[Closed] Realising gravel bike are bit shit !

It's the same as Nimby's moaning about cyclists riding through their villages, people exercising in the park etc. Some people just feel threatened by other people doing something different to them and having the temerity to be enjoying it. It's utterly bizarre.

Personally mine was never meant to replace my MTB and if it wasn’t for lockdown I’d be riding the MTB in remote(ish) bits of Scotland by now. But it has replaced my road bike

Sense at last. 🙂

Some people just feel threatened by other people doing something different to them and having the temerity to be enjoying it. It’s utterly bizarre.

Threatened? don't be daft.

The issue is when you get someone who lives in an area with bugger all in the way of technical trails, buys a gravel bike and announces that gravel bikes are soooo much better than MTBs.

No mate, you just bought the wrong bike/moved to the wrong area in the first place.

I do a lot of mixed terrain rides these days and - just to state the obvious - you need a bike that can do the road bits and the offroad bits.

Gravel bikes err on the side of the road bits as they are/have:
- mid-width drop bars
- steeper steering
- shorter wheelbase and stiffer frame
- 40mm-ish small-knob tyres

whereas a rigid 29er is better on the offroad bits, cos:
- wider 700mm+ bars
- slacker/longer geo
- more supple frame/bars
- wider small-knob tyres (2.1 - 2.25)

Both weight the same, if you build a decent 29er.

So it's all about where you want to make the compromise. Rigid 29ers are compromised on the road sections, whereas gravel bikes are compromised offroad.

For me, my rigid 29er* is the way to go, as I prefer the compromise to be on the road bits. I can still ride 60 miles on it. A mate has a gravel bike and he's significantly slower on the offroad sections we tackle.

* sub 9kg Scott Scale, Exotic rigid carbon fork, 1x11, WTB Nine Line/Schwalbe Thunderburt tyres, carbon bars/post/cranks/etc.

Threatened? don’t be daft.

The issue is when you get someone who lives in an area with bugger all in the way of technical trails, buys a gravel bike and announces that gravel bikes are soooo much better than MTBs.

Er. This is a thread entitled ’Gravel bikes are a bit shit’

Rigid 29ers are compromised on the road sections, whereas gravel bikes are compromised offroad.

Depends on what the offroad bit is.  Around here I can do practically anything from towpath equivalent forest trails to single track to to technical rocky.  For the 60 miler mile munching days, the gravel bike (actually a CX bike) is absolutely spot on for those forest trails. The 29er with far fatter tyres would be the compromise and be much draggier (imho).

All bikes are a compromise. Even 650b/27.5 which bring the trails alive, and only ever took the best bits of 26 and 29 and none of the compromises 😉

significantly slower on the offroad sections

This is the most important point - every ride is a race. Outright speed and how fast you can get to the cake stop is the single most important factor 😉

Er. This is a thread entitled ’Gravel bikes are a bit shit’

Aye, and it's trolled a lot of you the way it was intended to! lol!

They're shit. I bought one as I figured could be more interesting than road rides and I cant access decent mtb from home. But it was too much effort on road compared to the roadie and crap off road (bumpy bridleways). I don't see the point of drop bars off road either...

But if I had loads of gravel tracks near me, say I lived in the new forest then it'd be great.

depends where you live as to what your experience is!

They’re shit.

But if I had loads of gravel tracks near me, say I lived in the new forest then it’d be great.

Er...

I would have a rigid mtb any day as I would prefer the riding position and that includes only road rides.i am not a roadie I am a mtber
I have no desire to try drops esp for off road.

Personally I love mine, though I'm about to switch from an On-One Bish Bash Bosh to a Sonder Camino Ti for a bit more clearance and rack mounts for light touring rather than a full on tourer.

For a niche class of bike they're probably the most normal non-niche bikes there are. Especially if paired with a double chainset.

