Eagle eyed (no pun intended) viewers may have spotted the spec of the gravel bike was different to what I described at the start of the video - turns out the original bike was dismantled so slightly higher spec addict gravel (minus rival levers) was subbed in! - francis
I think there is missed opportunity with focusing on comparing a road bike with 2x12 and a gravel bike with 1x12. There are gravel bikes available with double rings where you can have both range and small gaps between gears. Gearing is generally lower than a pure race road bike but finally more suited to most non competitive rider, especially if most of their riding is alone or in small groups. In that case swapping wheels is easy between say, a 11-34 cassette on the gravel wheels and a 11-28 or 11-30 on the road wheels. Staying on 1x groupsets, this is also a missed opportunity of talking about Campagnolo Ekar. I am riding with a Sram Force 1 converted to 13speed EKAR thanks to the Ratio Technology kit on my gravel bike and it is really nice. I can use 10-44 cassettes on 650B gravel wheels and a 9-36 cassette on the road wheels that give me much slower gaps while having a good range. 38x9 is slightly higher than a 46x11 or 50-12 and 38x36 is similar to a 36x34 or 34x32 so very close to what most people are using with compact cranks on the road. Also pedals. Many recreative riders ride with 2 cleats pedals anyway and there is nothing that prevent anyone to put road pedals on a gravel bike. Outside of ... hum... special events like Outbound, walking your gravel bike is a very rare event. In fact, many gravel racer do use road pedals. Same with position and handlebar. This is one thing buying a gravel bike when you already own a road bike or buying/speccing a do it all bike. If you want to have a do it all road+gravel bike you may want to do compromise on one or two fronts: e.g. choosing a frame with a more roadish position (they do exist), mounting a longer stem or using a non flared handlebar. You won't suddently die in a non paved road because you are using a few non "gravel branded" components. Hey that is what we used to do for years before the industry created a new category of bikes. One thing you also forget to mention: lazyness. While having one bike is good when space is limited, I don't like "preparing my bike" before my ride. I usually stop my work day, put my cycling clothes, fill my water bottles, grab my bike, check quickly the pressure and go. Just switching a set of wheels, although not a long job, is annoying and I've done many road rides on my own on knobbly gravel tires just because I was too lazy to put my carbon road wheels out of their covers and mount them to my gravel bike. And most of the time, especially when not doing group rides, it just doesn't matter ! You reach home maybe 2 to 5 minutes later for any given distance. So what? But if you are the kind of person who attend fast group road rides, have plenty of space at home and still want to mix with gravel, by all mean use 2 bikes. It is just easier to grab the perfectly set up for purpose bike and go.
@@0dcd9530 Don't you have a problem to tune 1x13 setup in time? I'm using it similarly but on same wheels, just swapping dtswiss freehub with 10-42 cassette (XD) for more hilly rides and 10-34 for more flat rides (HG), chainring 40T. Even with same wheel, I always have to play with rear derailer to make it right after the change. The other 650b wheel due to my lazyness is not used as much, as you said, not too much work to swap but... :)
@@petertapaj4859 Yes you need some b-screw adjustment definitely. Having said that I have 3 pair of wheels, tubular road wheels with 25mm tires, 650B with knobbly wide tires and... a set of 700c fulcrum alu wheels I bough recently which sports 700x40mm slick tires. In the end the last one is the combo I use the most. Jack of all trades, master of none but I don't have to think about what kind of ride I will do and sometimes improvise a shortcut or longer route through dirt roads I didn't plan at the beginning of the ride. Caveat: I am living in south of Spain so almost never encounter mud.
@@veganpotterthevegan with a double ring yes a 11-32 is enough on the road. With a single ring you don't have enough range to tackle both low and high gear needs.
As a long term viewer of the channel, I find the content shifting more and more towards GCN and Co. All the sponsored stuff, the product reviews, quite similar. I don‘t mind but I kinda miss the days where the local cycling scene was involved, the social aspect was more present. Production value has skyrocketed and yet, I miss the spirit. Thanks for getting the vids out nontheless!
Yah, I think he has crossed the Rubicon where gonzo gives way to making a better living through sponsorships - which is understandable, and most of the good RU-vidrs have or will go through it. We just continuing enjoying the free content - thank you - and look out for the next cycle channel steam punks.
