davethelefty

I have a Canyon Endurace road bike that has quite a back story attached to it. Long story short I’m debating selling the Canyon at some point and buying another bike. I’m leaning toward a nice aluminum or even carbon gravel bike like a Specialized Diverge or Trek Checkpoint. But I might need this gravel bike to be my all-around bike, meaning I’d ride it on gravel, on multi-purpose trails, rail trails, and some road riding specifically in training for half and metric centuries.

I’m an older rider, don’t do any group or competitive riding, just enjoy time on the bike. I do ride the occasional organized half century for fun and don’t envision giving that up. I’m looking for feedback on using a general gravel bike as a substitute for an endurance road bike for rides up to 50 miles, thinking about weight, components, frame geometry, comfort, etc. I realize there’s some compromise here. Your thoughts and advice are appreciated.

NumbersGuy

I've made my gravel bike (Niner RLT 9 RDO) into my all around bike and have left my road bike mostly parked as I'm enjoying the comfort of bigger tires, lower pressures and more upright riding position. I went with GRX 2x with an Easton 47/32 crank and an 11-34 cassette, and am currently on 45c tires. I find this to be a perfect combination for all around use. Sure, it's a bit slower than my 5 lb lighter, lower and more aero road bike on 25c tires, but the difference is not tremendous under 20mph. I did a modest paced solo 88 mile road ride a couple weeks ago and did not find the gravel bike to be detrimental at all. The added comfort, especially since I ride on a lot of rough, broken pavement more than makes up for any loss of speed and I'd say makes for a more enjoyable ride. I do plan to venture onto rougher terrain as well, which is why I chose a gravel bike.

I'd say overall my bike is pretty comparable to a Diverge or Checkpoint, and that anything in this realm is a great all arounder. Depending on how rough of gravel you plan to ride on, you might also consider something like the Trek Domane which can accommodate a 38c tire (I've also seen people fit a 40 with enough clearance if you're not going to see mud. It doesn't sound like speed is your top priority, so I don't think you'd have any concerns with a gravel bike for all of your riding.

tangerineowl

I have just the one allround bike that I built up from the frame. Wanted it to be fairly light and cover a wide range of riding conditions.

Many times on just road rides I stick with the 27.5 wheelset with a 2.2" filetread.

Getting a suitable frame geo -perhaps leaning a bit toward road- would be a big consideration.

chas58

I use a Canyon Inflite as my all around bike. In the past week I've done crit style race training, Gravel race training and a CX race. I just change the wheels, and I'm good to go.

The endurance can take 32mm tires, no? That will take me a lot of places.

I think for you, the question is, #1 - does the bike fit? #2 what size tires do you need. Lord knows, in the last year or two a "gravel" bike has grown to be a bike that maxes out at 32mm to well over 50mm. Some gravel bikes are road race bikes with tire clearance, some are endurance bikes, some are drop bar mountain bikes.

Diverge and checkpoint are great bikes for what you are describing. I find something like a 32mm Conti GP5000 to be A LOT faster than a 40mm gravel tire, so I have two wheelsets. That said, there isn't much difference (rolling resistance wise) between a good gravel tire and something like a Conti 4 season or Gatorskin.

Riveting

"All-Road" is the preferred pronoun.

Gravel Rider

Bombtrack Hook. 48/32 with 11-36 cassette and 40mm tires. Love it.

Badger6

I have many bikes. I have two gravel bikes. One is excellent on road (fast) and light gravel (up to Class 2) with tires that measure out to 35mm mounted and inflated at 45psi. The other is on tires measuring 39mm inflated to 34 psi, excellent on road (not as fast, but not slow either) and works well on less improved gravel (up to Class 4 and non-technical singletrack). Both are tubeless, which IMO is a non-negotiable for gravel riding, at least for me. In my experience, gravel bikes work just as well on road as off, but just aren't as fast on a road as a "race" bike...but, they weren't designed for that either. As at least one poster here has in their sig block "Gravel bikes are road bikes that don't suck." I don't think road bikes suck, but they have a much more specific use case than gravel bikes.

