Noonievut

I have a road bike that I ride frequently, and with its 25mm tires it's just for road rides. Uber comfortable as it's custom geometry, but limited to paved roads...which at some times of day can be a pain due to traffic, or other reasons.

I have a gravel bike with 40mm tubeless tires, that I bought for 4 riding purposes

1) I have some gravel trails by my house...about 6-8ft wide, multi-purpose, lots of ups/downs and turns, surface is very easy on the body (no rocks/roots), and I can get in a 1-2hr ride depending on number of side trails I take, paved connectors, etc. This continues to be my #1 reason for said bike.
2) As a road bike during the winter, when the roads are 'safe' and the weather not too harsh. I live outside Toronto so it does get cold, and we get snow, but surprisingly--and with a little planning--I can usually ride 4-12x per month in the winter. The bike is carbon so less worry about frame and salt (though the whole bike still gets cleaned after a cruddy ride), and the 40mm tires with light tread are good even in light snow (when you come across it, unplanned). This gets of me off the trainer and into fresh air.
3) For rail trail riding (2 separate trails not far from home). Haven't done much of this in 2021 but it's a nice option when it's windy out (they're sheltered), or traffic on roads is busy given time of day. I can ride to the trail head, or drive and make it 100% rail trail ride. Just seems so repetitive and not as fun as other riding.
4) Gravel roads...which usually become a mixed surface ride, with paved and gravel, and even a bit of rail trail. Lately the gravel roads in my area have felt harsher than normal (some re-graded), and as such I've not been enjoying them as much.

Lately I've been opting for the gravel bike even if I'm planning to ride 90% on paved roads. I have some shortcuts I take out of town that are not on roads, are fun, and the gravel bike excels. These are not gravel roads...just little paths between areas that may be gravel, but also a bit of grass/dirt, wide sidewalks that are paved like roads, etc. I don't usually ride my road bike in this way, but the gravel bike is fun for such connectors, between paved roads, and can include the gravel trails I mentioned in 1 above, and then on paved roads. I end up being on paved roads 90% of the time on such rides, but my way out of town is far safer, more scenic (closer to forests), and a good way to those country paved roads that have less car traffic. And I love that I have so many options for routes, and decide on the fly. But, sometimes I avoid the gravel on these rides and stick to the very comfortable pavement thanks to the tubeless 40mm tires. So, I'm not hardcore gravel roads, singletrack, jeep/B roads, but it's really fun and versatile...anyone else find themselves riding this way (vs. seeking out 'gravel' just because you have a gravel bike)?

pennstater

I retired my road bikes even though most of my riding is on paved roads. Only ride the gravel bike. And it lets me stitch together routes that include unpaved sections. Have two wheelsets but have found that the "road" wheelset with 700 x 32 tires will handle most of the unpaved roads and trails in the Berkshires and poor roads in NY and NJ. I haven't put on the gravel wheelset with the 700 x 37 tires in a long time.

I feel safer and more comfortable on the larger tires so I have been riding more. According to Strava my speed has actually increased over the same routes. In my opinion the only reason for a dedicated road bike would be competitive riding or high paced group rides.

Rolla

Yup! Urban dirt, wooded singletrack, and unpaved alleys have become part of nearly all of my "road" routes. It's just more fun to not be limited to pavement, and to explore new ways to get from point A to B. Just last week I found a trail behind a shopping center that goes through a dry creek bed and connects to a disc golf course, completely bypassing a nasty stretch of high-traffic roadway. I wouldn't dream of riding it on road tires, but it's a piece of cake with knobby 43s.

For me gravel bikes (especially singlespeeds) are a great way to rediscover the joy of just riding bikes, like when we were kids. I'd wager that I'll sell my road bike before the end of the year.

Noonievut

While I didn’t think of this with my original post, a gravel bike is a good urban bike. I don’t live in a busy city, thankfully, in my small urban city a gravel bike is very versatile.

