D-Fuzz

I am pondering this decision lately myself. I currently have a Unit and love the bike but would like a few extra gears. I have thought about selling it and getting either a 29er MTB or a gravel bike for an all rounder. I live on the edge of the city and have hundreds of miles of gravel roads within minutes of my house. I also like to ride my bike to work, which is all pavement. I also live a fairly short distance from some decent single track trails but nothing that requires much suspension travel. I'm not sure either a MTB or a gravel bike is able to scratch all the itches.

Option B is to put some gears on my Unit and buy a pavement bike. It would just be nice to have one tool to do it all.

BluesDawg

For me it comes down to which compromise I am most willing to live with. A 29er hardtail or rigid MTB is definitely going to have more ability to handle rougher gravel roads or trails, but is going to be less comfortable and efficient on smoother dirt roads and pavement. My current solution is a Specialized AWOL which has a comfortable relaxed drop bar position and can run up to 2.1" tires. I have been swapping between 1.95" Specialized Renegade hardpack MTB tires and Clement MSO 40mm gravel tires depending on the terrain I'll be riding. It handles the roughest gravel road sections very well and is surprisingly capable on trails. This works better for me than a 29er as I have no love at all for road riding on a MTB.

D-Fuzz

The AWOL is one of the bikes I am considering. Very comfortable geometry and I like the versatility with the different size tires. But in a way, it is like my Unit except with more gears and drop bars.

Steamtrain76

I dont find being pointed down a good slope on drop bars and brakes to be very efficient/ enjoyable...

I do very much prefer a good set of flat bars with hydraulic brakes...

Distance for me is more comfortable on a set of flats than drop bars.

And the gearing on an xc bike is far more fitting for gravel roads than what most gravel bikes are coming set up with.

I own a 2017 salsa via deore , which replaced my specialized awol... (these 2 are comperable bikes)

And I own a 2016 Norco Charger 9.0 xc bike.

I put schwalbe hurricanes on my norco xc bike. And it is my go to bike for adventuring... every time.
I rode it 135 miles in a day last summer with a full load... Olympic penninsula, Washington state. Gravel and pavement. I'd of not lasted that long on a pair of drops. (Salsa via or specialized awol)

Not to mention the comfort of a quality suspension fork with lock out. Quality ones aren't heavy as mentioned on the previous comments.

The leverege of the flats bars can help ALOT for endurance on loose gravel... not to mention getting a bike that can handle tires wider than 40's (2"and greater?) Makes a big difference on loos gravel... (not cutting in and loosing steering)

I like my salsa deore for city commuting... thats about it.

My 2 cents. Ive wanted to love the idea of gravel bikes... but ive come to accept them as excellent commuter bikes. Not the fire road single track no limits vehicle they're made out to be.

Last summer I loaded my norco xc bike, amd rode the Iron horse trail from north bemd to yakima river and back .. overnight. 120 miles of gravel in 2 days.

I lasted and enjoyed the trip... I would not have enjoyed that distance on loose gravel on my salsa or specialized gravel bikes. 40mm wheels would have been way too squirrely in that loos-
ish gravel... from easton to yakima river.

Facanh

I'm the exact opposite. Any kind of long-ish distance on flat bars = neck pain. Although I like a nice elevated position with drop bars too.

Sullalto

Other than simply preferring flats(which is a very valid reason to prefer a MTB over gravel bike), where were you in the olympics that the drop bars were a hindrance?

tdilf

I would look into the Salsa Cutthroat or a 650b drop bar bike. Maybe even the Cannondale Slate. Sorry I have no experience with any of these.

Steamtrain76

Nah... that was all pretty flat.... mild.

I live in bellingham, where theres alot of enjoyable singletrack.

Thats where I began to realize that I dont prefer being pointed downhill on drop bars that much...

One afterthought though... on that olympics trip, had I been fighting alot of headwind, maybe I'd of been desiring those drop bars...

I also really.like a set of ergo grips on my flat bar bike. What a difference on my hands.

tdilf

I'm sure there are other people with the same sort of questions on this topic - that's why we have these forums. But thanks for your keen observance.

Metieval

back in the 90's people were in the debate for a road bike vs mtb.

people bought the mtb because it could do what a road bike could do, plus more. The "plus more" for the majority of the heavy mtb's sold was to hang unused in a garage.

chas58

Yeah, good question.


I do that a lot. Some things I consider:

• What tire size do I need (how rough is the terrain)
• What size handle bars do I need (drop bars are much narrower and less precice at low speed than drop bars)
• Is pedal strike an issue on your frame?
• Is geometry appropriate? Like with handle bar size, what I want at 5-10mph may be different than what I want at 20-30mph).

I like riding my cross bike off road because I like the challenge (and have the skills). A gravel bike may have more of a problem with pedal strike though.

I like riding mountain bike on the road, because I like the challenge (LOL). I'm using '90s mountain bikes because those are fast and extreamly versatile bikes (unlike today's more specialized bikes).