Gravel bike packing, its all done wrong IMO

[Mangizmo]

& that's a bold claim.

Yea I agree it is a bold claim so I will rephrase it to, I ride every day and very rarely need to ride on the road, I have off road routes in every direction from my house and Dartmoor is 365sq miles of mixed wilderness and I have been riding this area for 30 years but I like to keep my cycling inexpensive and have no interest in fasion or trends, I like what works and the cheaper the better, I am just staggered at the cost of bikes today and what people are prepared to pay and that they fall for the marketing hype. But the bike trade need those people, so good luck to them, if everyone was like me bike shops wouldnt behalf so profitable. I think its hard to beat a good hybrid with front suspension for practicality, I have just retired a Halfords Carrera Crossfire that I absolutely hammered for about 20 years, I bought it on offer for £220 with a carrier and mudguards fitted, never even broke a spoke, they still sell them (a bit different now) and they are surprisingly good, I am still using the carrier, the rapidfire shimano shifters, the flat bars and the stem, so I think I had good value out of thet bike

 

[rwm1962]

There's a good few folk would agree with you so you should share your rides & pics here on the various threads for such posts & show folk how it can be done.

 

[FluffyChicken]

CoG and cycling can be counter intuitive, particularly where low speed control and agility is concerned.

Try the old pub trick. Take a broom, balance it in the palm of your hand vertically on the end of its handle. If you're not too sloshed you can keep it up for a good period of time, perhaps even indefinitely, using small hand movements.

Not try it the other way around with the bristle end in the palm of your hand - it just won't happen.

And so it is with with bike control.

Except with a bike you can't adjust the wheels on the ground in the same way you can the bottom of a broom handle.

Also you can easily balance the broom with the brush in your hand, it's not readily trying to fall over and can just sit there using the area of your hand with minor hand rotation rather than side to side movement (which you cannot do on a bike as you cannot slide the wheels quickly on the ground, but you can do the tilting).

Different things happening.

Think of that broom handle/brush at a fixed point at the bottom and you are balancing it from above. Now which is easier.

 

[Mangizmo]

There's a good few folk would agree with you so you should share your rides & pics here on the various threads for such posts & show folk how it can be done.

Thats a good idea, I think I have learned a few things over the years about keeping the costs down and what is just nonsense and hype, and I love my bikes so yea, I will do that

 

[Chopper the ex Copper]

Except with a bike you can't adjust the wheels on the ground in the same way you can the bottom of a broom handle.

Also you can easily balance the broom with the brush in your hand, it's not readily trying to fall over and can just sit there using the area of your hand with minor hand rotation rather than side to side movement (which you cannot do on a bike as you cannot slide the wheels quickly on the ground, but you can do the tilting).

Different things happening.

Think of that broom handle/brush at a fixed point at the bottom and you are balancing it from above. Now which is easier.

Indeed, you shift yourself on the bike and the bike beneath you. I teach these skills.

 

[FluffyChicken]

Indeed, you shift yourself on the bike and the bike beneath you. I teach these skills.

Which goes against your original physics of a broom balancing in your hand.

 

[Chopper the ex Copper]

The tyre contact patch does indeed move unless you are doing one long continuous trackstand, and that movement is akin to the movement of your palm in the pub trick.

The principle of control by shifting a heavy mass above point and the laws of physics are the same in both cases. Move that mass to the bottom and it essentially becomes impossible.

If you have relevant skills or qualifications that counter that I would be genuinely interested in knowing of it and expanding my own subject knowledge, but that aside will not be drawn into an argument over semantics.

 

[bagpuss]

Meanwhile back in 1899 .

https://flic.kr/p/2omR3Dk

Cycling round the world in 1899 the return .

John Foster Fraser , S Edward Lunn & F.H Lowe
19,237 miles .
17 Countries and 3 Continents

774 days away

 

[brocklanders023]

What am I missing here as your Giant looks basically like a gravel bike, and you like that?

Don't really see what all the fuss is as GB's are just another option, they sit between a proper XC MTB and a road bike. You don't have to spend a fortune either but as in every other disciple of cycling, you can if you want.

If I wanted mud guards and a rack on mine I could fit them, probably would if I was going bike packing. Agree to some extent about 1x but it does not have to be expensive and just like 650b wheels it's been around long enough now to be just an accepted standard.

Options are good so buy what you want based on where you like riding.

 

[bagpuss]

I think the key word here is "Marketing"
A gravel bike is the modern name for a touring bike imho .

What ever it is, it still needs pedalling .