Please enlighten me on gravel bik
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"Gravel" biking is cyclo-cross hijacked by hipsters and businessmen and turned into a profitable fashion-trend, just as the lumber-jack and every other working-class or legitimate aesthetic, history and activity has been ripped off and boutiqued by them to create an image of credibility they can paper-mache over their empty shallow lives and selves.
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Neither boutique nor credible....
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"Gravel" biking is cyclo-cross hijacked by hipsters and businessmen and turned into a profitable fashion-trend, just as the lumber-jack and every other working-class or legitimate aesthetic, history and activity has been ripped off and boutiqued by them to create an image of credibility they can paper-mache over their empty shallow lives and selves.
For my very petite wife, I could never find a cyclocross bike that she was comfortable on, mainly because with their high BB and fairly horizonal TTs. I could never find a cross bike in the smallest sizes that didn't cause serious "interference" when she straddled it suddenly. Many new gravel bike designs eliminate this problem with lower BBs and/or more sloping TTs. Some retain cyclocross-like geometry, some do not. It's great.
That's why I mentioned going to those sites so he could compare geometry and tire clearances.
After comparing the geometries of many road bikes to many gravel bikes the geometries are almost identical enough to not even be noticeable. Only real notable difference with the gravel bikes is the ability to accept wider tires up to 45 or 50....
After comparing the geometries of many road bikes to many gravel bikes the geometries are almost identical enough to not even be noticeable. Only real notable difference with the gravel bikes is the ability to accept wider tires up to 45 or 50....
I haven’t looked closely at gravel bike geometry, but the ones I have looked at had slacker head angles, higher stack, more BB drop and longer wheelbase. Not dramatically different from endurance road bikes, but enough to notice. Tyre clearance is the major difference of course. Plus details like a third bottle mount, tougher carbon layup, angled bars, lower gearing etc.
If I was regularly riding gravel I would buy one for sure. Only question then would be the need for a dedicated road bike or just a second set of wheels. There are a few gravel bikes that I think could serve both purposes with very little compromise. I could ride gravel on my road bikes, but with more compromise.
If I was regularly riding gravel I would buy one for sure. Only question then would be the need for a dedicated road bike or just a second set of wheels. There are a few gravel bikes that I think could serve both purposes with very little compromise. I could ride gravel on my road bikes, but with more compromise.
With 650B X 51mm tires, it's just about as capable as my old full rigid MTB too.
Last edited by Camilo; 03-14-23 at 04:21 PM.
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I'm curious which bikes these are and what size tires work well for the kind of riding you do. I do the same kind of riding, and prefer about a 35mm tire for general use and a larger tire - in the 45mm range, for the rough stuff. Not mountain biking but rough unmaintained roads and paths.
Cyclocross bikes almost fit the bill - they could take 35-37 mm tires. But their designs weren't ideal for casual riders, being race-oriented by nature, and specifically rough trail (high BB) and need to schlep them around (horizontal top tube) and often short-ish chain stays, and steep-ish angles for racing handling.
There's a lot of bikes being offered nowadays that offer features that a lot of us look for: wide tires, comfortable geometry, more relaxed handling. I'm honestly wondering if your bikes are like this?
Cyclocross bikes almost fit the bill - they could take 35-37 mm tires. But their designs weren't ideal for casual riders, being race-oriented by nature, and specifically rough trail (high BB) and need to schlep them around (horizontal top tube) and often short-ish chain stays, and steep-ish angles for racing handling.
There's a lot of bikes being offered nowadays that offer features that a lot of us look for: wide tires, comfortable geometry, more relaxed handling. I'm honestly wondering if your bikes are like this?
1. Maxxis Ikon 57-559 (26x2.20), currently on my 1993 Trek 930 rigid MTB, with flat bars.
2. Continental Contact 47-559 (26x1.75), currently on my 1989 Trek 970 rigid MTB, with Albatross bars.
3. Schwalbe Little Big Ben 40-622 (700x38c), currently on my 1992 Trek 750, with drop bars. The 750 was the same exact frame as the Trek 520 touring bike. A Trek 520 would make an excellent gravel bike also, and for a while Trek sold a 520 "Grando" that they marketed specifically for gravel riding. Touring bikes in general make good gravel bikes.
4. My wife's Rockhopper (another rigid steel MTB) is rolling on Kenda Small Block 8 (26x2.10).
I'm not necessarily recommending these as the "best" gravel tires, I'm just answering your question about what we ride. They all work well for these dirt roads but I may try something else when these wear out. I do particularly like the Maxxis Ikons for loose gravel, and the Little Big Ben is a very nice tire also but it looks like it's been discontinued.
