I started on old 26” no suspension mountain bikes, doing trails and gravel roads. But as the bikes advanced I started to drive to bike trails. So, I love my gravel bike, out the door and in a few minutes I am on gravel roads.
I came from MTB/BMX…. I was interested in a road bike, but knew I would be stuck on tarmac. I also like the option of riding away from people, which means there will be limited tarmac. The bars are weird, and the constant peddling is something I’m getting used to while remembering to pace myself. But the bike feels light and efficient, and I am enjoying it. I can leave my house on the bike and ride some light trails away from traffic. Riding mtb on the road sucks too, and makes me want to load my bike in the car. I’m digging it so far. Going to ride it in the tour de Palm Springs in Feb, never done anything like that, but it’s what got me thinking about a road bike to begin with. Thanks for the videos, really well done.
I started out in the 90's riding mtb's, as i got older I wanted to ride from my home rather than drive to trails to ride. I live in wine country so I have access to a lot of smooth gravel and not so smooth paved roads. I started out riding these roads on an aluminum full susspension 3 X 9 29er trail bike. I knew it wasn't the right bike for the surfaces I was riding. So when parts for the my old Gary Fisher Rumblefish became more and more difficult to get and keeping it rolling got more costly I purchased a new bike in 2023. Since I started riding the local gravel roads, I had always had me eye on a Niner Air RDO hard tail mtb. I did't even know gravel bikes were a thing, I just knew I really liked the Niner so I bought it. I ride it on road, on gravel, and some trails, I am really enjoying the bike, just like I imagined I would. But now, I am riding in groups on gravel and road and have considered buying a gravel bike but I just don't see an significant advantage for me on a different bike. I swapped the 30 tooth chain ring for a 36 which works well in 98% of the roads/gravel I ride with the 10/52 cassette. I may swap out the suspension fork for a ridgid fork and flext stem to save weight, I may get a second set of wheels with lighter gravel or road tires for more versatility. I would say choose a bike that works for you, no matter what the current trend is and just go ride for fitness and fun. I don't think roadies or mtber's have a distinct advantage on "gravel". It doesn't matter if you rode on road, mtb or a unicycle, ride what surface and bike that you enjoy and stay healthy, fit and have fun!
Likely not a huge difference between the AIR9 and a typical gravel bike as far as what happens when you push on the pedals. But the wheel and tire choice is huge. The suspension fork is a big difference from gravel bike to MTB. The drop bars with alternate hand positions as well as better potential performance into the wind...it all adds up. gg
Today’s Gravel Bikes are essentially the same as Mt. Bikes we rode in the early “80’s - no suspension , 2” or less wide tires, and WTB drop bars - other than 26” wheels . As Mt. Bikes became more capable with front and rear suspension and wider tires , they got heavy and weren’t fun to ride on dirt roads or pavement but more fun to ride on technical trails. Gravel bikes bridge the gap when riding a mix of dirt roads or non-technical single track and pavement. Road bikes are the best option when riding on pavement - they are more efficient and allow you to ride faster and ride further distances ( and some now have wider tires clearances ). So now there is even more of a cross over - road bikes with wide tires for gravel , or gravel bikes with skinny road tires for pavement…..
The gravelbike is a dropbar hybrid (or should i write highbreed?). Its the classic commuter than can take me all the way over tarmac and gravel to visit my mother that lives behind the hills. The sketchy stuff that need mtb skills is a minor problem, I just go a bit slower. Advice to gravelbikebuyers: If your gravel is loose, get a bike that can take big tyres. 56 mm is going really well on loose gravel. 45 mm isnt bad, but not that good on the worst sections, but its faster on tarmac. I have 45 on my gravelbike and 56 on my mtb.
To your point about loose gravel, alot of our paved roads have loose gravel on top/ which is far worse that just loose gravel. If this is the case in your area please consider wide tires and low pressure. I have seen 2 riders go down on the loose gravel on pavement and it is the worst kind of road rash you can imagine.
I always hated road riding. Big gears, skinny tires, sketchy drivers, potholes that feel like they'll be the death of you. Gravel bikes solved all of that. I take bike paths out to quiet dirt roads and it's always a blast. It's a great compliment to my mountain bike addiction.
About those potholes. When I hit holes in the road with my gravelbike with 30 mm Lefty damper, I think that the damper and the larger tyres (compared to my roadbike) takes most of the horror away. It is a weightpenalty for safety and comfort, but if it saves me from a crash it also saves me from interruption in the trainingprogram and therefore gives me more power.
I am 72 ride around 8,000 miles per year and have been riding for 30 years. I started on streets. I have ridden 25 Ragbrai, 7 RtR, across the country both north to south and west to east as well as many week long trips on pavement. For the first 24 years I had a mtb and a road bike and did 90% of my riding on a road bike. I wanted to try bike backing the GDMBR so I put 32mm gravel tires on my Seven road bike and rode the Katy trail as a trial. It was fun but knew the road bike would not work on the GDMBR. So the following year I rode my heavy FS MTB on section 1 of the GDMBR. It was too heavy and not enough storage. So for year 2, I sold the bike and bought a used trek ProCaliber 9.7 which worked pretty well. I then bought a cutthroat that worked even better for the next two years. I estimate that I am now doing 20% pavement. I enjoy the off pavement riding more, no traffic and prettier. Think it is more attractive for a road rider to go to gravel than a mountain biker. More to gain.
I started riding road in the early 90's, however a few years later I had my first MTB. I would say the fitness from road would transfer over better than the skills from MTB. But then I've been riding off road on a road bike since the early 90's. When I first got into riding, I was reading anything I could find on the topic. Davis Phinney had a book in which he wrote about him and Andy Hampsten exploring all the non-paved road around Denver. That sounded like a fun idea so me and by buddy Matt started exploring all the dirt road in upstate South Carolina on our road bikes. We did quickly learn that if it was really muddy it just didn't work, 700*23s have their limit. Since then, I've moved to the Columbia Gorge in Oregon, which has a ton of great gravel roads, and got a full-on gravel bike.
Or your coming to gravel from a hybrid or a cx bike. No matter how you get to the dirt. You've arrived at a new challenge and learning curve Learning new techniques, new skills
I'm a 73 y.o. roadie from waaay back. Bought a Giant XTC hard tail during Covid to ride with a friend on very steep dirt roads and trails. I've since replaced the front suspension with an Enve solid fork. Mounted 45 mm Cinturato gravels and changed the cranks to 165mm like my road bikes. I'm OK with the straight bar. I've become a defacto gravel/strade bianche rider. At this stage of life, I don't want to do anything too risky. I've retired to Italy. Be safe. Ciao
Coming from 30 years of mtb, I think it’s better to come from 80s mtb, providing you rode lots of climbs. Obviously, mtb’ers are better bike handlers, but back in the 80-90s, a typical mtb ride would be a o longish 3-5 mile fire road climb, & a fire road descent. So if you’re a strong mtb climber, & with the mtb handling skills, that’s the ticket. Now mtb rides seem to be focused on the downhill aspect, almost exclusively, always singletrack, rocky, techy, drops, it’s crazy. And the majority of mtbers I see now are e-bikes or shuttling the climbs, saving themselves for the DH. Gravel riding on the other hand seems most like the old mtb rides of the 80-90s, although I love challenging myself on singletrack on my gravel bike, & the best is passing someone on a downhill that’s on a full suspension mtb.
Does it really matter? One thing I noticed as someone who raced on the road and MTB (when they became popular) is that a LOT of roadies lack basic bike-handling skills. Too much is made of watts/kg vs being able to RIDE the bike rather than just pedal it. But then again, what are we calling "gravel"? I used to ride fire roads in the Malibu hills on a drop-bar MTB back in the John Tomac daze but these days a lot of folks describe gravel as gnarly single--track better suited to genuine MTB's.
As a MTBer, what I call my GB (Sirrus x5.0} has flat bars and a 1x. It's a happy medium for me!
I started on old 26” no suspension mountain bikes, doing trails and gravel roads. But as the bikes advanced I started to drive to bike trails. So, I love my gravel bike, out the door and in a few minutes I am on gravel roads.
I came from MTB/BMX…. I was interested in a road bike, but knew I would be stuck on tarmac. I also like the option of riding away from people, which means there will be limited tarmac. The bars are weird, and the constant peddling is something I’m getting used to while remembering to pace myself. But the bike feels light and efficient, and I am enjoying it. I can leave my house on the bike and ride some light trails away from traffic. Riding mtb on the road sucks too, and makes me want to load my bike in the car.
I’m digging it so far. Going to ride it in the tour de Palm Springs in Feb, never done anything like that, but it’s what got me thinking about a road bike to begin with.
