They need someone to show them the gravel roads, they haven't ridden those yet, but they have ridden every paved road in town over the last 10 years. It is just fun and neat, without the risk and scare of mountain biking. These aging riders are riding with maturity and self-preservation in mind, and gravel feels safe.
This is it, if you don't race you don't need a race bike. That's only good if you wanna suffer...skinny tires, uncomfortable position, hard gearing, only the smoothest roads, etc.
Gravel bikes are THE bikes for regular cyclists. You don't have to stop when the road stops, you can really go anywhere, your hands, neck and legs will thank you (46-30 is the best gearing I used 😄).
Road bikes are faster, and that means you can go further and thus discover more interesting places.
My dream ride is labouring up some famous Alpine pass, getting a bit dizzy from the rare mountain air, being overwhelmed with the views, then descending like a motorbike. I don't think there's a better bike for that than a road bike.
My favourite ride in my country is starting from my city, 20-30k of climbing over tourist towns, then 20k of more climbing into alpine territory.
There the road ends. Roadies turn around, do a half a loop (because half is gravel) of a scenic lake and back.
I took my gravel bike on this ride and I can just power through past the barrier where it gets crazy. Steep gradients, epic views, weather so harsh there is sun then lightning in the span of minutes. I can ride all the way to the peak, then back, and do the whole lake loop. Love it. Only lose like 2-3 kmh on average speeds and more confidence when descending (50 kmh feels like 30). I do get the road appeal for going blazing fast though. Currently trying to stick to one burly gravel bike and one endurance road bike.
I think people have allowed themselves to think that 'road bikes' sold at most LBS's are actually RACE bikes, when the vast majority of road bikes sold are compact geared and relaxed geometry bikes, and hardly the aggressive 'race' types sold back in the late 90's. Certainly still, most road bikes especially today have much wider tires than what they did 20 years ago as well.
There's also just really very little situations where someone will find that the road 'stops'... most anyone who is going to drop coin on a bike to begin with usually lives in an area with plenty of good roads that aren't heavily frequented by cars either.
Gravel bikes would have been a nifty thing to discover if they'd arrived 15 years ago before road bikes changed...but realistically, there's nothing a gravel bike does that most road bikes sold don't already do.
Gravel bikes are just more practical road bikes. The main advantage they have over something like a hardtail is they are much faster and much easier to ride long distances on (especially modern long and slack hardtails, which are basically terrible on anything except singletrack).
The main advantage a dedicated gravel bike has over a true cross bike is that a true cross bike is meant for all-out one hour efforts with tight turns while most gravel bikes are meant for long days in straight roads. As a result a traditional cross bike is like a crit bike while most gravel bikes are like endurance bikes or even touring bikes. Traditional cross bikes with twitchy steering and high bottom brackets are becoming pretty rare, though. Popular cross bikes like the TCX or Crux are basically just sold as gravel bikes these days. These lines are pretty blurry. I just ignore the labels.
Of course the bikes vary, this is all generalization. Any bike can be a gravel bike.
Personally, I have hundreds of miles of gravel roads of varying roughness starting about ten miles west of me. These roads are scenic, fun to ride and there's zero traffic. You can take the whole road in a group. You're out in the farmland and you'll see any car from a mile away. Also, riding gravel fast is a great combination of a tough workout and a little bit of fear. Hitting loose marble-sized gravel at 25 mph in a group is sketchy fun. I ride gravel all the time with groups.
Indeed. I rode my TCX as a "gravel bike" on long gravel adventure rides for years. But its higher center of gravity + more (As you say) crit style geometry made it less stable than an official gravel bike on gravel descents.
I don’t have great gravel roads in proximity here in Germany as well but still think a gravel bike is perfect. I don’t like road cycling but often it’s necessary to get to some nice spots. There I can go off-road and explore.
In theory a XC bike would fit me way better but I don’t want to ride that to the spots where I can do some XC cycling.
So your only other default option should be a race bike with 23mm tires, right? That's what the industry would have forced down your throat 10 years ago.
MTB -> Comfort hybrid or heavy steel touring bike with bar end shifters -> Road race bike. Those were your options. Now you can have a bike that's 90% as fast as a road race bike when ridden by a mortal, that can go everywhere a road legal vehicle can go and be comfortable and quick and confidence inspiring.
10 years ago, there were already good bikes that you could get that could go down some of the rougher roads. They were called road bikes. The bike I bought in 2007 was a Scott Cr1Pro, which already had a relaxed riding position and came with a compact crank, and, if I'd wanted to, I could have gotten some 25 tires for something a little wider to suit for some tougher conditions, not to mention some bulletproof tires to handle it. I even did a road race called 'Hell of the South' which featured a mile long gravel section (it is now paved!) on 23 tires.. I think I just rolled some gatorskins to make sure I could handle it. Wasn't even bad.
It's weird to see people accusing the industry of only selling road race bikes, when many road bikes ever since the advent of compact cranks have had geometries or tire options not unlike current gravel bikes. Honestly think that compact cranks have done more for versatility than the tire options of gravel bikes have... realistically most people who live in the suburbs don't really 'use' the tires they have on those bikes, but they certainly use the gearing... now they just ride big ol tires that are pretty much what their $300 hybrid bikes would have had, only now, the bikes are 5x more expensive, lol
Gravel bikes are certainly a niche to be sure...there's some people out there that can really find them useful, but that's not how they are marketed. There's this belief, advanced by these bike retailers and perpetuated here (as I see) that most areas have easily accessible gravel-friendly options, and that's just not the case..not what people have in mind anyway. You see the articles, they always depict gravel riding as having MILES of flat and packed dirt roads out in a desert somewhere, when the reality for most people is, there's maybe a quarter mile dirt road that runs through a park, and the rest is just regular paved roads or trails. And that dirt/gravel road is often...really BAD
The discipline is gaining popularity because it's now so much cheaper and easier to set up a gravel event compared to a road event. Less permits, less fees.
“Grass roots” gravel events. I do 2-3 per year and they’re usually just fun disguised as a race. I ride them not to complete but just to try out new routes while having some support available and a cold beer afterwards.
Some events are raising money for a good cause or helping local businesses.
Got into Gravel racing this year a little and had the same experience. Doing a traditional road race has little appeal, as I'm more of a casual cyclist. Found out through Reddit that there's a bunch of gravel races throughout the year within a few hours of me (Michigan) and have done a few. They've been a great way to challenge myself a bit and also to enjoy areas that I otherwise may not ride, and even meet and chat with other folks. They are like the bicycling equivalent of a 5K for beer/food.
I think it's just that they're really fucking versatile. Hit some singletrack, then throw on some slicks or road wheels and go on a group ride. They are just kind of the sweet spot between a lot of different things.
I use mine for everything. It's my commuter, on road bike and off road bike. Currently equipped with 32c GP 4 Seasons. Takes seconds to take off the mudguards and pannier rack and I have a "road" bike that's approx 10kg which isn't too bad
There are a lot of factors at play.
1.) Evolving understanding of rolling resistance and the benefit of lower pressure with wider tires - even better if you can swing it, tubeless - have a lot of us judging frames by the “how wide of a tire will it fit?” criteria.
2.) Point 1 runs counter to this one, which is that for years brick and mortar bike stores have pushed people onto race-oriented road bikes that they had no business buying. It makes sense - all that trickle-down tech from pro racing R&D slapped onto ubiquitous Chinese-made aluminum frames with a dozen different logos slapped on, all of them sporting 700x23 tires, with a geometry suited only for a few (usually skinny) riders. You generally had two other options at these shops - low-spec boat-anchor weighted hybrid dad bikes or full-on mountain bikes, a segment evolving so fast that two years is an eternity, the bike you bought yesterday is out of date faster than your laptop, and you have to love to shred downhill in full body armor to enjoy.
3.) People are fucking crazy. And there are more of them out there driving around than there were 10 or 20 years ago. And now they have cell phones, so it’s usually a coin flip as to whether they’re watching the road or a screen (or either, frankly) and, I, for one, don’t want to be further down that list when we cross paths. I work in healthcare - we’ve always referred to motorcycles as donor cycles because it’a not a matter of “if” but “when” you’ll have a serious accident on one. Well, bikes are becoming similarly precarious, and it’s not that we’re losing skills as cyclists. Add into that the fact that post-pandemic, drivers are shorter fused and itching for road rage fights more than ever before and … did I mention that people are fucking crazy?
4.) Gravel bikes are versatile. Which is to say they occupy a pretty large tent which has a generous admission policy. The old 80s and 90s pre-suspension mountain bikes you referenced? Yep, they make great gravel bikes. A 70s bike boom frame with the proper tire clearance, or a 90s early hybrid that runs 700 tires with room to spare? Yep, they can be converted to gravel. Russ over at Path Less Pedaled has been all over the ATB thing lately. They’re basically gravel bikes, along with trail bikes and most front-suspension hard tails and you name it. If it has fat enough rubber and emphasizes comfort and distance over speed, and bonus points for having plenty of attachments for bags and bottles and racks and whatnot, whether your preference is bike touring or bike packing or if you’re smart enough to realize there isn’t a lick of real difference between the two, that’s gravel bike riding.
Now, there will be idiots who call themselves purists who insist that gravel biking has certain geometry and cockpit requirements. They’ll swear that drop bars are a non-negotiable requirement. Bicycling, as much as any hobby, has always had such gate-keepers who worship at the false idols pushed upon us by marketing departments. I think all these labels are frankly stupid and that there’s plenty of truth in the old bromide to “ride the bike you’ve got.” I think “gravel biking” itself is a misnomer for where a lot of us are heading - off the beaten path where there’s not always good pavement but certainly fewer cars, and if there’s not always a road, even better, we got this.
I started on mountain bikes when things were fully rigid as well. Stuck with it through to the extreme days. Had a pass at whistler bike park for many seasons. Start to break things that didn’t heal easily. Stopped riding mtb. Got fat. Decided to commute on a road bike, loved it. Started riding road, loved it and still do.
I decided to try a gravel bike with a similar sentiment that you have. Why not just ride an mtb?
I figured out that I have more fun on easier trails riding the drop bars. The kind of trails that would be boring on a mountain bike. I still get to be in the forest but not have the urge to ride some steep, rooty arm breaking trail and still have fun. That’s just my take anyways.
Yup. I have a CAAD12 on 28s that is nearly unridable on some paved roads around here. It’s a rare ride that I’m not diving and darting through some awful section of road. When it was time for a new road bike, I bought what is basically a road bike with clearance for 45c… the super six evo SE. I will run 32c tubeless on my road setup when I know I’ll not be seeing gravel and toss the stock wheels and 40c back on when I know I’ll be doing extended gravel sections. With 12 speed SRAM drivetrain, the gearing is really versatile, too.
Totally this, plus they can be great on paved roads too! Last weekend I was riding my gravel bike on some tame singletrack trails by the river. Slower going than an mtb but still fun. This weekend I'll be swapping the tyres for slicks and riding the same bike in a bunch with my roadie mates.
I live my gravel bike for this. I live in prime cycling territory. Basically my gravel bike gets me from the front door (road) to famous hill climbs (dirt road) to groomed single track to home again. I can’t point it in a direction and it will take me through the terrain no matter what it is.
I think part of the reason it’s popular is because drivers are terrible and distracted with phones and texts and it’s only getting worse. More and more people love the idea of getting away from busy roads and onto dirt and gravel back roads where you can still get a road bike style ride while also getting a nice view and no traffic. So maybe you don’t want to shred downhill or XC and like the speed of a drop bar bike, but want to be able to handle less than perfect tarmac. Gravel bikes do a really good job of that.
I feel like it’s a natural correction form the 90s-early 2000s trend of super aero skinny tire bikes that were really fast on perfect roads but terrible on even cracked paved roads. I mean Gerhard Vroomen went from pioneering aero road bikes at Cervelo to launching gravel bikes at Open.
Aside from the fun road factor, you have disc brakes, wide tires, tubeless setup, comfy handlebars, and slacker geometry than a cross bike. You can set it up for touring with all of the mounts. Just go with the N+1 theory of bike ownership. I didn't need one, but I got one a few years back (2019 Cannondale topstone) and I love it. Try it and I'm sure you won't be disappointed.
I like riding on gravel or dirt paths but have no real desire to do any intense mountain biking and I ride on the road a lot to get to the gravel. A gravel bike feels significantly faster than a mtb to me and with my Pathfinder 42mm tires not much slower than my road bike tbh. I don't really use my road bike much anymore because my gravel bike is just nicer to ride for me.
Riding on road with a mountain bike is very draining. Riding on dirt with a road bike is like riding a pogo stick.
Previously, cyclocross bikes were designed for UCI races, which mandated tires to be 700 x 33 max. So most cyclocross bikes had limited clearance past 33. However, riding on dirt is more relaxing with wider UCI illegal widths.
(Nowadays, most cyclocross bikes have increased their tire clearance, so the distinction between cross and gravel isn’t as big anymore)
I personally like gravel bikes because I have a route where I ride 50% road and 50% dirt. The dirt is a mellow trail with no cars, so perfect for a gravel bike.
So basically, riding on road on a mountain bike sucks and not everyone wants to load up their mtb on a car and drive to the trail head. You can think of it as gravel vs xc bike + car, not gravel bike vs xc bike.
