Gravel bikes - fad or the future?

DeVlaeminck

I'm not saying they'll disappear but give it a few years I can't see there being as much focus on them.

I rarely use mine now - once the novelty wears off and you realise your local gravel roads are actually short sections of bridleway unrideable outside of drought conditions or gravel cycle trails packed with families and dog walkers you end up sticking more and more to the roads. At that point you realise you've bought a heavy road bike with fat draggy tyres and unresponsive geometry and get your carbon race bike out again.

I would mention that tubeless are almost necessary for a gravel bike if you actually go off road unless you like fixing punctures but I suppose some will say well tubeless exists so what is the problem.

If you really like thrashing around off and on road you'd get a cross bike wouldn't you, or else if you want proper technical stuff you are a MTBer - gravel bikes just seem a bike that not many people need. OK you can use them as a Winter bike - but that's really just a road bike with mudguard eyes. Yes we all know about n+1 bit the reality is it's nicer to have a few bikes that you spend money on keeping the parts working well than clogging up the garage, shed and house with endless bikes and bike parts.

Darius_Jedburgh

👍
A bit like fat bikes.

redvision

On the roads around here it's coming to the point where you need a gravel bike just to stay upright!

The pot hole fixing program seems to involve filling them with a gravel type material and heating it or something. Whatever they are doing it might fill the hole but it leaves a loose gravel surface.

imposter2.0

I'm using mine more than ever. 32mm road tyres and off road gearing is ideal for exploring more of the hilly back roads around here - roads I would normally avoid with the road bike..

DeVlaeminck

I'm thinking what most people use them for we'd be better with something like the BMC GF range were - bigger tyres but not the size gravel bikes are going for now - still road race geometry - albeit not aggressively so.

Tubing shapes designed for comfort rather than aerodynamics.

Light weight and responsiveness emphasised over stability on loose surfaces and off road.

A kind of classics race bike than a gravel bike - stick mudguard eyes on and you have a nice winter bike. I'm not saying a gravel bike can't do the job but we are starting to see suspension, 40mm+ tyres etc and MTB influenced geometry which is all great off road but when they are ridden even on UK roads is probably not optimum.

singleton

The roads around here are bad so it's good to have a bike with 32mm tyre clearance and the ability to take guards in addition to the "best" bike - but I don't need a "gravel bike" for that.
Seems to be a lot more appropriate in the US where you have the option of riding on a freeway or riding on a dirt track.

davep1

I don't have an "in-between" bike; I have a proper aero bike, 5 years old so getting 25mm tyres on from the original 23s wasn't straight forward and an older hard tail mtb on 2.3" tyres. Luckily I live on the edge of the South Downs, plenty of quiet Sussex lanes to explore on the road bike, but equally, plenty of testing sections of off road trails where even just a suspension fork is a bonus. Yes, you can ride these on a cross bike, but you would probably have to slow right down and take a lot of care if you didn't want to batter yourself and your bike.
I like the difference between the two, when I get up in the morning I have two great options. I tend to see off roading as more about the ride, exploring, taking pics, finding ways to ride a technical bit I messed up on last time, never worrying about pace. Road riding tends to be more of a balance between pushing myself to get stronger, but not being so tired I can't ride for days after.
Having said all that, some kind of 3rd bike would complete my stable. The roads in winter ruin my road bike, an ass saver is the only type of mudguard that fits. Unless I spend hours cleaning it after every ride for 6-8 months of the year, it costs a fortune in replacing worn out parts. Plus the narrow tyres mean if grip is an issue, or something starts to go wrong, it is very hard to avoid a crash. I have taken to riding the mtb during the winter more lately, I just have never crashed it.
So I would like something with 32 or maybe 35 mm tyres, mudguards, comfortable frame, 105 or even Tiagra. I'd use it on the roads when the weather was crap and I'd take it on the odd bridleway, but i would keep the road bike for proper road rides and the mtb for proper off road rides.

fenix

Wider tyres I do see the benefit of. Going 1x less so.

davep1

fenix said:

Wider tyres I do see the benefit of. Going 1x less so.

