Originally Posted by
Aznman
: in the industry's terms, would a bike still be considered a 'gravel bike' if it has nearly all the same forks, wheels, tyres, and other parts but uses a 'Randonneur type' frame instead (where the top tubes are parallet to the theorectically flat ground; where the top tubes are the 'effective top tubes')?
If the important geometry is the same, then sure it's a gravel bike. Call it that if you want...it isn't a big deal either way.
if a level top tube frame and a sloping top tube frame have identical HTA, STA, trail, bottom bracket drop, tire clearance, chainstay length, stack height, and reach- then yeah they are capable of doing the same things and feel free to call them the same thing.
a decent real world example-
I have a black mountain cycles gravel frame with canti brakes that uses a level top tube. The disc brake frame has almost identical geometey, but uses a sloping top tube to get a higher stack height as that's the one measurement thats different.
both are gravel frames.