I have just bought a road wheelset to put on my gravel bike. I make the change in 6 min flat and enjoy whatever the day brings. I am super happy with the decision and encourage others to try it!!
i swear bike channels have this conversation every 6-7 months. Yes, you can use gravel bike as road bike. Why is it so hard to understand? Why is it even up for debate? I used to have three sets of wheels for my Diverge: commuting, gravel race, crit race. Done I used that bike for everything and it worked just fine...
Great discussion, I currently use a gravel bike as my primary road bike. I have 2 wheel sets, 28's on the road set up and they spend the most time on the bike, I have the 2x grx and am able to hold pace on club rides and with friends without issues. I can then pack the bike with bags etc for a bit of cycle touring or bikepacking. I never run out of gears and can climbs most gradients. For me it's the perfect and most cost effective set up. I have been riding the bike this way for over 2 years.
@juliusriedelbauch7204 each wheelset has it's own cassette, so I have 2 cassettes that are the same. I have so far never needed to index the gears when swapping between cassettes.
Completely agree. I tried road tyres on my gravel bike and transformed it completely. The only issue for me was the 1X gearing, which limited it. I think 2X gravel gearing is definitely the way to go 👍👍
Absolutely LOVE this debate and wish it could be covered more often. The whole idea of one bike to rule them all (for most people) with the popularization of disc brakes and gravel frames kind of means to me that can do about 90% of all riding with one bike and not really miss out anywhere. If you want to get into the rough stuff you'll need a mountain bike, and if you're getting into the ridiculously fast riding you'll want an aero bike. But MOST people I believe can probably have one bike with two (or even 3) sets of wheels!
@@slickfast In all seriousness, it's a tough call isn't it? If someone was starting out and asked me, I'd have to show them how much alloy gravel bike I got for $2K Australian, that would start them out really nicely. Would be a great commuter and good on group rides with faster tyres. And still able to do some moderately stupid shit with decent off road tyres. I still love my road bike though. And the MTB is soooooo much fun too.
@@richardhaselwood9478 I think this is the first time in the history of the internet but I totally agree! A modern gravel bike is a damn versatile machine, but dedicated bikes (especially mountain imo) are just another level. But again, if you told a newbie that they needed to buy two or three bikes to really get the full enjoyment out of it a LOT of people would probably say "not for me". Any better way into the sport is good in my book... this just makes their first bike that much more useful!
@@veganpotterthevegan i understand that yes 60-70 km/h is not that fast I try to say we. Or al ones shouldn’t go all out on descends so small bigger chainrings are fine
I recently switched over from a road bike to an All-Road (Ridley Grifn) with 35mm gravel tires (Schwalbe GS-ONE RS). I don't have any issues following my friends on their road bikes. I actually started off with 32mm road tires and they felt slower then the ones I have on now. I'm not regretting my decision so far. It's way more comfortable and I have more riding options. I did go for a 2x setup. I live in a quite hilly area (Tour of Flanders region), so having easy gears to go up hills like the Koppenberg is a real must.
2x gravel bike with 2 sets of wheels, same cassette on both. Allows me to use my gravel bike everywhere comfortably. And no issues keeping up on group rides.
@@Cade_Media Forgive my ignorance here, but is gear indexing typically the same within a brand between the same speeds of gravel and road cassettes (ie both 12x)? Would be annoying to have to reindex each time you swapped wheels. Would be another argument towards 2x so you could reasonably run the same cassette on both wheels.
1x is more limiting but it's still best for if you use your gravel for more off road than on road. Messing with the FD when needing to quickly get up a bank is a pain. But 2x gives more possibilities.
Yeah. I'm currently using an 11-42 cassette on my gravel/road bike, but it's just too limiting for high speeds or going steep uphill. I'm now going to try an e*thirteen 9-46 tooth cassette, once it's delivered. Otherwise I'd wish to have a 2x instead of 1x.
My first thought exactly! With 2x absolutely no problem. Something like 46/30 in the front, 11/40 in the rear and you're set in 99 % of all cases, unless you're really fast and 46/11 is too slow for you, which will not be the case for most riders. Personally I don't get the advantage of 1x at all, even for gravel.
I've been using one bike on the road and gravel for the last three years. I love it. I swap the tyres around, I'd love to have two sets of wheels but hey ho, budget etc. I have a 2x set up, with a Praxis Alba chainset with 48/32 rings on it and a 11-34 cassette on the back. I've yet to feel under geared, even on a 100km ride last year when the folk i was riding with took it up to 40kmh plus on the ride home... I use SPD pedals, and love them. It's proper comfy on longer rides. I'm not going to race anymore, so I'm not stressing. Great video lads, nice one.