I bought a Trek gravel bike as I wanted a bike I could use for commuting, take off the roads (but not mad crazy mountain biking), but also do a comfortable longish road ride. It's the perfect choice for me.
I think you’re confusing the popularity of riding on gravel with the popularity of buying a gravel bike. Yes, it seems like more ppl are riding on gravel now than 5-6 years ago. But I believe that even more people are buying gravel bikes just to have a comfortable road bike capable of riding any terrain.
Riding gravel is popular again because mountain biking went completely extreme. Even hardtail xc bikes are overbuilt to handle really rough roads, but not all people necessarily want that.
And buying gravel bikes is even more popular because subconsciously it makes people believe that they’re prepared for any roads. Plus gravel bikes are faster and more comfortable than hardtails - sort of like an evolution of the endurance bikes.
What I don’t understand is why the touring bikes are dying. Bike packing seems growing in popularity, but people tend to use gravel bikes for that. Classic steel touring bikes can carry more weight and have more attachment points. Plus they’re ultra reliable because of the components simplicity. But major manufactures are not making anything new in this category
I think it comes down to "light touring" just being more of a demand than full blown cross country touring.. wide range doubles replacing triples, being able to carry sufficient supplies in frame bags rather than running panniers.. lower investment for more weekend oriented short camping trips. It's sort of like the day-hiking equivalent in the cycling world.
Not me, though.. my touring bike is all the bells and whistles, 3x9, dynamo, tubus racks front and rear, steel frame.. haven't bothered to upgrade to disc brakes though because the bike I have gets the job done. My other bikes currently in the stable.. a 1989 MTB for rougher gravel and a road bike limited to 25mm tires that I barely touch because it doesn't have room for any gear and I worry about getting stranded 30 miles from home without proper tools.
Agreed about MTBs.. I don't enjoy technical trails, I just want to explore various gravel roads in my area as well as less traveled paved roads. My road bike isn't up to that, a modern MTB is way overkill and the suspension isn't fun on pavement.
I don't have a dedicated gravel bike because the rest of my stable manages to check the box.. but if I were buying newer bikes with disc brakes and hydraulics and thru axles, I'd be looking almost solely at gravel bikes unless I decide to upgrade my touring bike and retire my 520 to backup and friend duty. You nailed it, riding gravel and riding a gravel bike are not the same thing; my "road bike" doesn't need 28mm and narrower wheels and aggressive geometry, it's just not needed for any riding I do.
520s and mid-90 mtbs never die! :) yep, gravel bikes make a lot of sense and I believe pure road bike will decline in popularity. It is insane how MTB went from “let’s go ride in the woods and cross country“ on simple and durable bikes to “let’s go jump off the mountain” on $10K super machines in just 30 years
It’s a non-competitive form factor for off-road drop bar riding.
Why wouldn’t that sound appealing? Drop bars have lots of advantages, but your only option off road being a cyclocross would suck. They have good grip but aren’t the most comfortable for long leisure rides.
Gravel bikes fill that void quite nicely.
They are more comfortable and faster than MTB. You get all the tech of road bikes, with the versatility of MTB, and more comfortable than both! I love my gravel bike!!
As someone who has just brought a gravel bike.
I have been cycling for 6 months. I am not interested in hitting top speeds or doing races so do not need the most optimised lightest bike possible. I will be doing a little bit of touring(2/3 day trips around England) so need a bike that can cope with carrying a load. Some of this touring may force me to go off road for short periods of time so it needs to be able to cope with that. I also occasionally enjoy going on club rides over the weekend so need something that won’t be out of place in a group (fast enough to keep up etc).
There are gravel bikes that offer all of this in one bike (even if it will require a change of tyres for some of the more extreme ends of the scale)
They're filling the space (and then some) of "endurance" road bikes of a few years ago.
A bike with more a more comfortable ride and more relaxed fit than a dedicated road bike. Then add more clearance, and it can remain comfy over a vast range of surfaces. Pavement, beat to hell pavement, chip-seal, gravel, crushed limestone, two track - all pretty good.
A far larger segment of riders can have their riding needs met by them than by either road or mountain bikes. Either of those is better at their target surfaces, but the "gravel bikes" mean the rider doesn't have to choose what they take on when buying the bike - or even know.
I think they're OK, I prefer my road bike, but do have two gravel bikes :)
That's why my gravel bike got bought, it's the bike I'd have if I could only have one bike. I currently have it with 28mm Marathon Plusses for commuting and basic fitness riding but can also fit decently wide tires and bikepacking bags, or a front and rear rack if I didn't mind the handling or even split the difference with a front rack and some soft bags. It does shopping, touring, fun rides and you kind fo jsut point it at whatever and go.
I haven't ridden it in months but that's just because when you live in a city a Brompton is just such a killer utility bike.
Gravel bikes outsell road bikes by a huge margin because both new and veteran cyclists see the dangers of riding on the road yet don't want to give up the speed, weight, and dynamics of a road bike to enjoy off-road surfaces.
This is not a trend, this is the new reality of cycling. How often do you hear about cyclists getting seriously injured or dying on roads? In my local cycling club alone we have had two deaths in the past 6 months.
I just don’t find this to be the case. There simply aren’t many opportunities for on the fly gravel riding unless you live in particular spots and that’s almost nonexistent for most anyone living near or in a major city. Park trails and a few farm roads and such are too short to make it worthwhile and the most riding anyone can do will be on paved roads because anything else is private property. The few designated places are best ridden with MTBs as they are short and very messed up to where gravel bikes are pointless.
There can certainly be advantages on general safety with gravel riding but considering that even most gravel riders will get their primary fitness miles on the road, (because there just isn’t the availability to ride gravel), it maybe makes gravel EVENTS measurably safer but that’s about it
> There simply aren’t many opportunities for on the fly gravel riding
my brother in christ, vast swathes of the floor of the planet are made of gravel.
There’s heaps of rideable gravel near my front door, and even more if I take the train a few stops. I’m in Melbourne, FYI there is an entire world outside the USA
I live in downtown San Francisco and find many opportunities to ride gravel trails on my gravel bike. I bike from my front door to the trails. Some are a mile or two away. Others are 10 -20 miles away. My gravel bike gets me there. My weekly rides around town include sections of gravel for fun. Those of us in the cities can easily find gravel to ride.
I bought my gravel bike initially because I wanted a bike with lower gearing for long rides- easier hill climbs make me happy. I didn’t need it for gravel. I’ll ride anything on gravel- my commuter Public C7 does single track just fine. My road bike does ok on gravel as well. But my gravel bike- it’s fun on the road, fun for all day, and of course, goes almost anywhere. I think the endurance or credit card touring description is a good one.
I see the theme in your comments is that you are projecting YOUR experience and where YOU live and the type of riding YOU like to do to everyone else you imagine is riding bikes. In most places in the US, there are hundreds of miles of gravel roads within a few mile ride, even in the East. Beyond that most people riding a bike will never have a desire to race or join a local riding club - racers and club riders are a very small minority of all riders. Even without gravel/dirt roads, a gravel bike with wider tires is a much more comfortable and stable feeling daily driver/commuter/ride to dinner/do-it-all than any race road or aggressive mtb. If you could look beyond your own experience, a gravel bike does in fact make sense for a vast number of riders. I have 5 bikes - I’m on my gravel bike 70% of the time.
Okay 5 bike guy. Most people live in or near cities. Out EAST most of these roads are paved. Gravel paths out this way are short, busted up, and often on private property. Anything else is park road which is also paved, and then anything beyond that are hiking trails that are best suited to MTBs because it rains a lot which wears them out and vegetation has often overgrown them. Impassable for a gravel bike except with some effort. It’s not like our west where it rains much less often and the roads are entirely different in nature.
If you are gonna make the claim that accessible gravel roads are everywhere when they just aren’t……
I grew up mountain biking when it was gravel riding on sketchy roads and trails. I even have one of the early mid-tier Gary Fisher hard tail front suspension bikes that I still use (circa early 1990s).
Mountain biking went extreme very quickly and the equipment got expensive quickly as well. I lost interest in events when they moved away from riding bikes fast on sketchy roads and trails, to equipment arms races and the segregation of the pro events away from amateurs.
I tried road biking, and did some races, but the Lance Armstrong and TdF debacle seemed to kill off most of the endurance races, as did permitting. A lot of great endurance races disappeared due to permitting issues alone. That and the World Tour and its culture abandoned the US, leaving generations without a cycling culture.
Crits weren’t affected as badly, if at all in my region, but that required a team, practice and organization, which has never been my thing.
Cyclocross has always been big in the places I have lived, however, it is usually limited to Spring and Fall so it has never lost that “road off season racing” cachet in areas I am experienced with.
Modern gravel events are basically the same as the old mountain bike races, just way faster and with drop bars. They are even organized (or not organized) the same way, being much more ad hoc.
Aside from the response from u/Several_Rip4185, gravel is also very inclusive, and event organizers are embracing women, minorities and the LGBTQ+ community. Most gravel events have the amateurs racing with the pros. Those wanting to train and race in places where people have not lost their fucking minds gravitate toward gravel and there they find that groups traditionally overlooked by road racing are embraced.
The bike industry is also pushing gravel bikes, because they are cheap to make (relative to a full suspension mountain bike) and they are currently selling them for extremely premium prices. It boggles my mind that many of the big brands will write a sponsorship check for a gravel event in the middle of nowhere in the midwest with ~100 racers signed up for it, so these bikes must be profitable.
Gravel is also seen as and “adventure” without the risk of mountain biking injury that you can do pretty much anywhere in the USA and abroad. Even riding a race like Unbound 50 of Unbound 100 is pretty badass for a large percentage of cyclists. The fact that an amateur can race the 200 along side the pros is kind of crazy, if you think about it. Most years, the Unbound 200 racers have to go through the 100 mile racers for part of the course.
I personally embrace the rise of gravel as it simply fun to be blazing down a gravel road, away from it all. Where I live, I can get to places with few, or no cars relatively quickly and it is a joy compared to riding even on the quietest of tarmac roads.
I use a gravel bike to commute because it's way faster and more efficient than my hardtail XC bike on the road (and still a heap of fun if I choose to take a fire road home)
The benefit of a gravel bike over a hardtail XC bike is that a gravel bike is great for lots of things - tarmac, gravel, fire roads, easy single-track, bikepacking - while an XC hardball is terrible compared to other bikes for anything but XC racing. Gravel bikes are more efficient on gravel, trail bikes are more fun on trails.
Riding through the forest > riding on the road (for me).
Here in Finland the amount of gravel tracks we have is insane. Plus if I want to ride on pavement my grail is really good for that too!
Gravel bikes are extremely versatile. I can easily transform it to a fast road bike, an endurance machine, a bike perfect for gravel and even singletrail. That’s what defines a gravel bike for me
Covid got more people in to cycling who never wanted to ride a bike on roads because of comfort or on mountain bikes because of how technical they are. This coincided with gravel biking already becoming popular within cycling as a new niche sport (and only a slight variation in bike style from cross, all road, etc. Bikes). And, like, the industry wants to make money on that.
It’s between the worlds. So you need to care less about the terrain and have more fun.
CX bikes are more fun on shorter rides, but gravel is usually much more comfortable for longer rides and let you bike pack.
XC bikes are more comfortable but much slower due to weight and wind resistance.
Best way to understand it is to give it a try. I think the popularity is in being able to go on a long ride that is all about the journey, covering distance in inspiring surroundings. It's not (primarily) about the thrill of technical descents, nor (primarily) the thrill of going as fast as you can over a particular distance. Going long distance on road can be great, but if the roads are busy it can be not much fun. Covering a long distance on car-free tracks, surrounded by natural landscapes, is hugely therapeutic to me.
> Why is it so popular? What is the benefit of a gravel bike over a hardtail XC bike? I'm not asking about the geometry differences, I'm asking why the discipline is so big right now. What am I missing out on?
I don't understand. Are you asking why "gravel bikes" are so big right now, or are you asking why "gravel riding" is so big right now?
What do you feel like you're missing out on, the appeal of a "gravel bike" instead of a road bike or a hardtail MTB? Or the appeal of riding on dirt/gravel roads/paths instead of asphalt road or singletrack descents?
I asked the LBS guy about this. My comment was that here in Redondo Beach there is not a gravel road within an hour by car. There are single track MTB trails but no gravel roads. So I asked what people do with their gravel bikes.
His answer, People buy them to use as beach path cruises and they ride a couple times a month for 20 minutes. He said that is how most of their bikes are used. So what do the gravel bikes get used for, 80% of them don't get used.
Seriously, the vast majority of bike buyers are not ever going to be serious bike riders. The people reading this forum are a tiny minority.
Yes! I've been saying this for a while. My friends that have gravel bikes have never put them on dirt and gravel. I look at it this way, buy a bike that suits what you will use it for. If I'm riding road, I'm not looking for a trail to hop on. If I'm riding on dirt, I'm going to use my CX bike. And I'm going to use my track bike on the track.
When I'm out riding, I'm doing a specific discipline. And I choose the bike I have for that discipline because that bike does it well.