Yes, all our bikes have comfort in mind, first and foremost - we're both old. They're all lugged steel frames, and all of them have a long wheelbase and fairly relaxed geometry compared to a lot of bikes today. I may not be very fast anymore, but I can always stay on my bike as long as I want to. (True for my road bikes too.)
How these bikes compare to today's bikes is of course a matter of opinion. I could buy just about anything out there, but when I look at the new ones I just don't see anything that would be better for the riding we do. You may reach a different conclusion, or you may simply not want to build or modify a bike. There are a lot of cool "off-the-shelf" gravel/adventure/all-terrain bikes being sold today. Keep in mind that you can have more than one wheelset for the same bike.
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If someone bought a Domane last year because they wanted a performance road bike, and they went in this year because they now want a "gravel" bike, will the salesman advise them to just buy another set of wheels? Or will they try to sell them a whole new bike?
Last edited by Jeff Neese; 03-14-23 at 05:40 PM.
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In the case of Trek, the section isn't "dedicated" to gravel bikes - it's many of the same bikes listed under other categories. A Trek Domane, for example, can be found under "Performance Road", "Endurance Road", and "Gravel" bike sections. The Checkpoint also appears under Performance Road and Gravel bike sections. I didn't look at Specialized or Cannondale, etc. but I suspect there is a lot of the same going on with all of them, basically recycling and repackaging existing bikes with bigger tires and calling it a gravel bike.
If someone bought a Domane last year because they wanted a performance road bike, and they went in this year because they now want a "gravel" bike, will the salesman advise them to just buy another set of wheels? Or will they try to sell them a whole new bike?
If someone bought a Domane last year because they wanted a performance road bike, and they went in this year because they now want a "gravel" bike, will the salesman advise them to just buy another set of wheels? Or will they try to sell them a whole new bike?
The fact that they list the Domane in 3 different categories implies that you may only need 1 bike for all of them. But they don't sell the Domane in a gravel specific build. The tyres and gearing it comes with are more road focused. Likewise with the Checkpoint, they don't actually sell it in a road specific build. So you would expect an honest salesman to advise someone to buy a second wheel set if they wanted to use either of these bikes 50/50 on/off road and only wanted a single bike. A keen hobby cyclist might well buy both a Checkpoint and a Domane or one of the more race focused road bikes. I mean you appear to have at least 3 different bikes yourself.
"Domane is for cyclists who ride mostly on pavement but want the ability to grind gravel on occasion."
"Checkpoint is made for gravel aficionados who mainly ride off-pavement and want tons of capability."
Seems fair enough to me. No obvious BS there.
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"Gravel" biking is cyclo-cross hijacked by hipsters and businessmen and turned into a profitable fashion-trend, just as the lumber-jack and every other working-class or legitimate aesthetic, history and activity has been ripped off and boutiqued by them to create an image of credibility they can paper-mache over their empty shallow lives and selves.
I'm a businessman that rides a cyclo-cross bike on gravel while wearing road bike gear. Not a hipster, but I do sport a full santa style beard.
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3. Schwalbe Little Big Ben 40-622 (700x38c), currently on my 1992 Trek 750, with drop bars. The 750 was the same exact frame as the Trek 520 touring bike. A Trek 520 would make an excellent gravel bike also, and for a while Trek sold a 520 "Grando" that they marketed specifically for gravel riding. Touring bikes in general make good gravel bikes.
How these bikes compare to today's bikes is of course a matter of opinion. I could buy just about anything out there, but when I look at the new ones I just don't see anything that would be better for the riding we do. You may reach a different conclusion, or you may simply not want to build or modify a bike. There are a lot of cool "off-the-shelf" gravel/adventure/all-terrain bikes being sold today. Keep in mind that you can have more than one wheelset for the same bike.
How these bikes compare to today's bikes is of course a matter of opinion. I could buy just about anything out there, but when I look at the new ones I just don't see anything that would be better for the riding we do. You may reach a different conclusion, or you may simply not want to build or modify a bike. There are a lot of cool "off-the-shelf" gravel/adventure/all-terrain bikes being sold today. Keep in mind that you can have more than one wheelset for the same bike.
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"Gravel" biking is cyclo-cross hijacked by hipsters and businessmen and turned into a profitable fashion-trend, just as the lumber-jack and every other working-class or legitimate aesthetic, history and activity has been ripped off and boutiqued by them to create an image of credibility they can paper-mache over their empty shallow lives and selves.