Thanks for the videos, really well done.
I started out in the 90's riding mtb's, as i got older I wanted to ride from my home rather than drive to trails to ride. I live in wine country so I have access to a lot of smooth gravel and not so smooth paved roads. I started out riding these roads on an aluminum full susspension 3 X 9 29er trail bike. I knew it wasn't the right bike for the surfaces I was riding. So when parts for the my old Gary Fisher Rumblefish became more and more difficult to get and keeping it rolling got more costly I purchased a new bike in 2023. Since I started riding the local gravel roads, I had always had me eye on a Niner Air RDO hard tail mtb. I did't even know gravel bikes were a thing, I just knew I really liked the Niner so I bought it. I ride it on road, on gravel, and some trails, I am really enjoying the bike, just like I imagined I would. But now, I am riding in groups on gravel and road and have considered buying a gravel bike but I just don't see an significant advantage for me on a different bike. I swapped the 30 tooth chain ring for a 36 which works well in 98% of the roads/gravel I ride with the 10/52 cassette. I may swap out the suspension fork for a ridgid fork and flext stem to save weight, I may get a second set of wheels with lighter gravel or road tires for more versatility. I would say choose a bike that works for you, no matter what the current trend is and just go ride for fitness and fun. I don't think roadies or mtber's have a distinct advantage on "gravel". It doesn't matter if you rode on road, mtb or a unicycle, ride what surface and bike that you enjoy and stay healthy, fit and have fun!
Likely not a huge difference between the AIR9 and a typical gravel bike as far as what happens when you push on the pedals. But the wheel and tire choice is huge. The suspension fork is a big difference from gravel bike to MTB. The drop bars with alternate hand positions as well as better potential performance into the wind...it all adds up.
gg
It’s best to just show up.
Today’s Gravel Bikes are essentially the same as Mt. Bikes we rode in the early “80’s - no suspension , 2” or less wide tires, and WTB drop bars - other than 26” wheels . As Mt. Bikes became more capable with front and rear suspension and wider tires , they got heavy and weren’t fun to ride on dirt roads or pavement but more fun to ride on technical trails. Gravel bikes bridge the gap when riding a mix of dirt roads or non-technical single track and pavement. Road bikes are the best option when riding on pavement - they are more efficient and allow you to ride faster and ride further distances ( and some now have wider tires clearances ). So now there is even more of a cross over - road bikes with wide tires for gravel , or gravel bikes with skinny road tires for pavement…..
And now they are learning that skinny tires are not that good on pavement either.
Just like motorcycles, I believe it's better to come from dirt!👍
The gravelbike is a dropbar hybrid (or should i write highbreed?). Its the classic commuter than can take me all the way over tarmac and gravel to visit my mother that lives behind the hills. The sketchy stuff that need mtb skills is a minor problem, I just go a bit slower. Advice to gravelbikebuyers: If your gravel is loose, get a bike that can take big tyres. 56 mm is going really well on loose gravel. 45 mm isnt bad, but not that good on the worst sections, but its faster on tarmac. I have 45 on my gravelbike and 56 on my mtb.
Good advice.
gg
To your point about loose gravel, alot of our paved roads have loose gravel on top/ which is far worse that just loose gravel. If this is the case in your area please consider wide tires and low pressure. I have seen 2 riders go down on the loose gravel on pavement and it is the worst kind of road rash you can imagine.
I always hated road riding. Big gears, skinny tires, sketchy drivers, potholes that feel like they'll be the death of you. Gravel bikes solved all of that. I take bike paths out to quiet dirt roads and it's always a blast. It's a great compliment to my mountain bike addiction.
About those potholes. When I hit holes in the road with my gravelbike with 30 mm Lefty damper, I think that the damper and the larger tyres (compared to my roadbike) takes most of the horror away. It is a weightpenalty for safety and comfort, but if it saves me from a crash it also saves me from interruption in the trainingprogram and therefore gives me more power.
I am 72 ride around 8,000 miles per year and have been riding for 30 years. I started on streets. I have ridden 25 Ragbrai, 7 RtR, across the country both north to south and west to east as well as many week long trips on pavement. For the first 24 years I had a mtb and a road bike and did 90% of my riding on a road bike. I wanted to try bike backing the GDMBR so I put 32mm gravel tires on my Seven road bike and rode the Katy trail as a trial. It was fun but knew the road bike would not work on the GDMBR. So the following year I rode my heavy FS MTB on section 1 of the GDMBR. It was too heavy and not enough storage. So for year 2, I sold the bike and bought a used trek ProCaliber 9.7 which worked pretty well. I then bought a cutthroat that worked even better for the next two years. I estimate that I am now doing 20% pavement. I enjoy the off pavement riding more, no traffic and prettier. Think it is more attractive for a road rider to go to gravel than a mountain biker. More to gain.
