Originally Posted by
pressed001
Yeah, drops and off-road do not go together. The weight is just too far forward. Gravel bikes are more for smooth gravel paths which I could see being pretty fun for going fast in an aero position.
I love rigid bikes ever since my 1995 GT Tempest
With that Tempest I rode a 37 mile loop last year in central Switzerland with 2 miles of elevation gain/loss. The rim-brakes just murdered my rather well-endowed hands and so I decided to build a new disc brake rigid.
Rigids are king if you take advantage of new technologies that allow you to run next to no tire pressure. Otherwise they're still lots of fun but speed and comfort are sacrificed.
I rode 10 miles of singletrack today with rock gardens, tight roll ins, drops, rock faces, rock rolls, and well, rocks at 6psi in the front and 7 in the rear. My bike is fully rigid and pictured above.