Same here! Although I would probably choose it for a winter bike. I haven't ridden a 1x, in my head I don't believe the advantages are that great and I would much rather have a double or even a triple. But I see the winter bike as part of a set of bikes, it's job would be to get me through winter riding at lower cost and with less chance of hurting myself. It would probably have a dynamo hub too, take away the stress and hassle of charging two sets of lights.

super_davo

Agree with the OP. There will be a place for them for:
- Bike packing (as long as that remains a thing)
- People who live somewhere with great networks of mixed surface trails (i.e. people who live in Scotland)
- People who think "the roads round here are so bad a skinny tyred road bike would shake me to death"

For everyone else, if you ride most of the time on roads you'll be better off with a road bike of some sort, if you ride most of the time off roads you'll find the terrain a gravel bike can deal with quite limiting quickly.

So they will continue to exist but be a much more niche prospect, either an N+1 for proper roadies or MTBers or a route in for newbies to either discipline.

akh

Gravel as a concept is definitely a gimmick in the UK, but I think broadly similar bikes will stick around. Super lightweight carbon race bikes aren't going away, so that market is well catered for. 'Gravel' bikes reflect a desire for bigger tyres, lower gearing, a more upright riding position, and full mudguard clearance. All of those things are great for riding poorly surfaced UK lanes, especially in winter, and are why I love my gravel bike.

I have family in the south of Spain, out there I ride a rim brake bike with 23mm tyres and don't wish for anything different, but the roads and weather are completely different to the UK.

rwoofer

I use my gravel bike more than my road bike. It takes time to figure out routes etc. but there are a surprising number of routes in the Surrey Hills. In winter you need the same process to figure out which work in winter.

wolfsbane2k

akh said:

Gravel as a concept is definitely a gimmick in the UK, but I think broadly similar bikes will stick around. Super lightweight carbon race bikes aren't going away, so that market is well catered for. 'Gravel' bikes reflect a desire for bigger tyres, lower gearing, a more upright riding position, and full mudguard clearance. All of those things are great for riding poorly surfaced UK lanes, especially in winter, and are why I love my gravel bike.

This. Love mine too.

me-109

I think gravel bikes have got more 'gravel' over the past year or two, going 1x, fat tyred, 650 etc. That's possibly going to see the rise of a road/gravel sub-sub-niche of not-so-fat 700c disc 2x comfy bikes, probably sold by the shed load by PX for wet/winter/comfyendurancesportivecommuter duties that lots of people really want.

Cargobike

I don't think they are a fad or the future, just another niche in an ever growing market meeting the needs of both new riders and those looking for a "jack of all trades" kind of bike.
I've been riding a Shand Stoater for 5 years which probably falls into the gravel bracket a few years before gravel became a thing and love its versatility just as much as I love my road bikes specialisms.
If it gets more bums on saddles then whatever the industry and consumer want is good by me.

amrushton

In some respects they are a fashion. Suddenly everyone is bikepacking and going on trails. Then they realise it's hard work and their bike/kit is covered in mud, diirt etc and now they have to clean it all. I'd like one but suspect it wouldn't get much use.

Ov1

the lack of gravel roads and there use by horse riders and dog walkers etc. make them more of a frustration and can give you less options than just using the road. (uk)

dj58

My winter/gravel/commuter bike is my old 92 steel frame Kona Explosif rigid fork hardtail MTB. OK so it's heavyish, 26 x 1.5", flatbar/barends, 3x7, full mudguards, however it does a good job of smoothing out the roads I ride. When I get on the road bike in the spring I fly in comparison.

rwoofer

My gravel bike reminds me of my 90s MTBs (but better in all respects), which I thought were great for most bridleways, single tracks. MTBs have moved so much towards a trail bias, which makes them dull and unrewarding for most UK off-road. I think that is why gravel bikes have their role.

diplodicus

rwoofer said:

My gravel bike reminds me of my 90s MTBs (but better in all respects), which I thought were great for most bridleways, single tracks. MTBs have moved so much towards a trail bias, which makes them dull and unrewarding for most UK off-road. I think that is why gravel bikes have their role.

This, very much this.

Local trails are dull on my mtb (150mm travel). It only comes into its own in the Alps or places like Bike Park Wales. On the gravel bike however the local trails are faster and sketchy, and therefore more fun

mercia_man

It’s marketing - and nothing wrong with that. Manufacturers only survive by getting us to buy new bikes.