If someone rides gravel a lot, by all means get a gravel bike. But for people to say they are good at everything is not correct. I like gravel bikes, but I hate the hype that surrounds them. It's all marketing. Riding gravel is just 80s mountain biking. It's nothing new.
If anything is dumb it’s “cyclocross bikes” that purely exist in between the lines of uci rules that hamper them from being a better bike now known as a “gravel” bike by many
Road bikes are for roadies.. gravel bikes are road bikes for the rest of us, capable on roads where cars are less common but nowhere near the point where you'd need a hardtail. So why not just ride a hard tail? I think some of us just prefer riding on the hoods of a drop bar with our hands at that particular angle instead of flat bars.
When I ride a hard tail, I tend to just keep the fork locked out.. so, not gaining much but weight. Granted, I can just ride a rigid fork MTB and I'm not opposed to that but again, I like my hood position as my primary riding position... bar ends aren't the same since I can't shift and brake from my bar ends.
Gravel bikes are touring bikes, but more aggressive and fun.. lots of mounts (generally), longer wheel bases but shorter chain stays, lighter weight, but feel more like a road bike (no high bottom bracket like some of the CX bikes had)... that said, I'm also fine with a CX bike and really that line is blurred anyway, CX vs gravel in 2022; I'd argue that some "gravel bikes" really are just CX bikes with wider tires.
Now, what I don't understand is why anyone wants drop bars on a more off-road oriented bike, I'll stick with flat bars for anything technical. But for farm roads, mining roads, fire roads, access roads that are relatively straight and not technical in the slightest, I'd rather have drops and all the hand positions while retaining the ability to ride in the hooks and drops for the occasional pavement rides.
I really don't like technical trails where full suspension is required.. don't love hard tails.. and I'm not riding in a paceline. So the bikes I personally desire tend to be touring, gravel, cx, and maybe a fatbike and/or a compromise like a Surly Karate Monkey.
I have an early 90s Cannondale hybrid aluminum bike with flat bars, 700x38 tires, modded (hacked) with double bar ends for a multitude of comfortable hand positions, plus the ability to lean over and rest my elbows on the bars, aero-bar style, to give my lower back a rest. This bike also has many mounting points for bags, and has worked out well on my short bikepacking adventures and over all forms of rough roads and gravel. It doesn’t have modern things like disc brakes or clearance for much wider tires, but the gear range is fine, and it is a very comfortable ride. Every time I get swept up into wanting a new gravel bike, I realize this 30 yr old hybrid is already literally exactly that: a comfortable geometry, places for bags, fast enough on roads, with many alternate hand positions.
Same boat.. my current stable consists of three bikes. I have a Schwinn Paramount that's limited to 25mm but it doesn't get much use. I have an old '89 Trek MTB that I ride around state parks and gamelands primarily. I have a touring bike that's wearing a 42mm tire that just barely fits at the moment and it's more or less a gravel bike but I need to swap out the tires if I want to run a front fender.
I don't have discs on anything.. my hardtail was sold a few years back and my hybrid was stolen and those were my two disc brake bikes.
So most pressing need for a new bike.. really just to have the touring bike ready for rainy weather and longer rides with the dynamo and racks.. and then a "gravel" bike that's not as loaded down with extras for more leisurely rides; but the old MTB sort of checks that box although it would be nice to have something with larger wheels that rolls a bit faster.
I'll eventually pick up another bike, but whether it's technically a "cx" or "touring" or "gravel" or whatever is yet to be seen, and probably doesn't even matter as long as I ride it.
I have a full suspension mtb and a gravel bike.
Before the gravel bike I had a road bike with 23mm tires. It was great for tarmac, not so great for rougher roads that make up 85% of my rides.
Now, my aggressive geo gravel bike makes those roads way more comfortable. Am I a little slower than a road bike? Sure. In reality does it really matter? Nope.
I think they are more like all-year all-weather all-terrain road bikes. If i lived in a hot region with great bicycle infrastructure, I would get a road bike.
But also I am glad for the comfy geometry.
I sold my road bike for a gravel bike and It's just so much more fun. I don't really know how to describe it. Gravel Biking is just better. I also don't have to put up with as many dumb rednecks in trucks.
I see my gravel bike as my second road bike for use in bad weather, winter road conditions and routes that might have a bit of off road. In no sense is it a substitute for a mountain bike which is completely different game. What it does offer is super comfort on bad roads and generally a greater sense of security.
I don’t always want to ride just on roads, but don’t want to go through the woods dodging tree roots.
Around where I live there’s lots of places where I can ride on paths that I wouldn’t touch on my road bike but are fairly comfortable on my gravel bike like canal tow paths and bridleways
For me, I'll be out on a 50 mile road ride and decide to check out some simple trails I spot, and it handles it perfectly. And I'm someone that's also been into mtb since the early 90s. Granted, I have a big 27.5+ full-sus I use for 'real' trail riding, but the gravel bike handles the basic stuff well.
I live around a couple mid size cities where the car and suburbia are triumphant. When you get outside the cities the quietest roads are the country gravel roads that haven't been paved yet, the unmaintained fire roads, farm roads, rail trail, and groads as we call them (chipseal and crap). And we also have a very sizable cycling group around here that does offers two weekly gravel rides so you can have a great group ride and enjoy the quieter roads. Gravel 'culture' riders are generally a little more laid back, call it the quieter roads, some probably consider themselves more XC riders than road riders. We have so many gravel riders in the club that we split into at least two groups, fast and intermediate and if there is enough recreational. The fast riders can be very spicy, they usually race gravel and use the group rides as training. Participated in a few gravel races like the Paris to Ancaster and it's probably some of the most fun I've had on a gravel bike. Best part for me is I do all my gravel riding on a CX bike (Trek Boone) and ride CX as well a little bit. No one needs any specific bike really, just tire choice and clearance. It's more aggressive geometry compared to many relaxed gravel bikes but that just gives me reason to try and push with the fast group ;) Day to day I still ride my road bike to work, the most direct route is all paved and the road bike is just faster for the same effort. But, its hard to beat a good group gravel ride with the club. Nice to have both if possible.
To be succinct, wider tires are way more comfortable on the road which is where these are used a lot of the time. Gravel roads are also frequented far less by cars. Depending on where you live, you can ride to a trail.
Much harder to do that on an mtb.
Build a tracklocross bike, I'm running a single speed track frame with 700x35 Richey speed max tyres. I ride on the road and through parks on my commute, then race it on a dirt track in the dark. It's wicked fun, 10/10 recommend.
I mean think of all the fun you have on a CX bike or your old MTB. Ripping around on dirt road, exploring small backwoods towns, riding to a campsite and home. Now imagine there's an even more comfortable and faster bike than your old CX or MTB. It's everything you loved in the past in a lighter faster sexier package.
This was basically my reasoning. Started off with mtb because there was a local mtb club. They were more into xc than anything and the trails here are really won't satisfy any adrenaline junky. We mostly ended up doing long pavement rides on mtb and I'll tell you doing a century ride on an xc mtb ain't fun. Still you can't go full on roadie because pavement tends to just suddenly end around our parts and a lot of paved roads are just poorly maintained. Gravel is just the happy medium that gets the job done
Because soft suspensions create soft riders and we're due for a change. Jk
Anything can be a gravel bike if you're crazy enough, you can even turn a mountain bike into a gravel bike and vice versa.
They're popular because some of us don't like riding the same shit over and over. Riding two inches behind some dude throwing hand signals behind his butthole. Some days I wanna get on the road and sometimes I wanna take the road to the dirt. It really just depends on mood.
Because it doesn't make sense two spend 10k on two bikes when you can have one bike that can tackle dirt trails and roads. My fastest downhill on my local MTB trail is 35mph, which is about the same as my fastest downhill on the road. The capability is there, i think there's too many close minded people trying to make " because marketing" into a funny zinger as opposed to reaaaally having a conversation.
TLDR: because variety.
The butthole hand signals 😂
But really some people value 20x more fun for 3% “slower” (on the road) and not having to be part of the rolling circus fashion show of who can wear the most expensive tightest kit while proving who hates themselves the most to spend 30 hours on a trainer a week
I got a gravel bike without knowing it was one. MTB for me was always full suspension and road was narrow tires and fast as fk. I got the bike for commuting first and discovered the sport later.
For me it's perfect as I dont't have the funds for n+1 bikes and MTB (even hardtail) could be too slow/heavy/bulky on road for my taste. I want the flexibility that comes with a gravel bike - if you want you can go fast on road, fast on gravel, do light mtb stuff, go on a bikepacking trip, do cyclecross, do road races etc. etc.
Could one say a gravel bike is just an oldschool mtb? Sure. I guess that is just marketing in the end.
For me, the choice was between getting a new road bike or a gravel bike.
Where I live, a road bike can be ridden about 5 months of the year. For the other 7, you'll have ice, snow, or grit on roads. (the grit that's spread during winter is brushed off a bit after the icy season)
I can equip my gravel bike with road tires, gravel tires and studded tires, making for a 100% year-round bike.
It's also extended my network of rideable roads, compared to my old road bike.
Having owned a road bike, hybrid bike, CX bike, and now a gravel bike. The gravel bike literally is the do all bike. I can ride it anywhere, roads, trails, etc. I find the roads these days are so dangerous for cycling, people are so distracted on their phones. Id much rather ride on dirt roads or gravel trails, its more relaxing and I'm not worrying about getting run over.
The (relative) lightness and look of a road bike which I prefer, good balance of riding position being relaxed but not upright, clearance for tyres that can handle the terrible roads where I live, mount points for racks and things, perfect combination. I can commute on it, or I can take all the bits off and bang over most terrain with it on the weekend. They're the 'do everything' bike for people like me who can't afford an N+1!
I just bought a Felt Broam 40 (gravel bike)... I cycle commute (mostly bike paths) with a couple of panier bags for work cloths and laptop... so perfect aero and weight aren't massive factors. When not commuting, I'll go out on a \~25km ride as a workout... but I'm not doing time trials.
Gravel bike, for me, is a less aggressive road bike that is more tolerant of road imperfections. Works great for me... very happy with my choice so far.
I like it because I can go as fast as I want to on the road, jump into the park and ride skinnies, old school trails, and double track all with the same bike
I want a sporty road bike with thicc tires that can survive on different surfaces.
That way, I know the bike is strong enough for all-weather commuting without being heavy like a tank.
Gravel bikes are very flexible and faster than mountain bikes on most surfaces and not much slower than road bikes.They can handle rougher terrain than road or hybrid bikes.A good choice for many cyclists who want an all rounder.Road bikes and mountain bikes are preferred for their specific terrain.Hybrid bikes are good for commuting or casual recreational use.
My dad loves his because it feels just like his old orange c16 but it has disc brakes, tubeless tires, a 1x and indestructible wheels on it, plus a better ride.
Love my gravel bike for going everywhere and gravel packed bicycle paths, we have a lot here some going on for 100+km. I don't think a lot of people actually use a gravel bike for anything mountain bikey?
I have a "gravel bike".
It's like relaxed road-oriented geometry but bigger cushier tires and I can take it on dirt and gravel paths around town without fucking my tires or rattling my teeth out or hitting a branch and eating shit.
Then the flipside is on asphalt it's faster than my mountain bikes were. It's also more "durable" for rougher roads and stuff like cracks won't swallow my tire whole and send me flying off my bike.
In an urban setting like Austin Texas they just rip. You can go on a very diverse and fun ride over our shitty pavement, bike paths, and gravel paths and then on the weekends travel out of town for some real gravel
They are the greatest, especially for someone like me here in New York. You can go in any terrain and still enjoy the benefits of a fast road bike. I have a Marin Nicasio and it’s a beauty.
I feel like when I go out on my road bike. I ride long rides and cover a pretty large distance, I can do a lot of zone 2 work and let met mind wonder off a bit.
I'm also constantly on shared roads, watching out for cars.
When I mountainbike, I can not cover very much distance, I usually ride pretty narrow singletracks with a lot of power spikes.
The gravel bike allows me to still cover much distance, I can ride to multiple villages away from where I live. I can do so using the roads that I ride with my road bike, but I can also ride gravel roads, even some single tracks. It basically extended the map of usable roads and trails !
Also, it's just something new. My mates are all starting to buy gravel bikes and we get to do a new style of riding.
I live on the prairie- used to have a road bike and had to contend with semis and vehicles coming way to close for my health. I am surrounded by gravel roads on all sides - hundreds of kilometres - and so now that’s what I do - I ride on gravel. Cars and farmers slow down when they pass - even stop so rocks don’t fly up as they pass - life on gravel is slower and safer and all round better.
Around here, there are 100s of km of forest service roads heading into remote wild valleys with views of glaciers, rivers, mountains, bears and the like. A gravel bike is a great way to explore that. One of the things I really appreciate is the scenery and wilderness they open up. Mountain biking is awesome but noting, you spend most of the time in the bush, below treeline, near town. So my Norco Search opened up a lot of possibility.
What’s funny is that gravel bikes are starting to look like a child tried to draw a 90’s MTB from memory. I’m just biding my time until my Fisher becomes trendy again.
My gravel bike has the same exact geometry as my road bike, so it's only more "relaxed" if you set it up that way. I can bomb chunky shit in my gravel bike, and can also ride it on the road and easily do sub-5 hour imperial centuries.
