I've done everything on my gravel bike, commuting, long rides, trails, bike packing and even simple errands. It's perfect for nearly everything. Although, I've opted for the more aggressive setup on mine with 2.25 inch tires and a short travel fork in the front. It removes the fear of potholes in the road that would normally scare roadies. I've been a long-time GMBN subscriber, and I will say that whatever bike Blake will ride, he can somehow make it seem fun to ride. He has that energy.
Yes, they are a road bike that can go off road, not an off-road bike. They are great at what they are designed for and that's gravel and they do road pretty well too. Singletrack not that great.
I do a lot of gravel races and ended up getting in to mountain biking from it. Our local race series kept getting more extreme and adding more single track and tech to races. People on xc hard tails started destroying everyone. I built a hard tail with more gravel like geo and a big front chain ring and thought well of i have this I might as well try some xc races and I've been absolutely hooked on xcm since
Big chain ring is such a crazy hack for all kinds of riding. I have a 1x 44t oval on my gravel bike, and 10-52t GX Eagle in the rear, and I'd put it up against your gravel-y XC any day. I also have a trail HT.
Never ridden a gravel bike but I would say for road riders who just want a little more adventure, they're going to be a good option as they're basically a beefed up road bike.
I’m sticking with my two-bike setup: XC bike for the rougher stuff and endurance bike for road and light gravel. My Domane can fit 35mm tires. If I need more than that I go for the XC hardtail.
That was my setup until this week. Got a stupidly good deal on a trek checkpoint that I couldn’t pass up. Truth is it’s not enough different from the domane to be necessary but I’m still having a blast on it. I like the one by setup and the frame is a bit more stretched out so I don’t feel as over the front wheel on descents.
Don't knock gravel bikes! Underbiking is fun, especially on smooth singletrack. The climbs are a breeze on a gravel bike and the descents are sketchy AF!
I was underbiked today. I usually enjoy the challenge, but the forest service had just put down new “gravel” but instead of using gravel, they used rocks. All kinds of sharp edged things about 1.5” in diameter. Bike was slipping all over the place. Rocks being kicked up everywhere. It was awful. I drove my car on the newly rocked road, and it was sliding around and floating all over the place.
Mountain biked & raced all my life (I am 50) but I LOVE my gravel bike. Perfect for canal rides, low grade mtb trails and getting in miles. Even been on "road" rides with roadie mates . Its opened up options and forced me to use skills that I had forgotten when taking the GB off road when muddy and technical as you dont have suspension and super fat tires to help you. You certainly have to think more when off road on skinny tires.. There is a place in this world for both. Finally cyclocross.. Enter a CX race on a gb, you will hurt in places you did not know existed!!
Underbiking a breath of fresh air really hones the skills and bike handling. Loads of fun. Your not going to beat a MTB off road but if you like a challenge and want to improve your fitness gravel bikes are a must 👍
Longer mountain rides can include highways or roads to get back to the car. Having knobby tires is a detriment on those road sections. My gravel has the Fox 32ax Fork to save my hands and arms on the vertical descents.
I had a Specialized Rock Combo in 1990. The first gravel bike? No one understood it then either, but what an awesome bike it was. Loved it. Rode it everywhere.
Love that Blake and Rich are gravelling in mtb territory 🙂 I think the versatility is the key argument in this use case…you can throw in laps and loops on the trails when you’re doing other rides. Rich’s conclusion is the right one…it doesn’t replace your MTB, but there’s definitely room in the garage for one. Love my Crux…and my Epic Evo…and my Ostro VAM
An XC bike with rigid forks, file tread tires and around the same weight will do the same job. Some good conversion mtb to gravel videos out there if you want to build one up on a smaller budget.
Not necessarily. I just converted my rigid XC bike back into a regular hardtail. I hated the stock Fox 34 Rhythm it came with, which is why I converted it to rigid with a Trek 1120 fork in the first place, but with my old 160 Lyrik Ult, it sings. As a rigid, even with a 29x3.0 on the front and i40 wheels front and rear, it did nothing that my flat bar gravel bike can't do, and was slower and harder on my wrists, etc. since the gravel bike can comfortably run a shockstop suspension stem, but the XC bike cannot. Rigid XC is just big gravel, due to modern tech/bikes.
proper tires! most of a time everybody compares gravels to XCs on factory given tires which delicately saying are trash far worse than gravel ones in resistance terms. I replaced sh,ty maxxis recon race with michelin jet xc2 and boy what a difference, night and day
I have an e-gravel bike and I'm firmly with Rich on this, it seems that people want to show horn this style of bike onto mountain bike trails. I live on the south coast and this is where the gravel bike is at its best, mixtures of cliff top paths, sea front tracks and a bit of road to link them all up. The gravel bike has its place.
still a very hard NO from me. i prefer my hardtail for trails like this. it does make everything more fun, everything a mtb can do better than a gravelbike. the parts where a gravelbike shines are the parts i dont care about. the riding position, urghs, the position of the handlebars, ewwww. riding a gravelbike feels like always being in a super unneccesary aerodynamic position and having the permanent risk of going over the bars cause of this. it feels very unpleasant. very uncomftable. very holding back. i have tryed it and i hated it. gravelbikes are just roadbikes.