Yeah I increasingly use my gravel bike w/ 30mm slicks and my gravel shoes + SPD pedals for long days / chill rides. The less aggressive position makes it more enjoyable if I'm pacing with someone slower than me, I am not on a more aggressive bike that makes me want to always be hammering it. I have 46/30 and 11-34. Sure, I could spin it out on some descents but I never feel the need nor desire to.
You nailed it. I mostly ride my old 2012 gravel bike now with 700x40mm tires and (usually) a semi-slick rear tire. I use a 48/32 rings x 11/34 cassette gearing. Amazing all the different things you can do with that set up alone. The road bike is mostly sitting on the trainer.
I'm riding a - on paper - road bike with bigger tires - 700x38 slicks. It's perfectly fine for gravel and road. 50/34 + 11/36 cassette. It handles all climbing needs easily. Triban RC520 "road", 2x Shimano 105 - the almost perfect bike. And under 1000.
They also have a different bottom bracket height, slacker head angles and longer rear stays. I have a diverge and it's a different handling bike to my emonda even if i change over the wheels to road on the diverge. You can ride a diverge or other gravel bike with a more race geo in a road group or sportive etc but the weight is that bit heavier on a gravel bike
Yes, with 2 sets of wheels. I do it. You can also use less aggressive gravel tires in 35 with a slick center section if you ride mixed surfaces. If you race then a two by set up on your gravel bike would be better. There are carbon sole mountain bike shoes from Shimano and Sidi. There are probably others as well. Gravel bikes are the Swiss Army knives of bikes.
If one can run Unbound Gravel with Schwalbe G-One RS it should be quite ok for most gravel and it rolls very very well, measures withing 3 watts per wheel with GP5000S TR 32 according to bicyclerollingresistance. I run 40 mm Tufo Speedero's on my Canyon Grizl SLX gravel bike with Reynolds ATR Carbon wheels; I've looked into getting another set of wheels for road but it in the end it just does not add up, there is very little to be gained for a non-racer.
Another open & honest review guys between the bikes & the variations of setups. As amateur cyclists, we have choices and we can mix them up with the resources we have👍
Great video Francis!! Been waiting for you guys to make a video just like this. I’m 15 and I started road riding a cheaper gravel bike last year and really got into the sport. I was noticing some difficulties and this video really helped explaining them.
Gravel bikes make really good road bikes: especially the more "race" oriented ones, put some road worthy 28-30 mm slick tires and off you go. The more relaxed geometry of other gravel bikes (adventure, etc) is more of an endurance road geometry, also perfect for road. The point is, with two sets of wheels, one for road and one for gravel and you have a do everything setup all in one bike. If you are a serious road racer, yes a dedicated road bike would be better, or if you are into gnarly MTB stuff then a mountain bike is the way to go . The hallmark of gravel is versatility and rides that encompass many surfaces. for that I'd like no other bike than a gravel bike.
Trapped in a room today waiting for jury service and watched a load of cycling content pushed to me by the algorithm. Only Cade’s videos have a constant attention to narrative and flow and keeping me engaged. Not just “random thought” smash cut to cycling footage smash cut to “another random thought”. This is something I think about a lot, I have a carbon bike with endurance geometry, is it worth spending £5k to upgrade to aero when all I do is ride with mates? Prob not.
Back in the day (I'm a mountain bike pioneer), most off-road riding was at least 25% carrying or pushing. Today's bikes and trails mean 100% pedaling (with few exceptions). Enter the gravel bike. In my neighborhood (Vermont) I once again enjoy dismounting on too-steep or too-rough sections of my favorite mountain bike trails. I enjoy the paved ride from my house to the trails, too. I often say that my gravel bike was what I WISHED my 10-speed road bike was in 1973--wide range gears, sturdy tires, strong brakes. I used my road bike for pavement, gravel and trails back then; using my "gravel" bike for all three is certainly a better experience.
Yeah, as others pointed out - if you want a bike to do double duty, you want 2x gearing - gives you the gear spacing you need on the road and the low gearing you need for gravel. Where it gets hard is if you get a super slack frame with wide bars and 1x and want to road ride and want it to feel like a road bike... at that point you probably really want a lightweight hard tail and an endurance road bike but (gasp) that would be like what we were riding in the 90's and we can't undo all the progress ;)
I bought a Merlin Malt G2P gravel bike, and a second wheelset. Gravel tyres on one set, 700x28's road tyres on the other. It's running SPD's and Tiagra 50/34 - 11/32 gear set up, and it's a great all round bike. 100% agree with this video :) Thanks guys.