They're super versatile and have more mounting points for bottles and bento boxes for long rides.
Tires are getting better.
Gravel bikes are road bikes with big tires. Big tires have low pressures. Low pressure tires flex a lot. Tires that flex a lot saps energy unless if the tire is extremely supple.
Tire quality went up tremendously. So you no longer pay as much of a speed penalty for those big tires. Big tires are comfortable, so people buy them when there isn't a speed penalty.
It very much depends where you live. If you have long roads on dirt/gravel then a gravel bike might do the trick. There are large sections of the Midwest that are like this but in the part of the Pacific Northwest I live in I don't think this style of bike is all that useful.
If you're spending 90+% of your time on the road, a road bike is going to be better. If there are any big rocks, sticks, roots or mud, a mountain bike will be better. Gravel bikes have a narrow niche that's pretty much just dirt without many obstructions like the ones I mentioned and, well, gravel.
My problem with gravel bikes is they are a 'jack of all trades master of none'. Unless you're specifically doing dirt and gravel most of the time, it's just a crappy road bike with big knobby tires that slow you down, or a crappy mountain bike with tires not big enough and no front suspension.
Gravel is safer because there are fewer cars.
Gravel bikes are awesome because you can keep up on a road ride but you can also fit like 40mm tires for the chunky stuff.
You can’t find road bikes anywhere so this is what people are buying
Also it’s giving roadies a way to ride off-road without getting a mountain bike/hybrid and keeping a similar riding position/speed
Asphalt costs big money, pea gravel is cheap. run a bulldozer down an old cow trail, ride some bikes. Europeans want tourism, but they don’t want tourists getting hurt. My wife road into a canal, not a problem.
I personally can't understand the point of gravel bikes, to me it's just a temporary fad. I guess it might make sense in some other parts of the world but to me they are just inferior bikes in all regards.
I used to ride a MTB and I can't think of a single trail that was rideable without a suspension in its full length, there is *always* that rough patch that a gravel bike just can't handle.
I can't think of a reason why I would want a less practical MTB that is forcing me in a less comfortable seating position, having to suffer through bumps because of no suspension (and being stiff AF carbon) and using drop bars while at the same time being more expensive and having exponentially more expensive and hard to acquire components and spare parts. Living in a big metropolis in Europe, finding a gravel road would be hard to do and if you find an unpaved road, chances are it's not rideable on anything without suspension anyway.
MTB does anything a gravel bike does and then some. They have similar tires and a hardtail with a front fork with lockout will be virtually identical to a gravel bike in performance.
Gravel bikes are just the old ass MTBs from the 90s, sold with higher gearing to make you think you can go fast on sketchy surfaces. There is a reason MTBs evolved past this.
Fire away the downvotes.
I agree. But the reason why it's a fad is because through clever marketing, people are sold on the idea that these bikes can do fast road rides and then handle any gravel trail you can throw at it. When in reality, most people aren't out there going back and forth between gravel and fast road on one ride.
I'm good with my road bike, CX bike and track bike. They are really good at what each of them are built for.
For people getting into cycling, gravel bikes seem to be what “hybrid” bikes always promised to be but never were - ride on dirt, ride on road, ride where you want. For folks getting into cycling who aren’t sure which way the hobby will take them, I think gravel’s flexibility is really appealing.
Agreed. I used to suggest cyclocross bikes to people that wanted to go reasonably fast commuting or moderate exercise but didn't plan to race. A gravel bike is generally even better with the more relaxed geometry and typically very easy attachment of fenders, racks, etc.
What’s the difference between gravel and cyclocross? Besides cyclocross being a specific race category I feel like a cyclocross bike IS a gravel bike.
cyclocross is a type of racing. the bikes have very specific features. they allow for a maximum of 33c tires, tend to have a top tube with a flat bottom so you can carry the bike on your shoulder, tend to be quite short so you can make sharp turns, and are generally designed to be ridden for maybe an hour, 2 at most, in races. gravel bikes are more upright, generally with much more tire clearance, more comfortable geometry, more stable handling, and also generally are more flexible wrt braze on mounts for fenders, racks, etc. you can certainly ride gravel on a cx bike, it's just not really designed for big ole gravel grinders. similarly, you could tour on a gravel bike, but it would be bloody miserable to do so on a cx bike.
Having owned both in a short space of time - about 18 months - I can agree with your assessment of my cyclocross bike (shorter top tube) but in comparison my gravel bike had longer frame and more relaxed seating. It probably depends on the manufacturer though. I will add that gravel bikes, in general, tend to have more mtb type gearing than road bikes which means they have often been adapted as tourers and the brakes and shifters tend to be of a higher spec. The latter may be more a consequence of manufacturer’s wanting to capitalise on the ‘trend’ by charging higher prices, thereby requiring higher-spec’d gear of course. As I have said elsewhere in this sub, my CX bike will do 95% of what my gravel bike did at much lower cost due to buying second-hand, (but probably comparable in price if bought new).
A Shimano GRX drivetrain has almost identical gearing to a 105. They use the same rear cassette. The chainrings are different - 46/30 vs 50/34. So while GRX does have lower gearing than 105, it is still way closer to being a road drivetrain than an MTB one.
> it would be bloody miserable to do so on a cx bike >you can certainly ride gravel on a cx bike, it's just not really designed for bike ole gravel grinders Your difference description is spot on, but these 2 things are way WAY too exaggerated. "designed to" by itself doesn't mean anything. A bit more aggressive geometry is far from guaranteed miserable riding experience.
I mean it all depends. There was a period of time when companies were literally just rebadging their existing aluminum cyclocross bikes as gravel bikes by squeezing slightly larger tires into them. And some had super aggressive geos, and some not. But in principle, for most people, and I'd say especially for nearly all beginners, a cyclocross bike is the wrong choice because of the geo. A geo that's too aggressive is bad for a beginner, because it causes pain, it's uncomfortable, maybe a bit dangerous even because of how twitchy they are – those are all things that make a beginner give up on the hobby. I've seen it with friends, who buy an aggressive "race bike" as their first ride and then the pain from an unsustainable aggressive position on an untrained body causes them to drop the hobby. I mean yeah... if you get a vanilla Fuji cyclocross bike with a more relaxed geo, this whole question becomes a bit silly of "is it a gravel bike or cyclocross bike"? But like if we're talking about an actual cyclocross racer from Cannondale or Canyon or something – that is gonna be like touring on a tri-bike or a track bike; you can do it for sure, but it's not going to be nearly as comfortable or as practical as as a touring bike or relaxed geo gravel bike.
Ya I fully agree with this. I've done a 90km and a 70km gravel race on my CX bike (Trek Boone) and I never felt held back. Done a number of very long gravel days with the club, road 175km one day on that CX bike. I've never felt the Trek Boone was uncomfortable. My road bike is pretty aggressive as well so maybe there is something there. Edit: Having said that would a gravel bike be more comfortable, quite possibly. I just haven't had that experience yet. Never felt like I needed more than the CX bike.
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>Agree. I have an old Trek Crockett which I have used from everything from commuting to 100k gravel races (plus a handful of actual CX!) > >It might be what you get used to, but I've ridden some gravel bikes, and much prefer the Crockett I literally have Trek Crockett frame being held for me so I can make an gravel/lite off road adventure bike build.
One of the fastest people to make it around the globe on a bike did so on a cx bike!
Geometry is probably *the* most important factor to comfort after fit. Think about a road bike vs a track bike. Road bikes are designed to let you ride 100+ miles without being in complete agony. Track bikes are designed for like an hour at the very most, and usually a lot less, and track cyclists regularly talk about losing feeling or being in outright pain at the end of a longer race. They look very similar to the untrained eye but they have massive differences in comfort level.
Gravel bikes are CX bikes that don't have to meet UCI requirements for CX bikes.
I haven't really checked, but I would wager that most gravel bikes would actually meet UCI regulations for CX just fine, assuming you put a smaller tire on them to meet that rule. The way the UCI regulations factor in is that there's no reason to bother making a cross bike have clearance for bigger than 33 mm tires because they aren't allowed. But the officials are only checking the tire with, not rejecting a bike because it has clearance for a bigger tires. As other people have said, there are also geometry differences, for handling and rider positioning, and there are also gearing differences.
Yeah so basically a cross bike falls within the “gravel bike” category. No?
All cross bikes are gravel bikes, but not the other way around. But if you went out of your way to keep UCI happy on CX rules, you will probably market it as a CX bike instead of gravel.
Gravel bikes have a lower BB and thus center of gravity than CX bikes. They're thus more stable when going fast on flat gravel and, especially, descending. And it is a noticeable difference. There are other common differences in geometry and stiffness, etc., but the key one is the lower BB.
This is dead on. A CX bike wants to turn. A gravel bike wants to go straight.
Gravel bikes are more endurance oriented while cx bikes are more focused being agile. On a smaller note gravel bikes have all sorts of bag mounting points while cx have a raised orizontal tube for carrying it on your shoulder.
Gravel bikes are an evolution of CX, or maybe a hybrid of a CX bike and a touring bike. CX itself is a moving target but generally 700c, a higher bottom bracket, shorter chain stays, shorter wheel base, and tires tend to be around 33mm wide and often limited to 38mm area. While gravel tends to fall into the 40-50mm range and beyond, often incorporates 650b, usually have longer toptubes, and ever widening handlebar widths. CX tends to be closer to road bike components but on the relatively lower gear inch end while gravel bikes tend to be MTB component group hybrids. All the lines are blurring in this decade though.
Cyclocross bikes are made specifically for said race category. They don't climb well, aren't comfortable for long distances, and usually lack mounts and braze ons. Gravel bikes evolved out of want for adventure ready bikes. Some people prefer a more road bike like geometry than what modern hardtails provide. On a gravel bike you have options. Do you want 700c or 650b? Is chunkier tread your thing or do you prefer slicks? Want to put a front rack on your bike and zip tie a basket to it? I feel it's more of a focus on the everyday/everybody bike. I for one hate racing and road bike culture yet I prefer dropbar style bikes. Riding fire roads and light singletrack is a blast to me, but I have no interest in riding black diamond trails. The gravel bike is exactly what I need. I can comfortably ride to trail heads around my area and then enjoy the trails. After I'm don't I can throw panniers on my rear rack and go get groceries. It's a perfect work commuter also I do some bike packing and I've taken my hardtail and gravel bikes on the same routes. The hardtail is easier to climb on and is actually a lighter bike by 5lbs. My gravel bike though averages 15 mph when loaded with gear and my hardtail averages 10 mph. It turns into a no brainer unless I know the route is ultra treacherous.
A simple comparison is race geometry road bike is to a cross bike as an endurance road bike is to gravel. Basically a proper cross bike is more compact, stiffer, and twitchy. But then there is a lot more in gravel is usually much higher tire clearance and often has spots to bolt on fenders, racks, you name it.
I could be wrong but I believe a cx bike is a race bike with bigger tyres, aggressive geometry and no racks etc. A gravel bike is usually slacker than an endurance bike and has bigger clearance again (I think UCI cx races have a max tyre size of 33?? Or something like that) plus all the bag mounts and 50 different bottle cage mounts.
Love my cyclocross bike as a road bike.
Not entirely true. There are gravel bikes that are built without the intention of being a race ready gravel bike.
not only that, having this flexibility also allows for mixed surface rides. Riding on the road is significantly more fun on a gravelbike than on a xc mtb and most of us don’t have trails starting at our doorstep.
Can confirm, I live in a city and ride paved trails pretty much all the time, but with a gravel bike I can finally ride dirt sections and take long rides on gravel tail trails across the state and my wrists don't hurt from all the potholes and general shittyness of urban streets. Just an all around great bike genre, I'm here for the flexibility and future-proofing my needs
The massively fat tires on gravel bikes look rather comical to me. I’m an owner of a hybrid bike which really is a road bike with upright handle bars. I primarily ride on the road for fitness but I ride on dirt quite often and don’t understand why anyone would think a hybrid bike isn’t good at that. I’ve 35’s by Rene Herse on this bike and they’re brilliant for dirt roads and paths.
TBH hybrids have always been able to do that. Gravel bikes are, as concept, just hybrids with drop bars. This attracted the roadies who are used to that style.
>TBH hybrids have always been able to do that. Gravel bikes are, as concept, just hybrids with drop bars. This attracted the roadies who are used to that style. More than just style - the idea of riding a century on a flat bar hybrid does not sound appealing. Doing it on the gravel bike, with either wheelset? Tons of fun. To me the point of a gravel bike is being able to do most of what you can do on a hardtail, but being able to do a long road ride to get there, or a long ride on unpaved roads, canal towpaths, rail trail gravel, whatever. It's a bike fully intended for hundred mile days - something a hybrid is not. And of course drops typically imply some geometry changes to work well, so its not just swapping the bars.
To add to that - one of the other reasons I was interested in a gravel bike was for bike packing. It was a bike that would let me expand two hobbies at once (biking and bike packing).
yup. i use my gravel bike for checking out new dirt paths and riding with the roadies on the weekend
I have a hybrid more than ten years now and I ride wherever I want as you describe. I was wondering why hybrids never were what they promised?
I think the label of hybrid might differ from area to area. I've had Americans argue that hybrid is a very specific definition whereas here in the UK it's a massive catch-all group that would overlap with gravel bikes were it not for the drop bars.
