Originally Posted by
cweb99
Ok so now I’m looking at gravel bikes. Knew this wouldn’t be easy lol. Thinking of just keeping my Allez for the flats and get a gravel for long rides and hills, and occasional gravel.
Not a bad idea. Especially if your current bike is still a good road bike. The gravel bike can be used as an endurance road bike without much performance penalty if you put a set of road wheels or at least road tires on it. But then you get the lower gearing and the potential for much wider tires.
I actually went the other way around. I started with a gravel bike to get gearing that was better suited to my abilities and to have more options. Built up a set of road wheels. Then I decided I wanted a true road bike (as well as a second bike, just in case), and recently got a Trek Domane endurance bike.
Originally Posted by
PeteHski
The 2 road bikes you were considering are quite capable of handling occasional gravel. I wouldn't choose a gravel bike unless you intend to run tyres much wider than 32 mm. Otherwise there isn't much point.
32 mm are still pretty narrow by gravel standards. Though my Trek Domane endurance bike, will go up to 38 mm. Of course it all depends on just how rough the surface is. But as I mentioned earlier, you also get lower gearing with a gravel bike, which is something the OP was interested in.