DeadGrandpa

A gravel bike is the MOST versatile, for me, at least. The roads available determine the tire selection, but it's not really complicated. My Janis Renegade came with 700x35 tires, but I've mixed in 700x40, which is a touring tire, and pedaled thousands of miles. My gravel bike is just a road bike that takes wider tires and rougher roads. I tour with it, pulling heavier loads of water and food on an ExtraWheel trailer. Not perfect, but it works for me.

scubaman

Me too. I have a lovely road bike that I never ride, because it only fits 28mm tires. My drop bar gravel bike fits 48mm tires, and I use it for all the same routes I spent years riding on my road bike (and for lots of other routes for which the road bike was a poor option). High quality smooth, wide tires at ~low pressure are more comfortable, safer, tons more versatile; and they don’t slow me down or hold me back, outside of road racing or fast group rides (which I don’t do these days anyway).

jonathanf2

I got myself GravelKing slicks for my road riding, with ability to do light off-road. I have a second wheelset for the rough stuff with WTB Nanos and I think ability to swap wheelsets depending on the ride works great for me. So yeah, gravel bikes offer quite a bit of versatility.

Elvo

My gravel bike is my road bike - I ride 700x35 gravel king tubeless slicks on the road and 650x50 tubeless for gravel

Toadmeister

Simliar to above, my Gravel Bike (Jamis Renegade, steel frame) is my road bike. I have 2 wheel sets and typically ride pavement with the Schwable G-ones 38mm. Tubeless of course.

I used to have a dedicated Road bike (Trek Domane 2.0, AL frame) that shook the fillings out of my teeth with road chatter. With the narrower, high pressure tires and AL frame the road chatter was murder on my body.

Am I as fast on the road with my Gravel bike, NO. And I don’t care. Comfort and versatility of the Gravel bike is a winnner. I’m not racing.

unterhausen

I have ridden my gravel bike on the road quite a bit. I have successfully completed 200km, 300km, 400km, and 600km brevets on it. I had fenders on it for quite a while. I have always had both road and gravel wheels for it, although switching is less than ideal because of the cassette.

Helderberg

I have found that my gravel bike is my go-to bike for all of my local rides. I ride my other bike once in a while but I enjoy the gravel bike the most. I suppose that when the time comes that I am not flexible enough to ride a drop-bar bike I will be on the hybrid but until then, the gravel bike gets the majority of miles.
Frank.

Lazyass

I bought a Diverge three years ago to use on the road. I didn't like it. Yeah it had a smooth ride but overall it felt sluggish. Long, low and slow steering. Great for stability on gravel which is why the geometry is what it is but I wouldn't want to ride a gravel road even if I had them here. I sold it after 3 months.

My CX bike, on the contrary, is probably my favorite road bike. If I rode actual gravel roads I'd still take it over a gravel bike.

gear64

Gravel is just a marketing name. I call my what it is functionally, and it's specific model name All Road. Particularly suited to urban neglect.

Noonievut

My gravel bike has some CX qualities as part of its design, might be why I enjoy it more so than previous gravel bikes.

Warbird21

I traded up from a Raleigh Redux3 (flat bar) to a Salsa Warbird last month. Both had great multi-purpose tires. The Warbird has SammySlicks in 28 x 1.35 size. I ride 80% on the road, but the nearby C&O canal offers multiple jump on/off points, or all canal. The canal was graveled a few years ago and in pretty good shape. I do wonder what more road-oriented tires would perform

msu2001la

A gravel or CX bike with a set of fast-rolling 32-35mm tires like Rene Herse or GP 5000's can make for a very nice paved road ride.

I have very little interest in owning a dedicated race-oriented road bike these days. They're cool, and they definitely serve a purpose for that type of riding, but my riding is rarely fast/race-oriented packs, and the paved roads around here have lots of potholes and cracks in them. The idea of buying a new bike that is limited to 25-28mm tires seems crazy to me. On the flip side, I also do not have a need for mega-wide tires. The sweet spot for me is between 32mm-38mm.

