Show us your Gravel Bikes / committee meeting

[wynne]

Ok after long and careful consideration,
I put this to the vote:

650, 70026
Bars: Drops flats risers
Forks: Rigidsuspension
Brakes: disk caliper canti
Tyre: >35mm+ <32mm
Single double triple
Cassette:>36t <32t

I think you're allowed one eception
More than that and you're pushing it.

I think you've nailed it, plus I would add (in comparison to a cx bike) some mounting points for luggage and bottles, lower bb and more relaxed head tube angle.

 

[M_Chavez]

Road bikes are called road bikes here, but every second RShole riding it thinks that he's racing.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Most mountain bikes have never seen mountains, nobody ever cared if the name or term is correct or if it it should be called a hill, rock, mud or root bike. Road bikes are called racing bikes over here although 95% of them aren't used for racing. I don't get why some people are so exited about the term"gravel"

It's marketing the Tourer.

Loads of people are going touring as a result of owning a bike that does a pretty good job of going anywhere in comfort.

 

[M_Chavez]

Why no canti brakes? Does that make it a randonneuse?

Agree with mounting points & lower bb. Also need a more relaxed seat tube.

Now here's something to think about: How much drop bar flare is allowed?
I mean I have 5 degrees both on my road bike and on my rando. Is that too much for road but not enough for gravel?
I don't think we can allow 0 degree flare drops in the gravel definition?

 

[R-V]

Though full suspension gravel bikes, heres one from google:

as im thinking about this more, i dont like them
but i do understand their purpose
something like this would be, with flat bars, ideal for my commute, because its railroad ballast, a regular rigid gravel bike would have a terrible time and a mountain bike is overkill for the greenway portion that comes after that
and then you kinda just have a weird geometry mountain bike thats a little better on flats? thats the issue, they blur the lines so far that i cant tell theres a line anymore, but i do see a use case where they are the ideal tool

It was existing in the 90's too..
hybrid (trekking) fully...

 

[bikeworkshop]

Why no canti brakes? Does that make it a randonneuse?

Agree with mounting points & lower bb. Also need a more relaxed seat tube.

Now here's something to think about: How much drop bar flare is allowed?
I mean I have 5 degrees both on my road bike and on my rando. Is that too much for road but not enough for gravel?
I don't think we can allow 0 degree flare drops in the gravel definition?

I'm treating "Gravel" as a marketing term -
I think you'd struggle to find a catalogue with a bike described as Gravel, but with cantis. You fall back into the touring group. But as I said earlier, if you can check all the other boxes, you might be allowed on the group Gravel ride.

Flare is a common option, but a "square" bar no one would notice.

Do we need to add a Rapha top to get us over the line?

 

[M_Chavez]

But as I said earlier, if you can check all the other boxes, you might be allowed on the group Gravel ride

Nah, I'm OK.
Next time somebody tells me "That's a really nice looking gravel bike!" I won't feel bad about replying "It's a randonneuse, you dumb @#$&".

 

[reindeer]

It's marketing the Tourer.

Loads of people are going touring as a result of owning a bike that does a pretty good job of going anywhere in comfort.

Heine calls it the allroad bike, gravel is just a little less technical and more catchy. But from my memory the term gravel existed before bigger companies jumped on the train. I don't remember if Fairlight for example called the Faran a gravel bike or what they called it.

 

[R-V]

I don't get why some people are so exited about the term"gravel"

Because it smells like flat whites and artisan bakery

 

[bikeworkshop]

Earliest ref i found for GravelBike was salsa 2013/14?, and even that was a little ephemeral.
Can we find an earlier one?