I say go for it if the Endurace is not giving you the tire/geometry/confidence options you desire for the loose stuff.

rivers

I have an Orro Terra C that I use for both gravel/bikepacking and winter/wet weather road riding, as well as my commuter. I have 2 sets of wheels- a set of fulcrum rapid reds with 40mm hutchinson touregs for off-road (I'm actually testing a gravel commute on them this week), and a set of DT Swiss E1800s with 32mm pirelli cinturato velos for the road. It has a 46/30 crankset and an 11-32 cassette on both sets of wheels, with the rest of the groupset being Shimano 105. It's no slouch on the road, even with the lower gearing. I managed a 17 mph average around Loch Ness about 2 months ago. It's not as fast as my road or TT bike, but it's a lot of fun to ride, both on and off-road.

jwalther

I have a 2019 Felt Breed I use as a back up road/gravel/trainer bike. I have two sets of wheels, 700x38 slicks for road/light gravel and 650bx47 for more serious off road riding. I could easily make that my one bike for all purposes for the type of riding you describe.

tdilf

I only have one drop bar bike (Niner RLT RDO) and with two wheel sets it is my road bike and my gravel bike. Works well for me.

tigat

OP: I have both a Checkpoint and a Domane.

The Domane is a great ride in almost any conditions. I have done a 230 mile one-day road ride, century plus rides in the mountains, and a gravel race in really gnarly terrain where a number of riders were on full suspension or hard tails.

I got the Checkpoint for three reasons: 45mm tire clearance, lower gearing with the GRX di2 than the Dura-ace on the Domane, and the custom paint on the Domane, which is my forever bike.

The Checkpoint with road wheels is fast and comfortable as well.

In other words, not a lot of compromise in either direction. I think the key is having two sets of wheels.

msu2001la

A gravel bike with road tires makes for a really good all-purpose road bike. The downsides are:

1. Slightly less aero due to larger gaps around road tires and more upright seating position (position can be altered with setup changes to be more aggressive if desired)
2. Slightly heavier frames that are engineered for more rugged use and therefore may have thicker tubing
3. Geometry that prioritizes stability and smoothness may not feel as snappy and responsive as a traditional road bike
4. Out of the box spec is usually lower gearing than typical road needs, and a 1x drivetrain may not provide enough top end range. A 2x drivetrain helps solve this and likely provides plenty of top-end gearing for anything outside of sprinting/racing.

Honestly unless you are a weight weenie or planning to race crits, you'll likely find that a Diverge shod with a nice set of road tires like 28-32mm Continental GP 5000s is all the "road bike" you'll ever need. A second wheelset will allow you to quickly swap between gravel and road mode.

Badger6

I am seen, 2016 Diverge is this for me...I'd offer that the original Diverge fit this bill better than the current gen, which is no slouch either. From specialized, the new Crux might be best all-arounder in the market at this point, if you can get one (or a frame) and build it up. But, thats also a quite aggressive gravel racer that can do CX duty. Plenty of other suggestions in this thread already (Bombtrack out of Berlin is legit also).

msu2001la

The new Crux is a great example of this. I think it was Cyclingtips that described that bike as a "fat tired Aethos". It's a light and nimble drop bar bike with snappy handling that can fit 47mm tires. The only downside I see to the Crux is that all of the builds currently being sold are 1x drivetrains, which would be more limiting for road riding, so as you say - finding and buying a frameset and building it up with a 2x drivetrain would be the way to go.

The only other downside to the Crux (and this is a big one) is the insane pricing. Forget about the $12k S-Works model, but even the entry level Comp is $4200 and has Rival 1x11 mechanical. That is REALLY expensive.

Badger6

As I see it: it is the only downside. But, the reality is that the whole industry is seeing price hikes on new full builds. Oddly, component prices (if you can get them) are not climbing as fast individually, at least from what I can tell. It seems like no better time to buy a frame and parts and build it the way you want it.

Random11

A Diverge was my only bike for two years. I ride it mostly on paved roads with 700x38c tires. It rides well on the road, and also is good off-road, though it's been a challenge on some rougher trails. I now have a second bike, a Cervelo Caledonia, but still ride the Diverge a lot on pavement. If you're not racing, it really works just as well as a road bike. Not quite as nimble, but not a dog either. You say you're an older rider. I"m 71 and find the Diverge very comfortable.

Kapusta

A Gravel or Endurance Road bike with 38mm Rene Herse Barlow Pass tires handles everything from smooth pavement to gravel roads and rail trails brilliantly, IMO.

I sold my skinny tired road bike 8 years ago and have not missed it once.

