Gravel bike - useful or marketing?
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For this purpose, I'd go for a stealth a build as possible. Tatty looking, but like the Millennium Falcon she's got it where it counts. Don't under estimate the ability of the local scrots to take an unhealthy interest in any bike that looks unusual.
ishaw":3sgtd0i5 said:
For this purpose, I'd go for a stealth a build as possible. Tatty looking, but like the Millennium Falcon she's got it where it counts. Don't under estimate the ability of the local scrots to take an unhealthy interest in any bike that looks unusual.
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We say marketing.
But the other bike you can buy are MTB with with long travel (Good allrounder for most stuff)
Downhill (no idea never look at them)
Full Sus MTB Enduro (comfy bumpy off-road things)
Road bikes, designed around TDF speed comfort rising ;-)
Track bikes
CX Bikes
Neither are all day general riding bikes now, ride the roads in comfort but quickly and dodge death, get to the the bridleways public footpaths, trundle along these, maybe a quick Bakst in a twist Forrest, through some mud and short steep hills etc.
Gravel Bikes are the all day go anywhere 'normal' trip from the house bikes.
We're in 2020 now, our old bikes don't exist in the shops, they are just filling in that gap MTB/ATBs went from.
Would I buy one, perhaps a flat bar one, but then I have plenty of old MTBs that can fit the task.
That's how I see it.
We say marketing.
But the other bike you can buy are MTB with with long travel (Good allrounder for most stuff)
Downhill (no idea never look at them)
Full Sus MTB Enduro (comfy bumpy off-road things)
Road bikes, designed around TDF speed comfort rising ;-)
Track bikes
CX Bikes
Neither are all day general riding bikes now, ride the roads in comfort but quickly and dodge death, get to the the bridleways public footpaths, trundle along these, maybe a quick Bakst in a twist Forrest, through some mud and short steep hills etc.
Gravel Bikes are the all day go anywhere 'normal' trip from the house bikes.
We're in 2020 now, our old bikes don't exist in the shops, they are just filling in that gap MTB/ATBs went from.
Would I buy one, perhaps a flat bar one, but then I have plenty of old MTBs that can fit the task.
That's how I see it.
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I was not convinced about gravel bikes after my mate sold his mtb and bought one at the beggining of lock down. For him though it's been great as he's riding so much more than ever before which in turn has made him fitter so he can go further.
I built up a retro 26" to use on rides with him which was great and we also had rides out with me on my carbon road bike or full suss 29er but I started to get gravel curious. I'd saved up a few quid and an idle ebay bid saw me win the Marin below for a great price. I've only had it a month or so but tbh it's become my most used bike by far and I'm really enjoying going out for a ride and exploring rather than straight road rides or taking my mtb somewhere like Gisburn. A retro bike would do the job but I don't like 26" bikes in my actual size (rather than the 19" I convince myself I can fit on :facepalm: ) and as my rides usually involve a fair bit of road riding to seek out the off road bits it seems a better tool for the job.
I was having thoughts of getting a modern XC bike (funded by the sale of my remaining retro :| ) so I had four bikes that would cover literally every base I needed and I could decide what sort of ride I wanted to do and grab the appropriate tool but I'm enjoying the Marin so much my thoughts have turned to getting the weight down a bit in the short term and maybe selling all but my mtb to fund a more fancy gravel bike next year. We'll see.
Anyway, that's a long winded way of saying gravel (or touring? Don't know the difference) are great and well worth having in the fleet. Yes, they have similar ability to retro (or more modern XC) but are better on road, a bit worse off and about the same inbetween. I think of it as a sliding scale where road bike is one end, huge travel full suss at the other. I'd say it goes Road- Gravel- Retro- XC- Long travel HT- Long travel FS- Downhill. You wouldn't want to ride a DH bike on road or a road bike off but the rest of them are capable of doing most of the riding most of us do with varying degrees of success but all will do it slighty differently so it's up to you what you want from your bike. Choice is fun!
I was not convinced about gravel bikes after my mate sold his mtb and bought one at the beggining of lock down. For him though it's been great as he's riding so much more than ever before which in turn has made him fitter so he can go further.
I built up a retro 26" to use on rides with him which was great and we also had rides out with me on my carbon road bike or full suss 29er but I started to get gravel curious. I'd saved up a few quid and an idle ebay bid saw me win the Marin below for a great price. I've only had it a month or so but tbh it's become my most used bike by far and I'm really enjoying going out for a ride and exploring rather than straight road rides or taking my mtb somewhere like Gisburn. A retro bike would do the job but I don't like 26" bikes in my actual size (rather than the 19" I convince myself I can fit on :facepalm: ) and as my rides usually involve a fair bit of road riding to seek out the off road bits it seems a better tool for the job.
