genejockey 

Interesting thought. I wonder how much also has to do with the aging of the folks who can afford to buy nice bikes? I do remember Bianchi coming out with what they called the C2C geometry, which was supposed to be more upright than the Reparto Corsa geometry, and that was in 2007, I think. It seemed like an accomodation to an increase in well-heeled recreational cyclists (as opposed to racers)

When I stopped paying attention, my 25mm tires and 12-27 cassette would have been considered a sign of weakness, acknowledging my weight and lack of fitness. Imagine my surprise when I tune in again and everyone's running 28mm tires and 11-34 cassettes.

njkayaker

The tire in front here doesn't look like a 28.

https://us.ritcheylogic.com/media/ma...erd1988800.jpg

Not that long ago, the standard size for road tires was 23. Before that, it was 21. Before that, some had 20 and even 19 tires. Many of these bikes didn't really have room for wider tires. Sure, touring bikes had wider tires but not "racing" bikes.

Now, being able to fit 28s is fairly common but that wasn't the case until rather recently.

It's possible that this thin tire trend started in the '70 or '80 and before that wider tires were common for high-end racing bikes.

mstateglfr 

That mentality was, and still is, stupid. The fact that someone would want to make their gearing more difficult just to look tough is hilariously insecure.
Most cyclists dont compete, in real life or in their minds, with other cyclists so they all couldn't care less if that gearing combo was seen as weakness by a few meaningless people.

mstateglfr 

What? Did you just stream of consciously mash up 10 thoughts into 1 post?

indyfabz

Because this, to name a few reasons. I’d school the OP more if I had access to my home computer, but I’m on tour.

BTW...Splendid job by the OP getting some of you to argue with each other. That was the goal of this thread.

rosefarts

When gravel biking started looking interesting to me, I got Schwalbe Pro One's in 28. On Stan's Alpha 340s, they measure 30. If anyone is paying attention, nothing about that setup is gravel. It's fairly svelte road stuff in a wider tire. My Campy brakes managed to clear it.

On a gorgeous steel Tallerico.

Anyway that setup managed "The Crippler" and "Fountain Roubaix" along with several other self invented Southern Colorado gravel ideas. Also the exact same setup I did the Triple Bypass on, the same year.

I'm a little more relaxed now (in geometry) and sporting 38's that measure 40. It's better but let's not pretend that a good road bike will burst into flames off road.

My '86 Spectrum might actually. Kick me in the nads if I ever bomb that thing down the washboards.
​​​

njkayaker

He seemed to have said here that they were actually 25's.

https://yarchive.net/bike/tire_recommendation.html

And that doesn't contradict that 20+ years ago, very few people were using 28 or 25 mm tires on "racing" bikes and that "modern" (current) "racing" bikes allow for much wider tires than even 10 years ago.

???

genejockey 

I know, right?

mstateglfr 

If it's a race UCI riders want to participarticipate guessing its a lottery process because from what ive seen, they participate in the larger sponsored and marketed events.

Whether it's a big or small event(are they really coming to all the random small grassroots events? Eh...), if thry sign up to ride then whats the harm? They are a cyclist wanting to compete just like everyone else that is signing up.

As for the cost of events, I dont really get up in arms over that.
If you dont want to pay $100 for the experience of gravel worlds, then dont experience gravel worlds. Some find value where others dont.

vespasianus

This to me is a really important point. A lot of the great things we are seeing with road bikes such as relaxed geometries, wider tires, more compliant ride have been wonderful improvements to traditional road biking.

tomato coupe

The number of pro riders participating in gravel events probably is much closer to 5 than it is to 50 or 500.

Kapusta

I think what is happening is that more and more people have (IMO wisely) stopped caring what pro racers are using for paved road races. Because if you are not in the middle of a paved road race, why does it matter? I don't think it is the population aging. It would not surprise me if young people are the ones more open to newer style of bikes.

I think there is a parallel to this in MTB: The best thing to happen to mountain bikes was the declining influence of XC racing in the late 90s and into the early 2000's. Up until then, you had either XC bikes and DH/FR bikes, because those were what the professional disciplines used for either XC racing, DH racing, or FR videos. All of these options largely sucked for what most people were actually riding and doing on their bikes. The "All Mountain" or "Trail" Bike was born when companies realized that most people did not care what pros were winning races on.. And THAT is when mountain bikes started getting awesome (early-mid 2000s). And you know what else happened? XC racing bikes eventually started looking more like Trail/AM bikes.

