Here's Why You DON'T Need A Gravel Bike
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- Опубликовано: 5 авг 2022
- While I love to go on "gravel rides", I've never been the biggest fan of traditional gravel bikes. Sure, they've come a long way since the early days when they really were just a road or cyclocross bike with slightly wider tires, but I still find them pretty limited in their scope.
Gravel riding itself covers a wide variety of terrain and riding styles, but when most brands put out their gravel line it's typically a rigid, drop bar bike with fairly steep geometry and clearance for tires in the low to mid 40mm range. That might be the perfect bike for the gravel racing scene, but what about the majority of the people out there who AREN'T racing?
In this video I talk about my experience with traditional gravel bikes and explain why I'm pretty sure I'll never own one.
In This Video:
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Other Parts I Like:
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My E-Bike:
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#gravel #gravelbike #cycling 
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What I like about the rise of the gravel bike is making road bikes more versatile without having to go full on touring bike.
Touring bikes are awesome, though. You can do about anything on them. I think the world is upside down. Touring bikes are optimal bikes for people who want to make cycling a part of their lifestyle. You can get groceries on one, you can ride gravel, you can do fast and long distance rides. I think touring bikes have largely died off because they are anti-consumerism bikes. You get one, and it does everything, and it will last for life. I have one and only one bike, and it's a sweet lugged steel touring bike from the early 90's. It was made when I was 10 years old, and here I am, coming up on 40, and it shows no signs of giving up. It'll outlive me! I do agree with you more broadly though; versatility is where it is at for most bicyclists. Most of us aren't racing or doing technical stuff.
I went to my local bike shop and told them I wanted a bike for riding gravel roads. They sold me a GT Transeo Comp. I love it out on bumpy county roads. Great bike. Grats on the little one. It gets easier after about 9 months.
When I am able to add a bike to my stable...:I always add a mountain....then I turn my older mountain bikes into something new, like a single speed, a commuter bike and a gravel bike. So, essentially, as I add a new mountain bike, I am also adding a new something else too by doing a conversion or remodel of an older mountain bike
WELL SAID !!!
I ride a hardtail everywhere . Just out riding my bicycle having fun. I'm not a racer or a weight weenie and my hardtail does everything comfortably and with ease. My wide flat bars feel GREAT , secure , comfortable , confident
Thanks again for another great video.
Mark from Maryland
Congrats on the baby! I've noticed a trend in gravel events where they're adding more singletrack and/or more techy sections. I could never get comfortable on my gravel bike with drop bars on single track, so I sold it and bought a 2023 Trek FX 6. Did some modifications and find it to be perfect for me and my style of riding. It's good on pavement, gravel roads, light singletrack and bikepacking. I thought about replacing my gravel bike with an XC hardtail, that could also be used for XC endurance events, but the prices for a decent spec'd bike were ridiculous. Plus, with XC events getting much more technical, I'd be limiting myself with the old school XC hardtail. All that really matters is ride what you like, and what you have. A few years ago I did a tough MTB event at Lake Tahoe. Passed a guy on a 1980's Stumpjumper with a blown fork. He was having as much fun as I was and that's all that really matters.
Thanks! I’ve also found decent mountain bikes (aka modern geo) are harder to find at a decent price. Sounds like you found something that works great for you though!
I do a lot of gravel... love it! Here in Michigan, they're basically what they call 'dirt roads'. Anyhow ...I have a hybrid ..Specialized Sirrus X 3.0 ... I just recently had to replace my 700x42 standard tires, with the 38 version (same tire just smaller). I can go anywhere, and I love it. My buddy I ride with has a Trek MTB w/ front suspension - and he put 35mm gravel tires on that and rides it a TON .... talk about 2 different bikes to do a LOT! Great video! Thanks, I just subscribed!
I rode my 90s notation bike all through university and right up into 2010 and only got rid of it due to moving for a job. After a 7 year hiatus from cycling regularly I started a new job where a bicycle was more convenient than my motorcycle and I bought a hybrid Giant mostly because it was more towards the mountain bike side than the "road" bike side. It was fine but I started getting the urge to go offroad and decided on a dedicated mountain bike. During my research I found your channel and it convinced me to get the Surly Karate Monkey and set it up as an all terrain bike that I can commute and ride trails. Decided to let the Giant go
I grew up in the 70's and 80's on a gravel road. We rode whatever on it, paved, and even dirt trails along the river nearby. In my opinion, an old 26er mtn bike makes for a more than capable gravel bike. I am actually planning on taking my 1998 Barracuda XC URT frame and building it out as a sorta softtail gravel bike w some old 1995 7 speed Shimano Alivio turned into a 1 x 7.
We're building hardtails for our 1 and only bike because of how versatile it is. Thanks!
Great video. You are spot on in regards of speed gravel bikers and relax - enjoy the moment bikers. I think the beauty of biking is that you can customize your bike that best suits you. The best wine in the world is the one you like.