Gravel bikes are hilarious fun but also effective on longer rides. They suffer when it's rough though and unless they're built strong, don't be jumping them!
Gravel bikes are ideal for mixing multiple terrains over long rides. I ride it out to local trails and enjoy the whole adventure. Cant do that in a road bike and it would be miserable on most mtbs.
@@ghostAFsky honest question, why not put a dropbar on a Hardtail? It's not much heavier than a gravel, has pretty much the same road capabilities and for me the biggest plus is having a front suspension. It makes riding even on rough roads so much more comfortable than a rigid fork.
@@Hipp0campus_1You certainly could. Plenty of gravel bikes with a fork now too. But personally I like the simplicity and longevity of rigid and I do find the difference on pavement to be significant. I will keep suspension to my dedicated mtbs.
I have a flat bar gravel bike that answers all of your concerns. Try it! They're fast as hell, fun on the pavement and off, and super comfortable. OTB concerns are a skill issue, outside the most extreme conditions (mine has a 71.5 head angle). I just took it down a crazy rock garden at Mt Diablo, and sure I had to go kind of slowly, but never came close to going out the front, even with a 120 stem. If you really can't handle it, slap an angleset in there (they're like $100), or get a Salsa Cutthroat or a Santa Cruz Stigmata, both of which have ~69 (nice) head angles.
6:20 Gravel bikes exist because someone had an idea in their childhood that they decided to try as an adult. We ALL wanted to ride in the woods on our ten speeds, but the technology wouldn’t let us. Which is why we made MTBs. Gravel bikes are just nostalgia. Change my mind.
Nice intro video to the gravel bike! I bought a salsa cutthroat gx with 52 tooth cassette and 29 x 2.2 inch tires and love it! Racing next to some who ride on 40 mm tires through single track and chunky gravel at 30 mph still has me scratching my head a little 🤔. But I do get dropped quickly on the tarmac.
Mine goes on road, gravel and single track. Lots of fun. I can't ride my full sus to work, I wouldn't want to, and I can't really ride it from my doorstep along the transpennine for a long distance leg stretch. Gravel has its place, youve just got to be able to ride it there.
I can bairly tolerate those bars on my Vintage Apollo road bike that I used to ride to work cause it was 20 bucks. I couldnt imagine riding it with bigger tires offroad, that would be just aweful, and constantly at risk of smashing your face on the stem/bar being so close to it, one big root or rock, and your done, you've knocked yourself out. As for what its intended for, gravel, fire roads, walking paths with pedestrians everywhere, just ride a decent XC bike, I have my first Hardtail still, a GT Aggressor from 3 years ago, with zero upgrades, it works fine for all that, i'm not trying to win a race so weight doesnt matter, and if it gets stolen while i'm going into a store, who cares, it was 300 bucks. Most of my in town riding is actually on my Street BMX, as I cant pass up an opportunity to grind some ledges or rails or session a flat bank for a bit. Ride what you like, but be careful with those drop bars off road, the fire roads we have where I am, have watermelon boulders mixed in, and all other sizes of rocks to contend with, a gravel bike is not having a good time on those and your face is at serious risk of smashing the stem.
You’ve missed the point of gravel bikes completely. There not ment for single track and popping off jumps, they are for going on gravel cycle paths on road rides. Stick to Mtb when you do proper off road.
Who cares what the point of a given bike is? One of the fastest ways to improve, and have the most fun, is to use bikes for what they're NOT meant for. I ride singletrack and dirt jumps on my gravel bike, and I do cardio road rides and hill climbs on my dirt jumper.
Im still not understanding the whole gravel craze. Its like riding 90s mtb but with better brakes, drop bars, and better technology. Just build a rigid xc bike. Makes no sense.
I did exactely this... I found a rigid (and light) fork & frame, a flat carbon handlebars and a 2x10 MTB transmission... Works like a Gravel at a much lower cost!
Gravel bike is aimed towards those that ride long distance through both tarmac and gravel. Xc bike is not comfortable for long distance and way too slow on tarmac
Gravel bikes are fun in the right conditions. I think they are also destroying the cycling industry because with the right tyre setup they do the job of a road bike, endurance bike, all road bike and a short travel MTB. Im a lifelong MTB XC guy but my gravel bike by far gets the most use of everything in my garage.
I just converted my rigid XC bike back into a regular hardtail. I hated the stock Fox 34 Rhythm it came with, which is why I converted it to rigid with a Trek 1120 fork in the first place, but with my old 160 Lyrik Ult, it sings. As a rigid, even with a 29x3.0 on the front and i40 wheels front and rear, it did nothing that my flat bar gravel bike can't do, and was slower and harder on my wrists, etc. since the gravel bike can comfortably run a shockstop suspension stem, but the XC bike cannot.
Rich is riding an all-road bike. With slick and narrow tires, I ride on hardpack. When it comes to trails (and fire roads where I live are almost like MTB tracks), I put on 2.0 - 2.2 conti race and cross kings (27.5) and raise the wide handlebars, almost like a rigid XC bike. That's what I call versatility, apart from the faff to replace bars and their positions for each context.