Bought my Triban RC120 after watching your review. Got another pair of wheels, 650B with 40mm tubeless gravel tires, swapped out the stock crankset for one with 165mm cranks and 2 less teeth on the smaller ring (32T) as well as the cassett (x2) to another Microshift but with 6 more teeth on the largest cog (38T) and naturally a different Microshift RD with a long cage (didn't even need a Wolftooth!). Now it's got a suspension seat post and suspension stem and rides like the wind through the nearby forest roads on weekends. Weekdays I swap on the tubeless 28mm road tires and commute 45 minutes to work and home again. Gonna take it on tour from Stockholm to North Cape and down the Norwegian coast this summer, fully loaded with 15 litre rear panniers, fork bags, top tube frame bag and a Specialized Handlebar Harness. 63 litres of baggage space and the bike will probably weigh about 25kg - half of what I usually tour across continents with. But bet I'll be glad I got one lower gear on the new drivetrain!
Yep. I have a Addict 10 and use it for everything other than racing. Use it for the shops, casual rides , commuting, training whatever really. It came with 45mm tyres and when they where about done I went down to 35mm that are slightly less aggressively treaded. I have no problem keeping up with amateurs on nice bikes or even those ridiculous over powered garage e-bikes. Crucially it’s two bi, as standard and it’s fine in everything. Never run out gears. I did a bit of research before I bought it and it just made so much sense. Maybe a little compact on the long rides but equally it is slightly more comfortable because of this.
There are plenty of videos out there with the same title as this one, but this is by far the best one. For an average bike rider like myself you can do beautifully with a gravel bike and two sets of wheels! Go Francis and Jimmi!
So, in the end, Gravel bike with a front mech or road bike with extra tire clearance. For me it’s SPDs every time. But if your racing, you need specific equipment to be competitive. In my case, I’m just looking for “Proof of sweat”
Just come back from my 30 plus road ride on my Cube cross pro on gravel tyres im about 2mph slower if i chuck on my road wheelset and gp 5000 the bike is phenomenal a big tangible difference great content guys
I'm a gravel bike for everything guy and I recently went from 21mm deep, 24mm width rims with 30mm tires to 50mm deep, 32mm width rims with 30mm tires on my gravel bike road wheels and the difference is very noticeable. In the last 2 months I've beaten most of my PBs on the regular rides without making any extreme efforts. 50mm deep wheels FTW
Started riding bikes again last year (after many years off) and went with a gravel bike with road pedals and shoes. Didn't realize how much I was going to love it, (averaging 100 miles a week) and was debating whether to buy a road bike as well, or just a second set of wheels. Ended up having a second set of wheels built with identical hubs, (so the brakes are aligned) set them up for road. I run 47's on the gravel set up and 30's on the road, both tubeless. I usually average 2-3 mph faster on the same 40-50 mile courses, 17-18mph with road wheel/tire v.s. 15 mph with wider and heavier gravel set up. Still think I may get a road bike in the future, but this set up is serving me well for now. Thanks for the video!
Having ridden a lot of cycling genres, I can safely say that gravel bike is either for someone who: - can't own multiple bikes for various reasons - really, really, REALLY loves riding drop bars even on rough terrain - the gnarliest thing to ride is actually gravel other than that, just use road bike for road and a hardtail for everything else. Especially when Scott announced on Eurobike 2024 their flat bar gravel bike which is basically a fully rigid MTB. So that should tell you something
As a recreational rider, I don't mind the wider spacing. One thing that would be great would be a system that allowed the chainring to be swapped out easily. I'm looking at a few gravel bikes at the moment that have mullet drivetrains as standard, and an easily swappable chainring would increase the appeal.
Good discussion, I agree with your observations. I just rode a (hired) Canyon gravel bike across the Pyrenees (10 days riding, 800km, 18,000m vertical). I chose a gravel bike for the low gears and put road tyres on it. The bike was great. I thought lowest gear would be good for a bail out only on some sections, turns out I spent hours in it on the steeper climbs. 28mm road tyres worked well but should have get better tyres with puncture protection as I got a couple of flats in the rain. Should have done some training on hills before the ride too...
