Does anybody actually have “Gravel Roads” near them?

Crashboy · 2018-02-15T08:26:30+00:00

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.

This topic has 48 replies, 40 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 3 months ago by shufflingb.

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February 15, 2018 at 8:26 am #28138

Crashboy

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.
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February 26, 2018 at 2:46 pm #912507
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shufflingb

If we’re talking exclusively

If we’re talking exclusively about mile upon mile of “gravel” in the Bedford, UK then no. But if mud/grass and other hardcore rideable surfaces are allowed into the mix then around Bedford there is more than enough to create 100km + routes that run primarily on it, or very quiet roads e.g. https://ridewithgps.com/routes/25598985

In 2000 there was apparently an estimated 18,350 miles of bridleways, and 4,500 of byways in England alone. There is definitely an “art” to figuring out what’s going to be fun riding, depending on seasons, foliage etc. But nationally, my experience has been that there is no shortage of places where Gravel/Adventure/All-Road bikes make a lot of sense.

Telegraph Hill on the Icknield Way just outside of Luton …

February 20, 2018 at 11:25 pm #912505
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edster99

The Ridgeway from Avebury

The Ridgeway from Avebury northwards defintiely counts. Although chalky gravel.

February 20, 2018 at 10:51 pm #912503
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Johnnystorm

Yorkshire wallet wrote:
Yorkshire wallet wrote:

So the long and short of it is that gravel bikes are used on exactly the same paths/roads mountain bikes have used since their invention?

Nothing like the marketing machine to convince you need a new tool for job you could already do.

You can ride anything on any bike. Might not be the best tool for the job. My Arkose is faster off road than my CR1-SL and faster on road than my Charge 29er. All on the same ride.

February 20, 2018 at 10:17 pm #912501
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Anonymous

So the long and short of it

So the long and short of it is that gravel bikes are used on exactly the same paths/roads mountain bikes have used since their invention?

Nothing like the marketing machine to convince you need a new tool for job you could already do.

February 20, 2018 at 10:11 pm #912499
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. .

Cannock Chase. Dry sandy

Cannock Chase. Dry sandy/gravel trails. The gravel bike laps it up.

February 20, 2018 at 8:15 pm #912497
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dorkingdan

Nope – not in Surrey. Or

Nope – not in Surrey. Or certainly not enough that doesn’t have odd sections that are really mtb terrain. Downs Link is closest and a good example: most of it is do-able on a gravel/road/cx bike – but there are enough muddy stretches and bits of proper off-road that it’s so much faster and easier on a hard tail mtb or ‘proper’ CX bike (nobbly tyres).

February 19, 2018 at 9:41 pm #912495
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Crashboy

matthewn5 wrote:
Lee Valley tow path is as near as any Londoner gets to a proper gravel road.

You need to go to Oz to get proper ones… My nephew lives out there and is always posting idyllic photos to Instagram of him and his mates riding gravel… this is in typical of where he rides in the Adelaide Hills:

And this is further north, in the Flinders Ranges

Yep. That’ll do me!

February 18, 2018 at 9:55 pm #912493
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matthewn5

Lee Valley tow path is as

Lee Valley tow path is as near as any Londoner gets to a proper gravel road.

You need to go to Oz to get proper ones… My nephew lives out there and is always posting idyllic photos to Instagram of him and his mates riding gravel… this is in typical of where he rides in the Adelaide Hills:

And this is further north, in the Flinders Ranges

February 18, 2018 at 6:35 pm #912491
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Giles Pargiter

All across the hills and

All across the hills and through the forestry – miles and miles, here in Wales. Sounds as if such a bike would be good for you as well.

February 17, 2018 at 11:19 am #912489
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mattydubster

I have a full sus mtb which I

I have a full sus mtb which I save for forests and mountain trips, and I have a gravel bike which does ‘everything else’. I live in Norfolk and most of the off road stuff around here is mud. But that’s the absolute beauty of gravel bikes – you ride on tarmac, see a trail and off you go. They’re pretty comfortable on everything.

February 17, 2018 at 3:29 am #912487
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Boatsie

Having lived in an old chapel
Having lived in an old chapel in Meadows; southern hills of Adelaide, there were many flat dirt roads nearby. Jupiter mines to the North, Ki-po forest (can’t spell name properly /memory) to the south. Had a mountain bike then, gravel bikes weren’t marketed but would be very suited to the shady trails; especially kipo and the short road rides to get there.
Mate was on a light weight bmx, fun relaxing trails on any bikes. We used to complain about the road distance back then but a gravel bike could have been perfect.
Spent plenty of years living out of motels along the Hume hwy(Australias busiest road) just south of Sydney). Never rode bikes there but the many fire tracks would be perfect on a gravel bike. 100s of kms worth of hilly gravel roads. If I lived near there I would definitely consider a wide tyre road bike as my entertainment.

February 17, 2018 at 1:00 am #912485
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aegisdesign

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.

February 16, 2018 at 2:46 pm #912483
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JohnnyRemo

Any amount of forest tracks

Any amount of forest tracks and trails in Scotland including this one – once used as Ayrshire’s “Strada Bianche”

February 16, 2018 at 1:29 pm #912481
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cdean

I took a bike to Cornwall on

I took a bike to Cornwall on holiday last year and ended up on the Goss Moor path which is a wide, white gravelled path (see photo). It was great fun. I also ended up on a ridiculously muddy and rocky bridleway, which is more typical of British ‘gravel’ riding!

I’m in Bristol too and echo gonedownhill’s comment. The pill path up the other side of the river from the portway is good.

February 16, 2018 at 1:08 pm #912479
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gonedownhill

If anyone knows of any decent

If anyone knows of any decent ones in Bristol please do share. Only really Leigh woods that I know of and they definitely aren’t gravel.
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