Spoonrobot 

If the claims allowed include gravel bikes that weren't called "Gravel Bikes" the Salsa Vaya deserves a rightful place - early 2010:

https://web.archive.org/web/20100226...om/bikes/vaya/

Very nice geometry, a tad long in the CS but good overall.

The point is, the lineage is continual and historic.

SoSmellyAir

Although I almost bought an Ibis Hakka MX, which supposedly stands for monstercross, whenever I hear that term, I picture dirt bike riders guzzling Monster Energy tall boys.

pdlamb

Non illegitimi carborundum. Some people, for an unknown reason, feel they need to respond to every thread, regardless of whether or not they have anything to contribute.

Gravel biking is what you do on a gravel bike. See also: Curious: what is a gravel bike? - Bike Forums

chaadster

As a small point of clarity, neither Tripster ATR nor any of the Kinesis UK bikes were rebadges; they were all in-house designs of Kinesis UK (by Dom Mason, now of Mason Cycles), a separate company from Kinesis in Taiwan, although Kinesis does make the Kinesis UK frames.

While Kinesis had been making tubing and OEM frames prior to the establishment of Kinesis UK, they didn’t market their own brand frames in the consumer segment. I don’t know if they flipped the Kinesis UK designs into other markets under other brands, but in any case, the Kinesis UK bikes were original designs of Kinesis UK, not rebadges.

Spoonrobot 

Where did I they were rebadges? The statement I made needed no additional clarity and now you have muddied the water adding sentiment I did not say nor intend.

chaadster

I’m sorry you feel that way, but “badging designs they were already making and selling for other companies” looks like the definition of rebadging to me.

In any case, it’s not an accurate statement, and the truth as Kinesis UK say it is that their frames were original designs, not Kinesis-badged designs they were already making for others.

You’re correct that your comment needed no additional clarity, because it was clearly wrong.

Spoonrobot 

I understand this sort of bad faith interpretational argument is your hobby; however, I have no interest in you, nor in continuing with this.

chaadster

john m flores 

Gravel bikes became a thing as road and mountain bikes became more specialized and less good at being do-it-all machines. It was started by hobbyists and small builders that recognized the growing divide and adopted by the major manufacturers, and it coincided with larger demographic trends - aging cyclists no longer able to maintain a deep, aero road position, exurban sprawl that pushed good riding roads further and further away, an increase in road fatalities spurred on be ever-larger vehicles, and the loss of good mountain bike trails.

Spoonrobot 

Bianchigirll uploaded a bunch of 80s-90s Bianchi Catalogs a couple years ago and reading through them I was struck immediately by how well the Cross-Terrain descriptions fit with my idea of "Gravel Biking".





This one more than anything hits me square. I remember riding on a busy road with cars and trucks, high on the ridgeline, a break in the trees gave view to a wonderful vista and showed a narrow dirt path descending down into the forest. I wanted so bad to hop the curb and rip down the descent but there was no way it was going to happen on my narrow high pressure tired road bike.



Gravel Biking, to me more than anything - is seeking top performance over a variety of terrain. My regular weekday ride includes 4-15 miles of gravel, 4-15 miles of singletrack, and 4-30 miles of road. I want to have a good time on all those surfaces, and with today's tires (and bikes) it's simple and easy. I have no issue with riding the extremes - unpaved roads so rough they barely resemble roads or dirt so smooth it's faster than pavement - but the heart is always going to be multi-surface, just because.

Eric F 

I say "I'm going for a gravel bike ride", simply indicating which bike I'm riding. For me, that's likely to be a ride that includes some pavement, some dirt roads, and some singletrack. In my area, actual gravel roads aren't a thing, but a gravel bike is a fun and useful machine for handling a much wider variety of terrain than I would ride with any of my other bikes.

vespasianus

Le gravel est la forme originelle du cyclisme.

Eric F 

Yes. Although a gravel bike might be slower on some surfaces or conditions than another type of bike, it's the ability to be competent on a wide variety of terrain that brings the fun. As an ex-road/MTB/CX racer, modern gravel race bikes combine everything that I love about cycling into one bike. I can ride reasonably fast on the road, and I can slam it though some moderately-demanding singletrack. I still love my road bike and MTB for when I want to be more optimized for a specific condition. I just like to ride bikes.

rdf37

It actually originated in Bedrock by an engineer for the world famous cyclist by the name of Fred (the king) Flintstone. He was needing something comfortable to ride the rocks and still fast enough to go deep into the rock valleys to avoid predator dinosaurs. He was the first to ride the first true gravel bike. It is my understanding that there is no carbon in this bike. However, they did confirm this through carbon dating!
rfd37

Kontact 

Aren't these hybrids? When hybrids came out where I lived, people bought them to ride on the gravel rails-to-trails bike paths.

Spoonrobot 

Yes, the marketing category of "Hybrid" was originally a drop-bar 700c wheel bike most likely starting in 1986 with the Bianchi Volpe - then Bruce Gordon Rock 'n' Road, Fisher Sphinx, etc. It was rapidly expanding for a few years until the 1990/91ish drop-bar crash changed the marketing category to specifically flat bar 700c wheel bikes where it has remained. There was crossover obviously - Trek and Schwinn released their flat-bar Hybrid lines in 1990.

Bianchi was attempting to capture a bigger market for the third bike (and differentiate from the changing sentiment behind the hybrid moniker) when they created their full feature Cross Terrain line in 1989 and then expanded in 1990. It didn't work and the (drop-bar) Cross Terrain models were limited the next year and completely gone by 1994 when they were replaced by flat bar bikes. I suspect there were some internal politics occurring as well - the spread in the 1995 magazine makes romantic mention of Paris-Roubaix, road riding, etc - but all the bikes are flat bar with low-end components.

Drop-bar 26" wheel bikes remained ATBs/MTBs for whatever reason. I haven't seen a reference for a drop-bar 26" Hybrid until the later-1990s after the category had already changed. I suspect as a mistake in import/design planning.

The messaging for the Volpe in 1986 was a little more convoluted:


By 1989/90 the industry had it down pretty good:



The American cycling consumer didn't seem to be interested in "Cyclocross" as a marketing term in the 80s and early 90s and apparently took a while to warm up to "Hyrbrid" as well. For as much consternation about what "Gravel" marketing category means, it's been adopted and internalized quicker than the Hybrid/Cross/Road/MTB distinctions in the 80s/90s.

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...chi-volpe.html
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ck-n-road.html
https://waterfordbikes.com/SchwinnCa...ad_Cat_26.html
https://waterfordbikes.com/SchwinnCa...Fitness_1.html

sir_crash_alot

People ask me this question more or less, typically those of an older vintage, and I've already decided the next time I'm going to say this:
Take whatever bike you want that's not a gravel bike (MTB, touring bike, endurance bike, road bike, etc...) and start coming out on gravel training rides with me. If at the end you feel like you didn't need something a bit different than what you had, then it doesn't matter what anyone else says either way, the distinctions won't matter to you, and you've answered your own question. If you do feel like you could have benefited from something different, then the distinctions might actually matter, and you've answered your own question.
Either way, you've answered your own question. So give it a shot.
See you Saturday at 6AM then?

shelbyfv

Someone must have dissed OP's bike. Otherwise I can't see this causing him so much agitation.

Gravel Rider

Gravel bikes are what people take bikepacking!!!