Originally Posted by
Spoonrobot
It's not a road bike, 73mm BB kicks it out of that category. Frame and fork tubing as well, it's going to be significantly stiffer and heavier than a steel frameset road bike.
Yeah...gotta disagree.
At this point of blurred lines, i would still consider a drop bar 'multiuse'/'adventure'/'do it all' bike as a road bike.
73mm bb be damned, it isnt a mountain bike and it uses a drop bar and road compatible setup. Its a road bike. A versatile one meant for unpaved roads, but a road bike nonetheless.
Regardless of category, i dont think a tapered steerer is needed and still think its overkill for this and many othet bikes of similar style.
A tapered head tube helps in the following ways-
- stiffer due to a cone being stiffer than a cylinder. Ok, but a butted 1 1/8 steel steerer is more than stiff enough for most everyone on non-MTB bikes. I am a large guy and even i dont need a tapered steerer for gravel and dirt trails.
- smoother transition for carbon layup. Having the cone shape helps reduce the curve at the lower bearing and makes for a stronger carbon build. Cool, but this is a steel fork so that is moot.
Moving past what to call the bike and how to categorize it- i just dont think its necessary to use a steel tapered steerer to ride pavement, gravel, and dirt roads. Its overkill and i think it is done because it is trendy more than necessary...or even beneficial. Most simply dont need an even stiffer bike. They may think they need it to 'transfer energy', but that too isnt accurate.
I am not knocking all those who ride large tapered steerers on bikes that arent MTBs. To each their own, and there really are benefits to a tapered steerer for some applications. Its just one of many trends that has seemingly gone viral.