i built a gravel from a Chinese frame manufacturer ICan. cost me roughly $1000 Aussie to get it here inc bars, seat post and BB assembly. I added a sexy carbon stem from BEAST in Germany. had finished naked black matt carbon and added my own brand name Steven'S ( not forgetting the apostrophe!). I put some Roval C38s on it with Campag Ekar groupset. 40 x 9 max keeps me well and truly on the wheels of our chain gang and can hold 45+ with them. Currently have switched the tyres for Spesh 35mm gravel tyres as i take this bike away on road trips with the caravan and find the local gravel trails in Northern NSW and Queensland. I have a blast. Done gravel races on it at Gravel n Granite out 4 hours west of Gold Coast and its brilliant. the Ekar cassette allows that sweeter spot on the roads as the bottom 6 incrament in single tooth drops. The big rings are wider spaced and its here that the tougher climbs can find me out as its a 44 x 40. So i hunted around for a smaller fromnt chainring and although Campag did a 38 it was out of stock back end of Covid. I hunted around and yes! the local BMX shop cater for the same BCD as the Campag arms and so i could choose, believe it or not incramental chainring variances of 1 tooth. So 39, 38, 37, 36....... etc. not only that but the cost of these easy swap out rings was a crazy $29 each compared to Campag $180 each. i absolutely love riding this bike. in fact its going on the back of my Ute now as we go away for the weekend again with the van to Lennox heads and i get to ride the coastal trail which is lumpy and look out to see the whales migrating north for the winter. Love your channel and content, your candid honesty is what stands out to me as an ex Pat northerner from Cheshire!! Cheers Steve G
I use the same bike + tires set up, but with the stock wheels and groupset 2x11. really love the bike + tires, i can still be in any group ride i like, doesnt hold me back whatsoever.
Spaced out cassettes to me seem a great training tool to become less dependent on a specific cadence. I came to a point in my MTB races (little elevation, tight singletrack) (9spd 12-27 and 12-25) that I shifted over a 1000 times per hour. Drove people around me nuts. When I bought a singlespeed bike, I found that the legs can indeed handle speed changes just fine. In many case, I was faster singlespeed than "using the gears". My legs got way better when I trained and at times raced singlespeed. It feels so powerful when you can use your les from a 60 rpm situation all the way up to 130 rpm and the people on shifter bikes just can't seem to follow the acceleration or pedal precision on singletrack. I now do my flat road rides on a 9spd 11-34 cassette and it's just fine. I deal with it. Used to have a frankencassette bike that was like 13-16-20-25-33. Makes it singlespeed for 5 scenarios. Within a scenario, there was not shifting. Headwind 20, no wind 16, tailwind or downhill 13. Mind hill 25, freak hill 33. Legs took the smaller speed differences. A really peaceful riding experience. Too many gears can hold a rider back, because legs are lazy so they will take a shift when there is one. Doesn't make it faster or a good way to train. In certian situations, I'm sure it can be. But then, I won races on a singlespeed against riders I'd not automatically beat with gears. Some of the best singletrack laps I've done were singlespeed, gears WOULD have held me back.
Great video diving into the nuance between a gravel bike and a road bike. So many people think "Oh I'll just slap road tyres on it"... not exactly, your gears wont be optimal. The observations regarding the frame are also worth considering
One advantage for gravel shoes when commuting, is that's it generally easier to unclip. Really practical when you have to stop on red lights, etc. Been riding my SuperX to and from work, and it does wonders in the urban city terrain (tram tracks, traffic, intersections, and the bunch)
my experience is the exact opposite, I really miss my spd sl road cleats & shoes, it's really hard to get out of SPD and to find the spot to click in (but for that the reason is that I have hybrid pedals)
My gravel bike does it all. Definitely recommend 2 sets of wheels, 1 for pure road, 1 for more uneven surfaces. I spent ages looking at gearing when I bought mine and went 2x in the end, it gives me big gears for fast roads and little gears for the steep stuff… sure 1x is neater, simpler, lighter etc but if I was buying again I’d make the same choice again. I have no need for a pure road bike… …but I went and bought one anyway because it’s sleek and fast and you can’t have too many bikes 😂 Seriously though, I’m lucky to be in a position where I can have both, but if I could only have one bike, it would be the gravel bike
I have one frame I use for both, and two sets of wheels. I ride the Ribble CGR SL, I have the mavic Aksium for gravel, and a set of 50mm carbon wheels for the road. The frame is great for both in my opinion, and it saved me a few thousand on a second bike. Loved this video. Thanks
100% agree with you guys! Since I got the CruX, my road bike has been laying, disassembled, in a corner of my room 🤣 I then upgraded to 3t Exploro racemax with a 2x electronic, and it’s basically all i ride, mostly mixed surface rides. Great vid 🤙
Great vid! I've been doing this for a year. Use a Cannondale TopStone Carbon 2 with Corsa 28mm tires and a 2x11 GRX 810 gears. Perfect endurance bike, just a bit more stable and better climbing gearing for us non-100kph riders :) Having said that, there are gravel bikes out there that are much closer to MTB territory, and the conversion might not be as effective.
