This Is Gravel; This Is Not
 

Know the difference.


Gravel:
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e0e89e2891.jpg

Packed Dirt / Sand:
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8d849fa1c4.jpg

Respect The Road.



Photos: taken on the Tacoma Pipeline Trail. Whish sucks as a gravel ride. Really.

Today's ride was kind of like that for me, too, except the second picture (which you will thank me for not posting) was doggie doo, I found the Compass Steilacoomb is perfect for picking it up and depositing it on the chainstays and Di2 front derailleur. Now my bike smells of lysol.

No one builds roads or trails around here with natural gravel. It's usually some type of crushed stone in between the two pictures above. Crushed stone packs better.

Same for me. Mainly pebbles with some large pieces here and there. Some roads are art, others are garbage; it’s all in the eye of the beholder

This is hard packed dirt.....
 

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...11e4b8aea.jpeg
.....and it’s great!!! I cannot for the life of me understand why so many people have come to think riding on GRAVEL is so good- it sucks! But smooth brown pavement- love it.

Get a XC 29r and be done with it

The word gravel is marketing. Does anyone really ride actual gravel? Probably not. Super annoying but marketings gonna market.

Personally I mostly ride packed dirt. In the fall there are lots of leaves on the packed dirt. Do I tell my friends I'm going out for a ride on my "packed dirt and sometimes leaves bike"? No. I usually say CX bike because I hate the word gravel. But I will resort to "gravel bike" if I have to.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9d6835518.jpeg

looks like river rock and bank run. LOL

It has been about 3 months since the last time the definition and parameters of 'gravel' were senselessly argued over. Seems as good a time as any to drag this dead horse back out and beat it some more.

Looks like that second picture should be labeled "packed dirt, gravel, sand" to me, but it's close up and hard to really judge what is going on. But I think most people understand the subject of this forum to apply to bikes ridden on surfaces that aren't paved with concrete or asphalt. In common parlance, that's called "gravel" nowadays, although when I was growing up, we called them dirt roads.

The Pennsylvania department of natural resources started using some stuff that is mostly gravel, but has some kind of binder in it and it's just like pavement made out of dirt. I'm not super excited about it, unless they replace some of the potholed asphalt forest roads with it, which they have been doing. So far they are mostly using it on high traffic roads.

Bout to start a "packed dirt" sub-forum. Who's in!?

Sounds like 304 crushed concrete. the price is right if thats what it is and it does pack in really tight.

Don't forget "crushed stone". It's not the same as packed dirt. The fine textured, sharp edged bits interlock, and can be very solid and fast riding. It's sand sized particles, but not at all like riding on sand. The GAP trail, for instance, is built from this.

I was impressed by the smooth graded gravel roads in the NY Catskills, too. Much nicer than the midwest chunky gravel.

The trails / bike paths here in the Chicago area are all crushed limestone. It's absolutely fantastic stuff for riding on: smooth enough for a road bike, drains water well, packs tightly. There's an entire network of these around here, hundreds of miles of trails. You can connect various sections with a bit of pavement, you can also get out to the "true" gravel far roads west of the Fox River valley.

That's microgravel.

Reinforced gravel:

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9d845fbe16.png

Rectangular gravel:

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...879589a35e.jpg

You're getting ahead of the bike industries latest "packed dirt" marketing for a new off-road bike standard.

Belgian gravel;
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...dd992b3133.jpg

I always chuckle at these pics. Who designed and built this hundreds of years ago and thought 'Yep, that right there is a well designed and built road. Couldnt possibly get any smoother than this!'.
Wagon wheels breaking left and right on this.

Crushed Rock
 

Limestone specificallyhttps://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...daf7228163.png
I'll be sure to refer to my bike and usual outings as "Crushed Rock" riding.

Picture pulled from DOT website because my phone's camera is dumb and honestly this is what anything off pavement looks like in Iowa. Unless you're on a class B dirt road that is literally just dirt.

Those Belgian cobblestones were far better than getting stuck in the mud. I'm sure it was an upgrade from log roads (corduroy roads). I rode my road bike on some cobblestone in France in 2019, and I didn't enjoy it at all.

Go back to bed.

If anyone has a better name in mind for this forum, feel free to make a suggestion. Gravel is what everyone seems to have settled on maybe besides all-road. Thankfully Tom didn't name it gravel grinding or I would have been compelled to quit the forum. I don't see why cyclocross has to be in the name either.