I LOVE gravel. After mountain biking and road riding for 25 years I got a gravel bike last year. I live just outside Detroit and our roads are usually hard packed dirt with a few potholes, some small rocks and occasional washboard. I have a fully rigid Ti gravel bike and it is dreamy. If I lived where you do I’d probably go for a gravel bike with some suspension. Anyway, the gravel scene is so much fun. There are group rides pretty much every day of the week and it usually involves food or beverage stops. I love the scenery as well….lots of farms with pretty barns and fluffy cows. And, my fitness has improved dramatically after a year of riding gravel. You have to learn how to keep putting down consistent power and doing that for hours has done wonders. I also love the versatility. I ride it on all surfaces including single track. Mountain biking will always be my first love but gravel is a close second
I'm guessing that road wasn't the best example of a gravel ride. When I think of gravel riding I think of combo gravel path, paved, and some smooth green trails. (Not that I ride gravel, but I'd like to and those are the local riding conditions I would take a gravel bike on). End of unsolicited opinions. I enjoyed the video!
I enjoy gravel for two reasons: exploring FS/BLM roads and not having to drive anywhere to ride. But with a mountain bike background, I've realized my ideal "gravel" bike is a rigid MTB with 50mm tires and alt-bars (like the Moloko or Jones) not drop bars. I also put a lot of thought into my tire pressure depending on what I'll be riding that day. If it's going to be more pavement and well maintained gravel I'll run higher pressure, but most of the time I'm using the same pressure I would if I was mountain biking.
Ah, that's really interesting. Once I really figure out how to get this setup dialed and find the routes I like, I could totally see myself falling in love with it. I've been on a couple bike packing trips with friends where we rode our hardtails on gravel roads, and it's just fun and different and opens up a lot of route possibilities that don't exist for you if you're only willing to ride single track. It's just another great tool to have at one's disposal. Thanks so much for posting up about your experience.
We just built my GF a flat bar "gravel" bike which is just a hardtail with a rigid fork. She loves it. It goes from pavement to gravel/dirt to singletrack and back without missing a beat. She's never been happy on drops so that eliminated most of the "gravel" bike options.
I was skeptical of the point of gravel bikes as well but I found a cromoly model (diehard fan) and decided it might be fun and make a good all around bike to travel with and run my dogs on fire roads. I've been 100% thrilled with mine. It has also come in really handy for documenting the drought in areas I wouldn't dare drive a vehicle for fear of it sinking (my hobby is outdoor photography). Wasn't sure how I would like the drop bars but they are working out wonderfully. Most stable front end on any fun bike that I've ever owned. Zero riding fatigue and ironically really fun to toss around and push the limits on pavement.
Great job!!! Finding the right tire pressure is a must on gravel for sure. I have a Kona Rove St gravel bike but basically upgraded some parts pot 35 mm tires on it for road use only. Now my gravel bike is my RSD Mayor Fatbike with 4 inch tires set up single speed. I got Ergon grips with the horns on the end for different hand placement. With the 4 inch tires when the gravel is rough like what you had it’s still make for a fun ride absorbing the chatter. When it’s smooth then you can enjoy the scenery and gather your thoughts. Once you play around with the bike set and tire pressure more you might find it a bit more fun and enjoyable!!!
Instead of a rigid drop bar bike with mtb tires, try putting gravel tires on your light hardtail. For me, it's the faster rolling of the gravel tires that makes dirt roads and flowy singletrack extra fun.
Ride a Salsa Fargo in southern Vermont. Lots of golden ration rides, 1,000 feet per 10 miles on gravel. Class IV roads, that are roads in name only, single tract on the SVT trail network. Drop bar MTB are a blast.
I also have a new gravel bike but come from dedicated light hardtail use. Felt very sketchy on the drop bars for a while. We did replace the 40cm standard bars (that came with the bike) with Ritchie Ventura Max - wider at 44cm and they have a much shallower drop. It is also more ergonomic. Much better. Despite the bike being 2kg lighter, the speeds parallel my light hardtail. I am not sure I am going to get as comfortable on the gravel bike as I am on my hardtail. It has been fun trying a new bike so I hope you have fun getting use to it.
I ride my rigid ss MTB on gravel. Drop bars are great on smoother longer rides but when it’s chunky the MTB bars are just way better control when that’s what you are used to. We have terrible gravel roads here, sand, washboards, baseball size caliche rocks. It’s smooth enough the right tire pressure on a rigid MTB can smooth out a bunch of it. We recently did a gravel race on our most popular gravel route and second place overall was on a carbon full suspension MTB. He ran right with 1st the whole time and I think it was the smooth road sprint at the end where 1st pulled away. Bottom line, I’d stick to the hardtail for your local gravel but definitely go hit the smoother stuff on a gravel bike if you get the chance.
Hey Tess, -You can look into PNW Coast dropper/suspension post. -Specialized Diverge has suspension in the head tube area (and a lot lighter). I use to take my Diverge on paved to dirt. I just don’t use it on long or steep descents because of the brake/hand position. I end up converting that bike for road bike only and just ride my 2010 Niner MCR with 2.25 XC tires as my “gravel” bike. Steel frame, flexy wheels (old school Stans Podium), Gravity Dropper Post, 1x10 speed and Rigid at 23 lbs. This bike I take anywhere including Santa Cruz Mountains.