Rolla

I use my gravel bike for everything and anything, including 50-milers on the road. It’s nice if you have multiple tires (or better yet, wheels), but there’s not much I won’t try with what I’ve got: a steel singlespeed with cantis and Gravel King SK 35s. IMO, a bike’s limitations are often only in your head.

Lazyass

Cyclocross bikes were the standard "all around" bikes before anyone even thought of gravel. Still the best IMO.

msu2001la

It's worth pointing out that just because your gravel bike comes with 38-42mm tires doesn't mean you can't run narrower road tires. I prefer 28-32mm for this purpose. There seems to be this belief that gravel/CX bikes somehow "need" wider tires, and even if you switch to slicks they need to still be as wide as gravel tires. Those wider slicks will work great, but you don't need to run out and buy $200 worth of Rene Herse tires to make this work. My CX bike rides great on pavement with normal 28mm road tires.

This thread is also a good reminder of how the bike industry marketing machine has built this false narrative that all serious cyclists ride road race bikes. A few years ago I came to the realization that I didn't really like the way stiff and aggressive race bikes rode, and I never had any intentions of seriously racing on the road, so I sold my road race bike. I started riding bikes with more "endurance" geometry and also just started riding my CX bike with road tires for paved rides. My weekend group ride experiences are largely unchanged. I now do the vast majority of my weekend group rides on a CX bike with 32mm tires that can handle some light gravel and are also still really fast on pavement. My "road bike" mostly lives on the trainer in my basement.

Champlaincycler

I have a Diverge and am also old (68). I ride it 75% of the time. It's weird but I didn't like it a lot at first but grew to love it, made some adjustments, stem, seat position etc. In trying to make it seem a little faster, I bought some 32's to put on in the summer and keep 38's for cooler weather when I went off road more. Turns out the Specialized Pathfinder stock tires (38's) feel a lot faster and are way more comfortable. Those are great tires and roll well. Now, I'm kind of slow and avg 15-16 mph on a good day and really no tire is going to make me faster so it's all about comfort and perception. I'll add that I have between 5-6 k miles on them, flatted only once and they seem to have life left.
I'm the same speed on the Diverge as I am on my Roubaix road bike.

chas58

Just did a gravel/MTB race practice ride, and a guy was there on an Endurance with 33mm CX tires. Seemed to work pretty well for him, although I'll say that hitting some of those pot holed sections at speed (15-20mph) - well ya really had to pick the right line to avoid them.

Yeah, I bought a Canyon as a gravel bike (Inflite). Its similar to the Crux in a lot of ways, but Crux gave up the 2x option for wider tires in the rear. Still on my bike, 40mm rear, 50mm front gives me some good tire options. And, it is a LOT cheaper.

Last time I road a diverge, my impression was that it did not accelerate very well, and I had to be carful not to hit my pedal when pedaling through turns. Stuff that not everyone really cares about.

The thing that stood out to me about the Checkpoint was that I really liked that steeper head tube angle and the agility it gave the bike.

prj71

I just mounted some 700 x 40s on my 2021 Trek Domane and did some gravel riding with it. Might be able to squeeze some 700 x 42 tires on there. Looks like I still have some room left.

Kapusta

Well, sure you don't NEED them.... but d@mn, they sure are nice.

You make a good point about not having to stick with what comes on the bike. I've had a few friends go back to using road racing bikes more because they felt the gravel bikes were kind of slow, but they were still running the (not-so-great) semi-knobbies that came stock with the bikes. One friend of mine who is a fairly mellow rider who has a killer Salsa Warbird went out and bought a new road bike, and I can't help but think that she spent $2.5K for a faster set of tires.

ericcox

I have an inflite al 6.0 that I've used for gravel and CX racing. Is yours CF of aluminum? I'm curious as to the largest size rear tire (and what brand) have you managed to run. I know the official clearance is 35, but wanted to hear others experiences. I tried a set of Vittoria Terreno 38s. While I had no issue on the front, in the rear I got a little rub on the chain stay under power. Throw in any mud, and there is just no clearance so I'm running a mullet right now with a 38 on the front and 33 on the rear.

I do find the bike runs fine as a road bike with a set of road wheels on it. I personally prefer the feel of my dedicated road bike for fast group rides / racing, but the inflite is certainly capable.

Edit to add: I should have kept reading. What brand is the 40mm rear you are running on your inflite?