Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

forum
road.cc bike forum

Does anybody actually have "Gravel Roads" near them?

by Crashboy
Thu, Feb 15, 2018 08:26
48

So...when every other review now refers to a bike's potential on "gravel", does anybody have any actual Gravel Roads (like the US big brand marketing teams think we need their bikes to ride on) near them?  

Near me, we only have crap tarmac and grassy/rooty/occasionally stony bridleways.

 

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.

Add new comment

48 comments

Avatar
crazy-legs | 6 years ago
0 likes

Loads.

Whole mix of wide well-surfaced old railway lines converted to leisure use, forest / moorland fireroads, farm tracks, access tracks and then a mix of bridleways some of which fall more towards the "full on MTB" end of the spectrum but plenty of which would be covered under the generic "gravel road/track" description.

I use my CX bike but it's set up with tubeless 38c G-One tyres which are definitely more gravel road tyres than CX race tyres.

Avatar
CygnusX1 | 6 years ago
1 like

Yep. Some of the roads round here are so pot-holed tha every car driving through them spits more gravel & hard-core onto the surface.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/pot...

 

Avatar
Canyon48 | 6 years ago
0 likes

I'm inbetween Bristol and the Mendips - no gravel roads here really.

There's a few gravel access roads in a couple of the woods on the Mendips, and a couple of the local cycle paths follow old railway lines, which are sort of gravelled.

Most the routes are simply too muddy or stoney to be ridden (enjoyably) on anything other than a MTB.

Avatar
alansmurphy | 6 years ago
5 likes

My 'gravel' bike occasionally has outings on old railway lines etc. It is also my commuter and winter bike with the clearance, knobbly tyres etc. all a bonus.

 

Those against them crap on about snake oil and marketing ploy but surely anyone with half a brain buys the bike that suits their needs. From the roads you describe, a gravel or hybrid bike may be a good option...

Avatar
VecchioJo | 6 years ago
2 likes

there's a few round here on the South Downs, although loose stone over hardpacked dirt might be a more apt, if longwinded description

 

that said, i'm not sure i've ever been up an actual mountain on my Mountainbike, but when someone says the word i know exactly what they mean without having to read a page long explanation about what they are, much like the way the catch-all genre descriptive term 'Gravel Bike' is used nowadays

Avatar
Crashboy replied to VecchioJo | 6 years ago
0 likes

VecchioJo wrote:

there's a few round here on the South Downs, although loose stone over hardpacked dirt might be a more apt, if longwinded description

 

that said, i'm not sure i've ever been up an actual mountain on my Mountainbike, but when someone says the word i know exactly what they mean without having to read a page long explanation about what they are, much like the way the catch-all genre descriptive term 'Gravel Bike' is used nowadays

 

Fair point regarding the mountainbike  - l live on/in Fenland so I certainly haven't been up a mountain with my MTB. The top of a speed bump is considered a viewpoint  around here.

 

Thanks for the responses  - seems we have a fair range of "gravel" definitions though - I think "loose stone over hardpacked dirt" as you say is probably closest to what I have access to.

 

I'm not a marketing hype hater as such - I don;t object to the term Gravel Bike per se, but I suppose my original question should have been  "does anyone have those long, lush looking (dry!) gravelly roads like the marketing shots  show (as opposed to the narrow, litter strewn, brown, mucky trails I'm used to) near them"! 

I stand corrected, and will shut up now and go for a ride.  smiley

Avatar
Miller replied to Crashboy | 6 years ago
0 likes

Crashboy wrote:

I'm not a marketing hype hater as such - I don;t object to the term Gravel Bike per se, but I suppose my original question should have been  "does anyone have those long, lush looking (dry!) gravelly roads like the marketing shots  show (as opposed to the narrow, litter strewn, brown, mucky trails I'm used to) near them"! 

I like the idea of gravel bikes, and have done a few CX sportives, but I do think the US experience does not bear much relation to UK. The US is huge and my impression is that there are thousands of miles of roads that are unmade but nevertheless flat and wide. Round here, Chilterns area, there is a lot of rideable off-road but it's bridleways, greenways etc covered in leaf litter, stones, chalk outcrops, ruts and mud. Can still be a lot of fun. The nearest thing I've experienced to proper gravel roads was the Dirty Reiver route through Kielder and that still included some hideously muddy and rutted sections.

Avatar
pwake replied to Miller | 6 years ago
0 likes

Miller wrote:

Crashboy wrote:

I'm not a marketing hype hater as such - I don;t object to the term Gravel Bike per se, but I suppose my original question should have been  "does anyone have those long, lush looking (dry!) gravelly roads like the marketing shots  show (as opposed to the narrow, litter strewn, brown, mucky trails I'm used to) near them"! 