I like the idea of "endurance" style road bikes with fatter tire clearance like the Roubaix and Synapse, but wish they went a bit further on tire clearance (currently limited to 32-33mm). Hence, my preference for CX race bikes (which also happen to be great for CX racing, which is a ton of fun and gives me training goals for the fall). They combine aggressive geometry with the ability to run up to 40mm tires for off-road adventuring, but also work well with narrower 32mm road tires for paved riding.

Motorazr

What model is your CX bike then?

Lazyass

Rides4Beer

Love riding my gravel bike on the road, it's comfortable and it gives you more options. I've done A+ group rides with it, on the gravel tires, takes some extra effort, but still fun!

Don't get me wrong, love my SSE too, but the gravel bike reminds me of being on my BMX as a kid, where you just rode your bike wherever you wanted to go without really thinking about it.

Herzlos

I pretty much just use my gravel bike on the road; being able to use joining tracks etc is nice but the comfort is the main thing.
I'm a new, heavy, rider in and the roads are in terrible condition so I started with a 700x28C road bike and found it pretty uncomfortable due to the high pressures, and promptly changed it to a 700x40C gravel bike which was noticeably better. Getting a new bike in the next month or so (hopefully) which is going to be the same 700x40C gravel bike. I don't really see the need for a dedicated road bike unless I find I need more speed or distance and the bike is holding me back.

Noonievut

Exactly!

scottfsmith

I have a 2020 Roubaix Comp and it does fine with many 35c tires. Here it is with some Terra Speed 35c, the rims have 25mm ID but the tires still have 4mm clearance. With more standard 20-21mm rims it has even more room with 35c tires. It doesn't easily fit all 35c on the 25mm ID rims though (Gravelking SS 35c are almost 39mm wide on 25mm rims!) and I expect that is why Spesh put a "33mm max" number on it. Hopefully a future model with bump this up more, the Trek Domane is officially up to 38c now.

I bought the Roubaix as a road bike but it has been a fantastic road/gravel hybrid for the kind of gravel we have around here. I do appreciate having two sets of wheels, I run 30c for the road and these 35c for gravel. The gravel wheels cost me about 1MPH on road riding compared to the road wheels.

msu2001la

Awesome! Thanks for confirmation. Do you happen to know the measured width of those 35mm Terra Speeds on your rims? I've read that they are actually slightly narrow and measure closer to 33mm. Regardless, it's cool that you can run these tires on a true road bike. This would make for a wicked fast dry weather CX race machine!

Are you running the Terra Speeds tubeless? I'm surprised there's a full 1mph difference. The Terra Speed is a really fast rolling gravel tire on paper, but I suppose it depends on many factors. I've been swapping between 32mm GP5000's and 33mm Vittoria Terreno Mix and notice a big difference between those on pavement. I like the Vittorias on gravel and hardpack, but they feel slow on the road. I've been debating trying out the Terra Speed in 35mm size to see if it feels any faster on pavement than the Vittoria.

scottfsmith

They are 37.2mm wide on the 25 internal rims, tubeless. This is after several weeks of being mounted so the initial stretching should have happened. They were less than 35mm on the 20mm ID rims, tubed.

Yes this setup is wicked fast, I love it! I have LB WR50 wheels which are a good match.

Yes I am running them tubeless. I don't know if it is a full MPH, it might be a bit less. I also ran some Vittoria Terreno Dry tubeless, they definitely drag more than the Terra Speeds. The GK SS is similar to the Terra Speed, but on my new rims I had only 2mm clearance so I decided to not run them. They had 3+mm clearance on my 20mm ID rims.

Noonievut

I didn't want to start a new thread (I'm the OP on this one) for such a question...hope no one minds.

Pretty much all of the gravel roads in my area were recently graded. Before they were almost as smooth as paved roads, with a splash of pea-sized gravel or finer here and there. Now, some of the graded roads are almost covered by this pea gravel, and others are more like peanut butter (they were literally doing them on my last ride, but I sank into crap). Generally speaking (I know experiences will vary), how long does it take the gravel to get pounded back into the ground or swished aside? They're not very comfortable for me and my bike at the moment. These roads have houses on them and get some traffic, but not much in an hour...so I'm guessing 2-3 months. Thanks