They are so shit I have 2 with a 3rd on order 🙂

I think they are popular as they provide contrast to a gnarly mtb which is the way it should be for a second bike

They're a different flavour - who cares what's 'better' or 'best'?

I couldn't give a stuff, I just like having different bikes to ride and I don't even stop to think or care about what, why or how.

If a different type of bike gets built and sold, I'll probably want one, as long as it's got fat tyres on and isn't covered in stupid springs and hinges.

They are so shit I have 2 with a 3rd on order

😆

They are so shit I have 2 with a 3rd on order

Aye, but that's cos you canny be trusted on proper trails!

stupid springs and hinges

Bizarre.

Malvern Rider
Member

They’re shit.
But if I had loads of gravel tracks near me, say I lived in the new forest then it’d be great.
Er…

My final point was:

depends where you live as to what your experience is!

i.e each to their own

This is when marketing wins and we lose.

We live in the UK. Not the US where they do have hundreds of miles of gravel roads.

Yes, all bikes have a bit of a compromise somewhere, so pick the one that has the smallest compromise, or go N+1. Or better still, get your butler to follow you in a van with a selecton of bikes suited to each bit of the ride 🙂

We live in the UK. Not the US where they do have hundreds of miles of gravel roads.

Thankfully, we have hundreds of miles of gravel roads in the UK too.

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This is when marketing wins and we lose.

We live in the UK. Not the US where they do have hundreds of miles of gravel roads.

there aren't many mountains in the UK either, and yet...

Where I live, the roads I can ride from my doorstep have slowly disintegrated in the last decade to the point where a racy narrow tyred road bike just doesn't feel like the tool for the job- the tarmac at best is rippled and scarred, at worst fallen apart and strewn with gravel and mud from the farmers so theres barely any tarmac left....and no-one in the foreseeable future is going to do anything about it. These are roads that are actually part of national cycle routes, but in my opinion the maps should more honestly re-classify the roads as unmaintained tracks, like those often found in regions of rural France. This is where a gravel bike would be the most sensible application, in that it takes the place of a road bike that is no longer suited to the crumbling infrastructure, and yet can use smooth or grassy tracks to link up some interesting route variations. I want one. It needs to be P.A.F. though....(Pimp as F) -'Coz I is a BikeTart.

The gravel bike is a good tool for owning less bikes, and people are using them as an excuse to own more.

if i could have only one, it'd be a gravel, but i'm unmarried so i can have as many as i like.

This is when marketing wins and we lose.

We live in the UK. Not the US where they do have hundreds of miles of gravel roads.

Loads of gravel roads where I live in the UK but apart from that, how exactly is marketing winning. Have you ever bought a completely unsuitable bike because marketing 'conned' you into it?

there aren’t many mountains in the UK England

FTFY!

I bought a Specialized Tricross about a decade ago, replaced by a Giant Toughroad a year or two back. I still refer to them as "cross bikes".

I have to admit I love my cross bike. Probably about 70% of the riding I do is on it now. And in the nightmare scenario of only being able to have one bike, the cross bike it would be. As many folk have said above, it comes down to where you ride, and what you're looking for. For me the simple fact is I love riding my cross bike and it gives me hours of fun. Not everyone's cup of tea but each to their own.

Oh and please do keep the "you're all just victims of marketing/hype/capitalism but I'm not" comments coming. They do make me laugh.

Not a gravel bike, an endurance bike with some crossover features but I took my new 2020 Roubaix up Ramsbottom Rake, which with 34/34 was as easy as it used to be in the old mountain biking days, then up the gravel track to the Peel Tower. Everything was going well until I pointed it down the hill, at which it became a difficult, choppy, slightly unnerving ride as the fork geometry was unsuited to a steep downhill and the tyres kept bouncing off stones. That's when I realised that a road-biased bike will never be the same as a mountain bike.