I have a fully rigid xc bike that I use on the trails! Started off as an aggressive slack hard tail, but I found some mtb carbon forks cheap and decided to have a play! It’s now just under 8kg and shreds! I’m somewhat tempted to put drop bars on it.. just not sure if it will be way too long for me then
I ride (commute/train) a 2010 Giant TCX Aluminum gravel bike. Wheels are Dt swiss CSV RA 2.0 (entry level) with Maxxis Receptor (Slick) tires. The difference in speed with my Scott CR1 roadbike is very minimal I'd say.....Gravel bikes are the best all rounders
Thanks for going through this comparison. I use my gravel bike to commute during the week and then take it on dirt on the weekend. I've also used it for bunch rides with slicks, and it was fine, even with the 1x 42T front chainring and 11-46 cassette.
This video just reinforces my idea im pursuing right now. I'm refitting my old trekking cross with dropbars, rigid fork and a 2x11 system with a 34-50 crank system and got myself 2 sets of wheels - on with 11-36 and roady, still comfortably wide tyres and one with an 11-46 and more off-road, mountainbikish tyres 😊
I use my Grizl AL7 as both my gravel and my 'winter bike' - I have a separate pair of wheels and tyres for the winter bike set up (35mm slicks) and gravel (45mm panaracer SK+) -> I'm still able to beat most of my riding group on my winter bike :D
I ride my gravel bike on the road it has 40mm scwalbe G-one all-round they roll really nicely on the roads and the bike is much more relaxed geometry than my road bike.
I've have two wheelsets for exactly this reason. One I use for my weekly commutes, the second for the long rides, gravel, bike packing. The only issue I have is my chain is a little slacker on the road setup, but I can live with that.
Great video, and I completely agree. I have two bikes, a road bike and a gravel/commuter bike. And the only difference between commuter mode and gravel mode is the tires I put on it. The most important thing to me is comfort and fun, regardless of the bike I'm riding. My road bike is the Scott Solace, and the commuter/gravel bike is the Cannondale Quick 3. Neither bike wins any awards for aero positioning, but both are really comfortable and fun to ride.
My aluminum Gravel frame is used more on the road than on Gravel. Maybe it's comforting to know that you can go Gravel just by changing your tires or reducing the ratio a little! For collection reasons or for off road cycle travel projects, sometimes I think about building a Monster Gravel, also in aluminum
Whoa! I went road “social riding” with a group yesterday morning in Austin hilly neighborhood & i could not keep up with my Specialized gravel bike by the 4th big hill. Thanks for the great explanation video. ❤
a very fair review. in addition to my 10 year old road bike i have a newish gravel bike with 2 sets of wheels. The gravel bike is fun on the road - even with the gravel wheels. The front is a bit high on the road - so a bit more time in the drops (odd how the same position doesn't feel high even on nice gravel), and i think the long wheelbase makes it feel more sluggish than it really is. My gravel bike is a lot more sturdily constructed than my road bike. The carbon used isn't as nice and it feels a bit overbuilt for the road and lacks a bit of compliance (but probably more robust if impacted or i crash it) - but that could be just the particular type of bike i have.
Yeah I noticed that too, my gravel bike is way less comfortable on road (even with big tyres) than my road bike. It doesn't cope with small bumps/uneven roads vibrations well at all.
I am 46 years old and I am 4 kilos overweight. I live in an area with many steep inclines, and I believe I have found the perfect kit: the Open U.P. with a SRAM 46/33 10/36 gear ratio. I have two sets of wheels, one for road cycling (700/28) and another for gravel (650b/47), and I have no issues whatsoever. There are no jarring gear shifts, and it doesn't matter which uphill I tackle; I don't need any additional gearing. If I ever do bike packing in the future, all I need to do is buy a new chain and a set of chainrings with a 43/30 combination, and I know it will be more than enough.
I bought a Trek carbon gravel bike 2 years ago. My Specialized road bike has sat in the garage ever since. I love it on gravel and it performs incredible on the road, mostly because of the light weight, 19.5 lbs. It is fast enough on the road, more comfortable and safer. I am 70 and am tired of getting beat up on the road with the fragile design of a road bike. Besides I am not interested in speed anymore. I think the journey is more important than getting to the destination quickly.