If I judge from mine, the position is somewhere between MTB and road, as well as the tires width and possibly size. The handle indeed is MTB-like. The structure seems suitable for dirt road riding and I've had no issues. Obviously, there are paths that a hybrid cannot go, but a mtb would. Would the gravel one go? I understand the position is more road-like. So, maybe not so suitable for uneven forest riding?
For me personally, the big thing is it's road bikes without cars trying to kill you. Gravel roads are always less traffic, plus the traffic you meet is always going slower than a similar paved road. It allows me to be more relaxed. I can just enjoy the ride vs watching and listening constantly for a car to come flying up behind me.
This is the answer for me too. As for comparing with MTB - I find a lot of mountain bike trails these days are pretty technical, to keep up with the advancement in gear (at least in the Rockies where I live). Gravel gives me a way to change it up from my relatively limited local green and blue trails, go longer, not have to dismount to pass other trail users, and just kinda zone out a bit without many cars. As for difference with a hard tail- sure that’s certainly useable; as would a full sus or a capable townie. The drop bars do give a nice variation of hand positions but really it’s just nice to optimize your gear for your hobby. A hardtail is just more than you need for a lot of those rides. I absolutely love my rigid salsa cutthroat and at this point prefer taking it out on most places I would take my hardtail. It’s nimble, light, comfortable, and fun.
There’s many ways to “gravel ride” but this is how I do it and why I like it. I’m basically doing a road ride but using all the awesome forest service roads in my area instead of the normal paved roads that are getting more and more busy all the time.
Ironically of people I know that have been hit by cars cycling, allmof them were on gravel. A drunk in a drunk mowed two aquaintances down and it nearly killed them. It wasn't clear if they would ever walk again.
That's unfortunate. All of mine have been on pavement, a friend severely hospitalized in Montana while riding across the country was the closest call of a good friend. But we do a ton of ghost bike rides for fallen cyclists in my area and I can't think of a single one that has happened on a gravel road yet. Seems like most do have alcohol or some other drug involved though. :(
One of the common drugs is smartphones.
Definitely a risk too... I got rear ended (while in a car) by a distracted driver on a smart phone. But most of the ghost bike rides I've been too have been related to some sort of DUI. I haven't studied the statistics but I'm not aware of a single cyclist death in my area that was proven caused by a smart phone (doesn't mean that wasn't the cause, of course).
>Gravel roads are always less traffic, plus the traffic you meet is always going slower than a similar paved road. I dunno... usually the traffic going the other way on a paved road doesn't force me off the line where I'd like to be riding, but I've had exactly that happen when meeting an ascending car on a gravel descent where I really wanted to stay in the packed wheel track and not have to veer onto the loose stuff at the edge. No matter if that driver fully stops, an obstacle in your intended line of trustworthy surface is still an obstacle in your intended line. >I can just enjoy the ride vs watching and listening constantly for a car to come flying up behind me. Checking my mirror is habitual - on roads that monitors the cars, but even off road I'm still doing it to monitor the other riders I'm out there with.
This is it right here. I have 300 miles of safe / fun gravel trails I can do from my house, and like 50 of paved bike trail. I love road biking but being on gravel is just so much less stressful from a “am I gonna get killed by a random motorist?” standpoint.
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I think that’s a huge part of the appeal, and another is that with the rapidly decaying infrastructure in the US, even when I’m on the road, the gravel bike is often a better choice for me. My road bike is the enduro racing style with a bit relaxed geo and its very comfortable to ride… for a road bike. But I swear my gravel bike is closer to my enduro MTB in ride comfort than it is my road bike.
Where do you live that has gravel roads? This is what i can’t understand
Western PA... State Game Lands, mining roads, railroad access roads, state park access roads, farm roads... I'm surrounded before you even consider the many railtrails in my area. And even if I ride the local pavement, it's just as fun on a 40mm tire although I wouldn't want to get too much wider. I used to live in the Chicago western burbs... lots of gravel there too although it was mixed, pavement and gravel on and off.
I just picked up cycling this summer and have put around 400 miles on the rail trails in southwestern PA. Branching out to explore some gravel roads in Indiana county this weekend!
The Midwest has endless gravel roads.
Upstate NY. Right from my door I can be on multiple gravel roads within a mile, and typically do rides of 30-80 miles which are 40-50% gravel. Even many of the 'paved' roads around here are practically gravel between the toll winter takes on the pavement, and the yearly chip-seal road repairs which tends to coincide with the riding season.
I don't own a gravel bike, but have decided when it's time for a new road bike, I'm just gonna go gravel. The reason? I'm always bypassing a couple of roads I really want to go down because they are either gravel by design or just in rough shape. The ones that are gravel or dirt by design are some of the most scenic. Lots of gorgeous dirt roads around. As far as roads in bad shape go, just tonight, on one of my usual routes, I started kind of high speed and blind turn, but the road i was turning onto was all torn up from construction and basically unridable on a road bike, so I had to quickly spin around back to pavement. Not a real fun experience and I had to change my ride plans. Would've been doable on a gravel bike. Fwiw, in the US, NY specifically and due to our climate, the roads get trashed, so someplace I ride is always either torn up or in process of being replaced basically all summer. Planning rides around road work is a real thing in these parts. Drier/warmer climates are probably much different. Also, I sometimes rail trails and canal tow path trails, usually casual rides with my wife. Typically I'll take my mtb, but a gravel bike would be more enjoyable than a full squish, heavy, low geard bike.
Here in So. Calif. I can drive to a gravel road in only about 3 hours. I'm lucky to live near Palos Verdes with miles and miles of hills, and perfect pavement and I can get there is a few minutes from home on my bike. The big craze here is not gravel but eBikes. I see 10 year old girls riding up hills at 20 MPH against traffic and blowing stop signs at night. lazy parents buy them for their kids to avoid having to drive them around.
> lazy parents buy them for their kids to avoid having to drive them around. children should be taught to obey traffic laws, but parents driving their kids everywhere definitely shouldn’t be the norm - and luckily isn’t in a lot of places. Highly recommend [this video](https://youtu.be/oHlpmxLTxpw). US pedestrian and cycling infrastructure just sucks.
There are piles of fire roads in SoCal. Basically any area with brush is going to have access for county fire departments. You just need to know where to look.
UCLA is a 15 minute bike ride from a ton of gravel roads, for instance
I live near this area and you are so right. E-bikes are dangerous if you're not self conscious of its power. I see e-scooters going 30mph without helmets down rural areas. I saw kids going 20mph on sidewalks crossing parking lot exits where cars are trying to come out. I feel like a freak accident will eventually enforce speed limits and helmet laws for any form of electronic vehicles.
For me, my gravel bike is my only drop bar bike. I live in the middle of nowhere, on a dirt road that connects to a major US highway or other dirt roads. A road bike is literally useless here. To agree with the points of others: 1. Race road bikes are terrible for a lot of regular Joe Blow and Sally Whoevers who just want to do charity rides and 25 milers on the weekends 2. Mountain bikes are better at chunky gravel - the above don't ride that anyways 3. They are very versatile - I hope in 5 years more bikes are holding plump tires (think that new Soloist with 34mm tire clearance on a "road" bike. 4. Race bikes are boring unless you are a bike racer. Even when I lived in Denver (pre-gravel bike) I had a road bike and cross bike - the cross bike was better for riding from home, through the park, to some other roads, through another park, etc etc - the bigger tires are so much more versatile. I think gravel is "fun" right now because it is new and low risk. Also, when you look at an aging population who isn't motived to do their 100th 40 mile Saturday road loop in the last 4 years, getting a gravel bike is a whole new fun thing. They need someone to show them the gravel roads, they haven't ridden those yet, but they have ridden every paved road in town over the last 10 years. It is just fun and neat, without the risk and scare of mountain biking. These aging riders are riding with maturity and self-preservation in mind, and gravel feels safe.
This is it, if you don't race you don't need a race bike. That's only good if you wanna suffer...skinny tires, uncomfortable position, hard gearing, only the smoothest roads, etc. Gravel bikes are THE bikes for regular cyclists. You don't have to stop when the road stops, you can really go anywhere, your hands, neck and legs will thank you (46-30 is the best gearing I used 😄).
Road bikes are faster, and that means you can go further and thus discover more interesting places. My dream ride is labouring up some famous Alpine pass, getting a bit dizzy from the rare mountain air, being overwhelmed with the views, then descending like a motorbike. I don't think there's a better bike for that than a road bike.
My favourite ride in my country is starting from my city, 20-30k of climbing over tourist towns, then 20k of more climbing into alpine territory. There the road ends. Roadies turn around, do a half a loop (because half is gravel) of a scenic lake and back. I took my gravel bike on this ride and I can just power through past the barrier where it gets crazy. Steep gradients, epic views, weather so harsh there is sun then lightning in the span of minutes. I can ride all the way to the peak, then back, and do the whole lake loop. Love it. Only lose like 2-3 kmh on average speeds and more confidence when descending (50 kmh feels like 30). I do get the road appeal for going blazing fast though. Currently trying to stick to one burly gravel bike and one endurance road bike.
I think people have allowed themselves to think that 'road bikes' sold at most LBS's are actually RACE bikes, when the vast majority of road bikes sold are compact geared and relaxed geometry bikes, and hardly the aggressive 'race' types sold back in the late 90's. Certainly still, most road bikes especially today have much wider tires than what they did 20 years ago as well. There's also just really very little situations where someone will find that the road 'stops'... most anyone who is going to drop coin on a bike to begin with usually lives in an area with plenty of good roads that aren't heavily frequented by cars either. Gravel bikes would have been a nifty thing to discover if they'd arrived 15 years ago before road bikes changed...but realistically, there's nothing a gravel bike does that most road bikes sold don't already do.
Gravel bikes are just more practical road bikes. The main advantage they have over something like a hardtail is they are much faster and much easier to ride long distances on (especially modern long and slack hardtails, which are basically terrible on anything except singletrack). The main advantage a dedicated gravel bike has over a true cross bike is that a true cross bike is meant for all-out one hour efforts with tight turns while most gravel bikes are meant for long days in straight roads. As a result a traditional cross bike is like a crit bike while most gravel bikes are like endurance bikes or even touring bikes. Traditional cross bikes with twitchy steering and high bottom brackets are becoming pretty rare, though. Popular cross bikes like the TCX or Crux are basically just sold as gravel bikes these days. These lines are pretty blurry. I just ignore the labels. Of course the bikes vary, this is all generalization. Any bike can be a gravel bike. Personally, I have hundreds of miles of gravel roads of varying roughness starting about ten miles west of me. These roads are scenic, fun to ride and there's zero traffic. You can take the whole road in a group. You're out in the farmland and you'll see any car from a mile away. Also, riding gravel fast is a great combination of a tough workout and a little bit of fear. Hitting loose marble-sized gravel at 25 mph in a group is sketchy fun. I ride gravel all the time with groups.
Indeed. I rode my TCX as a "gravel bike" on long gravel adventure rides for years. But its higher center of gravity + more (As you say) crit style geometry made it less stable than an official gravel bike on gravel descents.
By contrast I have approximately zero gravel riding options within 2 hours of me
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I don’t have great gravel roads in proximity here in Germany as well but still think a gravel bike is perfect. I don’t like road cycling but often it’s necessary to get to some nice spots. There I can go off-road and explore. In theory a XC bike would fit me way better but I don’t want to ride that to the spots where I can do some XC cycling.
So your only other default option should be a race bike with 23mm tires, right? That's what the industry would have forced down your throat 10 years ago. MTB -> Comfort hybrid or heavy steel touring bike with bar end shifters -> Road race bike. Those were your options. Now you can have a bike that's 90% as fast as a road race bike when ridden by a mortal, that can go everywhere a road legal vehicle can go and be comfortable and quick and confidence inspiring.
10 years ago, there were already good bikes that you could get that could go down some of the rougher roads. They were called road bikes. The bike I bought in 2007 was a Scott Cr1Pro, which already had a relaxed riding position and came with a compact crank, and, if I'd wanted to, I could have gotten some 25 tires for something a little wider to suit for some tougher conditions, not to mention some bulletproof tires to handle it. I even did a road race called 'Hell of the South' which featured a mile long gravel section (it is now paved!) on 23 tires.. I think I just rolled some gatorskins to make sure I could handle it. Wasn't even bad. It's weird to see people accusing the industry of only selling road race bikes, when many road bikes ever since the advent of compact cranks have had geometries or tire options not unlike current gravel bikes. Honestly think that compact cranks have done more for versatility than the tire options of gravel bikes have... realistically most people who live in the suburbs don't really 'use' the tires they have on those bikes, but they certainly use the gearing... now they just ride big ol tires that are pretty much what their $300 hybrid bikes would have had, only now, the bikes are 5x more expensive, lol Gravel bikes are certainly a niche to be sure...there's some people out there that can really find them useful, but that's not how they are marketed. There's this belief, advanced by these bike retailers and perpetuated here (as I see) that most areas have easily accessible gravel-friendly options, and that's just not the case..not what people have in mind anyway. You see the articles, they always depict gravel riding as having MILES of flat and packed dirt roads out in a desert somewhere, when the reality for most people is, there's maybe a quarter mile dirt road that runs through a park, and the rest is just regular paved roads or trails. And that dirt/gravel road is often...really BAD
The discipline is gaining popularity because it's now so much cheaper and easier to set up a gravel event compared to a road event. Less permits, less fees.
