IF I could only have one type forever then Gravel it just makes more sense, preferably with two wheel sets. But it would have to be 2X gears and a road compact, thanks to 12 speed this is now less of an issue because wider rage road cassettes are available that will give you 1:1 or even "sub" gearing without even having to go outside of drivetrain specs.
I don't care what it's called, but I wanted a bike with a more relaxed geometry, capacity for wider tyres, and a lot of mounts on the frame/forks. I guess that means gravel for me.
Asked my cousin for a good road bike recommendation few years ago.. He told me get a gravel bike because you can do pretty much anything with one.. road and offroad.. So I ended up getting a gravel and few sets of tires for both on and off road. Love it..
As most of things, it's always depends on application and personal choice. I recently switched completely to gravel bike because I prefer the versatility and having multiple mounting points is a plus for touring/bikepacking, also I do not have the legs to push a road bike to 80% of his capabilities 😂
Majority of roads aren't perfectly smooth so I even join road races with my gravel bike that has two chain ring and it seems just fine. I can efford only 1 bike and gravel bike is perfect for every type of riding scenario.
The gravel bike is the perfect one bike for everything! 🙌 Conor raced his gravel bike at a local crit 👉ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3w7eYTL0gPc.html
I've just taken the plunge and ordered my first gravel bike (Titanium 1x with Sram Force AXS electronic shifting). Driven by a desire to take the road (or track) less travelled, it should be quite a contrast to my carbon framed, rim brake, skinny tyred, old (but loved) Pinarello. For me, it's time to slow the pace and explore.
I use my Crockett for most of my riding . It’s ok on road but I ride so many trails now . 2 sets of wheels , race set and riding set . I have an oltre for road riding and chain gang which is super fast but roads are dangerous now . If I was to upgrade a bike I would definitely go for another cross/ gravel bike as it’s an all round all year bike, and great fun
The key difference is the geometry. Sure tire clearance or gravel frames being a bit more robust - The geometry, even between an endurance road bike and what has been coined a gravel, is 100% the difference.
I currently ride a British egale touring bike bought new in 1988. Last proper tour a year ago was 1700km fully loaded. I'm thinking gravel bike as I'm now lucky enough to live in an area where there are a lot of accessible and quiet trails canal towpaths etc. I've tried a few on the british egale but it's not confidence inspiring. My concerns are hills fully loaded with only limited gearing (3chain rings currently) or does the spread of the modern group sets negate this. I'm not young and need the easier gears. It will be a BH gravel bike because that's what my bike shop sells and expectations are that it will be chalk and cheese between the 2. Anyone on here with long-term experience with the BH gravel bikes? Thinking simplest set up no electronic changers. But dyno front hub for lights and phone charger. (Simpler in the old days with a map😂) mud gaurds 2 chain rings and aluminium frame and forks. Riding typically 1 or 2 hours à day weekend trips and à 2 week tour. Mixed quite country roads and forest tracks canal paths.
I am on a gravel bike set up for road with 46-30 chanrings, 11-34 cassette and skinny 38 mm tyres. It is really fast, but yesterday in Sørkedalen I was passed by a roadbike that was faster. That bike was a Dare with highprofile wheels and tempo-bars. There was a sound from the wheels behind me, and svoosh, the bike passed at so high speed that catching the wheel was impossible. Which prooves that roadbikes are faster, but maybe it wasnt the bike that made the difference, that bike was topped by Johannes Kulset from Uno-x.
Gravel bikes are not nearly as fast as road bikes, but they are preferable in every other respect: more comfortable, more versatile, more practical, fatter tyres, less likely to break. I use my gravel bike as an all-season road bike, with road tyres and mudguards (road tires and fenders here in 'Merica), and it works brilliantly. I wouldn't use it on a fast group ride, but otherwise it does pretty much everything you'd want a drop bar bike to do.
