cyclintom

Well, I can't disagree that manufacturers are trying to segment the market with modifications. But they are in general so small that there is actually more change from company to company than between models.

There was the legendary Jobst Brandt who rode a 27" bike with 27 1/4" wheels with 1 1/4" tires. This guy would hold the "Jobst Rides" over on the San Francisco peninsula. He would be going 25 mph on the road and ride off down a dirt path without so much as a pause. He would climb in a 48-19. Most of his rides would be 100 miles long. I think it is pretty good these days if I do 50 miles though I'll crank out an organized century now and again just for old times sake. I pissed him off for arguing that new riders should not be riding that sort of huge gear that he was recommending to everyone. He became so perturbed that he wrote "Cyclingtom is an *******" entries all over the Internet and even published a map to my home. This from a guy who was a top notch mechanical engineer who had worked for Porche and then H-P. What his stupid riding style got him was a heart attack that relegated him to not riding a bicycle at all and slowly dying pretty miserably over the next 5 years. You can retain the very best your age and body type can handle but you have to remember that ignoring the medical facts of life is not good for you. And in the group I presently ride with more and more of the group are learning this.

So riding on dirt roads isn't new nor more difficult than riding on the road and the minor modifications to differentiate a road bike from a CX bike from a "gravel" bike are minor and effect mostly the safety of the less experienced rider. Hell, it wasn't but a decade ago when they were riding Paris-Roubaix on 23 mm tires.