Gravel bikes for lycra. Only SPDs allowed
Rigid MTB for baggies, trousers or normal outdoorsy attire. You're allowed flats on these

Anything else is just wrong 🙂

I think that they're great (for where I live on the outskirts of Birmingham), precisely because they aren't a capable MTB. The limited offroad isn't full of jumps, drops and rock gardens and has to be stitched together with small roads. The faster offroad descents need skill and concentration to not stack on 'features' you wouldn't even notice on an MTB. The only thing I would change on my CDF would be the ablity to run a slightly bigger tyre (and maybe a couple of kg lighter!). A 40c is a squeeze and probably a size too far. Just brought some 38c's to try them out.

That’s when I realised that a road-biased bike will never be the same as a mountain bike.

Wait, you previously thought that it would? I think I’m beginning to understand why so many MTB riders are confused about other types of bike.

Is this thread still going? Surely it's long past time for the next one to start?

Is this thread still going? Surely it’s long past time for the next one to start?

No one has invented a new type of bike to argue over yet though.

No one has invented a new type of bike to argue over yet though.

Yea, but usually someone starts a "cross bikes are rubbish" thread then disappears every other day.

No one has invented a new type of bike to argue over yet though

There are lots of types of bikes but it’s only gravel, CX and monstercross bikes that have committed minor trespass against territory that makes dyed-in-the-wool MTBers cry ‘fight you!’ in their sleep. 😉

Try telling the blokes racing Strada bianche that you need 40c’s and a 67 degree HA to ride off tarmac.

A race that's 2/3rds tarmac.

https://twitter.com/AverageRob/status/1250831034134016000?s=09

Another point I was musing over is that gravel bikes have just portioned off all the generally cowardly, boring and not very competent mountain bikers who never really liked riding up and down actual mountains anyway.

It's also captured loads of the roadies who were never very fit, competitive or capable racers either.

So what we have here is not two or three similar people who disagree over a bike, but two different people who disagree over what fun is because they have different approaches to life.

Maybe gravel bikes are just for type B people. It's so.. inclusive man.

There are lots of types of bikes but it’s only gravel, CX and monstercross bikes that have committed minor trespass against territory that makes dyed-in-the-wool MTBers roadies cry ‘fight you!’ in their sleep

FTFY. Us MTBers know they're nowt to do with us. 😉

This was invented 30 years ago:

Put some bigger tyres on it and it'd be bang on trend....

Rigid 29ers are compromised on the road sections

Not that much. Mine is great on road, just a bit slower. However, a 32c drop bar bike on my local trails would be more than 'a bit slower' it'd be murderously uncomfortable and have its rims smashed to bits in weeks. It'd ruin most of the good descents entirely.

^^^^ my rigid 29er is also fine on roads when they link together more bumpy stuff. It also is steel and has drop bars (Vagabond) - a very versatile bike - 4 days of Hebridean adventures last May and it was the ideal bike for the combination of road, machair and some tracks, while lugging overnight kit.

FTFY. Us MTBers know they’re nowt to do with us. 😉

True that. Been riding bikes since I was 11, and by the time was in late twenties my riding buddy’s bikes began to look like this

And they began driving to the places that we used to ride TO, just in order to do the downhill bits. I was too chicken/under-biked and tbh fairly uninterested in the evolving super-expensive gravity sport and so I carried on riding the old loops on my one bike, also to work, to holidays, to the pub, to the hills, around the woods, often all the way to Welsh mountains and around ClimachX (before it was ClimachX)

So over time my ‘MTBs’ began to look like this

and this

I’d ride out with tools, pitch up camp and then dismantle the racks and ride the bike as a rigid MTB for a weekend before re-fitting the touring stuff to get home 🤣

Took me a number of years trying both road and various types of XC MTB To discover that I’ll probably always be a black sheep, ie on the ‘wrong bike’ (ie wrong bike for other people) - which sort of makes sense, because I don’t ride for other people, neither to ‘be seen’ riding a certain bike (go on admit it, your eyes melted at those pics

Those who seek to belong in a clique are (unsurprisingly) often keen to label you, whatever it is that you do.

