View Single Post
Old 01-11-22, 06:50 AM
  #16  
fishboat
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: SE Wisconsin
Posts: 1,888

Bikes: Lemond '01 Maillot Jaune, Lemond '02 Victoire, Lemond '03 Poprad, Lemond '03 Wayzata DB conv(Poprad), '79 AcerMex Windsor Carrera Professional(pur new), '88 GT Tequesta(pur new), '01 Bianchi Grizzly, 1993 Trek 970 DB conv, Trek 8900 DB conv

Mentioned: 12 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 750 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 799 Times in 467 Posts
At least when they got started and for a good while after that, it's pure marketing. The biking crowd that buys bikes is somewhat finite in size. Gravel (or insert other current niche types..gravel probably isn't a niche any longer) bikes were the answer to the eternal marketeer's question, "How can we sell more of the same/similar thing to the same people?" ..create a need, fill it, market the heck out of it and ..boom..the gravel bike industry is born(or insert some other niche type).

On a more practical note, gravel bikes are a great "do everything" bike..like bikes sort of used to be maybe 6+ decades ago. Beyond new models, gravel bikes are also accessible from older off-road rigid mtn bikes or hybrids.. find a light-stiff older frame, build it up as a DB conversion, mount nice, fatter, cushy, fast gravel-street tires and have at it. (naturally, a successful conversion takes some careful planning)

On the newer front, this recent thread comes to mind:

https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycl...ance-bike.html
fishboat is offline  
Likes For fishboat: