Originally Posted by
PeteHski
Okay explain to me why Look are selling the same 765 frame as both an endurance road bike (765 Optimum +) and gravel bike (765 gravel)? I realise you are going to make different component decisions, but they are basically the same bike with different tyres and gearing. Same goes for OPEN with their UP/UPPER. They can be dedicated gravel or road bikes as you please. The same can't be said for mountain bikes. The geometry is completely different.
Even my 2 endurance road bikes are virtually gravel bikes. With the right tyres they would fit right in on a gravel path.
A gravel path isn't a gravel road.
That gravel path could be soupy pea gravel that is unridable or it could be smooth hardback limestone flat railtrail. That gravel road could be sparse hero gravel or it could be freshly graded loose gravel.
Point is, a road bike might be great on some gravel roads or might be miserable on some gravel roads.
As mentioned, I set up my gravel bike to basically be a wide tire road bike because that's how I like to ride. I ride on on some pavement since most of my rides are mixed surface, and my gravel is just unpaved roads so all I want is a wider tire at lower pressure for comfort.
But there are others who use their gravel bikes on singletrack, or bikepacking, or fire roads and they all want something different from me.
An Evil Chamois Hagar has like 90mm of trail, dropper post, and 1x drivetrain- it doesn't feel anything like a road bike.
A Salsa Cutthorat has a 69 degree head tube, 445mm chainstays, fits a 29x2.4" tire, and uses a 483mm a-c fork- it doesn't feel anything like a road bike.
You can cite some examples that are basically wide tire road bikes, but that doesn't mean that is what gravel bikes are. The category is simply too wide and varied. You have a Cervelo Aspero or Scott Addict on one side and drop bar MTBs on the other side, then countless options in between.
As for why Look is selling the same frame for endurance and gravel, perhaps it's because they don't have the resources to support separate frame designs? Perhaps it's because they want their gravel bike to ride in a similar manner to their road bike? Perhaps it's because they think they will net the most money with this plan?
Who knows why they are doing it, but it just shows that gravel bikes are diverse in range.