I like the idea of gravel bikes, and have done a few CX sportives, but I do think the US experience does not bear much relation to UK. The US is huge and my impression is that there are thousands of miles of roads that are unmade but nevertheless flat and wide. Round here, Chilterns area, there is a lot of rideable off-road but it's bridleways, greenways etc covered in leaf litter, stones, chalk outcrops, ruts and mud. Can still be a lot of fun. The nearest thing I've experienced to proper gravel roads was the Dirty Reiver route through Kielder and that still included some hideously muddy and rutted sections.

It's an American thing; one of my local gravel roads. Although having commuted for years in the UK, I can see the need there... for different reasons.

Avatar
ConcordeCX replied to Miller | 6 years ago
0 likes

Miller wrote:

Crashboy wrote:

I'm not a marketing hype hater as such - I don;t object to the term Gravel Bike per se, but I suppose my original question should have been  "does anyone have those long, lush looking (dry!) gravelly roads like the marketing shots  show (as opposed to the narrow, litter strewn, brown, mucky trails I'm used to) near them"! 

I like the idea of gravel bikes, and have done a few CX sportives, but I do think the US experience does not bear much relation to UK. The US is huge and my impression is that there are thousands of miles of roads that are unmade but nevertheless flat and wide. Round here, Chilterns area, there is a lot of rideable off-road but it's bridleways, greenways etc covered in leaf litter, stones, chalk outcrops, ruts and mud. Can still be a lot of fun. The nearest thing I've experienced to proper gravel roads was the Dirty Reiver route through Kielder and that still included some hideously muddy and rutted sections.

the Sarsen Trail event takes place on unmetalled roads on Salisbury Plain that are normally open only to the military. They are the perhaps the closest I can think of to 'gravel' roads à l'americaine. I've done it on an audax bike with 35mm nobbly tyres, and on a CX bike with the same tyres. This year 'll do it on another audax bike with 27mm Vittoria Open Pavé tyres probably. It's a very enjoyable event. Most people do it on mountain bikes, but it's not necessary.

https://www.wiltshirewildlife.org/Pages/Events/Category/sarsen-trail-and...

 

Avatar
rkemb | 6 years ago
0 likes

There are a number around South Oxfordshire: http://cycleclassics.co.uk/white-roads-classic-sportive/

Avatar
Kendalred | 6 years ago
0 likes

I have the Grizedale forest between home and work, and this has miles of 'gravel' trails - they are a destination for MTBers, and I have ridden them on my hardtail. I wouldn't take a full blown road bike on them, but I suspect a 'gravel' bike would fair okay on them, as would a cyclocross set up. They aren't really a thoroughfare though, they just tend to criss-cross each other, although I have diverted from the tarmac road to them and bypassed a few miles of tarmac, but they certainly aren't a viable short cut. Good fun though, and nice to be in a really quiet part of the Lakes at this time of year (different after Easter I imagine).

There is an interesting article in the latest Cyclist Magazine, where three 'gravel/adventure' bikes are ridden and reviewed, and the terrain they go on seems to vary from tarmac to gravel tracks to bridleways, definitely more 'off-road' than just gravel roads.

Avatar
Dnnnnnn | 6 years ago
1 like

Most Forestry Commission plantation access roads would be "gravel roads", even if no-one called them that until recently.

Avatar
aegisdesign replied to Dnnnnnn | 6 years ago
0 likes

Duncann wrote:

Most Forestry Commission plantation access roads would be "gravel roads", even if no-one called them that until recently.

Didn't they used to be called "fire roads"?

That would make bikes for fire roads, "fire bikes". Sounds exciting. I should copyright it quickly.

Avatar
kil0ran | 6 years ago
1 like

Yup - New Forest hardpack gravel access roads which are superb to ride on. Wide, grippy, well drained, even at this time of year. Only downside is the network isn't joined up and not all of the roads are open access for cyclists. Bit of a campaing going on at the moment to change that. 

Then north of me I've got the whole of Salisbury Plain to play on - flinty, chalky, wide-packed tracks mainly. There's also a bunch of drover's roads south and west of Salisbury meaning you can almost get to Shaftesbury without using tarmac roads.

Avatar
philhubbard | 6 years ago
0 likes

We have 280km of trans pennine trails based about 5miles from us. Mostly canal paths but a lot of it has nothing else around it

Avatar
madcarew | 6 years ago
0 likes

Yep. Miles and miles of them, but I'm in NZ.... Ride my Supersix evo on them with GP4000's. Very few punctures....

Avatar
oldstrath | 6 years ago
0 likes

Plenty in the Cairngorms, Monadhliath, Great Glen areas.

Avatar
pjm60 | 6 years ago
2 likes

Every forest has a network of access tracks, I'd count that as gravel. 

Pages

Latest Comments