Take a gravel bike to a cx race and you'll slide the front out since they're designed to be stable at speed and are crap at tight turns. Take a cx bike to a gravel ride and you'll miss the fatter tyres and have a rough ride - if you don't puncture it'll be a riot!
As an owner of both gravel and XC bike i can say that i love both. They are somewhat similar, but not the same. I can't agree with Blake, to my mind gravel bike is not for the singletrack. It's simply too sketcy and uncomfortable. Gravel tires are nothing like XC tires, the grip is much less and they dig in sand. But the gravel bike is way faster and it's great for everything else, commuting, gravel, exploration, travel, road and simply riding along. Every time i do not have specific plan for the ride i grab my gravel bike. However if i'm heading for the woods, i would definitely pick XC bike.
Or just take out the front fork to make your xc a rigid,i love em.a tad old school but the weight saving alone make hell of a difference.still dont like seeing gravel bikes out there,i always think a roadie is lost lol
Gravelbikes are taking the place of our old-school non-suspension XC bikes. Current XC worldcup is a rat-race to more expensive bikes. The current XC WC tracks need full suspension and dropper posts. They add weight and cost. In the Netherlands with mostly forest single track. You dont even need front suspension. We now have slacker geometry. It makes way less nibble. I used to choose a size smaller 26" MTB to have it as nibble as possible. So yes, gravelbikes take the place of the old-school XC bike, because we dont have nibble MTBs anymore. Why no Gravelbike? Really dont like the hand/brake position of the dropbar. Give me a gravelbike with a flat bar and I'm open to it.
Something like a Hybrid bike converted to get the weight right down sticking with the flat bars might be the ticket. I am thinking along those lines myself .
i’ve got both, the gravel bike does gravel better (unsurprising). the XC is pretty much a swiss army knife and can do everything. for longer distances the gravel bike is just more comfy though.
Gravel should not be in any category of mountain bikes. Gravel is exactly a road bike that wants to go off road. If you wanna go off road then get an XC mtb
As always, the answer is N+1. XC bikes are normally designed around a typical 1-1.5h XC race but a lot of gravel bikes are designed for long hours in the saddle. In the 90s we had the XC tour category for this which evolved into All Mountain bikes. More capable for alpine tours, yes, but also heavier and a bit overkill for your tours in less challenging terrain.
A gravel bike is a road bike for British roads. Genuine off road is just better on a mountain bike. In the US you've got lots and lots of gravel roads, it makes sense. Here its a niche within a niche.
I have an hardtail MTB and a Gravel bike, I use the gravel bike for road riding (I didn't want to get an all out road bike as most aren't rated to my weight) and the MTB is for single track, I doubt i'll ever use the gravel bike for single track, I just don't think i'd trust it on the descents, but on the road, its superb, its fast and the climbs are so much easier on it.
I think gravel bikes are a nice compromise but seem more aimed at roadies who want to do a bit of off road but want that familiar feel and position, similarly we mountain bikes mostly prefer our upright position and often suspension so would gravitate to xc or hardtails if we want to increase the speed on a little bit of road but still want to do mainly off road. More options on bike, encouraging more riders is never a bad thing.
I like road bikes, gravel bikes, XC bikes and enduro bikes. They all have their home zone. I would rather not take a gravel bike on a S3 oder even not a S2 Trail - the natural living habit of a mountainbike. 😉
Why do people think gravel bikes are still a fad? Got my first gravel bike 7 years ago, wasn’t remotely interested in road or mtb. The gravel bike really ticked a lot of boxes. Skip forward to 2024, I’ve been in the bike trade for 5 years now, gravel bikes are still outselling xc bikes . I live and work near the New Forest and Purbecks and there aren’t many mtb trails, unless you drive for several hours. The gravel bike allows more folk access to off road trails without have to slog along on heavy bike with 2.5” tyres.
"Gravel is more versatile" can't ride everything an MTB can but an MTB can ride everything a gravel bike can. Gravel bikes have their place, on gravel roads. If you are going to ride single track all the time buy an MTB and really, there isn't much weight difference in a gravel bike to an XC hardtail. The only advantage the gravel bike has is a few more hand positions and a better aero position and if you are riding a lot of single track, aero means nothing.
A trail bike and a gravel bike can ride everything. There are other 2 bike combos that will cover all the bases, but for me and where I live this is the best combo
The level of gatekeeping and cope in these comments is absolutely nuts. Road, gravel, MTB, all of these are fun as hell, and where they intersect is even more fun.
Yeah! And this combination of versatility and relative simplicity of construction is what bought me. I mostly do adventure/touring riding and I usually don't need MTB capabilities. Gravel bikie brings to the table everything I need. I guess XC would work well for me too, but for longer rides I prefer drop bars. They put my arms and hands in a more neutral, comfy position.
My girlfriend and were faced with buying new bikes, so we rented gravel and hard tail xc bikes on different weekends. Our favorite rides are long paved climbs with techy but easy descents. We went for the MTB, just because of the comfort and versatility. We are speed / number or weight weenies, so the mtb was the way to go. But for someone else, i get the decision to go gravel.
As a new gravel rider, I realised you can’t ride your gravel bike like a MTB.. there is a sweet spot for tire pressure - else your teeth will be chattering on the descents.