I've got 2 wheelsets for my 3T Exploro, on Force AXS 2x. I've raced it on the road (with 700c/30) and it works well enough, the only downsides to it really is that the gearing that works so well for gravel (with a top gear of 46x10) leaves you a little spun out when the sprint trains wind things up. Basically it's my go-to bike for group rides, for gravel, for all weather- the only time I reach for my race bike these days is to go to actual races with it
I’m running the stock Maxis “Receptors” on my Kona Rove (with 650b rims) and I rode in a century. Very comfortable bike and no noticeable pain other than being very tired.
I mostly ride gravel, but I have a second set of wheels with 700X38 slicks for days that I spend only on pavement. With slicks the gravel bike rides much like a touring bike.
I got my first Space Chicken gravel bike and was blown away so sold my TCR and bought road wheels. It was great but 1x in club road rides was tricky. So bought a Giant Defy and got gravel wheels and tyres. Better but max 35mm tyres was a bit limiting off road. So now back to specific Giant Revolt gravel bike for gravel and Defy road for road. Though the Revolt with 2x would be perfectly fine for road with 32/48*11-34
I own a Trek gravel bike, Checkpoint SL5 2x 11. Curiously I asked this question at a Trek bike store in Florida: "What do you think of my purchasing a set of road bike wheels, and tires with the same cassette to swap out as needed?" I expected a hearty "Yes, you can (come right this way)" or "No, but I have this wonderful road bike that would fit you perfectly." Well I was half right. Two different people said "Not a good idea," and left it at that." No sales pitch, just "Enjoy your Checkpoint." OK they didn't try to take advantage of my willingness to believe them and buy, so chalk one up for honesty, but are they right? Maybe for the kind of riding I do, (In Florida mostly paved roads; up north a lot more off road) what I have is just fine and I should spend my money on other bike related things. Or maybe it's worth it.
Of course. I have a cyclocross super commuter as a road bike. I only had to replace the cyclocross tires with anti-puncture protection road tires on the stock wheels. Although, I did go a little wider from 32mm -35mm.
I've done this very thing. A 54cm Specialized Diverge with road tires and a 38cm handlebar is my road bike. I'm no racer. Middle aged guy who enjoys riding at a recreational pace - 20-25km/h.
I run my gravel bike with 650b x 47 WTB Horizon tyres as a daily commute and bikepacking rig, I've even been known to put a set of Maxxis knobbly tyres on it and take it out into the wilds !
I bought a gravel bike to be used as a road bike...Ribbgle CGR SL with 650b all road wheels and WTB gravel tyres, plus 2x Force eTap. I also then got some Hyper wheels, the 45's with GP%K's perfect
💯! My commuter is a gravel bike with smooth(er) tires, fenders, and a rack, and it's kinda become my Swiss Army bike. It's the go-to utility steed for anything short of a century or a tour.
I use a cyclocross bike as my do all bike. The thing it has that makes it great, yet totally uncool, is a Tiagra triple chainring setup. I think Kona only did that for 1 year. The salesman tried to talk me out of buying it, telling me that the new year model was in with a compact double chainring. With that setup and 35mm wide tires it does it all for me, climbing, road, gravel, single track and going fast. I don't like the idea of extra wheels as I seldom plan where my rides will take me and don't like fussing with it. All that being said, I still have a mountain bike. While one bike can do it all, it's not going to do it all well.
From someone thats had major spinal surgery in 2011.. Gravel bikes help to achieve me ro ride at speeds of mates with road bikes without the aggressive geometry of a road bike.. It also allows me to ride trails that I did when mountain biking without the urge to do silly things like jump and catch big air. Prob why I had spinal surgery in the first place!
I have a road and a gravel bike (both geared) as well as a single-speed gravel bike for my commuting. I keep the single-speed tyres to a small width and am thinking of trying some 30 or 32mm slicker tyres. If I were to have use just one bike for leisure riding, it would definitely be a disc-brake gravel bike with two sets of wheels, but I’d also make sure it was a 2-bar front chain-ring because I’d already thought about the wide gaps in the gear ratios that Jimmy spoke about. I’m thinking of treating myself to a decent quality bike for my 50th, and the plan is what I’ve described above on something with Di2 gearing, which I’ve never had and the others can just sit there for winter riding or during maintenance.
