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I am looking at replacing my current winter road bike and was wondering if a gravel bike could be an option. Just change the tyres for riding on the road.
The reasons I am thinking is tyre width and being able to get 'guards on them. My current winter road bike has rim brakes and I want to go to disc. It's 12 years old and I have looked after it so I will be passing it onto my nephew to use.
But also, if it means I can do some gravel riding too if I wish. I don't have the space for another bike I wouldn't use that much if it was just for Gravel.
Have people done this? I.e used a gravel bike for a winter road bike? Any recommendations on bikes? £2k max I am looking. pref cheaper!
Before Covid and full time WFH, I got a gravel bike (Cube NuRoad) for all year commuting and occasional off road use. I've never been a roadie though.
The Sonder Camino has lots of build options under 2K, but just about every brand has a bike in that range.
Have people done this?
Unless you are actually racing, and with the potholed shite that passes for UK infrastructure these days, a gravel bike is all the road bike you need. A second set of wheels with slick tyre would be a nice addition. Sold my road bike a few years ago, doubt I'll ever get another one.
Boardman ADV 8.9 is my usual bang-for-buck recommendation, you might even get into the 9.x range with £2k, (carbon frame). GRX 400 groupset is 2x so you get more roadie like gearing. Personally I've got a Specialized Diverge which I like a lot, theres a few inside that price range, you might even get a upper range one with a discount.
Yes, but it didn't work out, there's a correlation between how decent mudguards are and how long they take to fit. So swapping wheels and taking guards off is a faff. The gravel/CX frame was also less comfortable as it's designed to be tougher, it's also tall for ground clearance so weirdly felt like I was perched above everyone else in the group 😂.
I ended up buying a Colibri Ti which is a proper, nice endurance / winter road bike that'll have guards on all year round. If they don't rattle, rub, or fall apart there isn't much reason to take them off.
So you can convert an old gravel/CX bike to winter road duties, but it's not optimal. I'm happy with my decision and will at some point sell the gravel bike and get a racy XC hardtail which will do gravel duties with some fast 50mm semi slicks.
Depends what you mean by gravel too. There's a split between the racy end of things which is on gravel 'roads' (fire road, sustrans path, that sort of surface) where people use modern 'road' bikes that'll take 35mm tyres . And the 'fun' end of things (byways, sections of the SDW, ridgeway, or anything more technical) where people use 50mm tyres. The colibri rides well enough that I don't worry about a few miles of byway to cut out horrible road sections, and (comfort aside) any road bike should cope with unsealed roads.
I put Hope wheels and 32mm Schwalbe ones on my PX Tempest and adapted it for the road. A TI frame is something every cyclist should try.
Depends what you mean by gravel too.
That's a fair point. I'd still take a, (faster to mid end of the scale) gravel bike over a race or endurance road bike though. And mudguards aren't too hard to take on/off after the initial infuriating fitting session.
Have people done this? I.e used a gravel bike for a winter road bike?
My gravel bike is my "do it all" thing. I have a road bike and a MTB (and a SS road bike that did many years as my commuter and de factor winter bike) but the gravel bike will cross all of those boundaries with no problems.
Only thing I'd say is not to bother with swapping tyres, especially if you're running tubeless. It gets to be a pain in the arse very quickly. Even swapping wheels is too much faff for me; I want to grab a bike and go, not mess around with mudguards for today but gravel wheels for tomorrow...
My gravel bike is fast enough on road not to make it a total chore. It's capable enough off road not to be mincing down every bit of trail. It will shrug off mud and grit because it's been designed for that. Yes, I accept that it'll always be compromised in places - it'll never be quite as fast on-road as a pure road bike, nor quite as capable off-road as a hardtail but as a winter road bike, that doesn't really matter.
If you can push your £2000 budget a tiny fraction, Canyon currently have the Grail CF 7 on sale at £2129 instead of £2499. Carbon frame, 2x GRX mechanical groupset, DT Swiss wheels.
Another vote for the Boardman bikes mentioned above too, the ADV routinely gets Best In Test results in cycle magazines.
Switching to a 'gravel' bike with discs was the best thing that I did. Prior to that, I was riding lower end CX bikes with cantilever brakes.
Check out frame geometries etc - IIRC the gravel frames have a slightly longer wheelbase, whereas the CX based frames are shorter and feel a bit more racy (that's what I have).
If you think you might do a bit of touring with panniers, a longer wheelbase is better IMO - my Rose ProCross has a twitchy front end when carrying light luggage, compared to my old frames. Great for fast road descents, but if I had to do it again I'd go for a longer wheelbase.
For about the cost of a GRX400 hydraulic brake gravel bike, you can get an electric version at Paul's Cycles.
Lots of club mates got 1x gravel bikes as winter road bikes when they first became popular - the wider tyres and mudguard options being a big plus.