Nah definately not buddy, xc bikes and gravel bikes are awesome. If your sons heading off road more then an xc bike will be the more versatile. Hope that helps, Rich
After making it abundantly clear on this channel that the full sus is the way to go...then come up with this ridiculous gravel thing...smh...Whats next a gravel Down Country Enduro Bike with drop bars? ...This really has to stop..
The truth is, modern bikes are so good now, they can cross over to other categories and sometimes their distinctions are blurred. One bike can do all(most) now. However, if you are a bike nut like me, you would still buy every bike for every category 😂
I rode a gravel bike in an XC race and it was slower on the climbs, the descents, and the brakes are terrible (I race downhill and this was still scary for me on the descents, although I was still faster than the XC bums lol)
A gravel bike is just a road bike with wider tires. No one will convince me otherwise and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve got a gravel bike and love it. I just swap out tires/wheels as needed. If I’m doing any trail riding it’s XC or trail bike for me. I will never use a gravel bike on single track for any significant amount of time.
Richard’s right. That’s not the terrain to show off a gravel bike. They’re better on gravel roads and hard packed single track. If you want to go over roots and rocks and drops, use your bloody mountain bike.
I recently bought a gravel bike. It's not made for fun dynamic riding like any MTB. It's made for efficiency. So much efficiency that you start feeling like a torpedo on the straights. That's what it's all about. That said, I can't bare riding corners or chuck with it because it's so boring compared to any MTB. I just think of it as a roadbike that doesn't explode as soon as it touches a bump
Have you ever tried gravel riding? Let us know what you think in the comments!
Of course, on XC bike ;D it's about having fun, bike does not matter that much.
And there is expression: "meters, not kilometers" ;)
I've done everything on my gravel bike, commuting, long rides, trails, bike packing and even simple errands. It's perfect for nearly everything. Although, I've opted for the more aggressive setup on mine with 2.25 inch tires and a short travel fork in the front. It removes the fear of potholes in the road that would normally scare roadies. I've been a long-time GMBN subscriber, and I will say that whatever bike Blake will ride, he can somehow make it seem fun to ride. He has that energy.
I'm a roadie, MTB, runner, gravel rider, and trail runner. I love the crossover of the gravel bike, it's a cool middle ground!
@@peterfranzjr.1190 same! All rounders rule!
It's good fun when underbiking a little. Annoying when that line is crossed
Pointless, he knows he'd have far more fun on an XC bike
Gravel vs XC video needed!
@@elmomos no it really isn't 😂
I have a gravel bike, and honestly, I prefer riding road with it. It’s more for the occasional cut thru off-road. Riding single track on one stinks.
Yes, they are a road bike that can go off road, not an off-road bike. They are great at what they are designed for and that's gravel and they do road pretty well too. Singletrack not that great.
PLEASE DO THE TOUR DIVIDE Gravel Race! That would be AWESOME!!! 😎💯💯💯💯
The Tour Divide is really an MTB race as the majority of the bikes are an MTB.
I do a lot of gravel races and ended up getting in to mountain biking from it. Our local race series kept getting more extreme and adding more single track and tech to races. People on xc hard tails started destroying everyone. I built a hard tail with more gravel like geo and a big front chain ring and thought well of i have this I might as well try some xc races and I've been absolutely hooked on xcm since
Big chain ring is such a crazy hack for all kinds of riding. I have a 1x 44t oval on my gravel bike, and 10-52t GX Eagle in the rear, and I'd put it up against your gravel-y XC any day. I also have a trail HT.
Haha. So basically, you just built a 90s MTB…
Never ridden a gravel bike but I would say for road riders who just want a little more adventure, they're going to be a good option as they're basically a beefed up road bike.
I ride gravel but my gravel bike is a full-sus XC bike with gravel tires.
I’m sticking with my two-bike setup: XC bike for the rougher stuff and endurance bike for road and light gravel. My Domane can fit 35mm tires. If I need more than that I go for the XC hardtail.
That was my setup until this week. Got a stupidly good deal on a trek checkpoint that I couldn’t pass up. Truth is it’s not enough different from the domane to be necessary but I’m still having a blast on it. I like the one by setup and the frame is a bit more stretched out so I don’t feel as over the front wheel on descents.
Next to my trail bike, My gravelbike with 45mm tires and 1x11I use it on xc trails, gravel and road. Very fun and versatile.
I just love all videos including Blake
Blake, we all know you would rather be riding your Scout.
I tried it once. Fast on smooth stuff, but not comfy. And rubbish downhill
Don't knock gravel bikes! Underbiking is fun, especially on smooth singletrack. The climbs are a breeze on a gravel bike and the descents are sketchy AF!
I was underbiked today. I usually enjoy the challenge, but the forest service had just put down new “gravel” but instead of using gravel, they used rocks. All kinds of sharp edged things about 1.5” in diameter. Bike was slipping all over the place. Rocks being kicked up everywhere. It was awful. I drove my car on the newly rocked road, and it was sliding around and floating all over the place.