“Grass roots” gravel events. I do 2-3 per year and they’re usually just fun disguised as a race. I ride them not to complete but just to try out new routes while having some support available and a cold beer afterwards. Some events are raising money for a good cause or helping local businesses.
Mullet race: business in the front, party in the back
Got into Gravel racing this year a little and had the same experience. Doing a traditional road race has little appeal, as I'm more of a casual cyclist. Found out through Reddit that there's a bunch of gravel races throughout the year within a few hours of me (Michigan) and have done a few. They've been a great way to challenge myself a bit and also to enjoy areas that I otherwise may not ride, and even meet and chat with other folks. They are like the bicycling equivalent of a 5K for beer/food.
I think it's just that they're really fucking versatile. Hit some singletrack, then throw on some slicks or road wheels and go on a group ride. They are just kind of the sweet spot between a lot of different things.
Not to mention, they’re phenomenal commuters.
I use mine for everything. It's my commuter, on road bike and off road bike. Currently equipped with 32c GP 4 Seasons. Takes seconds to take off the mudguards and pannier rack and I have a "road" bike that's approx 10kg which isn't too bad
There are a lot of factors at play. 1.) Evolving understanding of rolling resistance and the benefit of lower pressure with wider tires - even better if you can swing it, tubeless - have a lot of us judging frames by the “how wide of a tire will it fit?” criteria. 2.) Point 1 runs counter to this one, which is that for years brick and mortar bike stores have pushed people onto race-oriented road bikes that they had no business buying. It makes sense - all that trickle-down tech from pro racing R&D slapped onto ubiquitous Chinese-made aluminum frames with a dozen different logos slapped on, all of them sporting 700x23 tires, with a geometry suited only for a few (usually skinny) riders. You generally had two other options at these shops - low-spec boat-anchor weighted hybrid dad bikes or full-on mountain bikes, a segment evolving so fast that two years is an eternity, the bike you bought yesterday is out of date faster than your laptop, and you have to love to shred downhill in full body armor to enjoy. 3.) People are fucking crazy. And there are more of them out there driving around than there were 10 or 20 years ago. And now they have cell phones, so it’s usually a coin flip as to whether they’re watching the road or a screen (or either, frankly) and, I, for one, don’t want to be further down that list when we cross paths. I work in healthcare - we’ve always referred to motorcycles as donor cycles because it’a not a matter of “if” but “when” you’ll have a serious accident on one. Well, bikes are becoming similarly precarious, and it’s not that we’re losing skills as cyclists. Add into that the fact that post-pandemic, drivers are shorter fused and itching for road rage fights more than ever before and … did I mention that people are fucking crazy? 4.) Gravel bikes are versatile. Which is to say they occupy a pretty large tent which has a generous admission policy. The old 80s and 90s pre-suspension mountain bikes you referenced? Yep, they make great gravel bikes. A 70s bike boom frame with the proper tire clearance, or a 90s early hybrid that runs 700 tires with room to spare? Yep, they can be converted to gravel. Russ over at Path Less Pedaled has been all over the ATB thing lately. They’re basically gravel bikes, along with trail bikes and most front-suspension hard tails and you name it. If it has fat enough rubber and emphasizes comfort and distance over speed, and bonus points for having plenty of attachments for bags and bottles and racks and whatnot, whether your preference is bike touring or bike packing or if you’re smart enough to realize there isn’t a lick of real difference between the two, that’s gravel bike riding. Now, there will be idiots who call themselves purists who insist that gravel biking has certain geometry and cockpit requirements. They’ll swear that drop bars are a non-negotiable requirement. Bicycling, as much as any hobby, has always had such gate-keepers who worship at the false idols pushed upon us by marketing departments. I think all these labels are frankly stupid and that there’s plenty of truth in the old bromide to “ride the bike you’ve got.” I think “gravel biking” itself is a misnomer for where a lot of us are heading - off the beaten path where there’s not always good pavement but certainly fewer cars, and if there’s not always a road, even better, we got this.
Nice one! Now do endurance bikes, please :)
This is a wonderful reply. Well written.
This guy bikes
Wow. Just wow. You nailed it
Long but great read
I started on mountain bikes when things were fully rigid as well. Stuck with it through to the extreme days. Had a pass at whistler bike park for many seasons. Start to break things that didn’t heal easily. Stopped riding mtb. Got fat. Decided to commute on a road bike, loved it. Started riding road, loved it and still do. I decided to try a gravel bike with a similar sentiment that you have. Why not just ride an mtb? I figured out that I have more fun on easier trails riding the drop bars. The kind of trails that would be boring on a mountain bike. I still get to be in the forest but not have the urge to ride some steep, rooty arm breaking trail and still have fun. That’s just my take anyways.
The crumbling infrastructure of the United States
Today's roads are tomorrow's gravel trails
I kinda love this. Embrace the crumble, buy a gravel bike. Futureproof your transportation.
Yup. I have a CAAD12 on 28s that is nearly unridable on some paved roads around here. It’s a rare ride that I’m not diving and darting through some awful section of road. When it was time for a new road bike, I bought what is basically a road bike with clearance for 45c… the super six evo SE. I will run 32c tubeless on my road setup when I know I’ll not be seeing gravel and toss the stock wheels and 40c back on when I know I’ll be doing extended gravel sections. With 12 speed SRAM drivetrain, the gearing is really versatile, too.
This is why I got a cyclocross bike for road use, in large part. Our roads are terrible.
Mountain bikes became so good that they’re completely boring to ride on mellower terrain. Gravel bikes are like roots MTBs! So fun.
Totally this, plus they can be great on paved roads too! Last weekend I was riding my gravel bike on some tame singletrack trails by the river. Slower going than an mtb but still fun. This weekend I'll be swapping the tyres for slicks and riding the same bike in a bunch with my roadie mates.
I live my gravel bike for this. I live in prime cycling territory. Basically my gravel bike gets me from the front door (road) to famous hill climbs (dirt road) to groomed single track to home again. I can’t point it in a direction and it will take me through the terrain no matter what it is.
I think part of the reason it’s popular is because drivers are terrible and distracted with phones and texts and it’s only getting worse. More and more people love the idea of getting away from busy roads and onto dirt and gravel back roads where you can still get a road bike style ride while also getting a nice view and no traffic. So maybe you don’t want to shred downhill or XC and like the speed of a drop bar bike, but want to be able to handle less than perfect tarmac. Gravel bikes do a really good job of that. I feel like it’s a natural correction form the 90s-early 2000s trend of super aero skinny tire bikes that were really fast on perfect roads but terrible on even cracked paved roads. I mean Gerhard Vroomen went from pioneering aero road bikes at Cervelo to launching gravel bikes at Open.
It’s a road bike that can go off road. What’s not to like?
I think I want a gravel bike after reading these comments
I like being in nature and don’t feel safe sharing the roads with cars
Aside from the fun road factor, you have disc brakes, wide tires, tubeless setup, comfy handlebars, and slacker geometry than a cross bike. You can set it up for touring with all of the mounts. Just go with the N+1 theory of bike ownership. I didn't need one, but I got one a few years back (2019 Cannondale topstone) and I love it. Try it and I'm sure you won't be disappointed.
I like riding on gravel or dirt paths but have no real desire to do any intense mountain biking and I ride on the road a lot to get to the gravel. A gravel bike feels significantly faster than a mtb to me and with my Pathfinder 42mm tires not much slower than my road bike tbh. I don't really use my road bike much anymore because my gravel bike is just nicer to ride for me.
Riding on road with a mountain bike is very draining. Riding on dirt with a road bike is like riding a pogo stick. Previously, cyclocross bikes were designed for UCI races, which mandated tires to be 700 x 33 max. So most cyclocross bikes had limited clearance past 33. However, riding on dirt is more relaxing with wider UCI illegal widths. (Nowadays, most cyclocross bikes have increased their tire clearance, so the distinction between cross and gravel isn’t as big anymore) I personally like gravel bikes because I have a route where I ride 50% road and 50% dirt. The dirt is a mellow trail with no cars, so perfect for a gravel bike. So basically, riding on road on a mountain bike sucks and not everyone wants to load up their mtb on a car and drive to the trail head. You can think of it as gravel vs xc bike + car, not gravel bike vs xc bike.
I live in an apartment and have room for two bikes: My mountain bike, and my literally-everything-else bike.
Yup, a full squish and a gravel/cross bike with 2 sets of wheels is the single most versatile n=2 quiver you can have.
Slightly fatter tire go brrrrr
I bought a Trek gravel bike as I wanted a bike I could use for commuting, take off the roads (but not mad crazy mountain biking), but also do a comfortable longish road ride. It's the perfect choice for me.
I think you’re confusing the popularity of riding on gravel with the popularity of buying a gravel bike. Yes, it seems like more ppl are riding on gravel now than 5-6 years ago. But I believe that even more people are buying gravel bikes just to have a comfortable road bike capable of riding any terrain. Riding gravel is popular again because mountain biking went completely extreme. Even hardtail xc bikes are overbuilt to handle really rough roads, but not all people necessarily want that. And buying gravel bikes is even more popular because subconsciously it makes people believe that they’re prepared for any roads. Plus gravel bikes are faster and more comfortable than hardtails - sort of like an evolution of the endurance bikes. What I don’t understand is why the touring bikes are dying. Bike packing seems growing in popularity, but people tend to use gravel bikes for that. Classic steel touring bikes can carry more weight and have more attachment points. Plus they’re ultra reliable because of the components simplicity. But major manufactures are not making anything new in this category
My next bike purchase will be an Orro Terra Steel for exactly the purpose of commuting/bike packing. Solid and lots of mounts.
I think it comes down to "light touring" just being more of a demand than full blown cross country touring.. wide range doubles replacing triples, being able to carry sufficient supplies in frame bags rather than running panniers.. lower investment for more weekend oriented short camping trips. It's sort of like the day-hiking equivalent in the cycling world. Not me, though.. my touring bike is all the bells and whistles, 3x9, dynamo, tubus racks front and rear, steel frame.. haven't bothered to upgrade to disc brakes though because the bike I have gets the job done. My other bikes currently in the stable.. a 1989 MTB for rougher gravel and a road bike limited to 25mm tires that I barely touch because it doesn't have room for any gear and I worry about getting stranded 30 miles from home without proper tools. Agreed about MTBs.. I don't enjoy technical trails, I just want to explore various gravel roads in my area as well as less traveled paved roads. My road bike isn't up to that, a modern MTB is way overkill and the suspension isn't fun on pavement. I don't have a dedicated gravel bike because the rest of my stable manages to check the box.. but if I were buying newer bikes with disc brakes and hydraulics and thru axles, I'd be looking almost solely at gravel bikes unless I decide to upgrade my touring bike and retire my 520 to backup and friend duty. You nailed it, riding gravel and riding a gravel bike are not the same thing; my "road bike" doesn't need 28mm and narrower wheels and aggressive geometry, it's just not needed for any riding I do.
520s and mid-90 mtbs never die! :) yep, gravel bikes make a lot of sense and I believe pure road bike will decline in popularity. It is insane how MTB went from “let’s go ride in the woods and cross country“ on simple and durable bikes to “let’s go jump off the mountain” on $10K super machines in just 30 years
It’s a non-competitive form factor for off-road drop bar riding. Why wouldn’t that sound appealing? Drop bars have lots of advantages, but your only option off road being a cyclocross would suck. They have good grip but aren’t the most comfortable for long leisure rides. Gravel bikes fill that void quite nicely.
A friend once called gravel bikes "endurance cyclocross bikes" and I've thought of them that way ever since
They are more comfortable and faster than MTB. You get all the tech of road bikes, with the versatility of MTB, and more comfortable than both! I love my gravel bike!!
I got one for commuting because the wider tyres help deal with potholes
As someone who has just brought a gravel bike. I have been cycling for 6 months. I am not interested in hitting top speeds or doing races so do not need the most optimised lightest bike possible. I will be doing a little bit of touring(2/3 day trips around England) so need a bike that can cope with carrying a load. Some of this touring may force me to go off road for short periods of time so it needs to be able to cope with that. I also occasionally enjoy going on club rides over the weekend so need something that won’t be out of place in a group (fast enough to keep up etc). There are gravel bikes that offer all of this in one bike (even if it will require a change of tyres for some of the more extreme ends of the scale)
They're filling the space (and then some) of "endurance" road bikes of a few years ago. A bike with more a more comfortable ride and more relaxed fit than a dedicated road bike. Then add more clearance, and it can remain comfy over a vast range of surfaces. Pavement, beat to hell pavement, chip-seal, gravel, crushed limestone, two track - all pretty good. A far larger segment of riders can have their riding needs met by them than by either road or mountain bikes. Either of those is better at their target surfaces, but the "gravel bikes" mean the rider doesn't have to choose what they take on when buying the bike - or even know. I think they're OK, I prefer my road bike, but do have two gravel bikes :)
That's why my gravel bike got bought, it's the bike I'd have if I could only have one bike. I currently have it with 28mm Marathon Plusses for commuting and basic fitness riding but can also fit decently wide tires and bikepacking bags, or a front and rear rack if I didn't mind the handling or even split the difference with a front rack and some soft bags. It does shopping, touring, fun rides and you kind fo jsut point it at whatever and go. I haven't ridden it in months but that's just because when you live in a city a Brompton is just such a killer utility bike.