Anecdotally, a lot of them found 1x gearing a bit problematic on club runs, the bigger jumps between gears apparently making it harder to find a comfortable cadence riding in a group. Fwiw, I've used a 2x gravel bike on the riad and not had an issue.
Whether that would bother you depends on the type of road riding you do.
Fwiw, more road bikes are offering more tyre clearance and mudguard mounts, so may be an alternative winter bike.
For about the cost of a GRX400 hydraulic brake gravel bike, you can get an electric version at Paul's Cycles.
Or you could even get an older car for the same money 😉
I kind of did this. I bought a Giant cross bike off Classifieds as I wanted fatter tyres and discs to cope with winter conditions. No tappings for guards or rack but used a gravel guard attached with o rings on the front and put my Ortleib quickrack c/w mudguard on the back. Not 100% perfect but not far off. £180 well spent.
I bought a gravel bike for all year use with 2 sets of wheels. One with 28mm road tyres and one with 40mm gravel tyres. 1x with 44 chainring and 10-44 cassette. No issues riding with a group.
I like it so much that I also got a cheap (£300) winter gravel bike for winter conditions.
I’ve got a gravel bike with 2 sets of wheels and love it in backroads and byways. why do people want mudguards? are they closet roadies 😉
My old gravel bike has become my winter Road bike, precisely because of guard and tyre clearance.
It's going to be getting a dynamo hub and lighting before winter too. Currently on 28c tyres but there's clearance under the guards for much more.
Having a bike with permanently fitted guards makes so much sense in the UK, right now it's not seeing much use but who knows what the weather will be like next week.
"Summer bike" is now also a gravel thing with 2 wheelsets, just no guards. I think I've decided not to do much Graveling during the winter...
I find I use my gravel bike on the road a fair bit outside of proper dry sunny days when I use my road bike. I figure I could run two sets of wheels - I used to on my old CX bike, one off and one on road - but as I'm mainly riding solo and mixing up backroads and bridleways, I don't bother on the gravel bike.
Running a Sonder Camino Al and it's ace. Quite long and slack with a short-ish stem, which means it feels super confident off road, but also fantastic on fast, rough road descents where there's none of the twitchiness you get from traditional road geometry. I don't do club runs, so mud-guard protection for others not a big issue for me, I use an Ass Savers Win Wing, which works improbably well to keep everything above the seat-stay/top tube junction, roughly, clean and protected and goes on and off in about 30 seconds.
I also still have my old cross bike with 32mm tubeless road tyres on, but it mostly lives on the turbo because the Camino is just nicer to ride.
I’ve done just that. Built it up a few weeks ago as my gravel/commuter/winter bike (I don’t ride much gravel beyond hardback). 35cc tyres at the moment (they come up pretty wide on the rims vs the wheels they were on before). Frame takes a set of full guards (I’ve got SKS Edge Al which I’ve set up and can now fit or remove in 5 minutes). Yeah the 1x is a bit limited for full on road riding but I don’t ride with a club.
Yes. Been using CX bikes , as most come with guard mounts, for years. My commuter, gravek and road is a Cotic X and my spare is a Kenisis cross bike My 2014 Ti Pickenflick cracked last year so I replaced it with a Felt Breed. Not as nippy but a great winter bike and it has scope for the 45mm slicks I have as well. The Pick needed home made mounts for guards but the Felt has them. Less that 10 minutes to take them off or put them on. 3 bolts on the front and 4 on the back all ready to go and no adjustment needed.
I don't like the big gaps in a 1x system unless its a CX bike for flat courses or the TT bike and would hate the lack of range on the road. Just bear in mind that some gravel bikes are somewhat "stable/sluggish". My Sonder Camino is such a thing and isn't as nice on the road as the Felt or the Pick even with identical wheels, tyres and groupset. If road is a significant factor pick a nippy one or something aimed at Yankee gravel racers.
I have a cube nuroad, takes 45c and guards no problem, makes a pretty good winter bike tbh as it has relatively slower steering compared to a regular road bike.
Would buy another.
Yes just add win wing mudguard and a spare set of wheels. As mentioned 1x can limit gears on road, but chosen carefully, it’s not that bad. I do medium paced club rides on 38 or 40 x 11-28 but it is rolling hills. Hilly might require a 2x set up. The win wing is effective but not a full mudguard. It works.
Slight thread hijack as I'm also looking at new road/gravel bikes and torn between endurance road or a 2x gravel that's more "roadie" styled like the Boardman ADV. Just thinking gravel will be more versatile and I can ride the local off road on it in the summer, but would probably just stick to road when the bridleways turn to slop. Do you give up much speed on the road with a gravel bike if fitted with road tyres and with 2x gearing? I'm far from a racer but quite like the "sporty" feeling of a road bike, like there's nothing holding you back except your own legs!