Mountain biked & raced all my life (I am 50) but I LOVE my gravel bike. Perfect for canal rides, low grade mtb trails and getting in miles. Even been on "road" rides with roadie mates . Its opened up options and forced me to use skills that I had forgotten when taking the GB off road when muddy and technical as you dont have suspension and super fat tires to help you. You certainly have to think more when off road on skinny tires.. There is a place in this world for both. Finally cyclocross.. Enter a CX race on a gb, you will hurt in places you did not know existed!!
Underbiking a breath of fresh air really hones the skills and bike handling. Loads of fun. Your not going to beat a MTB off road but if you like a challenge and want to improve your fitness gravel bikes are a must 👍
Longer mountain rides can include highways or roads to get back to the car. Having knobby tires is a detriment on those road sections. My gravel has the Fox 32ax Fork to save my hands and arms on the vertical descents.
I had a Specialized Rock Combo in 1990. The first gravel bike? No one understood it then either, but what an awesome bike it was. Loved it. Rode it everywhere.
RIDE ALL THE BIKES!!!
Exactly, no such thing as hating a bike. Just ebikes, but I don't consider them bikes..:P
Gravel bike for road and gravel aka not technical stuff. Hardtail mtb for forest, single tracks, etc. FS XC for marathon races.
what does FS stands for?
@@xosece Full Suspension
Love that Blake and Rich are gravelling in mtb territory 🙂 I think the versatility is the key argument in this use case…you can throw in laps and loops on the trails when you’re doing other rides. Rich’s conclusion is the right one…it doesn’t replace your MTB, but there’s definitely room in the garage for one. Love my Crux…and my Epic Evo…and my Ostro VAM
I just use my trail bike as gravel bike
Some gravels are just xc bikes with curly bars. Change my mind.
An XC bike with rigid forks, file tread tires and around the same weight will do the same job. Some good conversion mtb to gravel videos out there if you want to build one up on a smaller budget.
Not necessarily. I just converted my rigid XC bike back into a regular hardtail. I hated the stock Fox 34 Rhythm it came with, which is why I converted it to rigid with a Trek 1120 fork in the first place, but with my old 160 Lyrik Ult, it sings. As a rigid, even with a 29x3.0 on the front and i40 wheels front and rear, it did nothing that my flat bar gravel bike can't do, and was slower and harder on my wrists, etc. since the gravel bike can comfortably run a shockstop suspension stem, but the XC bike cannot. Rigid XC is just big gravel, due to modern tech/bikes.
DO IT! The more the better! You are fun AND up for the job!! Go for it!
Yes, Tour Divide, do it!! And make a feature length film of it.
How about a manual challenge between a gravel bike and mountain bike, then finish off with a very steep, technical descent? That would be good video.
A 29er hard tail MTB with the proper tires can do anything a gravel bike does better and far more comfortable and safe.
proper tires! most of a time everybody compares gravels to XCs on factory given tires which delicately saying are trash far worse than gravel ones in resistance terms. I replaced sh,ty maxxis recon race with michelin jet xc2 and boy what a difference, night and day
@@msgeorgem I think will try them. Cheers
Ps my problem with Michelin is that they are drying out to fast where I am riding.
@@akissparaskevopoulos after 1k not much of wear, they are very comfy and efficient on low preassures.
I have an e-gravel bike and I'm firmly with Rich on this, it seems that people want to show horn this style of bike onto mountain bike trails.
I live on the south coast and this is where the gravel bike is at its best, mixtures of cliff top paths, sea front tracks and a bit of road to link them all up.
The gravel bike has its place.
still a very hard NO from me. i prefer my hardtail for trails like this. it does make everything more fun, everything a mtb can do better than a gravelbike. the parts where a gravelbike shines are the parts i dont care about. the riding position, urghs, the position of the handlebars, ewwww. riding a gravelbike feels like always being in a super unneccesary aerodynamic position and having the permanent risk of going over the bars cause of this. it feels very unpleasant. very uncomftable. very holding back. i have tryed it and i hated it. gravelbikes are just roadbikes.
Gravel bikes are hilarious fun but also effective on longer rides. They suffer when it's rough though and unless they're built strong, don't be jumping them!
Gravel bikes are ideal for mixing multiple terrains over long rides. I ride it out to local trails and enjoy the whole adventure. Cant do that in a road bike and it would be miserable on most mtbs.
@@ghostAFsky honest question, why not put a dropbar on a Hardtail? It's not much heavier than a gravel, has pretty much the same road capabilities and for me the biggest plus is having a front suspension. It makes riding even on rough roads so much more comfortable than a rigid fork.
@@Hipp0campus_1You certainly could. Plenty of gravel bikes with a fork now too. But personally I like the simplicity and longevity of rigid and I do find the difference on pavement to be significant. I will keep suspension to my dedicated mtbs.
I have a flat bar gravel bike that answers all of your concerns. Try it! They're fast as hell, fun on the pavement and off, and super comfortable. OTB concerns are a skill issue, outside the most extreme conditions (mine has a 71.5 head angle). I just took it down a crazy rock garden at Mt Diablo, and sure I had to go kind of slowly, but never came close to going out the front, even with a 120 stem. If you really can't handle it, slap an angleset in there (they're like $100), or get a Salsa Cutthroat or a Santa Cruz Stigmata, both of which have ~69 (nice) head angles.