Prefer road bikes, but if i could only have one, might go with gravel. There's a fireroad that i ride relatively frequently, but i usually use hardtail for. A gravel bike would definitely be faster there
For me - I have a good carbon road bike, and a £600 (still decent, Trek Dual-Sport) cheaper Aluminum bike for off roading ... has flat bars, but I love the contrast in riding .. and that works for me - Did the King Alfreds Way on it this year, and it was fine - for me, Gravel Bikes are WAY WAY overpriced for what they are ... Split your money down if you need to - but got to be 2 separate bikes !!!
@@williamhayes215 You are correct on that they will fill with debris. I wasn't stating which is best, just that road pedals CAN be used, not that they SHOULD be used. I'm considering switching as my shoes are old and subject to sudden failure.
you need a bike between road and gravel? Please tell the marketing department of bike industry. I ˋm sure theyˋ re inventing a special new type of bikes.
@@Mas421 looking at a modern endurance bike is very tempting to me; 35-40mm tire clearance, relaxing geometry, some have a hidden storage or top tube mount. I mean that is good enough.
For pure versatility I went with a gravel bike. It's simple really, there's very little difference between a gravel bike and road bikes on the road, but a huge difference on more gravely, muddy paths. The gravel bike is just a better all-rounder with very little compromise.
I ride mostly on the road, but switched from a road bike to a gravel bike 3 years ago, and will never go back. For one, a lot of roads these days are chip seal, basically compressed gravel, and the ride is much smoother with a gravel bike. Two, I have a balky back, and being able to more easily adjust the tire pressures (going tubeless) on my gravel bike for the conditions makes my rides so much more comfortable. Three, when I used to ride a road bike and came upon some gravel I slowed down considerably and proceeded with great trepidation. But with my gravel bike, I actually speed up and rip through the loose surface with confidence (and fun). I'll gladly sacrifice a little speed for the comforts of a gravel bike. It's not like I was winning any races anyway.
I recently sold all my road race bikes but one and replaced them with a 2x gravel bike with a set of road wheels with 30c tires and tighter cassette, and gravel wheels with 43c tires a wider cassette. It's suiting me just fine as I ride mainly road but am older and not as flexible or fast anymore. I tried more adventure gravel frames but they seemed sluggish on the road so I went with a gravel race frame which made it a nice blend of a road race and gravel bike, which was perfect for my needs. I still keep the mechanical, rim brake road bike around for when I want to go uphill or on proper road rides with the club, but my all-road/gravel bike seems to be doing the trick these days. Plus, I have more space in the garage replacing 3 bikes with one.
Not sure if you've already done this, but it would be great to have a test where you do a longer road ride on both a road and gravel bike but with exactly the same set of (road-based) wheels and tyres on each. Same gearing too or very similar - at least a 2x. Maybe two of you doing it, one on each bike then swap half way through. See how they really compare for speed, comfort, and feel etc.
Gravel! Definitely. Mostly for the tyre clearance. For years my road bike has been a cyclocross frame with skinny tyres. In recent years I've graduated to 35mm rubber, which irons out most of the road buzz. So, a gravel bike seems to make a lot of sense.
as I mentioned in another comment, imho the best bike of both worlds (the speed of a road bike, and the gears of a MTB) is probably the Canyon Roadlite 6 (5 is fine too), specially for me. Do you know it? It has like everything I dream of in a bike (I have a Decathlon road bike and a Giant Talon 2 MTB at the moment)
@@xoseceFor longer rides, I'd miss the comfort of drop handlebars, but that Roadlite seems like a brilliant bike! And yeah, especially the gearing, great range, while still having a reasonable top end... I think the latest GRX 1x groupset is very similar, and might be more likely to be found on drop handlebars gravel bikes?
@@pphaneuf heard about the GRX but I didnt know it was a 1X system. Regarding the flat bars, my road bike has them and it came with bar ends so you can place you hand either horizontally like the flat bar or parallel to the bar, so you can ride comfortably too, but it might depend on the bike, some bikes only allow you to surround the bar with your fingers.