Handling is geometry. A long wheel base and slack (70-71.5) head angle will never feel like a race bike (that’s the ADV). A shorter wheelbase (closer to 1000mm) and steeper head angle (72-73) will. Specialized crux geometry will feel like a race bike. As will any decent cyclocross bike (like mine). Gears can be limiting but I’ve found 1x OK on rolling terrain. Just don’t ride with a dinner plane sprocket boat anchor on the rear! And use two sets of wheels with different cassettes to speed changes.
BTW mine runs beautiful sram red Etap which is lovely but a bit nice for winter. And I ride fixed with full mudguards as I’m so old (school) 🤣
I've done exactly this too. 650bx57mm knobblies for fun dry stuff, and then 650bx47mm slicks with full metal mudguards for winter/foul weather base miles on my Ritchey Outback. It's more fun on the knobblies, but perfectly good on the slicks and then makes the 'proper' road bike feel like a rocket ship when I get on it on the dry days.
Do you give up much speed on the road with a gravel bike if fitted with road tyres and with 2x gearing? I'm far from a racer but quite like the "sporty" feeling of a road bike, like there's nothing holding you back except your own legs!
Running 46/30 on both my Summer Gravel/Road and Winter Road bikes now, with various cassettes from 12-30 to 11-36 depending on the task/wheelset, 11-34 might work out as a happy medium for most people (IMO).
I don't think I'm giving up much top end (Vs running a 50t big ring) but then I'm not really a competitive sort, I can keep up with the other fat Dads on a Sunday cake crawl and a couple of them are confuzzled by the lower climbing ratios.
You can opt for 48/31 (on GRX and similar) for a sort of in-between Road compact and Gravelly/subcompact setup.
Handling is geometry. A long wheel base and slack (70-71.5) head angle will never feel like a race bike (that’s the ADV). A shorter wheelbase (closer to 1000mm) and steeper head angle (72-73) will.
I'm looking at a new gravel bike at the moment, probably either a Canyon Grizl (the rough 'n' tough thing) or the Grail (the "performance" thing) mostly those because they both come with 2x GRX Di2.
The latter definitely has the longer reach, sharper geometry that I want but it has the awkward integrated cockpit which makes fitting lights, bar bag etc a pain. The former has a normal handlebar set-up but slacker geometry. What I want is the normal handlebar but the sharper geometry!
And 2x GRX Di2.
I'm so picky.
I think it all depends on what sort of riding you are doing and what compromises you are happy with, but for most people a gravel bike will also work fine as a general road bike. The main compromises for me would be gearing and position. I've found that 1x works OK for most off road stuff, but I would miss the closer ratios of 2x for road. Similarly, the more upright position is great for gravel but would be an unnecessary trace off with efficiency and long term comfort for road. That's just my personal take on the situation. If I was forced to use just one bike for everything, the gravel bike would do the road job, just not as well as a bike designed for the road.
I haven't found mudguards an issue in either case. I fitted guards to the gravel bike over the winter, they haven't got in the way, so no plans to remove them. The bikes I do most of my road riding on also have mudguards permanently fitted.
Do you give up much speed on the road with a gravel bike if fitted with road tyres and with 2x gearing?
Not really, but it depends how much speed you had before. If you're running 2x GRX, your top gear is going to be either 46:11 or 48:11 (GRX600 vs 800); you're losing one-to-two gears off the top end. I have spun out 48:11 precisely _once_, and I don't feel slower than 50:11.
Modern 105 goes to 11-34 on the rear anyway, so that's the same, and I found it absolutely fine.
I am not a full-on roadie, but my 2x GRX bike with slicks is also the bike I ride with my road club and I'm far faster than I was on my crap alloy road bike. For me, I'm unlikely to hit a point where anything lighter/nippier is going to make a huge impact. The forks are maybe a bit slacker than a full-on race bike, but they're still, like, 71º. It feels fine.
Also: I'm in the club that believes most people should be running smaller chainrings anyway. I'm 91kg, I need all the gears I can get on climbs. The extra few gears at the low end make a huge difference for me.
And it's still a hoot off-road.
I built up a gravel frame with road components for commuting mostly. I wanted a slightly more relaxed position than the Cannondale Caad12 disc I’d had before, plus pannier and mudguard mounts.
Went for a Dolan GXC frame only and swapped most of the components over from the Caad 12, other than the cranks / bb / seat post. It’s great - still feels quick when you get your pedal on, handles well in the corners and it’s way more forgiving through pot holes etc.
Now running 50mm deep carbon wheels on it with 32c GP5000s and it’s brilliant.
Im sure they had a build version of the bike as a commuter with mudguards but can’t see it on their site at the moment - but they have a 2c grx build for £1799 by the looks of it. No idea how competitive that cost is vs spec but the frame is pretty light for a gravel frame. I think it’s more at the road end of gravel but will take a decently large 700c or 650b tyre and wheel.
https://www.dolan-bikes.com/dolan-gxc-carbon-disc-gravel-bike-shimano-grx-rx610-1x12-hdr/
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