I think the same thing is starting to happen with road bikes. Companies are finally starting to focus on bikes that work for uses other than being in the middle of a paved road race. IMO the best thing that can happen for road riding is people paying less attention to pro road racing. Gravel bikes are becoming popular because they simply work better for a lot of road riders. And, in a parallel to the MTB world, road racing bikes are taking some cues from them.

That is my take on it, anyway.

Rolla

^ This whole post nails it. Unless they race (or train with people who do), everyone I know who has spent any time at all on a quality gravel or all-road bike is seriously questioning why they still have a road bike. More comfort + more versatility = more fun. And that's why people ride bikes.

friday1970

Why a gravel bike?
Exploration.
(then again, I seem to take my rando bike with 38's Pacentis out more into gravel than my 1986 High Sierra drop bar conversion)

saperry42usa

How hard would do a rebuild an old 10 speed into a gravel bike? Ideally I would like find two bikes that could 24 inch wheels with wide clearance of 1.5 - 2 inch tires with frame size of 46cm or about 18in to 48cm or about 19in frames. I would probably repaint the frame and if could find new 2x5 gear sets but short of that 2x7 gears sets with the Specialized narrow drop bars. I would do fade paint jobs light lavender to light pink with light blue handlebar tape and also sky blue to nearly white with dark pink handel bar tape. If I was going more bikes then just my sister and me I would probably do them in solid colors and what ever gear sets and sizes they wanted.

vespasianus

Use an old MTB instead. See Tomac picture above. Or put drop bars on an old 29 race bike from 2010-15. And yes, Shimano road levers work fine with cheap deore disc calipers.

walnutz

Oh man, where is this? I must go there.

TheatreOfNoise

Actually, this thread has been really interesting for me as I am trying to decide on whether to buy a new road bike or get a gravel bike for the versatility and comfort. I came back to biking when I was 48 and bought a Roubaix, but I found myself not riding it much. Now, at 56, I'm interested again and tweaking things on that bike, such as saddle, shoes, etc. to get a better fit and make things more comfortable. Have been watching a lot of the Francis Cade YT videos with BikeFitJames and it's helped a lot. They do a lot of off-road and bikepacking. I'm planning on a new bike in March or April '21 and really back and forth on road bike or a gravel bike.

Not so much interested in the bickering, but on why and where you like to ride your gravel bike, have you sold your other bikes or ride the gravel bike the majority of the time, etc.

unterhausen

Gravel riding opens up a lot more area around here. I have to ride an hour to get to a mountain road that isn't slightly terrifying to ride up because of traffic if I want pavement. On gravel, there is a mountain right behind my house.

I don't know if the revival of big tire road bikes came before gravel or not, I think it did. But it doesn't really matter, we're here now and it's good.
I agree with the people that say a lot of us have stopped worrying about what the pro road racers do, it's not relevant to me and hasn't been for over 20 years. I don't really want to ride with the riders that find it relevant.

Rolla

A 24" wheel? On a road frame? For gravel? How do envisioning you fitting brakes to that?

Trust me, the color scheme will be the least of your worries.

indyfabz

Where is what? Those photos are from a couple of different places. If you’re talking about the trestles, it’s from the Hiawatha Trail.

indyfabz

The original question is inane if only because one of the answers is glaringly obvious: There are a hell of a lot of enjoyable roads to ride that are not paved, and one would think someone with the OP’s user name would get that.

indyfabz

Not to mention that plenty of gravel Forest Service roads are open to motor vehicles and often they are not short or boring.

Fun fact of the day: The US Forest Service manages the largest network of roads in the country. Last I checked, the mileage dwarfed the mileage of the Interstate Highway System by a factor of three. Let that sink in.

walnutz

Thanks! I love all the photos but that’s definitely the one that looked most interesting.

indyfabz

Coolest trail I’ve ever ridden. The eastern most tunnel is 1.66 miles and unlit.