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gravel bikes

I'm not really interested in the 'marketing driven' viewpoint, etc. so not trying to start a debate here.

I am more interested to know if anyone has bought one or tried one yet?

How different to a CX bike as a winter road bike?

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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9 comments

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giobox | 9 years ago
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It's not really marketing driven - in many places around the world gravel riding is a real thing! And no, it is not the same thing as a CX bike, although there are a great many similarities. The UK is a little to wet and rainy for proper gravel tracks to emerge in, but in many hot/dry climes it makes a lot of sense, much more so than a CX bike.

The Salsa Vaya someone mentioned earlier is a pretty good example of a pure gravel machine. I don't think they make a great deal of sense in the UK as gravel bikes, but as a touring/adventure bike instead I can definitely see the appeal.

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antigee | 9 years ago
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Have a Kinesis Pro6 and currently live in Melbourne Aus' and ride a lot of gravel roads - love it especially when you take a bit of singletrack and the handling is brilliant but when I replace it I'll be looking at a more relaxed geometry - more like the Vaya mentioned above or Kinesis ATR - might be my age (think I'd qualify as a super Vet or something) but after a few hours I feel like I've been beaten up so I'd try and differentiate between a ride all day bike and one that is more sporting - choice seems to be getting bigger and bigger and I think that is great - I originally built up a CX style bike so I could ride tracks and Bridleways out to the Peak - but have the drops to get out of persistent headwinds, ending up selling my road bike as never used it anymore.
Run 32mm tyres for gravel as found wider tyres a bit too slow on sealed surfaces - I notice quite a few "all day" pavé bikes appearing but can only run 28mm max and I found 28mm a bit sketchy on loose bends
Now have a 2nd set of lighter wheels with 25mm tyres to use if want to do a sportive or go out with those who have yet to be enlightened

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IanEdward | 9 years ago
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I own a 'gravel bike' in the shape of my Salsa Vaya. I bought it mostly as a winter road bike, a touring bike and (as Salsa would like me to put it) an 'adventure bike', basically one I could explore off road on also.

I started it off on a short three day tour in the rockies, loaded up pretty conventionally. I can't really comment other than it did the job perfectly, and I appreciated the heads up position (there are a LOT of spacers above the tall head tube).

I then took it on a couple of gravel rides, and I *think* I maybe see the distinction between the gravel bike and a CX bike, basically the Salsa is much longer and more stable, so it perhaps felt more confident going around loose gravelly corners.

I've done a couple of 90 mile Scottish Sportives on it with 25mm Continental GP4000s mounted to the (chunky) wheels. The bike only really feels slow on the climbs, and I never felt inclined to stay out of the saddle for long or to sprint very hard at anything. It feels great when you get it up to speed on the flats, I found myself wishing I had tri-bars to just get stretched out and motor along. My times for the two events were significantly slower than those on my road bike (5:45 for Bealach Mor vs. 5:05 on my CAAD9) but there are too many other factors to make it a fair comparison. The main point is it *felt* fast and fun, and I was certainly mixing with other road riders.

I fitted some 40c WTB Nanos the other week and went exploring the city singletrack in Edinburgh. The bike still felt great off road and I was instantly having fun. Only downside was I got carried away and started taking it into proper MTB territory and got into a bit of trouble. So basically stick to the non-technical stuff and avoid anything very steep or involving wheels off the ground!

Unfortunately it's been a couple of years since I owned a CX bike proper, let along a lightweight aluminium one (I had a Genesis Day one and a CAADX) so I can't really compare for you, but can say that the Salsa is a perfect do anything bike if you're happy to swap tyres around.

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Forester | 9 years ago
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I've got a Genesis CdA 10 which IS a gravel bike, very pleased with it despite its basic spec (Claris); ideal for local New Forest roads, stable and Strava tells me it is as quick or quicker than my Genesis Equilibrium 10 road bike (not that I'm a fast rider). Heels occasionally hit the chain stay which is quite wide for the discs. Really bought it for winter riding and the cable discs are nearly as good as the hydraulics on my Cube Hyde Alfine, which I used to get back on wheels after a major accident. Fitting a front mudguard proving a bit tricky although it has bosses and a hole through the crown.
My son points out that his old Specialized Tricross is very similar in concept, and he has a triple on his.

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twowheeltoys | 9 years ago
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Apologies for being the fifth person to answer not having actually bought or ridden a ‘gravel’ bike but I did have a good look at them before buying a CX bike. My main justifications were that a good CX frame will still have quite a short headtube, CX chainset (36/46) pefectly adequate for my needs and I did not want to be forced to use disc brakes, wanted the simplicity of cantis (also have disc mounts should I change my mind). If you are used to running 53/12 you may find cyclocross chainsets a bit easy for a lot of road riding.

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Joelsim | 9 years ago
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Couldn't agree more. I really want an On-One Pickenflick. Seems to do every job possible including going out with the kids in the park and let's face it, it's unlikely I will be descending with Nibs and Bertie.

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hollyburrage | 9 years ago
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I bought a Ridley X-bow 20 Disc All road as my 'go everywhere do everything' bike. Its basically a Ridley X-bow cross bike with colour matched mud guards and a different saddle and tyres (ones that are a bit more appropriate for cycle paths than muddy cyclocross tracks).

I've added a rack and some lights and there you go - a perfect bike for doing anything you want with. I've ridden it on road, grass, cycle path and I even did a triathlon on this the other week. Sure - its fairly heavy and I've only got Sora, but this doesn't really bother me seeing as my daily commute is pretty flat and I want nice cheap replacement parts.

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CXR94Di2 | 9 years ago
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I view cx bikes just the same as any road bike, but with many plus points and virtually no negatives. Wider tyres ,eyes for mudguards/racks. Disc brakes standard. Can be nearly as light as a road bike. Sturdier construction for taking impacts from poor surfaces.

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Reg Molehusband replied to CXR94Di2 | 9 years ago
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Having spent countless hours researching, I 've finally decided to get a CX bike in preference to a pure road bike. I only want one bike and I want it to be robust and capable of anything. I want to ride it in the winter or summer, off road and on road. The only problem now is deciding on which particular model. At the moment it's between the Specialized Crux E5 Sport Evo with disc or the new Trek Crossrip Ltd 2015. Unfortunately neither of which is currently available in my size (61").

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