@@xosece The older 11-speed GRX was also available in 1x, but still had the road style cassette, so 11-40 or 11-42, the newer 12-speed version has the same MTB style cassette as the Deore on the Roadlite, so you can have a 10-51, big improvement! Really pleased to see more gearing options available...
found my perfect bike, the Canyon Roalite 6 (5 is fine too) and I hope to get it next month. It has the best of both worlds, 1X drivetrain, 46T chainring and a 10-51 cassette, and flat bars! When I found it by sheer chance I couldn't believe my eyes! (I wanted to cry) It seems to be designed by me. It almost has the speed of my 48T road bike (I can get up to 54Km/h or so, 11-34T cassete), and the easy gears of a MTB with the simplicity of 1X. It accepts 32mm slick tyres or more. Also it looks gorgeous. Plus it weighs 10,06Kg. Superb. Why don't we see more bikes like that?? Not even most gravel bikes achive that. On my road bike with a 48-34T chainring and a 11-34T cassette there are some hills on my region that I can't climb without issues, something that on my 22-30-40T 11-34T MTB with the middle 30T chainring-34T sprocket, I can climb basically almost everything
Great option. I got a 2016 Roadlite AL5 for my daugther, when it was stolen I got her a 2019 Roadlite AL8 SL Wmn in Medium. AL frame, CF fork, 12 mm axles front/rear. Great bike! Running XT 12spd mech, GX 10-50T cassett, 46T Alugear chainring, M800 rotors, M7100 brake levers, DT350/XR361 wheelset with DT AeroLite spokes, Conti GP Urban 35 mm tires, ProCraft 720 mm carbon flat bars, ProCraft PRC 60 mm stem . Was 9.39 kg stock config, now 8 kg. It's her every day commuter bike, now at 14000 km mileage.
@@and30ers thanks for the reply. As for those models you mention, I've never had a Canyon bike, but if everything goes as expected, I am going to buy the Canyon Roadlite 6 next month. Correct bike size aside, I am only undecided on whether to buy the "normal" Canyon Roadlite 6 which is my favourite colour wise or the Roadlite 6 mid-step version, which weight 200 grams less.
RU-vid is full of videos about „Gravel vs Road“. Regular videos that explain gravelbikes to us for months (years?). Why ? Isnˋt everything said about gravelbikes yet ? Repeat in continuous loop? And now, everyone can write comments again why he/she rides gravel, and why gravelbikes are the best bikes of all time. Just tiring and boring.
Another unnecessary video in which everyone explains in the comments why a gravel bike is the „one and only“? Holy church of gravel ! Could it be that we are experiencing the beginning of a religion here ?
After years of riding a Cervelo road bike have now migrated to almost always riding my titanium Wondercross gravel bike. Does everything I want and not that concerned about the extra 3-4 kmh the road bike can give me. With 12 speed, electronic shift and very wide gear range it does everything I need
I recently picked up a Cervelo Aspero, it's the perfect mix between road and gravel. Comfortable for long rides and still nimble enough for the roads. Gravel bikes all the way.
I'm 58 just looking for something that's still fun to ride smoothes our some of the vibration/judders from our modern 💩 roads. Not sure yet, either a Specialized Roubaix or a gravel bike.
"wider jumps between gears...because that's what you need on the gravel." NO. No it isn't. The wider cassette spacing is purely a side effect from the 1x fad.
Come on, gravel bikes are just a marketing idea from manufacturers to get guilible customers to buy yet another bike. If you can get suitable tyres on a road bike then job done. Likewise gearing.
This claim has never passed the smell test for me. Not because I have any faith in manufacturers to not just try and do whatever they think is going to make the most money, but first because you really can't get adequate tires (at least for the stuff I take my gravel bike on) on most road bikes, and second, because the experience of it is sufficiently different from either a road bike or a mountain bike to justify its existence. Let me put it to you this way. I ride American gravel. If I rode a road bike, even with the beefiest tires I could fit on it, out to any of my favorite trailheads, I would have an absolutely miserable time actually trying to ride those trails on it. And sure, I could ride a mountain bike out to the trailhead too, but I would really be wishing I'd thrown the bike in the car. Only on the gravel bike can you have just as much fun riding to the trailhead as you do riding the trail itself. If anything, to my mind, the gravel bike is a godsend to people like me who want to both go fast on the road and have fun on the dirt but only have the budget or space to buy and maintain one bike. And, of course, the fact that they've become wildly popular, especially in the US, can't be entirely explained by marketing, can it?