Road or MTB....owned a Gravel bike before...happiness was when i sold it. 😅 Great video though..🚲
6:20 Gravel bikes exist because someone had an idea in their childhood that they decided to try as an adult. We ALL wanted to ride in the woods on our ten speeds, but the technology wouldn’t let us.
Which is why we made MTBs.
Gravel bikes are just nostalgia. Change my mind.
Reminds me years ago in gmbn nightmare episode where martin dreamt of gmbn presenters turning into roadies... They've come true😂
Tour divide would make an epic film
Nice intro video to the gravel bike! I bought a salsa cutthroat gx with 52 tooth cassette and 29 x 2.2 inch tires and love it! Racing next to some who ride on 40 mm tires through single track and chunky gravel at 30 mph still has me scratching my head a little 🤔. But I do get dropped quickly on the tarmac.
I just don't get gravel
It's fun, fast and different to "proper" mtb
Mine goes on road, gravel and single track. Lots of fun. I can't ride my full sus to work, I wouldn't want to, and I can't really ride it from my doorstep along the transpennine for a long distance leg stretch. Gravel has its place, youve just got to be able to ride it there.
Isn't this GCN content? When you do the MEGA AVALANCHE on a Gravel Bike I'll change my tune.
Love my gravel bike for mixed road / off road rides. 😃
Yes! Tour divide all the way :)
Hold my beer 😅😅😅
@@richardpayne5176 cant skip a challenge like that... ;)
I can bairly tolerate those bars on my Vintage Apollo road bike that I used to ride to work cause it was 20 bucks. I couldnt imagine riding it with bigger tires offroad, that would be just aweful, and constantly at risk of smashing your face on the stem/bar being so close to it, one big root or rock, and your done, you've knocked yourself out.
As for what its intended for, gravel, fire roads, walking paths with pedestrians everywhere, just ride a decent XC bike, I have my first Hardtail still, a GT Aggressor from 3 years ago, with zero upgrades, it works fine for all that, i'm not trying to win a race so weight doesnt matter, and if it gets stolen while i'm going into a store, who cares, it was 300 bucks.
Most of my in town riding is actually on my Street BMX, as I cant pass up an opportunity to grind some ledges or rails or session a flat bank for a bit.
Ride what you like, but be careful with those drop bars off road, the fire roads we have where I am, have watermelon boulders mixed in, and all other sizes of rocks to contend with, a gravel bike is not having a good time on those and your face is at serious risk of smashing the stem.
You’ve missed the point of gravel bikes completely. There not ment for single track and popping off jumps, they are for going on gravel cycle paths on road rides. Stick to Mtb when you do proper off road.
exactly gravel bike are stupid and serve no purpose.
Did you even watch the damn video, they literally stated this
Who cares what the point of a given bike is? One of the fastest ways to improve, and have the most fun, is to use bikes for what they're NOT meant for. I ride singletrack and dirt jumps on my gravel bike, and I do cardio road rides and hill climbs on my dirt jumper.
If you're going to add suspension and a dropper post to your gravel bike, just get a hardtail.
pls do a video on gravel wheels on XC bikes! Then make a comparison to see if the performance is better or not.
Nah, this is something I'd do with a spare frame and components, just for a laugh, but actually buying one? Never.
Why does a gravel bike have to have dropped bars? Wouldn't it be more versatile with flat bars?
Nope... because then it would be worse on the road, and would be an XC bike.
Im still not understanding the whole gravel craze. Its like riding 90s mtb but with better brakes, drop bars, and better technology. Just build a rigid xc bike. Makes no sense.
I did exactely this... I found a rigid (and light) fork & frame, a flat carbon handlebars and a 2x10 MTB transmission... Works like a Gravel at a much lower cost!
Gravel bike is aimed towards those that ride long distance through both tarmac and gravel. Xc bike is not comfortable for long distance and way too slow on tarmac
Gravel bikes are fun in the right conditions. I think they are also destroying the cycling industry because with the right tyre setup they do the job of a road bike, endurance bike, all road bike and a short travel MTB. Im a lifelong MTB XC guy but my gravel bike by far gets the most use of everything in my garage.
Same here mate @@samuel-JF1981
I just converted my rigid XC bike back into a regular hardtail. I hated the stock Fox 34 Rhythm it came with, which is why I converted it to rigid with a Trek 1120 fork in the first place, but with my old 160 Lyrik Ult, it sings. As a rigid, even with a 29x3.0 on the front and i40 wheels front and rear, it did nothing that my flat bar gravel bike can't do, and was slower and harder on my wrists, etc. since the gravel bike can comfortably run a shockstop suspension stem, but the XC bike cannot.
Rich is riding an all-road bike. With slick and narrow tires, I ride on hardpack. When it comes to trails (and fire roads where I live are almost like MTB tracks), I put on 2.0 - 2.2 conti race and cross kings (27.5) and raise the wide handlebars, almost like a rigid XC bike. That's what I call versatility, apart from the faff to replace bars and their positions for each context.
Gravel bikes another way the industry can pull our pants down ...Surely they are just cyclo-cross bikes
Different geometry; CX bikes are full on race bikes for an hours racing.......
Pretty much yeah, but for people who don't want to participate in miserable mud mazes ;p
Take a gravel bike to a cx race and you'll slide the front out since they're designed to be stable at speed and are crap at tight turns. Take a cx bike to a gravel ride and you'll miss the fatter tyres and have a rough ride - if you don't puncture it'll be a riot!
CX max tyre clearance is 33mm and the frame is tiny gravels are usually longer with almost MTB tyre clearance.
They are definitely not the same
As an owner of both gravel and XC bike i can say that i love both. They are somewhat similar, but not the same. I can't agree with Blake, to my mind gravel bike is not for the singletrack. It's simply too sketcy and uncomfortable. Gravel tires are nothing like XC tires, the grip is much less and they dig in sand. But the gravel bike is way faster and it's great for everything else, commuting, gravel, exploration, travel, road and simply riding along. Every time i do not have specific plan for the ride i grab my gravel bike. However if i'm heading for the woods, i would definitely pick XC bike.
Definitely way much more funner ! 🤷🏼♂️ I'm team gravel bike here 🤗😂
Just makes you look like 'off' roadies
Or just take out the front fork to make your xc a rigid,i love em.a tad old school but the weight saving alone make hell of a difference.still dont like seeing gravel bikes out there,i always think a roadie is lost lol
Gravelbikes are taking the place of our old-school non-suspension XC bikes. Current XC worldcup is a rat-race to more expensive bikes. The current XC WC tracks need full suspension and dropper posts. They add weight and cost. In the Netherlands with mostly forest single track. You dont even need front suspension. We now have slacker geometry. It makes way less nibble. I used to choose a size smaller 26" MTB to have it as nibble as possible. So yes, gravelbikes take the place of the old-school XC bike, because we dont have nibble MTBs anymore. Why no Gravelbike? Really dont like the hand/brake position of the dropbar. Give me a gravelbike with a flat bar and I'm open to it.
Something like a Hybrid bike converted to get the weight right down sticking with the flat bars might be the ticket. I am thinking along those lines myself .
There's a few brands that make flat bar gravel bikes.
@@streddazisn’t that basically just an old school rigid xc mtb with modern materials then?!?
@@MikeTheYokel pretty much. They do have road bike gearing an narrower tyre clearance but there isn’t much in it.
Gravel Bikes are just for pretentious roadies , all you need is a nice XC bike for that job
i’ve got both, the gravel bike does gravel better (unsurprising). the XC is pretty much a swiss army knife and can do everything. for longer distances the gravel bike is just more comfy though.
XC is harder work on road.
Do you know what pretentious means? Because this is incredibly pretentious. Just let people ride the bikes they want.
@@aries2256well I’ve just got a gravel bike ,and I’m a dyed in the wool mtb`r . It’s a hoot . Great bike
I like all the bikes. You're missing out on a lot of fun painting yourself into a MTB corner
Yes, the Tour Divide would be very cool. No to the gravel bikes. I'm with others that say Road or MTB. A hardtail is all I really need.
Gravel should not be in any category of mountain bikes. Gravel is exactly a road bike that wants to go off road. If you wanna go off road then get an XC mtb
As always, the answer is N+1. XC bikes are normally designed around a typical 1-1.5h XC race but a lot of gravel bikes are designed for long hours in the saddle. In the 90s we had the XC tour category for this which evolved into All Mountain bikes. More capable for alpine tours, yes, but also heavier and a bit overkill for your tours in less challenging terrain.
A gravel bike is a road bike for British roads. Genuine off road is just better on a mountain bike. In the US you've got lots and lots of gravel roads, it makes sense. Here its a niche within a niche.
27.5 of bike types?
I hear Brompton now has a gravel bike too🎉🎉🎉😂😂
I have an hardtail MTB and a Gravel bike, I use the gravel bike for road riding (I didn't want to get an all out road bike as most aren't rated to my weight) and the MTB is for single track, I doubt i'll ever use the gravel bike for single track, I just don't think i'd trust it on the descents, but on the road, its superb, its fast and the climbs are so much easier on it.
Forget Gravel bikes, the real question is: are the cakes good at the Shearwater cafe?
I still dont get it. I get it if you do long adventure rides but for casual rides in forest my hardtail is a better choice
Love my gravel bike! Just as much as my mtb, really
I think gravel bikes are a nice compromise but seem more aimed at roadies who want to do a bit of off road but want that familiar feel and position, similarly we mountain bikes mostly prefer our upright position and often suspension so would gravitate to xc or hardtails if we want to increase the speed on a little bit of road but still want to do mainly off road. More options on bike, encouraging more riders is never a bad thing.
I like road bikes, gravel bikes, XC bikes and enduro bikes. They all have their home zone. I would rather not take a gravel bike on a S3 oder even not a S2 Trail - the natural living habit of a mountainbike. 😉
Why do people think gravel bikes are still a fad? Got my first gravel bike 7 years ago, wasn’t remotely interested in road or mtb. The gravel bike really ticked a lot of boxes. Skip forward to 2024, I’ve been in the bike trade for 5 years now, gravel bikes are still outselling xc bikes . I live and work near the New Forest and Purbecks and there aren’t many mtb trails, unless you drive for several hours. The gravel bike allows more folk access to off road trails without have to slog along on heavy bike with 2.5” tyres.