I like many kinds of riding/bikes at different times and places, yet when pressed am happiest riding all day long on an tourer/ATB/monstercross, going mostly back roads and fireroads and RUPPS wherever over there with a packed lunch or maybe a sleeping bag.

I (barely)keep a hardtail (but really, really enjoy it when it’s working, and use it mostly to ride with friends at trail centres and on singletrack) and last time I rode a road bike I hated it.

For general use am tbh struggling a bit now with a 29er rigid MTB, mostly because am missing the monster-cross (Vagabond). It climbed better, was more comfortable to ride in general, and a bit more fun across the board at the limits. Have never ridden a so-called gravel-bike (unless those early DIY things I specced could be described as such, but I’d call them ATBs) yet would certainly like to try something like a Tempest or Fugio, or something before I shuffle off the coil. It’s almost like they were made for the majority of my type of riding/touring/exploring.

I’m delighted during lockdown to see people getting back into riding from the door, no matter what they ride. No one type of bike is going to be perfect for everyone, but for me the one that makes me smile so much that I do an extra loop/15k on the way home is as near as. That could be a touring bike one day/ride, or a hardtail another. Sorry to be boring!

All bikes are great, if they suit the riding you do then crack on.

BITD (about 2005 I'm not as old as some of you 😉 ) I didn't drive yet, so most of my MTB riding was basically from my door on pretty easy trails and paths. I loved the idea of mountain biking but barely did any real off road riding. I'd just bought myself a Stumpjumper hardtail and systematically went about making it as light and fast as possible, it was basically a gravel bike without drops including a rigid fork and stupid 1.6" Panaracer Speedblaster tyres that weighed about 350grams.

It utterly flew on paths, lanes and simple singletrack.

Then I got a car and much more frequent access to actual technical trails, my weight weenie hardtail was utter bobbins. Turns out when I actually got access to proper off road my primary concern wasn't going fast it was having fun. And riding a sketchy AF bike that made the boring bits more exciting just wasn't something I was interested in.

I still have my Stumpjumper - I used it on the turbo.

"You can go a great distance in a short time or you can have a great time in a short distance"

I don't really care about CX or gravel or whatever it's being called this decade, but that Niner on the last page (it turned up on another thread the other day as well) is repulsive and should be killed to death with fire. Whoever designed it should be ashamed of themselves, it wasn't funny or clever...

Evil have produced a gravel bike (the Chamois Hagar*)  that looks horrid as well. When I first saw it, I genuinely thought it was an April fools gag. (I'm still not sure that it isn't)

*No, I'm not, that's actually what it's called.

Another point I was musing over is that gravel bikes have just portioned off all the generally cowardly, boring and not very competent mountain bikers who never really liked riding up and down actual mountains anyway.

It’s also captured loads of the roadies who were never very fit, competitive or capable racers either.

So what we have here is not two or three similar people who disagree over a bike, but two different people who disagree over what fun is because they have different approaches to life.

Maybe gravel bikes are just for type B people. It’s so.. inclusive man.

It's ironic because I'm sure average speeds seem to have dropped in proportion with the number of times the word enduro has been used as a hashtag.

Also:

MTB Clothing:

Golf clothing:

Perhaps we're only one step away from the full diamond pattern and the people who ride at the Golfie will actually go back to playing golf?

Perhaps we’re only one step away from the full diamond pattern

true dat, mind you; gravel-bike specific clothing from the likes of Morvelo and Rapha (which tells you everything you need to know about the intended market for gravel bikes)  is also doing its very best to niche* its self into some sort of relevance amongst the more hipster-ish of this parish. Stupidly short shorts, long unkempt hair and a droopy moustache/rapist beard is oh-so on trend Dahling....