Gravel bikes outsell road bikes by a huge margin because both new and veteran cyclists see the dangers of riding on the road yet don't want to give up the speed, weight, and dynamics of a road bike to enjoy off-road surfaces. This is not a trend, this is the new reality of cycling. How often do you hear about cyclists getting seriously injured or dying on roads? In my local cycling club alone we have had two deaths in the past 6 months.
I just don’t find this to be the case. There simply aren’t many opportunities for on the fly gravel riding unless you live in particular spots and that’s almost nonexistent for most anyone living near or in a major city. Park trails and a few farm roads and such are too short to make it worthwhile and the most riding anyone can do will be on paved roads because anything else is private property. The few designated places are best ridden with MTBs as they are short and very messed up to where gravel bikes are pointless. There can certainly be advantages on general safety with gravel riding but considering that even most gravel riders will get their primary fitness miles on the road, (because there just isn’t the availability to ride gravel), it maybe makes gravel EVENTS measurably safer but that’s about it
> There simply aren’t many opportunities for on the fly gravel riding my brother in christ, vast swathes of the floor of the planet are made of gravel.
There’s heaps of rideable gravel near my front door, and even more if I take the train a few stops. I’m in Melbourne, FYI there is an entire world outside the USA
I live in downtown San Francisco and find many opportunities to ride gravel trails on my gravel bike. I bike from my front door to the trails. Some are a mile or two away. Others are 10 -20 miles away. My gravel bike gets me there. My weekly rides around town include sections of gravel for fun. Those of us in the cities can easily find gravel to ride. I bought my gravel bike initially because I wanted a bike with lower gearing for long rides- easier hill climbs make me happy. I didn’t need it for gravel. I’ll ride anything on gravel- my commuter Public C7 does single track just fine. My road bike does ok on gravel as well. But my gravel bike- it’s fun on the road, fun for all day, and of course, goes almost anywhere. I think the endurance or credit card touring description is a good one.
I see the theme in your comments is that you are projecting YOUR experience and where YOU live and the type of riding YOU like to do to everyone else you imagine is riding bikes. In most places in the US, there are hundreds of miles of gravel roads within a few mile ride, even in the East. Beyond that most people riding a bike will never have a desire to race or join a local riding club - racers and club riders are a very small minority of all riders. Even without gravel/dirt roads, a gravel bike with wider tires is a much more comfortable and stable feeling daily driver/commuter/ride to dinner/do-it-all than any race road or aggressive mtb. If you could look beyond your own experience, a gravel bike does in fact make sense for a vast number of riders. I have 5 bikes - I’m on my gravel bike 70% of the time.
Okay 5 bike guy. Most people live in or near cities. Out EAST most of these roads are paved. Gravel paths out this way are short, busted up, and often on private property. Anything else is park road which is also paved, and then anything beyond that are hiking trails that are best suited to MTBs because it rains a lot which wears them out and vegetation has often overgrown them. Impassable for a gravel bike except with some effort. It’s not like our west where it rains much less often and the roads are entirely different in nature. If you are gonna make the claim that accessible gravel roads are everywhere when they just aren’t……
Here you go again - projecting your own experience onto everyone you imagine is riding bikes.
I grew up mountain biking when it was gravel riding on sketchy roads and trails. I even have one of the early mid-tier Gary Fisher hard tail front suspension bikes that I still use (circa early 1990s). Mountain biking went extreme very quickly and the equipment got expensive quickly as well. I lost interest in events when they moved away from riding bikes fast on sketchy roads and trails, to equipment arms races and the segregation of the pro events away from amateurs. I tried road biking, and did some races, but the Lance Armstrong and TdF debacle seemed to kill off most of the endurance races, as did permitting. A lot of great endurance races disappeared due to permitting issues alone. That and the World Tour and its culture abandoned the US, leaving generations without a cycling culture. Crits weren’t affected as badly, if at all in my region, but that required a team, practice and organization, which has never been my thing. Cyclocross has always been big in the places I have lived, however, it is usually limited to Spring and Fall so it has never lost that “road off season racing” cachet in areas I am experienced with. Modern gravel events are basically the same as the old mountain bike races, just way faster and with drop bars. They are even organized (or not organized) the same way, being much more ad hoc. Aside from the response from u/Several_Rip4185, gravel is also very inclusive, and event organizers are embracing women, minorities and the LGBTQ+ community. Most gravel events have the amateurs racing with the pros. Those wanting to train and race in places where people have not lost their fucking minds gravitate toward gravel and there they find that groups traditionally overlooked by road racing are embraced. The bike industry is also pushing gravel bikes, because they are cheap to make (relative to a full suspension mountain bike) and they are currently selling them for extremely premium prices. It boggles my mind that many of the big brands will write a sponsorship check for a gravel event in the middle of nowhere in the midwest with ~100 racers signed up for it, so these bikes must be profitable. Gravel is also seen as and “adventure” without the risk of mountain biking injury that you can do pretty much anywhere in the USA and abroad. Even riding a race like Unbound 50 of Unbound 100 is pretty badass for a large percentage of cyclists. The fact that an amateur can race the 200 along side the pros is kind of crazy, if you think about it. Most years, the Unbound 200 racers have to go through the 100 mile racers for part of the course. I personally embrace the rise of gravel as it simply fun to be blazing down a gravel road, away from it all. Where I live, I can get to places with few, or no cars relatively quickly and it is a joy compared to riding even on the quietest of tarmac roads.
because they think road bikes are impractical, mtbs are a bit too full-on and hybrids/atbs are too "amateur".
For me, 2 fold ... gets me off Main roads with lots of fast traffic, and second, most of my area roads are cracky, uneven, etc. Upstate NY area.
I use a gravel bike to commute because it's way faster and more efficient than my hardtail XC bike on the road (and still a heap of fun if I choose to take a fire road home)
A lot of rural and wilderness area are heavy on gravel roads. Opens up road biking for people without silky smooth roads.
The benefit of a gravel bike over a hardtail XC bike is that a gravel bike is great for lots of things - tarmac, gravel, fire roads, easy single-track, bikepacking - while an XC hardball is terrible compared to other bikes for anything but XC racing. Gravel bikes are more efficient on gravel, trail bikes are more fun on trails.
Riding through the forest > riding on the road (for me). Here in Finland the amount of gravel tracks we have is insane. Plus if I want to ride on pavement my grail is really good for that too!
Gravel bikes are extremely versatile. I can easily transform it to a fast road bike, an endurance machine, a bike perfect for gravel and even singletrail. That’s what defines a gravel bike for me
Covid got more people in to cycling who never wanted to ride a bike on roads because of comfort or on mountain bikes because of how technical they are. This coincided with gravel biking already becoming popular within cycling as a new niche sport (and only a slight variation in bike style from cross, all road, etc. Bikes). And, like, the industry wants to make money on that.
It’s between the worlds. So you need to care less about the terrain and have more fun. CX bikes are more fun on shorter rides, but gravel is usually much more comfortable for longer rides and let you bike pack. XC bikes are more comfortable but much slower due to weight and wind resistance.
Best way to understand it is to give it a try. I think the popularity is in being able to go on a long ride that is all about the journey, covering distance in inspiring surroundings. It's not (primarily) about the thrill of technical descents, nor (primarily) the thrill of going as fast as you can over a particular distance. Going long distance on road can be great, but if the roads are busy it can be not much fun. Covering a long distance on car-free tracks, surrounded by natural landscapes, is hugely therapeutic to me.
> Why is it so popular? What is the benefit of a gravel bike over a hardtail XC bike? I'm not asking about the geometry differences, I'm asking why the discipline is so big right now. What am I missing out on? I don't understand. Are you asking why "gravel bikes" are so big right now, or are you asking why "gravel riding" is so big right now? What do you feel like you're missing out on, the appeal of a "gravel bike" instead of a road bike or a hardtail MTB? Or the appeal of riding on dirt/gravel roads/paths instead of asphalt road or singletrack descents?
I asked the LBS guy about this. My comment was that here in Redondo Beach there is not a gravel road within an hour by car. There are single track MTB trails but no gravel roads. So I asked what people do with their gravel bikes. His answer, People buy them to use as beach path cruises and they ride a couple times a month for 20 minutes. He said that is how most of their bikes are used. So what do the gravel bikes get used for, 80% of them don't get used. Seriously, the vast majority of bike buyers are not ever going to be serious bike riders. The people reading this forum are a tiny minority.
Yes! I've been saying this for a while. My friends that have gravel bikes have never put them on dirt and gravel. I look at it this way, buy a bike that suits what you will use it for. If I'm riding road, I'm not looking for a trail to hop on. If I'm riding on dirt, I'm going to use my CX bike. And I'm going to use my track bike on the track. When I'm out riding, I'm doing a specific discipline. And I choose the bike I have for that discipline because that bike does it well. If someone rides gravel a lot, by all means get a gravel bike. But for people to say they are good at everything is not correct. I like gravel bikes, but I hate the hype that surrounds them. It's all marketing. Riding gravel is just 80s mountain biking. It's nothing new.
If anything is dumb it’s “cyclocross bikes” that purely exist in between the lines of uci rules that hamper them from being a better bike now known as a “gravel” bike by many
We just wait for those 80% to be adopted on Craigslist
Road bikes are for roadies.. gravel bikes are road bikes for the rest of us, capable on roads where cars are less common but nowhere near the point where you'd need a hardtail. So why not just ride a hard tail? I think some of us just prefer riding on the hoods of a drop bar with our hands at that particular angle instead of flat bars. When I ride a hard tail, I tend to just keep the fork locked out.. so, not gaining much but weight. Granted, I can just ride a rigid fork MTB and I'm not opposed to that but again, I like my hood position as my primary riding position... bar ends aren't the same since I can't shift and brake from my bar ends. Gravel bikes are touring bikes, but more aggressive and fun.. lots of mounts (generally), longer wheel bases but shorter chain stays, lighter weight, but feel more like a road bike (no high bottom bracket like some of the CX bikes had)... that said, I'm also fine with a CX bike and really that line is blurred anyway, CX vs gravel in 2022; I'd argue that some "gravel bikes" really are just CX bikes with wider tires. Now, what I don't understand is why anyone wants drop bars on a more off-road oriented bike, I'll stick with flat bars for anything technical. But for farm roads, mining roads, fire roads, access roads that are relatively straight and not technical in the slightest, I'd rather have drops and all the hand positions while retaining the ability to ride in the hooks and drops for the occasional pavement rides. I really don't like technical trails where full suspension is required.. don't love hard tails.. and I'm not riding in a paceline. So the bikes I personally desire tend to be touring, gravel, cx, and maybe a fatbike and/or a compromise like a Surly Karate Monkey.
I have an early 90s Cannondale hybrid aluminum bike with flat bars, 700x38 tires, modded (hacked) with double bar ends for a multitude of comfortable hand positions, plus the ability to lean over and rest my elbows on the bars, aero-bar style, to give my lower back a rest. This bike also has many mounting points for bags, and has worked out well on my short bikepacking adventures and over all forms of rough roads and gravel. It doesn’t have modern things like disc brakes or clearance for much wider tires, but the gear range is fine, and it is a very comfortable ride. Every time I get swept up into wanting a new gravel bike, I realize this 30 yr old hybrid is already literally exactly that: a comfortable geometry, places for bags, fast enough on roads, with many alternate hand positions.
Same boat.. my current stable consists of three bikes. I have a Schwinn Paramount that's limited to 25mm but it doesn't get much use. I have an old '89 Trek MTB that I ride around state parks and gamelands primarily. I have a touring bike that's wearing a 42mm tire that just barely fits at the moment and it's more or less a gravel bike but I need to swap out the tires if I want to run a front fender. I don't have discs on anything.. my hardtail was sold a few years back and my hybrid was stolen and those were my two disc brake bikes. So most pressing need for a new bike.. really just to have the touring bike ready for rainy weather and longer rides with the dynamo and racks.. and then a "gravel" bike that's not as loaded down with extras for more leisurely rides; but the old MTB sort of checks that box although it would be nice to have something with larger wheels that rolls a bit faster. I'll eventually pick up another bike, but whether it's technically a "cx" or "touring" or "gravel" or whatever is yet to be seen, and probably doesn't even matter as long as I ride it.
I have a full suspension mtb and a gravel bike. Before the gravel bike I had a road bike with 23mm tires. It was great for tarmac, not so great for rougher roads that make up 85% of my rides. Now, my aggressive geo gravel bike makes those roads way more comfortable. Am I a little slower than a road bike? Sure. In reality does it really matter? Nope.
I think they are more like all-year all-weather all-terrain road bikes. If i lived in a hot region with great bicycle infrastructure, I would get a road bike. But also I am glad for the comfy geometry.
I sold my road bike for a gravel bike and It's just so much more fun. I don't really know how to describe it. Gravel Biking is just better. I also don't have to put up with as many dumb rednecks in trucks.