Nice palmares!
gg
I think riding off road motorcycles from a young age gave me skills and confidence that translated to mtb and gravel cycling.
I bet it did.
gg
I started riding road in the early 90's, however a few years later I had my first MTB. I would say the fitness from road would transfer over better than the skills from MTB. But then I've been riding off road on a road bike since the early 90's. When I first got into riding, I was reading anything I could find on the topic. Davis Phinney had a book in which he wrote about him and Andy Hampsten exploring all the non-paved road around Denver. That sounded like a fun idea so me and by buddy Matt started exploring all the dirt road in upstate South Carolina on our road bikes. We did quickly learn that if it was really muddy it just didn't work, 700*23s have their limit. Since then, I've moved to the Columbia Gorge in Oregon, which has a ton of great gravel roads, and got a full-on gravel bike.
It is surprising where you can take a road bike if you are somewhat careful. Great story!
gg
Hey bro just requested to follow you on Strava ...Im Jeff
Done. Thanks for the heads up. I rarely think to check
gg
Or your coming to gravel from a hybrid or a cx bike.
No matter how you get to the dirt. You've arrived at a new challenge and learning curve
Learning new techniques, new skills
Mountain biking, more helpful to have experience riding off road on varied terrain.
I'm a 73 y.o. roadie from waaay back. Bought a Giant XTC hard tail during Covid to ride with a friend on very steep dirt roads and trails. I've since replaced the front suspension with an Enve solid fork. Mounted 45 mm Cinturato gravels and changed the cranks to 165mm like my road bikes. I'm OK with the straight bar. I've become a defacto gravel/strade bianche rider. At this stage of life, I don't want to do anything too risky. I've retired to Italy. Be safe. Ciao
Awesome. We spent a week in the general area of Tuscany, riding, eating, etc. Fabulous place to be.
Ciao!
gg
Road riding!👍 ( tho I also used to be an mtber)
I would enjoy gravel if I had a soigneur to clean my bike and lube my chain.
Oh Jay...you are missing out there, brother!
gg
All of my roadie friends get noodle legs when they even think of stepping in any gravel or dirt hahaha
Sounds the same as my mtb friends when I try to get them out for a century road ride.
Sounds like the typical SUV driver! What? Dirt? Noooooooooooo
@@jayobannon5359 no, I mean they get scared…
@@realvaughnfelix yes, they are scared of cars and having to crank cadence for 5 hours
Is that the sulfur mtn loop?
Yessir!
gg
Road on the climb. MTB on the descent.
Great advice!
gg
Coming from 30 years of mtb, I think it’s better to come from 80s mtb, providing you rode lots of climbs. Obviously, mtb’ers are better bike handlers, but back in the 80-90s, a typical mtb ride would be a o longish 3-5 mile fire road climb, & a fire road descent. So if you’re a strong mtb climber, & with the mtb handling skills, that’s the ticket. Now mtb rides seem to be focused on the downhill aspect, almost exclusively, always singletrack, rocky, techy, drops, it’s crazy. And the majority of mtbers I see now are e-bikes or shuttling the climbs, saving themselves for the DH. Gravel riding on the other hand seems most like the old mtb rides of the 80-90s, although I love challenging myself on singletrack on my gravel bike, & the best is passing someone on a downhill that’s on a full suspension mtb.
Yep. That does feel pretty good! And I agree...gravel bikes are, like many have said, much like the early MTBs.
gg
Does it really matter? One thing I noticed as someone who raced on the road and MTB (when they became popular) is that a LOT of roadies lack basic bike-handling skills. Too much is made of watts/kg vs being able to RIDE the bike rather than just pedal it. But then again, what are we calling "gravel"? I used to ride fire roads in the Malibu hills on a drop-bar MTB back in the John Tomac daze but these days a lot of folks describe gravel as gnarly single--track better suited to genuine MTB's.
Does not 'matter', really.although it might make a difference! This was just for fun. Because fun is...well, fun!
gg
Everything is better coming from MTB.