For me it is the vice-versa, I slightly transformed my road bike into a gravel bike. I put on 38mm specialized trigger pro tyres and I ride paved roads mostly but when I encounter gravel I am ready for it and it feels super nice. Not to mention terrible road conditions where I live. I like the gear ratio of road bikes better and there are several other benefits. I think I have struck the sweet spot for myself. Wouldnt changes it for anything.
I do the opposite and have a road bike that occasionally rides gravel. The same frameset is sold as both a road and a gravel bike, but I have the road version with 2x chainset etc. That doesn't stop me from putting wider knobbly tyres on occasionally and hitting the local gravel trails.
A great video! Newly subscribed, as I am hopeful this week buying my first bike! Cycling only roads but as a 7mile commute to work. People have been saying go gravel with road tyres....and this is exactly the video i needed!!
I use spds on a road shoe for my road bike, I also have a MTB bike with a similar pedal setup. The gravel/mtb shoe was too flexable for me for the road. Works great now...and if needed, I can hop on any bike with any shoe...same setup for my wife...
I'm an older rider... fairly casual riding, and went from a road bike to the Trek Checkpoint SL5 and I've found more comfort and a smoother ride than I imagined possible. On the road I would not swap my 40mm tires at 40psi.... the ride is just too smooth to give up. A few days ago my buddy and I were coasting down a long hill, with him on road bike/28mm tires at 80psi and I was pulling away from him. No, I don't need a spare set of wheels!
Thanks for this video. Good timing for me, as I’m just about to order a second set of wheels for my gravel bike. I was swapping tyres on the one set of rims, but that means no tubeless (or a lot of mess). I have GRX 2x at the moment and I think I’ll probably stick with the same gearing for now (46/30 front, 11-34 rear) - it’s very hilly where I live so I spend like 80% of my time going uphill and the descents are pure recovery time! Maybe with the road wheelset I’ll feel like I’m hitting that top gear limit more often. I’ll wait and see.
I have a cannondale touring bike I bought new in 2009. I also have a guru road bike which I road 90% of the time using the cannondale as my winter bike. I now ride my Cannondale 90% of the time as I am able to use it as a gravel bike and now prefer to ride trails.
first time first :D And yes this is kinda my setup now, I have one set of wheel with knobbly tires and another set of carbon wheels with slick tires. They serve me really well with my casual gravel ride and most of training in road wheels set
Use my Ekar equipped bike with some fat 35mm gp5k for everything now, never once had a chain drop, plenty range of gears. for a mere mortal this is ideal, the simplicity of 1x is just yes feeling
Another bonus point for gravel bikes is that they just look cooler. Robust looking with beefy frame and wheels. You just know the bike is made to do business
My Fairlight Secan is my only bike with 3 sets of wheels. 50mm deep wheels for road, a second set of 35s for gravel. Then also a set of 650s with 2.1” tires for gnarly off road
Fantastic video!!! As a rookie looking to be his first bike but still wants it to be all purpose, I get lost in the weeds *really* fast. This actually explained a thing or two really well with real world examples. You wouldn't happen to have any advice or a video on dual purpose weekly commuter/touring bike (mud guards, chain guard, travel bag) that can double as a weekend road bike in a whiff would you? 😇
This pedal thing ticks me off a bit. The rubber sole protrusions (for want of a better word) should rest on the pedal body over the axle with SPD pedals completely removing any support load from the cleats and providing great lateral stability without the so called hot spot, but so few folks seem to understand this...
I use my touring Novara Safari as a roadie waaaaaay most of the time. more so than touring/gravel/atb. I passed two roadies today on my last mile (11th mile), but I do max out at 15-20 miles, which I know is conditioning and I am working on that. So, I do have room for improvement. :)
If anyone's considering a Creo 2, I'm 1000km into mine and can report it rides extremely well on both. The 47mm rubber doesn't make any difference if you've got any assist on.
Thanks for your honesty. This is what makes the aero versus round tube 'roadbike' to roadbike comparison even more nebulous. Marketing BS. Many would do fine as you suggest owning a gravel bike with two sets of wheels. I prefer a 29er for off road because no pristine gravel around where I live. So roadbike for the road and 29'er for off road. If I want to split the baby as it were, I could even put gravel tires on the 29'er and wouldn't give up much for crushed gravel trails.
I live in west Devon (hills, hills, hills!) and have a Giant Revolt with a 43/30 SRAM chainset and 2 sets of wheels (10-33 cassette and 32mm tyres on the road ones, 10-36 cassette and 42mm tyres on the off-road ones). It works a charm.