I’ve been considering converting my old 2012 Niner Jet9Rdo into a full squish gravel 🤷♂️
It seems some of the pros and the high-end racers are moving to drop bar XC bikes as they just out gravel the gravel bikes, funny that.
Feels like: "hey dude, buy a gravel, look how cool it is". Perhaps sales aren't going well. =)
DO SOME TIMED COMPARISONS, please? XC vs Gravel, loops, uphill segments only, downhill segments only, tech climbs, tech dns, etc.
great shout, i'll see what i can do
At least there is no motor….
Mountain bikes are for everything. Gravel bikes are for roads, and road bikes are for eccentric weirdos.
People will sell you anything these days...
I have my gravelbike instead of a roadbike, as i dont want to deal with cars. I drive my MTB in single tracks.
"Gravel is more versatile" can't ride everything an MTB can but an MTB can ride everything a gravel bike can. Gravel bikes have their place, on gravel roads. If you are going to ride single track all the time buy an MTB and really, there isn't much weight difference in a gravel bike to an XC hardtail. The only advantage the gravel bike has is a few more hand positions and a better aero position and if you are riding a lot of single track, aero means nothing.
A trail bike and a gravel bike can ride everything. There are other 2 bike combos that will cover all the bases, but for me and where I live this is the best combo
For me it's XC and Enduro
The level of gatekeeping and cope in these comments is absolutely nuts. Road, gravel, MTB, all of these are fun as hell, and where they intersect is even more fun.
This is ridiculous, XC bike is 100 times better then gavel on that tracks
🤣 Oh Rich 🤭 I would love to see you doing the The Tour de Vide or the Tuscany Trail.
Yeah! And this combination of versatility and relative simplicity of construction is what bought me. I mostly do adventure/touring riding and I usually don't need MTB capabilities. Gravel bikie brings to the table everything I need. I guess XC would work well for me too, but for longer rides I prefer drop bars. They put my arms and hands in a more neutral, comfy position.
Xc bike with rigid forks. Job done 👍
My girlfriend and were faced with buying new bikes, so we rented gravel and hard tail xc bikes on different weekends. Our favorite rides are long paved climbs with techy but easy descents. We went for the MTB, just because of the comfort and versatility. We are speed / number or weight weenies, so the mtb was the way to go. But for someone else, i get the decision to go gravel.
As a new gravel rider, I realised you can’t ride your gravel bike like a MTB.. there is a sweet spot for tire pressure - else your teeth will be chattering on the descents.
And 45mm tires make a lot of differents
Tour Divide definitely XC bike though
The next big thing is Down hill gravel bikes !
@4:17 I get it, I understand the evolution... eventually we'll see full suspension, all mountain-cross country-trail-enduro gravel bikes.
Dull as Downton Abby.
Or you could just ride your mountain bike.
Curly bars are for on road only. Trail or XC bikes are next level compared to these reworked hybrids wearing curly bars, absolute crap.
I just bought a cross country mountain bike because my son wants to start some single Tract. After watching this I wonder if I made the wrong choice
Nah definately not buddy, xc bikes and gravel bikes are awesome. If your sons heading off road more then an xc bike will be the more versatile. Hope that helps, Rich
After making it abundantly clear on this channel that the full sus is the way to go...then come up with this ridiculous gravel thing...smh...Whats next a gravel Down Country Enduro Bike with drop bars? ...This really has to stop..
Sounds like my hardtail XC bike
Can accommodate a fork and dropper post to "make it more like a mountain bike"...just ride a mountain bike.
The truth is, modern bikes are so good now, they can cross over to other categories and sometimes their distinctions are blurred. One bike can do all(most) now. However, if you are a bike nut like me, you would still buy every bike for every category 😂
Any chance of some new ideas?
Don’t say this, they will be reviewing road bikes next 🤦🏻♂️
@@garybrown5769 i just feel the channels a bit stale atm, lots of rehashed ideas.
@@itsnottheturbo It's the same over on GCN. I'm here solely because any video with Blake is bound to be great fun.
I rode a gravel bike in an XC race and it was slower on the climbs, the descents, and the brakes are terrible (I race downhill and this was still scary for me on the descents, although I was still faster than the XC bums lol)
A gravel bike is just a road bike with wider tires. No one will convince me otherwise and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve got a gravel bike and love it. I just swap out tires/wheels as needed. If I’m doing any trail riding it’s XC or trail bike for me. I will never use a gravel bike on single track for any significant amount of time.
Richard’s right. That’s not the terrain to show off a gravel bike. They’re better on gravel roads and hard packed single track. If you want to go over roots and rocks and drops, use your bloody mountain bike.
It's just the industry creating another bike/discipline to sell bikes, it's a jack of all trades master of none, and it's a big no from me.
I recently bought a gravel bike. It's not made for fun dynamic riding like any MTB. It's made for efficiency. So much efficiency that you start feeling like a torpedo on the straights. That's what it's all about.
That said, I can't bare riding corners or chuck with it because it's so boring compared to any MTB.
I just think of it as a roadbike that doesn't explode as soon as it touches a bump