I ride my gravel bike on green and green-blue trails where my mtb would be overbiking it. Plus the road. My gravel bike is setup with 29x2.2(max) fast xc tires that are nice on the road too. That Cotic bike can fit 29x2.6 tires so maybe you can test it with 2.6 tires to smooth out the ride a bit more.
This video pretty much sums up my views of gravel bikes and I guess any fully rigid bike. Just rattle your fillings out :-) I'll keep my full squish MTB and consider riding my hard tail SS as roughing it.
I built up a steel gravel bike in 2020 and it immediately became my go-to bike for the majority of my riding- it's just so fun. I use it for rides from my house a lot, so I have 700x33 cross tires on it, which definitely makes the sand and singletrack a bit more exciting. Honestly, it's not that different from old 1970s road bikes the way I have it set up, save for the modern conveniences (disc brakes, tubeless tires, brifters). I keep taking it on rougher and rougher rides, and it keeps coping just fine- did a section of the Colorado trail last year and it was beautifully sketchy.
Yeah i have a gravel bike, it’s more on the road biky side which is perfect for me as i use it like 80% road and 20% gravel. Perfect for longer distance mixed surface
I’m not sure I’m getting the Gravel thing either. Seems like I could put 1.95 tires on my Karate Monkey and I’m ready for gravel… Looking forward to more of your research on the subject!
I agree.. I had a trail bike and my gravel bike is gravel/road. If you have a light MTB then that's gravel (with slick tyres)/MTB and a road bike is that's your thing
My Gravelbike is a full-sus XC bike with 700x43 Gravel tires. The suspension makes it so much more comfortable than a full-rigid bike. I enjoy linking together routes that combine pavement, gravel, and easy singletrack into one ride.
I 100% see the appeal of a full suspension gravel bike. You never quite know what you're going to get on a gravel route, and roads change So even if there weren't washboards or ruts last time, there might be this time. That would just be so nice and open up a lot more comfortable riding options.
I got a road bike for days I can't get to the trails, but I'm ready to switch to a gravel bike because there is so much construction here. I'm missing out on a lot of gravel service roads. Maybe next year. I only play music on the road bike because I feel like there's less to focus on.
Those bars look super wide. That's going to make it a lot less comfortable and make it harder to use the brakes. It's a trend to put wide bars on gravel bikes, but it's probably making people's experience worse. I ride my gravel bike as a road bike most of the time. The gravel roads in my area are few and far between, so most of my gravel rides are still 80% paved. I ride 38mm tires at around 38 PSI. The roads are pretty smooth unless the townships have put a fresh load of gravel down. That road you were riding looks like the perfect application for mountain bike tires. But I'd probably be running them at like 20 psi or less. The thing I like about gravel riding is mostly the lack of vehicle traffic. I also enjoy that it's just more entertaining than a road ride. But you have to get your bike set up to be comfortable because everything is going to feel worse when the road gets rough.
In Scottsdale connecting and riding Brown's trails (North McDowell Sonoran Preserve) and McDowell Rec Park on a gravel bike is fun. Lots of twisting and turning, some sand gliding, and very little rock. 3/4's of Pemberton, Tonto, Gooseneck, 136th St Express, Hawksnest, Latigo and Whiskey Bottle (that little bit of rock) make great loops with miles of riding.
My main bike is a Trek Checkpoint SL with integrated frame flex in the seatpost and I also run a Redshift suspension stem for a bit of suspension on the front. Tires are 42x700C WTB Resolute. It feels very smooth to me and on a rough gravel or fireroad I can often speed up to 30kph without getting beat up too much. I also often use it kinda as an XC lite on somewhat rooty green and blue singletrails through the local woods. Nothing overly technical, though. I also have an old Cube MTB with a Rockshox Judy Coil fork and the Gravelbike is definitely more comfortable front and back. I'll get a Trek Roscoe 7 (2022) soon, though and then I'll have a more proper comparison between MTB and Gravelbike.
I would be curious to build up a gravel bike, although I don't have too many dirt roads where I live to put it to good use. If I did, though, I'd probably skip the drop bars and go with a bull horn or something along those lines. It'd be rigid since I have a lot of experience on my old rigid 90:s mtb and this build would replace it.
Hey Tess! Always good to catch up with you. Lots of love to you and your family. I'm in the PNW and my intro to gravel was Squamish. I live in PDX where we have a variety of types of gravel. The eroded rail trail kind is smoother than chonder but rougher than a well groomed jump line. In the winter and spring you can expect a variety of mud from slick and thiccc to a fudgy rut. I love Leif Erickson. It's very popular with runners/walkers as well as cyclists. It was once a paved road through a forest and then they just let nature take over. It's covered in trees and I'm probably going to ride there soon to escape this never ending heat wave. Thanks for sharing your love of bikes!
