JonathanGennick 

For me, the Salsa Fargo stands as a landmark. That bike caught a lot of attention, including mine. It was a drop-bar bike for gravel and, anything really. Then came the lighter-weight Vaya for those wanting skinnier tires. Then the Warbird. Then all the brands suddenly had something.

I'm not sure when the term "gravel bike" entered the scene, but it was the right term at the right time.

Kapusta

Yes. It has a few closely relates uses, depending on context, but all referring to mountain bikes/biking.

“Trail riding” in the broadest terms means riding singletrack trail as opposed to road (be it paved, gravel or dirt), typical urban bike paths, or rails to trail routes. In other words, it simply means “mountain biking”.

As far the term “trail bike” it gets used two ways in mountain biking circles that I have seen:

Most commonly, it refers to a general purpose, middle of the road mtb. It is a bike that typically has travel and geo angles somewhere between Cross Country (XC) bikes and All Mountain (AM) / Enduro bikes. These are typically good all-purpose mtbs. Of course, just as with road bike classifications (road, gravel, touring, CX), there is no clear definition, but the term is still generally understood. It is not uncommon for companies to offer bikes in many catagories: XC, Trail, AM, Enduro, DH.

A less common usage of the term “trail bike” I see is among some circles who focus on Gravity riding (Downhill and Freeriding). I see these folks sometime use the term “trail bike” to simply mean a bike meant for pedaling up a hill, as opposed to shuttling or taking a lift to the top. So it means anything from an 100mm XC hardtail bike to a 160mm FS enduro bike.

Hope that helps.

rydabent

I was riding a "gravel" bike back in 1947 when I rode to my one room school.

Hellgate

I used to sell "Hybrid" style bikes back in the late '80's. There were flat bar and drop bar bikes. At the time Bianchi had the widest variety; from a $300 POS, all the way to a $1,200 POS. They all had steel frames, 700c wheels with 30mm up to about a 38mm tire, canti brakes. Bianchi used SunTour which were well made but had all kinds of goofy shifter configurations. Barcons worked the best. The sell was they were more rugged and comfortable than a road bike, but not as heavy as a mountain bike. Hybrids, like most bikes, were ridden a little, and then were converted to dust catchers in the garage.

Honesty, "gravel" is a silly marketing term to get the consumer to "dream" of happily riding down a gravel road into hipster bliss.

JonathanGennick 

Not silly at all. "Gravel" is evocative of something people want to do and inspires the sale and riding of more bikes. "Gravel" provides a target for optimization. One can optimize a design for gravel riding, but a hybrid is optimized for nothing. Words matter, and money is made or lost over labels.

Kapusta

Agreed.

It may be a marketing term, but the success of that term has planted a seed with a lot of folks that a road bike should be able to ride dirt/gravel roads as well as paved ones.

The result is the vast proliferation of a type of bike you did not much of 15 years ago.

Gresp15C

Perhaps a factor in the trend towards gravel bikes is the construction of "rails to trails" and other bike paths that go from paved to unpaved. It may also be fueled by an interest in finding places to ride that are not as dominated by car traffic.

ph0rk

Gravel has been big in places where that doesn't happen much for a while now.

No more silly than anything else in the business. Gravel bikes as a segment are capitalizing on a real thing. And it is the word the people out there doing that thing every day call it.

Yep, and it is great.

Garfield Cat

What is hipster bliss?

Gresp15C

The smile on my face when I ride down a gravel road.

Paul Barnard

This is the "gravel bike" I built in 2011. I didn't know it was a gravel bike, but it is. I built it to take the pounding the third world streets of New Orleans dish out, and in that capacity it is great. I have ridden 20-22 MPH pacelines with it, ridden up and over Independence Pass and have done some gravel grinding as well. I built it with mountain bike gearing on a flat bar and added drop bar ends for the multiple hand positions. When I retire, this bike will be the one a hop on and disappear with for a few weeks. She'll tour just fine.

ph0rk

Secure in the knowledge you packed enough beers to account for the foam-over from all the bumps.

ksryder

This is what I think of every time some crankypants retrogrouch says "[insert modern technology here] is just a marketing fad, why I was riding wooden wheels and rod brakes on gravel when I was 6 months old and every bit of technology beyond that is just Big Bicycle trying to force you to buy new bikes!"

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Koyote

Those are actually getting easier to find. Have a look on the 'net.

ph0rk

No kidding. My “road bike” currently has 35mm tires (Domane).