@@Mas421 Well, that's a different question, isn't it? The question was about gravel bikes, not about videos about gravel bikes. Personally, as long as someone is getting some use out of it, I don't mind especially.
As someone who has enjoyed both road and mtb, I converted to gravel two years ago. My compromise was 35s, Ekar 1x, and aggressive geometry (3T) over slack. Even though I ride mostly on road, I enjoy the versatility for trails, fire roads, rough tarmac.
@@TarmaccyclocrossNot true. I have Ekar 1x13. Lower gear sequences are close and smooth while also providing for good spacing on higher end. A delight to ride and great value. A good example of why 1x has become so popular.
@@gcn That's a tricky question because some new all-rounders like the Defy, Roubaix, Krypton, Domane, etc also have space for 38-40mm tires and can be used on light gravel, so it depends where your priorities lie. In the case of the Grail, it is not designed as an all-rounder and has a different geometry with a longer frame and shorter stem & slack head angle so I would be interested to see how it rides with a narrower tire, especially because it is still on the lighter, racier and more aero side of the gravel spectrum. I hope it could be a good endurance bike with comfort, downtube storage and mounts for a third bottle cage for the looong days in the saddle.
@@jaylumbago559 Road bike is for me unconvenient and not practical I am not a racer so OK speed is important but not priority. I have gravel bike Kellys Soot 90 - carbon frame (Guerciotti has the same) and I did as you said - changed wheels for carbon-not the lightest but rather strong FFWD Tyro 45 mm rims and tyres 32C Schwalbe pro one + TPU tubes - practically they have 30 mm on 19 mm inner rim. This combo is very universal for all roads. Last summer i used this bike even on gravel gravel roads in Croatia - I noticed small cut on tyre but no flats. Comparing to road bike yes I am still slower but not slow and I can go on every road bike is stronger more comfortable, I can use mud guards when roads are wet. In case of riding in majority on gravel I still can change wheels for original heavier stronger and wider tyres -what is impossible having road bike only.
Thanks GCN. After watching your channel (incl. GCN Tech) for 2 years and having watched ALL of the episodes from that period plus some episodes reaching 6 years back, you finally explained the difference between road and gravel bikes. Well done mates ;)
One has tires, the other has bigger tires. One has drop handlebars, the other bent drop handlebars. One is for roads, the other is for kinda roads. Both significantly overpriced.
For ages I was a road rider; then a couple of years ago got a Grail, which was better on the road than my 12 yer old titanium/campagnolo road bike! But recently I shelled out for a modern road bike, and it's fun to be able to ride on the road even faster. If I was to have only one bike, it'd be gravel with all road tyres. Better still, gravel with two wheel sets. But if money and space permit, it's awesome to have both gravel and road!
An allroad bike of course 😉 the 35mm tyre clearance of the canyon endurace series is good enough for me and the aluminum frame can handle some bikepacking.
We have a Giant Road, Mountain & Gravel bike. We prefer the Gravel as it is a very versatile and safe bike which we ride anywhere. Absolutely awesome bike.
Another difference, albeit minor & not always, is handlebars. On my road bike, I use a 400mm drop bar with no flare and on my gravel bike, I use a 420mm drop bar with a 16 degree flare on the drops. It’s a very important difference especially on hard terrain where you want maximum control of your bike, especially on bumpy descents.
No, because they get paid to do that and thatˋ s okay. Advertising, marketing and „anchoring effect“ are part of this channel. Thatˋs what you should know as a viewer.
I find drivers so impatient and aggressive lately that I mostly just want to be out on the trail or in mountains. 2x Gravel all day with gears to climb 25% grades.