*You're not the boss of me, I can use this word how I want to.

true dat, mind you; gravel-bike specific clothing from the likes of Morvelo and Rapha (which tells you everything you need to know about the intended market for gravel bikes) is also doing it’s very best to niche* it’s self into some sort of relevance amongst the more hipster-ish of this parish. Stupidly short shorts, long unkempt hair and a droopy moustache/rapist beard is oh-so on trend Dahling….

When you can't spend money on kashima stanchions you have to find ways to show that you have the ££££ these days when any old chump can get a T6* on finance.

*Obviously these are the golfers in disguise, the real gravel enthusiasts would have already ridden 100km to get to the start of the ride and will be brewing up on their ultralight stoves or sipping single malt.

or sipping single malt.

To fill the empty void in their lives that they sadly thought the gravel bike would, no doubt 🙂

Don’t know which posts I’m enjoying the most, the armchair rampage riders Who are too rad or the you are being scammed by the advertising brigade who are all probably over biked and own plenty of shit they don’t really need.
They are only bikes, but as I actually ride one I wouldn’t raise much of an eyebrow if someone said they had 2 gravel bikes for different riding.
Really liking mine but for different reasons that I really like my mtb’s

Yeah, that's it sailor74, release that inner rage...ggrrrrrr 🙂

To fill the empty void in their lives that they sadly thought the gravel bike would, no doubt 🙂

*sniff* however much I spend on lightweight gear to fill my bags luggage made by some bloke in a shed you've never heard of, I'm still empty inside. Unlike the luggage which now weighs more than the bike it's strapped to.

Loving my gravel bike and my downhill gnar. Tools for the job in hand. So many angry people on here it’s jolly amusing.

made by some bloke in a shed you’ve never heard of

There was a video on an achingly on-trend site I found the other day featuring a bloke explaining why he'd gone from making super-high end leather shoes to making saddles instead...and he'd branched off into leather one-piece bar tape (which obvs misses the entire point of bar tape, but let's not go there...) It was clear who the marketing was aimed at, there were wistful shots of long (gravel) tracks through the wide open spaces of 'merica*

* which, given the actual inhabitants of rural  'merica; would shoot you with the AR-15 they have on a open carry licence to hawk your bike for meth.

So many angry people on here it’s jolly amusing.

Really? What do you think is the angriest comment? Or is all differing opinion ‘angry’?

I think this can all be summed up as follows:

1. Whatever terrain it is you're riding, and however you're riding it, some bikes will suit it better than others.
2. Sometimes the best one will be a gravel bike of some sort.
3. Other times it won't.
4. Some people who have encountered point 4 have taken their experience to mean that (a) anything that could be labelled a "gravel bike" must shit, (b) everyone riding gravel bikes must be stupid because they haven't realised that gravel bikes must be shit, and (c) everyone should bloody well hear about this fact via the internet every couple of weeks until the whole thing goes away and we're all happily riding either 6lb road bikes or full-sussers with 45 degree head angles and a wheelbase that spans postcodes, or playing golf.
5. A subset of the people who have nodded along with points 1-4 will still feel obliged to point out that a rigid 29er is better, having forgotten that they nodded along with point 1.

STOP BEING RAESONABEL!!!!!!!

can we at least all agree that E-Gravel bikes are shit? 🙂

summed up perfectly Bez

(which tells you everything you need to know about the intended market for gravel bikes)

Disagree. There are nearly as many ‘markets’ for gravel bikes as there are for mountain bikes, and one of those niches won’t tell you ‘everything’ about much except a very narrow (and usually shallow, vain, stereotype that in real-life applies to very few people)

Here look. Gravel biking marketing is a ‘niche for grey leggings and running shoes’

Don’t believe me? Look at the marketing. Tells you all you need to know about people who buy gravel bikes?:

Same as MTBing is a niche for rich cityslickers with a penchant for loud branding and expensive ski-masks. The type of colour-matched race-onesie-wearing model-rugged rich-kids who can afford to buy £3-4k bikes in order to ride a horse to the trailhead of endless desert-downhills with no uphills. The type of people who have an Insta-drone which follows them everywhere, from the brand new 4x4 pickup truck to the hot-tub at the ski-Lodge

Don’t believe me? Look at the marketing. Tells you all you need to know about the type of people who buy MTBs?