Mr. @beng1 ... you speak eloquently and believably of your quest for spiritual growth .... and you need it. You are full of bitterness and anger and misdirected aggression.
I am no better. I know what it is like to try to grow .... hard work and endless failures, which hopefully lead to realizations and growth.
I try to look at my posts now and ask myself, "Is this in line with my best understanding of the best way for me to live? Is this post a fair representative of the path I claim to be trying to a walk?"
I still post bonehead sarcastic nonsense, but a lot less.
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As far as buying advice .... join or visit local Gravel-Grinder Facebook groups and ask what people ride and where and how they ride (assuming you want info for the sake of finding the best gravel bike for your own uses.) On sites I visit, people ride everything from slack-geometry rigids or slack road bikes with front shocks to sort-of road bikes with sort-of wide tires, to the most popular being semi-slack bikes with 38-47 mm tires, from what I see.
Most ride descriptions call for pretty fair distances (50-75 miles, five+ hours) and some list mild single-track while others are just gravel access roads. Some have a lot of hills, some fewer .... route descriptions and ride reports are plentiful and detailed, with lots of video, so you can see which bikes do how well on different surfaces/degrees of difficulty. As with most FB groups, if you are sincere everyone will be really friendly and help you narrow down your choices.
If you are just looking to tear down a category of bikes and riders, or "win" a thread on the internet .... go to Walmart and get a better life. But if you really want the "just-right" gravel bike for your preferred style of riding, you will get tons of help from people who learned by doing.
Most ride descriptions call for pretty fair distances (50-75 miles, five+ hours) and some list mild single-track while others are just gravel access roads. Some have a lot of hills, some fewer .... route descriptions and ride reports are plentiful and detailed, with lots of video, so you can see which bikes do how well on different surfaces/degrees of difficulty. As with most FB groups, if you are sincere everyone will be really friendly and help you narrow down your choices.
If you are just looking to tear down a category of bikes and riders, or "win" a thread on the internet .... go to Walmart and get a better life. But if you really want the "just-right" gravel bike for your preferred style of riding, you will get tons of help from people who learned by doing.
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Whatever else anyone may think of you, you are certainly the champion of incomprehensible mixed metaphors.
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A hybrid is just a low performance road bike with flat bars.
A mountain bike is just a lower performance hybrid with fat knobby tires.
(As long as we're making silly comparisons.)
A mountain bike is just a lower performance hybrid with fat knobby tires.
(As long as we're making silly comparisons.)
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#422
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rydabent tosses out the troll bait and you jump on it! 400+ posts. Congratulations rydabent! Well done.
Now if some of you posters are interested, I have a bridge in California for sale at a special discount.
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Fascinating to watch: I've been away from the forum during the winter, but it is comforting to notice that things stay the same!
rydabent tosses out the troll bait and you jump on it! 400+ posts. Congratulations rydabent! Well done.
Now if some of you posters are interested, I have a bridge in California for sale at a special discount.
rydabent tosses out the troll bait and you jump on it! 400+ posts. Congratulations rydabent! Well done.
Now if some of you posters are interested, I have a bridge in California for sale at a special discount.
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#424
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Fascinating to watch: I've been away from the forum during the winter, but it is comforting to notice that things stay the same!
rydabent tosses out the troll bait and you jump on it! 400+ posts. Congratulations rydabent! Well done.
Now if some of you posters are interested, I have a bridge in California for sale at a special discount.
rydabent tosses out the troll bait and you jump on it! 400+ posts. Congratulations rydabent! Well done.
Now if some of you posters are interested, I have a bridge in California for sale at a special discount.
rydabent 's troll threads generally end up proving exactly the opposite from what he intends. Most people actually do know why they like what they like and are happy to talk about it. I know next to nothing about gravel bikes, but I like reading about why people appreciate them, plus they take some damn nice pictures. If anyone is being a sucker here, it's the guys who thought they were going to look good by knocking people for buying gravel bikes. Invariably, they've been systematically embarrassed.
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rydabent 's troll threads generally end up proving exactly the opposite from what he intends. Most people actually do know why they like what they like and are happy to talk about it. I know next to nothing about gravel bikes, but I like reading about why people appreciate them, plus they take some damn nice pictures. If anyone is being a sucker here, it's the guys who thought they were going to look good by knocking people for buying gravel bikes. Invariably, they've been systematically embarrassed.
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