I like those handle bars. May put those on my next flat bar bike
I agree entirely. I've never gotten on with dropbars. My gravel bike is an old Yeti 575 with flat bars, the fork and shock pumped up close to max to stiffen things up, and cheap Kenda 1.75 slick(ish) tires on 26-inch rims.
It's heavy compared to dedicated gravel bikes, but it handles potholed roads and moderate trails nicely. And it keeps me fit.
The skinny tires will let me swap out the 26-inch wheels for a pair of 27.5s, which I fancy doing if I can score a second-hand set. But for now, it's all good.
Cheers
Riding 50 plus miles near the windy coast with over 300 miles of gravel roads, a gravel bike Is a must for me. My hardtail trail bike doesn't have the speed that's required to get outta the woods before dark in the winter unless I backtrack and that's a big " no no " for me. Great video though and put together very professional.
100 % agree - gravel bike for racing but all-terrain with possibly 40mm up front is ideal.
I'm happy to see someone else thinks like I do
Best way to go is one road one mtb if you can only have one get hard tail mtb if the weight bothers you just get a hybrid and put meatier tires then presto gravel bike
As a kid late 60s and 70s banana seat ape hanger handle bars dragster style rear slick tire were the norm and we road single track trails in the woods behind our school and we jumped those bikes. Ride what you got. But I do have road, mtb, and gravel bikes now because I'm old now and can afford them.
You and folks like you are the trailblazers of all that has become off road riding.
I still really like riding my old hardtail to "go anywhere." No, a hardtail will not be the fastest bike out there, but its versatility is hard to beat.
I just love drop bars, they let me go fast on the downhills, so I kinda have to stick with "gravel" bikes, or whatever you want to call them. The gravel bike to me is more of a versatile do-anything bike. I can do gravel trails perfectly fine, while also being fast on the road. They also tend to come with mounts for racks, which makes them super practical.
Downhill you are plenty fast on any bike. While flat bars offer slightly more upright position and better ventilation in summer that makes you sweat less and be more comfortable.
@@tongotongo3143 for me I prefer the drops because I can get different angles to relieve stress on the hands. For example in the tops your hands are parallel to the bars but in the hoods they are perpendicular.
All these positions are quite uncomfortable and were created only for competitive cycling. And on the tops you don’t even have access to the brakes, it’s dangerous. While with flat bars your hands are at the most optimal position, and during longer rides there are plenty of ways how to rest your hands on the way.
Congrats on the newborn!
Thank you!
I have a titanium single speed fatbike with 4 inch tires!!! Weighs 26 pounds and it’s my all season bike but it really feels great on gravel!!! I even do some gravel races with it!!! Ride what makes you happy!!
Congrats on the baby! We are having a baby in 4 days. I’m all for a bike you can change a few parts on to make it capable in more than one scenario.
Congratulations, hope all goes well!
I have 2 gravel bikes...one carbon (technically a CX bike) and one aluminum with big 700x50 smooth tread tires that I use for commuting and bikepacking.
My "true" gravel bike is a Carbon HT MTB which weighs just a hair under 20lb which means only about 2.5lb heavier than my carbon CX bike..but with 2.25s. I run bar-ends inboard for a more aero position. If my rides are perpetually gravel/dirt and I see 30 road or less, the HT MTB is faster all the way around. I can push through anything jitter, technical, potholes, ruts with ease and lose very little momentum. When the route turns onto singletrack or anything technical it handles that too. It's only when the ride has significantly more road than dirt/gravel is when an actual gravel bike is superior....Even then, the HT MTB may not be that far behind with the right tires. I personally feel the MT MTB is the most versatile bike you can own. Am I saying its the best bike to own...nope...hence why I have more than a few bikes.
Congrats on the baby! I agree with everything you said here - most folks are better suited to ATBs than dedicated gravel rigs. I will say that mtb and fatbike Q-factor is a huge reason to buy a road based gravel bike if you're sensitive to that.
Yeah I sometimes forget that since I don’t mind even a fat bike q-factor, but I know others really notice it!
In 2014, I went into my Wyoming LBS and asked for a bike to ride county roads and two track. It was peak CX bike era. The shop directed my to a light mountain bike hybrid, 700c, 5O mm fork. Disc brake. They weren't wrong. It also made a decent commuter. It really was not up to task on the two track. I went out and picked up a 94 Trek MTB, rigid, that did better. I went through two hard tails but their short chain stays and slammed heads just weren't compliant with my body for all day on dirt roads. Finally in 2020, I bought a new Surly Bridge Club 27.5 and have been delighted ever since. 2.5" tires, Jones 2.5 H bars and GX Eagle drive train. The BC is a lot like an updated and stretched rigid 90's MTB. Been perfect. Three of my four bikes are really hybrids.