Just like with aero bikes and sportive bikes before that, they come up with an idea for a new product, advertise them heavily, send them to cycling magazines and websites for review (generally favourable) and demand is generated - all boosted by debate on forums like this.

We don’t actually need gravel bikes for UK conditions - cyclists have been riding trails and bike packing for decades on touring and cross bikes - but an exciting new category of bike sparks our interest. I wonder what will be next? I reckon road e-bikes are getting to be the latest big thing.

monkimark

I have a 12 year old cross bike that gets used to pretty much do what gravel bikes are marketed for. It does winter commuting duties and lets me ride local trails that are a bit too tame to be fun on a mtb. It's great for winter as I have no interest in going out road cycling after dark and a lot of the mtb trails turn to swamps but I can stick a decent set of lights on it and whizz around the local woods in 40 minutes on empty trails/fire roads that never got too boggy.

I guess if I was buying new now, it'd be a toss up between a cross bike and a gravel bike (i'm not entirely sure I could spot the difference and I'm sure there's some overlap).

slowmart

Its a niche amplified by marketing BS, if a gravel bike hits the reasons for you to ride more, then happy days for all concerned. Personally I'm happy with a road bike which is a much better bike than I am a rider, but it makes me smile every time i ride it which as a measure, smiles per mile, is the only one I pay attention too. OK there are some lovely looking new bikes, , more aero, stiffer, integrated stem and cables, wider range group set but for the incremental increases over and above my present bike make it impossible to justify the outlay especially when you add the smiles per mile into the equation.

The real driver for bike company revenues is electric which is where you will increasingly see development budgets and marketing focus at the expense of road bikes. I appreciate its not a binary question but the emphasis will drop away from road.

zenpaul

I genuinely don't know what the differences/advantages of a 'gravel bike' are over a cyclocross bike. I have always thought it's a road bike with bigger clearance to run bigger tyres. I can't think of any other necessary changes. Things like losing the front derailleur would be entirely dependent on the rider and terrain.

pblakeney

akh said:

Gravel as a concept is definitely a gimmick in the UK, but I think broadly similar bikes will stick around. Super lightweight carbon race bikes aren't going away, so that market is well catered for. 'Gravel' bikes reflect a desire for bigger tyres, lower gearing, a more upright riding position, and full mudguard clearance. All of those things are great for riding poorly surfaced UK lanes, especially in winter, and are why I love my gravel bike.

I have family in the south of Spain, out there I ride a rim brake bike with 23mm tyres and don't wish for anything different, but the roads and weather are completely different to the UK.

Strangely, most "gravel" bikes I've seen (UK) do not have guard fittings. Strikes me as a design flaw/buyer's error. If I'm going off road there is a high chance of mud.

spatt77

I`m on my second gravel bike and love my current one ( Bombtrack Hook EXT) is a blast to ride, here in the North East you can easily do a 100 km ride and hardly touch a road, getting off the road and into the countryside without the worry of traffic is a major plus. My winter road bike can take 32mm tyres but I've got 47mm 650b on my gravel bike and the comfort, grip and ability to keep going in the mud is great!

amrushton

Going off road the guards would prob fill with mud or start to get pulled by twigs etc. But the option should be there. Some bikes do offer mounts

pblakeney

Perception v reality. 😉

roger_merriman

spatt77 said:

I`m on my second gravel bike and love my current one ( Bombtrack Hook EXT) is a blast to ride, here in the North East you can easily do a 100 km ride and hardly touch a road, getting off the road and into the countryside without the worry of traffic is a major plus. My winter road bike can take 32mm tyres but I've got 47mm 650b on my gravel bike and the comfort, grip and ability to keep going in the mud is great!

I’m on my 2nd 1st was technically a CX bike by name but was clearly never intended as such!

I love Gravel bikes, fast enough to keep up on the club run, but equally capable of tacking single track, they aren’t fans of rocks but as long as your sensible can nip in and out of the woods and what not, avoiding roads you dislike and riding the ones you do etc.

lettingthedaysgoby

My "gravel" bike is actually my perfect commuter.

Steel frame so solid. 650b wheels with 47c tyres which makes for an incredibly comfortable ride. It has full mudguards and a rack on the back. GRX 2x gearing. I absolutely love it.