I was having thoughts of getting a modern XC bike (funded by the sale of my remaining retro :| ) so I had four bikes that would cover literally every base I needed and I could decide what sort of ride I wanted to do and grab the appropriate tool but I'm enjoying the Marin so much my thoughts have turned to getting the weight down a bit in the short term and maybe selling all but my mtb to fund a more fancy gravel bike next year. We'll see.
Anyway, that's a long winded way of saying gravel (or touring? Don't know the difference) are great and well worth having in the fleet. Yes, they have similar ability to retro (or more modern XC) but are better on road, a bit worse off and about the same inbetween. I think of it as a sliding scale where road bike is one end, huge travel full suss at the other. I'd say it goes Road- Gravel- Retro- XC- Long travel HT- Long travel FS- Downhill. You wouldn't want to ride a DH bike on road or a road bike off but the rest of them are capable of doing most of the riding most of us do with varying degrees of success but all will do it slighty differently so it's up to you what you want from your bike. Choice is fun!
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The hybrid are now gravel bikes now that the they have started fitting flat bars. Just Gravel have more.bells.and whistles and generally comfier and grippier wheels.greencat":1xq23flg said:
Commuter are just gravel with bags and racks fitted.
Just gravel adds a price premium and coolness over them.
Same as it did 3 years ago.
You will see the current style Gravel bikes, but with late 80s /early 90s dressing in Araya catalogues from back then.
Hybrid has never been a catchy selling word.
Edit to add some pics.
1988 (bottom picture)
and by 1990 they had moved to 700c with the cross-over. (top picture)
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kipperthedog
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I built this earlier this year. It's a 1989 Saracen frame with 26" wheels and 2.1 tyres. It cost very little to build and I thought it would be a cheap way to scratch the gravel itch. It is a bit of fun but I won't be replacing it with anything more modern/expensive any time. If you can build a gravel bike cheaply I'd say do it, if it is going to cost 100's, then I probably wouldn't bother.
I built this earlier this year. It's a 1989 Saracen frame with 26" wheels and 2.1 tyres. It cost very little to build and I thought it would be a cheap way to scratch the gravel itch. It is a bit of fun but I won't be replacing it with anything more modern/expensive any time. If you can build a gravel bike cheaply I'd say do it, if it is going to cost 100's, then I probably wouldn't bother.
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I'm with Fluffy on this one - the industry over-specialised and made more and more niched bikes.
Gravel bikes are a return to go-anywhere/do-anything bikes like tourers, early 90's MTBs etc. I'm not against them at all, but don't expect miracles.
I've managed to make equivalents to gravel bikes by putting drop bars onto a 1990 Marin Palisades (my touring bike for the past 25 years), a 1996 Dawes Edge and also by fitting 32mm CX tyres onto a 1979 Clubmans road frame with clearance for mudguards. They all ride nicely with snuances to the handling etc, and fit the bill totally. For the New Forest they allow a quick dash down forest tracks while joining the dots on the road. All good fun and ideal for local conditions.
Gravel bikes are a return to go-anywhere/do-anything bikes like tourers, early 90's MTBs etc. I'm not against them at all, but don't expect miracles.
I've managed to make equivalents to gravel bikes by putting drop bars onto a 1990 Marin Palisades (my touring bike for the past 25 years), a 1996 Dawes Edge and also by fitting 32mm CX tyres onto a 1979 Clubmans road frame with clearance for mudguards. They all ride nicely with snuances to the handling etc, and fit the bill totally. For the New Forest they allow a quick dash down forest tracks while joining the dots on the road. All good fun and ideal for local conditions.
Re:
Thanks all. I can build one up with minimal to no outlay as I have everything already pretty much.
That said, comments on here have me thinking I'd probably be better off throwing an xc mtb together. I'll probably do that but save the drop bars just in case I want to play with the bars later, though ill need cable discs or hope v-twin.
Thanks all. I can build one up with minimal to no outlay as I have everything already pretty much.
That said, comments on here have me thinking I'd probably be better off throwing an xc mtb together. I'll probably do that but save the drop bars just in case I want to play with the bars later, though ill need cable discs or hope v-twin.
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