Get a Gravel bike; far more versatility.....and for most people who don't race, the speed difference is negligible. And with the state of UK roads, gravel tyres are usually a better choice.
I'm considering gravel or a travel bike like Surly just because it can bear a clydesdale rider (143 KG) meaning more max load capacity :) Nice video & Thanks :)
Started my "Road" bike journey on gravel. Just sold it and now looking at an endurance bike. Keeping the mountain bike pedals though. For me when riding offroad I much prefer my mountain bike over a gravel bike. Having said that riding a mountain bike on the road absolutely sucks which is why I am looking at an endurance bike.
This made me wonder can we use gravel groupset for mountain bike? I prefer 2 or 3 chainrings, at moment looking at XX1 eagle axs as only high end mountain bike groupset I know of
I have the ALL road bike. And this is what I prefer. Tires up to 38 mm. Currently I have 34 and it is fast enough and also possible to ride on gravel. I have 2x11 SH105. Maybe only grip on gravel bike tires is advantage.
If you are into a racing of course you need a lightweight, aero and sleek tyre probably 28c But for me as a commuter and weekly long rides I'll go with the gravel slightly lightweight 35c i need an efficiency but I actually have an extra bike for commuters that I can carry stuff that is a little bit heavy with groceries or something
I have an older gravel/all-road bike that is currently my main road bike. It barely fits 28c tires, which at the time (2016) were considered big. With most high-end road bikes capable of fitting at least a 30c, that is more along the lines of what I want for the type of riding I do. I have mtn bikes for when I want to ride on dirt. It also doesn't help that gravel roads aren't close to me whereas acceptable roads are. I have to drive to really ride a lot of gravel and if I'm driving to a riding spot, I'll go mtn biking.
I'm from the lucky ones with more than 1 bike. I've got gravel bike and couple of road bikes- one modern, and one vintage. All of them are totally different when you're riding them. For smooth roads I'm using the Carbon fiber modern bike, for touring and not perfect roads, I ride the gravel bike, and for commuting and fun I'm riding the vintage bike. For mountain rough rides, I've got XC bike. Overall if I couldn't afford a bike for every case, I would choose the gravel bike for all!
As a absolute cycling fanatic a have the luxery to have both. It's extremely versatile that way. But when i had to choose one of them. Absolutly the gravel (the new grail type, not the grizzl type) with a double changring in the front, a extra wheelset for normal tyres and a double sided powermeter. In theory, you really have anything you need
Still waiting for a video comparing a road bike vs. gravel bike with the same wheels / tyres to see what the difference between the two is when you eliminate the tyre width. Would be even more interesting to compare the differences for amateurs vs pros as I suspect the differences for amateurs are very small between the two.
When I got back in to cycling this year I bought a gravel bike (although I have an old 80s Raleigh road bike that needs some TLC!) as after much research it covered the most ground for what I wanted to do. NCR routes around me go through country parks and there's also routes on old railways and canal towpaths, and want to do some bike packing so light offroad capabilities were a must for me. My gravel bike does have a road groupset though (Sora 2x9), although that is very common at the low end or the market.
I picked a gravel bike, mainly because I have only ever really rode mountain bikes, and also because I like having options. With my gravel bike, I use the same pedals as the mountain bike I own to quickly switch between them. I also tend to like the SPD cleats for MTB , as I sometimes have to walk and do things off the bike. This is particularly my use case. Also I am getting a second set of wheels with road tires if I want to use the bike in such fashion. Thank you for the video
Not really, my orbea Occam is like pushing a tank down the road when trying to move remotely quickly or uphill. The gravel bike kicks ass going from tarmac to dirt, paths through forests and fields at speed. My mountain bike is for proper trails, often accessed via car. But the gravel bikes lets me ride anywhere with a healthy pace.
loved it especially i imagine ! i just got a gravel in the summer love it but i still love the time on the road bike , sometimes it feels there is not enough time to ride both
