Originally Posted by
Fentuz
An XC hardtail with drop bar (a bite like a monster bike or kona sutra ultd) would be nice though. I prefer XC riding but I unfortunately have several miles of boring tarmac in between trails. These tarmac sections are a lot faster in the drop. On a XC bike the upright position is much slower.
and I come from MTB, I never had pure road bike so I am definitely not a road who cannot let go...
I don't get monstercross bikes either but that's a different thread.
If you think slapping a bunch of extra weight onto your bike will make it faster then go for it. I disagree with that line of thinking. If you are worried about being fast on tarmac sections then maybe you should try that road bike after all? Or just let some air our of your tires when you hit the dirt sections. There are always trade offs. When trying to build a bike that is good at everything sometimes you end up with a bike that doesn't do anything exceptionally well which seems like a waste of time and money to me.
My biggest gripe with the gravel bike is how uncomfortable fast chunky downhill sections of trail are. Sure the suspension forks would help but then I would sacrifice many of the things that I love about my gravel bike. It climbs great, super efficient due to the lack of suspension, and how light it is. Even with my future shock my Diverge weighs in at 19.5 lbs.
Sure wider tires and a suspension fork are indeed more comfortable, but certainly less efficient and in my opinion would ruin the over feel of a gravel bike. There are much better options in the MTB world these days. My current generation Stumpjumper climbs and descends better than my Diverge, and is way more comfortable on single track and even the cattle scarred trails that are local to me.