I’ve got a bike

I’ve got a bike

you sold out to the marketing!

I have to agree with the OP. I have had a couple of gravel bikes. An Orange RX and a Cannondale Slate with front lefty fork.
It was like the 90s all over again. Skinny tyres, odd head angles, narrow (drop) bars. Gravel bikes are just a rubbish off road. A better option is a rigid 29er. If I wanted skinny tyres and drop bars I'd buy a road bike thanks.

Not sure whether monkeysfeet read my post and decided to irony the shit out of it (bravo, you really aced it) or whether we're just stuck in Groundhog Facepalm.

Obviously I've left the door wide open to a claim of the former, but hey.

It was like the 90s all over again

I like Bez's recursive Point 4 🤭

I like bikes.
I like riding them.
I like drop bar bikes, flat bar bikes and riser bar bikes.
I don't like the tyres not touching the ground.
Over the last 2 or 3 years a lot of my riding has been well suited on a flared drop bar bike. Sometimes with a niche French-made saddlebag. Sometimes with a niche America-made front bag.
All the rest? Shrugs.

We just need the trendsetters to widen and flare the drops a bit more on the current trajectory towards horizontal and we've arrived back at the ultimate do it all type machine, same as it ever was..

Hardtails rule.

for anyone who is gravel curious this probably reflects most of what my gravel rides look like although i tend to throw in some singletrack too, basically a very mixed bag.

I think Bez has pretty much summed it up.

Ride whatever you like, and let others ride what they want without comment. No one cares if you think they're riding the wrong bike.

That Arkose rider wants some of those combo flat/SPD pedals surely?

A subset of the people who have nodded along with points 1-4 will still feel obliged to point out that a rigid 29er is better, having forgotten that they nodded along with point 1.

Well in some areas, people seem to need this pointed out. I've seen a fair few gravel bikes and classic tourers being carried through my local trails when their riders want to enjoy a bit of this new 'gravel' idea and realise they haven't got the tyres or the gears for what is locally available.

I'm all in favour of gravel bikes, for the record. I'd quite like one.

downshep
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pandemic pootler

You heard it here first folks.

epicyclo
Subscriber

There’s more to riding bikes in the mountains than heading downhill being gnar.

Try telling that to my kids. 🤪
Apparently my riding is 'old man' and 'boring'... Seems then that most of the bike marketeers and product managers of the world are 15 and 18 years old 🤔

classic tourers being carried through my local trails when their riders want to enjoy a bit of this new ‘gravel’ idea and realise they haven’t got the tyres or the gears for what is locally available.

I met a 76 year old called Arthur on 1970's road tourer last summer. This was at White Bridge above Linn of Dee, having ridden up Glen Tilt, heading for Braemar for the night before finishing a couple of the last Munro's on his list.

Be more like Arthur.

I rode my bike

Be more like Arthur.

Why?

Lycra? SPD? Stupid socks? No helmet peak

He's dead to me

Why?

I mean it from a live life to the full. Just get out and ride. With a smile. And a sense of adventure.

Matt
I think i met Arthur's Da riding up glen tilt early 90s on my Muddy Fox Pathfinder
He was on a tourer wasnt too impressed with these new fangled mountain bikes

Ride what floats your boat

Im confused now. I have couple of different bikes inc gravel and FS. Do i need to decide which one i like more and sell the others? Ever seen Kramer vs Kramer? Its not pretty.

I mean it from a live life to the full. Just get out and ride. With a smile. And a sense of adventure.

Why do you think we aren't doing that?

I mean it from a live life to the full. Just get out and ride. With a smile. And a sense of adventure.

But how can he achieve that without a horse and a retro pickup?