Originally Posted by
dualresponse
And on that note, if you simply flip your current stem upside down to lower your current bar height, you might notice a more aggresive stance immediately with no $$$ needed. Also, moving any spacers in the stack from below the stem to on top of the stem will help lower the bar height. In this $ category, it's not like a "gravel" bike is going to have one part - say a wheelset- that is going to be so phenominal, that it makes the world perfect. Setup (on the other hand) can make a big difference in this ballpark ( or any ballpark...) .
It could... but How aggressive can you go and at what "cons"?
I went pretty aggressive on my 91 Schwinn Crosscut build. and It is twitchy on the street and absolutely nuts on loose gravel. Some of it could be the flexy as heck fork. In comparison my full suspension Scalpel is way more aggressive and 10x more stable than my hybrid on gravel.
So yes I think a hybrid can be made more aggressive, I however will Also vote for just starting with a Drop bar gravel bike.
There is no harm in flipping a stem, and removing spacers on the Kona to see how it feels. It's actually a pretty simple and free experiment. After that there are 2 camps of people. those who can ride a century on a flat bar. And then the people like me that struggle after 20+ miles on a flatbar.