I feel like the Bridge Club is a good example of an “ATB”…lots of clearance, flat or drop bars would work and you can really do whatever kind of riding you want with it (extremes excluded of course).
Love my BC. I needed some supple tires to balance the rigid nature of the bike. But I love her. Jones bars too.
For my self as a tourer a drop bar makes a lot of sense. I've tried several alt bars/touring bars and couldn't make the journeys comfortable. But it's true that i have nother full rigid mtb with a downhill flatbar that it's more capable and, for me at least, funnier.
I think you've just described a hybrid bike: flat bars, wider tyres, with or without front suspension, and the ability to mount mud guards and racks.
Haha well I don’t know that I mentioned the last two, but yeah basically. Traditionally though hybrid bikes have had more of a road bike geometry and very low end components, so there are some differences on that side of things.
I love gravel bikes and drop bars.. but I agree with you, where I see the "gravel bike" (that are marketed as such) is not as an actual gravel bike so much as where road bikes should have always been for the non-pro. My gravel bike IS my road bike, my century bike, my paceline bike, etc. It's my more aggressive alternative to my other "road bike" which is a touring bike. A "gravel bike" with more appropriate tires, is my ideal road bike. Before gravel bikes, I would have more or less said the same about CX bikes, but I'm happy for the move to disc brakes and 45mm + tires and the better gearing range and stability that "gravel bikes" offer. What do I ride on actual gravel (anything more extreme than crushed limestone)... a 1989 rigid fork MTB with 2.2" tires.
Yeah, well said. I have one and only one bike: an old Trek 520 (1993). It's more or less what I feel a road bike should be. It does gravel and everything else. Yeah, if you aren't touring, it could be a bit lighter. But the extra weight isn't a big deal if you aren't racing... and it makes a good grocery getter. Specialist bikes are for serious competitors. For everyone else, versatility, comfort, and efficiency can be balanced really nicely.
Seems to me like my 2011 jamis dragon with salsa cromoto fork will be perfect for this kind of gravel roads once I put jones bar on it.
companies has one objective, selling their products !! remember 2014 cannondale slate? didn’t sell well because .... no gravel in their marketing ads lol.
i used to have a fleet of racy roadbike and downhill bikes during my young heydays. 20 years on, all is reduced to just 2 bikes. One 17lbs rigid mtb for munching miles and another a 28lbs hardtail for more demanding trails. I didnt lose a drop of excitement despite just having mtbs. Im sure as hell dont need a dedicated 'gravel bike' just to ride gravel.
now If you want one bike to do it all, slap some thick slick tires on your bike or a 2nd wheel set and you will have a super fast mountain bike. but me personally like the drop bars ( i dont use the drops though lol )
I like videos where you just drive and talk about something.
I’m thinking people want a more comfortable bike, gravel’s not dead it was just missing the comfort part. You need to get out to the Bridger, some sweet gravel/double track -- also the morganza is coming up (Belgrade gravel ride) you should hit it up, it’s free
Yep totally agree…I actually think gravel is still increasing in popularity, it’s just the bikes that are starting to expand into more niche categories like mountain biking has done. I’ll look up the Morganza, sounds fun!
I have a flat bar gravel bike with a 100mm suspension fork.
Excellent video and good points, do you need 10 bikes for every different rides, people want something new and exciting and bike business is just like normal business where you need to sell and invent something new all the time. I have two bikes, one good old full suspension 26" MTB and one 26" cruiser bike, they are enough for my all rides in pavement, gravel and trails. Maybe even that one MTB would be enough for me, but I like my cruiser bike because it is more comfortable to ride.
I just put schwalbe one gravel tires on my canyon endurace bike and called it a day.
What bars are you using ?
Surly Moloko bars in this video but I switch between those and Corner bars pretty often.
I love my crux but I agree with you..
I want them handlebars. What are they?
surlybikes.com/parts/moloko_bar
I just use my my gravel as my road bike and I dont use my road bike anymore, 1-2 mph differnce, now my moutain bike, thats like a 4-5 mph difference, so I will stick with my gravel bike for anything other than MTB trails
I don't think there is much of a debate. on gravel sections, a MTB is better than a drop bar gravel bike. Where the gravel bike is a better choice is on the pavement sections, found on most "gravel" rides.
Another point here in San Antonio there are zero gravel roads yet gravel bike are popular I just can figure it out
They're basically drop bar hybrids, but the term hybrid is somewhat toxic due to the low end nature of most of them. There are a ton of hybrids out there though, and a few good ones too.
bad pavement equals gravel to the rider's needs
Congrats
I turned my old 27.5 mtb into gravel bike, changed the flat bar to drop bar, put a rigid fork. Guess what? It works.
What type of handle bar youre using?
Surly Moloko
@@RideYearRound thank you Sir
I agree with Johnny Doe. The 'new ATB' is literally nothing more than an 80-90s MTB with up graded (this is debatable) parts. I have a 1986 Rockhopper and a 1987 Bianchi Ocelot both with upgraded parts. Disc brakes are not better than V brakes or cantilever. (tests have proven that) Now the part that I will get a lot of flack on is that 30+ year old steel is better than carbon unless you are racing.
My ocelot is my go to bike for anything less than serious mtn biking. It never fails me. Did switch to mkrenupright bars..as..I have nothing g to prove
I'm with ya. I love the old steel stuff. And I like the older tech. I can replace my entire drive train for less than the cost of a new 13 speed campy gravel cassette.... two times over! I don't even bother with replacing chains... I just let the whole system wear out all together and replace it all in one go every few years. Never had any problems with my cantilever brakes (other than installing and adjusting the pads... yuck). I like 8 speed cassettes and 2 front chainrings. And steel is bombproof and relatively cheap. My one and only bicycle is nearly 30 years old, and is going strong. No need for the new stuff over here.
To me the better question would be: Do we even need anywhere close to the amount of Bike categories as we currently have to begin with?
I mean, I get that a dedicated Downhill Bike needs to be built different than, let´s say, a Hardtail because that DH Bike is laser focused to be good at one thing. But do we really need to differentiate between a Hardtail, All Terrain Bike and Gravel Bike with Suspension Fork? Why not just have just a Hardtail and then ask the customer 2 simple questions: Drop- or Flatbar and Skinny or Wider Tire. To me that sounds much easier to understand for an average Joe than having way too many categories.
I was shopping for a new Bike late last year after getting back into Mountainbiking with pretty much a Wallmart Bike I got for free, and my foolish mindset was that there would be only fully rigid, Hardtail and Full Suspension Options and that´s it. Despite trying my best, I still don´t know what the difference between Trail, Crosscountry and Downcountry Bikes really is and quite frankly I don´t really care anymore.
On one of my rides last year, while I was in my decision phase for my new bike, I ran across someone with a Fatbike. I had never seen or heard about bikes like that before (they are a rare thing here in Germany) and since the guy let me Test Ride his bike for a few hundred meters I was hooked. His was a fully rigid one, after a little research into those Bikes I decided that I wanted one with a Suspension Fork and bought myself one. I´m absolutely happy with my decision, and in a sense shopping for a Fatbike ended up being the experience I expected buying just a regular Mountainbike would be. The options where more limited, but that made it easier to understand what the difference actually is.
To a person who is way into biking differences between all of the categories seem huge and to someone on the outside a bike is a bike is a bike. I agree with you and think its really somewhere in the middle of those two viewpoints. I have a few videos on the topics that might help you out (if you decide you want to know haha) including one about how many bikes you really need.
@@RideYearRound I have seen those Videos, I found your channel because it was the first thing that popped up on YT when I looked up Fat Bikes and suspension. In a way, you where a major part in my purchase decision.
The thing is, for a bike enthusiast manufacturers could easily still keep the traditional categories as they are, I just feel that for average people it would help a lot if they had a system that asks simple questions about what terrain they want to ride and what features they want to have, and then recommend bikes on that. Sure, I probably wouldn´t have bought the bike I now have if I had such a decision helper, but I´m sure I would have gotten something I would be happy with anyway.
I think you're right, all the different names like they are different types of bike is confusing. It's really just more or less suspension travel. Even the bikes with a lot of travel these days are fine for pedaling around on too if you aren't worried about the speed. And a bike with less travel can actually be pretty fast even on smooth roads or trails.
I agree. I have an old 90's Trek 520 touring bike, and it can fit fat tires (I think up to 50mm, certainly into the 40's). No one hardly talks about touring bikes anymore, but I find it to be fantastic for pure versatility. I take it off road a lot (to the extent that I can, living in a city). I ride roads a lot. It does everything I ask of it. It's a good all-rounder bike for someone like me who isn't racing and who isn't doing any sort of technical off road stuff. It seems to me a lot of bikes could be like this. The total specialization approach seems a little misguided to me, at least for the average cyclist who isn't racing. Bikes that are more versatile allow regular every day people to go out and have fun. And, for people like me, such bikes allow one to do everything they need to do with a single bicycle, which means much less expense, and much less maintenance.
The new gravel bikes are cool and all. But I think the old tech was good enough for most people, and spending 2 grand on a new bike just isn't appetizing to me. My old touring bike rides beautifully, and will probably outlast me. I'm happy with it, and will leave well enough alone!
I don’t know if I understood you right, but a Gravel is basically a faster and lighter rigged MTB… most of the time with dropbars…
The real question is, if not all rigged mtb Gravelbikes are…
Yes some of them are getting closer to old school rigid mtb's all the time.
Dropbar owners get to rewrap their bars all the time.. or look raggy...