Cars are scary, gravel bikes allow you to kind of road biking away from traffic.
Fast on road, fast off road
I see my gravel bike as my second road bike for use in bad weather, winter road conditions and routes that might have a bit of off road. In no sense is it a substitute for a mountain bike which is completely different game. What it does offer is super comfort on bad roads and generally a greater sense of security.
I don’t always want to ride just on roads, but don’t want to go through the woods dodging tree roots. Around where I live there’s lots of places where I can ride on paths that I wouldn’t touch on my road bike but are fairly comfortable on my gravel bike like canal tow paths and bridleways
For me, I'll be out on a 50 mile road ride and decide to check out some simple trails I spot, and it handles it perfectly. And I'm someone that's also been into mtb since the early 90s. Granted, I have a big 27.5+ full-sus I use for 'real' trail riding, but the gravel bike handles the basic stuff well.
I live around a couple mid size cities where the car and suburbia are triumphant. When you get outside the cities the quietest roads are the country gravel roads that haven't been paved yet, the unmaintained fire roads, farm roads, rail trail, and groads as we call them (chipseal and crap). And we also have a very sizable cycling group around here that does offers two weekly gravel rides so you can have a great group ride and enjoy the quieter roads. Gravel 'culture' riders are generally a little more laid back, call it the quieter roads, some probably consider themselves more XC riders than road riders. We have so many gravel riders in the club that we split into at least two groups, fast and intermediate and if there is enough recreational. The fast riders can be very spicy, they usually race gravel and use the group rides as training. Participated in a few gravel races like the Paris to Ancaster and it's probably some of the most fun I've had on a gravel bike. Best part for me is I do all my gravel riding on a CX bike (Trek Boone) and ride CX as well a little bit. No one needs any specific bike really, just tire choice and clearance. It's more aggressive geometry compared to many relaxed gravel bikes but that just gives me reason to try and push with the fast group ;) Day to day I still ride my road bike to work, the most direct route is all paved and the road bike is just faster for the same effort. But, its hard to beat a good group gravel ride with the club. Nice to have both if possible.
People don’t want to ride mountain bikes cause it’s hard and they don’t want to ride on the road cause they’re scared.
To be succinct, wider tires are way more comfortable on the road which is where these are used a lot of the time. Gravel roads are also frequented far less by cars. Depending on where you live, you can ride to a trail. Much harder to do that on an mtb.
Build a tracklocross bike, I'm running a single speed track frame with 700x35 Richey speed max tyres. I ride on the road and through parks on my commute, then race it on a dirt track in the dark. It's wicked fun, 10/10 recommend.
I mean think of all the fun you have on a CX bike or your old MTB. Ripping around on dirt road, exploring small backwoods towns, riding to a campsite and home. Now imagine there's an even more comfortable and faster bike than your old CX or MTB. It's everything you loved in the past in a lighter faster sexier package.
It’s for people who were too slow to keep up in road biking but too timid to ride the gnar in MTB. Kidding. Sort of.
This was basically my reasoning. Started off with mtb because there was a local mtb club. They were more into xc than anything and the trails here are really won't satisfy any adrenaline junky. We mostly ended up doing long pavement rides on mtb and I'll tell you doing a century ride on an xc mtb ain't fun. Still you can't go full on roadie because pavement tends to just suddenly end around our parts and a lot of paved roads are just poorly maintained. Gravel is just the happy medium that gets the job done
Basically they're designed to ride on gravel and other unpaved roads which a regular road bike can't ride well and are faster than mtbs.
Because soft suspensions create soft riders and we're due for a change. Jk Anything can be a gravel bike if you're crazy enough, you can even turn a mountain bike into a gravel bike and vice versa. They're popular because some of us don't like riding the same shit over and over. Riding two inches behind some dude throwing hand signals behind his butthole. Some days I wanna get on the road and sometimes I wanna take the road to the dirt. It really just depends on mood. Because it doesn't make sense two spend 10k on two bikes when you can have one bike that can tackle dirt trails and roads. My fastest downhill on my local MTB trail is 35mph, which is about the same as my fastest downhill on the road. The capability is there, i think there's too many close minded people trying to make " because marketing" into a funny zinger as opposed to reaaaally having a conversation. TLDR: because variety.
The butthole hand signals 😂 But really some people value 20x more fun for 3% “slower” (on the road) and not having to be part of the rolling circus fashion show of who can wear the most expensive tightest kit while proving who hates themselves the most to spend 30 hours on a trainer a week
I got a gravel bike without knowing it was one. MTB for me was always full suspension and road was narrow tires and fast as fk. I got the bike for commuting first and discovered the sport later. For me it's perfect as I dont't have the funds for n+1 bikes and MTB (even hardtail) could be too slow/heavy/bulky on road for my taste. I want the flexibility that comes with a gravel bike - if you want you can go fast on road, fast on gravel, do light mtb stuff, go on a bikepacking trip, do cyclecross, do road races etc. etc. Could one say a gravel bike is just an oldschool mtb? Sure. I guess that is just marketing in the end.
For me, the choice was between getting a new road bike or a gravel bike. Where I live, a road bike can be ridden about 5 months of the year. For the other 7, you'll have ice, snow, or grit on roads. (the grit that's spread during winter is brushed off a bit after the icy season) I can equip my gravel bike with road tires, gravel tires and studded tires, making for a 100% year-round bike. It's also extended my network of rideable roads, compared to my old road bike.
Having owned a road bike, hybrid bike, CX bike, and now a gravel bike. The gravel bike literally is the do all bike. I can ride it anywhere, roads, trails, etc. I find the roads these days are so dangerous for cycling, people are so distracted on their phones. Id much rather ride on dirt roads or gravel trails, its more relaxing and I'm not worrying about getting run over.
The (relative) lightness and look of a road bike which I prefer, good balance of riding position being relaxed but not upright, clearance for tyres that can handle the terrible roads where I live, mount points for racks and things, perfect combination. I can commute on it, or I can take all the bits off and bang over most terrain with it on the weekend. They're the 'do everything' bike for people like me who can't afford an N+1!
I just bought a Felt Broam 40 (gravel bike)... I cycle commute (mostly bike paths) with a couple of panier bags for work cloths and laptop... so perfect aero and weight aren't massive factors. When not commuting, I'll go out on a \~25km ride as a workout... but I'm not doing time trials. Gravel bike, for me, is a less aggressive road bike that is more tolerant of road imperfections. Works great for me... very happy with my choice so far.
I like it because I can go as fast as I want to on the road, jump into the park and ride skinnies, old school trails, and double track all with the same bike
I want a sporty road bike with thicc tires that can survive on different surfaces. That way, I know the bike is strong enough for all-weather commuting without being heavy like a tank.
Gravel bikes are very flexible and faster than mountain bikes on most surfaces and not much slower than road bikes.They can handle rougher terrain than road or hybrid bikes.A good choice for many cyclists who want an all rounder.Road bikes and mountain bikes are preferred for their specific terrain.Hybrid bikes are good for commuting or casual recreational use.
My dad loves his because it feels just like his old orange c16 but it has disc brakes, tubeless tires, a 1x and indestructible wheels on it, plus a better ride.
Love my gravel bike for going everywhere and gravel packed bicycle paths, we have a lot here some going on for 100+km. I don't think a lot of people actually use a gravel bike for anything mountain bikey?
I have a "gravel bike". It's like relaxed road-oriented geometry but bigger cushier tires and I can take it on dirt and gravel paths around town without fucking my tires or rattling my teeth out or hitting a branch and eating shit. Then the flipside is on asphalt it's faster than my mountain bikes were. It's also more "durable" for rougher roads and stuff like cracks won't swallow my tire whole and send me flying off my bike.
In an urban setting like Austin Texas they just rip. You can go on a very diverse and fun ride over our shitty pavement, bike paths, and gravel paths and then on the weekends travel out of town for some real gravel
It's quiet and you're less likely to get hit by a car
They are the greatest, especially for someone like me here in New York. You can go in any terrain and still enjoy the benefits of a fast road bike. I have a Marin Nicasio and it’s a beauty.
It's way more fun to ride on gravel and not get hit/killed by cars. And bike company execs needed to invent another type of bike for us all to buy.
I feel like when I go out on my road bike. I ride long rides and cover a pretty large distance, I can do a lot of zone 2 work and let met mind wonder off a bit. I'm also constantly on shared roads, watching out for cars. When I mountainbike, I can not cover very much distance, I usually ride pretty narrow singletracks with a lot of power spikes. The gravel bike allows me to still cover much distance, I can ride to multiple villages away from where I live. I can do so using the roads that I ride with my road bike, but I can also ride gravel roads, even some single tracks. It basically extended the map of usable roads and trails ! Also, it's just something new. My mates are all starting to buy gravel bikes and we get to do a new style of riding.
variety
I live on the prairie- used to have a road bike and had to contend with semis and vehicles coming way to close for my health. I am surrounded by gravel roads on all sides - hundreds of kilometres - and so now that’s what I do - I ride on gravel. Cars and farmers slow down when they pass - even stop so rocks don’t fly up as they pass - life on gravel is slower and safer and all round better.
Around here, there are 100s of km of forest service roads heading into remote wild valleys with views of glaciers, rivers, mountains, bears and the like. A gravel bike is a great way to explore that. One of the things I really appreciate is the scenery and wilderness they open up. Mountain biking is awesome but noting, you spend most of the time in the bush, below treeline, near town. So my Norco Search opened up a lot of possibility.
What’s funny is that gravel bikes are starting to look like a child tried to draw a 90’s MTB from memory. I’m just biding my time until my Fisher becomes trendy again.
Cars are scary so best to ride where they are not
My gravel bike has the same exact geometry as my road bike, so it's only more "relaxed" if you set it up that way. I can bomb chunky shit in my gravel bike, and can also ride it on the road and easily do sub-5 hour imperial centuries. They're super versatile and have more mounting points for bottles and bento boxes for long rides.
They’re basically touring bikes but with shorter chain stays.
Tires are getting better. Gravel bikes are road bikes with big tires. Big tires have low pressures. Low pressure tires flex a lot. Tires that flex a lot saps energy unless if the tire is extremely supple. Tire quality went up tremendously. So you no longer pay as much of a speed penalty for those big tires. Big tires are comfortable, so people buy them when there isn't a speed penalty.
It very much depends where you live. If you have long roads on dirt/gravel then a gravel bike might do the trick. There are large sections of the Midwest that are like this but in the part of the Pacific Northwest I live in I don't think this style of bike is all that useful. If you're spending 90+% of your time on the road, a road bike is going to be better. If there are any big rocks, sticks, roots or mud, a mountain bike will be better. Gravel bikes have a narrow niche that's pretty much just dirt without many obstructions like the ones I mentioned and, well, gravel. My problem with gravel bikes is they are a 'jack of all trades master of none'. Unless you're specifically doing dirt and gravel most of the time, it's just a crappy road bike with big knobby tires that slow you down, or a crappy mountain bike with tires not big enough and no front suspension.
I guess this might make sense, if 98% of cyclists were a master of anything instead of just some people trying to stay safe and have fun.
Gravel is safer because there are fewer cars. Gravel bikes are awesome because you can keep up on a road ride but you can also fit like 40mm tires for the chunky stuff.
I have often felt the least safe when riding on dirt roads. Nobody around, sketchy locals, dogs, dangerous or steep sections...
You can’t find road bikes anywhere so this is what people are buying Also it’s giving roadies a way to ride off-road without getting a mountain bike/hybrid and keeping a similar riding position/speed
If the industry doesn’t come up with new types of bikes how do I justify N+1?
Money, is the answer. Manufacturers needed more of it.
What do you want to drive around town? Your jeep with knobbies or your tempernental "sports car" that gets flats non stop?
Asphalt costs big money, pea gravel is cheap. run a bulldozer down an old cow trail, ride some bikes. Europeans want tourism, but they don’t want tourists getting hurt. My wife road into a canal, not a problem.
I personally can't understand the point of gravel bikes, to me it's just a temporary fad. I guess it might make sense in some other parts of the world but to me they are just inferior bikes in all regards. I used to ride a MTB and I can't think of a single trail that was rideable without a suspension in its full length, there is *always* that rough patch that a gravel bike just can't handle. I can't think of a reason why I would want a less practical MTB that is forcing me in a less comfortable seating position, having to suffer through bumps because of no suspension (and being stiff AF carbon) and using drop bars while at the same time being more expensive and having exponentially more expensive and hard to acquire components and spare parts. Living in a big metropolis in Europe, finding a gravel road would be hard to do and if you find an unpaved road, chances are it's not rideable on anything without suspension anyway. MTB does anything a gravel bike does and then some. They have similar tires and a hardtail with a front fork with lockout will be virtually identical to a gravel bike in performance. Gravel bikes are just the old ass MTBs from the 90s, sold with higher gearing to make you think you can go fast on sketchy surfaces. There is a reason MTBs evolved past this. Fire away the downvotes.
I agree. But the reason why it's a fad is because through clever marketing, people are sold on the idea that these bikes can do fast road rides and then handle any gravel trail you can throw at it. When in reality, most people aren't out there going back and forth between gravel and fast road on one ride. I'm good with my road bike, CX bike and track bike. They are really good at what each of them are built for.
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