I ride my gravel bike mainly on small roads and disused rail lines The road bikes I had before couldn't take a larger tyre than 24C. I use 700 35c general use and some 27.5 with 1.95 tyres if going to rougher stuff. Some modern gravel bikes are getting like older mountain bikes with flat bars and suspension forks. Manufacturers seem to like blurring the definition quite a bit just to make more sales. Drop bars can be nice in a headwind, and give a lot of different hand positions if on long rides. Also good to see you out riding. Keep on rolling.
Yeah, I like the idea of drop bars in the sense that you can change hand positions. If you're doing really long rides there's a lot of wisdom in that. It feels super awkward to me right now, because I'm not used to it, but I haven't given up. Thanks for sharing your Maverick gravel experience. That's awesome!
Nice job for your first gravel bike ride! Imagine how much better it would have been on a bike that actually fits you! That Cotic can accept a short-travel fork, if you want a faster, smoother ride, too.
Possibly an unpopular opinion, but drop bars suck. I rode a Salsa Fargo, similar to what you just rode, for 2 years. The whole time I dreamed about putting an alt bar on. I just got a Surly Ghost Grappler which is a drop bar mountain bike as well, but I put a Surly moloko bar on it and it is so much more comfortable. I hear you on the bumpiness of rigid, but the rigid appeals to me for long distance stuff because I don't have to worry about suspension going wrong, and the attachment points on the fork are great.
It's a fair opinion. I think for those of us who haven't been on them at this point yet, it's not a very pleasant transition. It's actually kind of validating to hear you say that.
I think gravel bikes came from roadies who wanted to ride from home to their favorite double/singletrack trails and appreciate the versatility of the rig. You found out right away of the downside; descending is rough! My favorite bike is still my Ti gravel rig with 650x47 mtb-like tires, but my ultimate "gravel" bike is a Ti hardtail in XC mode. Try talking to other gravelheads in your area to see what their favorite routes are. Mine are evolving, but to ride from home to any terrain/trail is a gas, not having to portage a bike on a vehicle is the best kind of riding for me. There is very little true "gravel" roads ; they are poorly paved, dirt, rutted, etc which eventually lead you to singletrack; where the easiest trail is now much harder and the challenge of "underbiking" your favorite green/blue trail is a "kick" in the pants. BTW, my gravel bike handles 700x32 road tires, 700x40 gravel tires and the 650b wheels for a much cushier ride. I also use a Redshift stem with travel and a seatpost with springshock; this is still way less forgiving that any mountain bike, btw. I also dislike the hand position when steeply descending with drop-bars but otherwise like them just fine.
@@brianwright9514 That was also true for me; my first “gravel” bike; a steel CX bike with the fattest tires I could run and was thrilled with the novelty of riding it on my fav XC trails and beyond… it led to bikes with disc brakes and hacked lower gearing…..
In my opinion Sedona gravel roads are super rough and not really gravel bike compatible. Up near Flagstaff and Williams is better. I’m in Phoenix and the canals certainly gravel friendly, but AZ is harsh!
I've tried many drop bar gravel bikes with relaxed and upright geometry. Even with a good fit, I just don't like drop bar bikes. I ride East Coast gravel (MD, PA, VA) and prefer to ride a Surly Bridge Club with Jones bars, which is my bikepacking rig. I'm also happy riding gravel on my Specialized Fuse and ride quite a bit of it to connect trail systems. The gravel out here is either very well maintained or super chunky jeep roads. In my experience, the washboard dirt roads out in AZ can really beat you up. A hardtail or a rigid mtb with wide tires would be my gravel bike of choice out your way.
That's great Intel. Thanks so much for sharing your perspective on it. I know that I'm interested in riding gravel routes but I think what I need to get to the bottom of is figuring out if I'm going to want to gravel a bike to do that, or if I'm going to be like you prefer my light hardtail. It was a bumpy ride in this video, but it's fun exploring all this. Thanks again for getting involved in conversation here in the comments! Someday, I hope to go back east and do the cliche fall foliage thing but explore on gravel roads to do it.🍂
I think you'd "get it" about gravel riding if you had a little more 'roadie' blood in you, not full 'roadie' but just enough to feel the "sweet science" or poetry of it a la Bobke (Bob Roll) for example (also a mountain biker). As a mountain biker, you're primed for the sadistic thrill of "under-biking" on a simple blade that can take you up and down a paved mountain pass with amazing speed and style, and then return back over the mountain on dirt roads and maybe some smooth single track. Paris-Roubaix is raced on road bikes, no? Try not to compare apples to oranges. Embrace the sketch, the speed and the adventure! I've ridden my road bike on dirt roads and single track, but I'm currently riding an aluminum 29er with a steel fork, flat mtb bar, 2.0 Continental gravel tires, and cable disc brakes to keep things sketchy, haha. Loving it. Fast on roads to trails, fast on gravel. So fun. Oh, yeah, 20 psi front and rear (I weigh 175 lbs). ... a more padded saddle helps. No music except for the sounds of the present moment... tires, drivetrain, nature, breath... Enjoy!
Haha, for real. I had to check to make sure all my teeth were still there and I hadn't rattled any of them out. Thanks for saying hey in the comments. I always miss lovely people like you and I don't have time to post.
What tyre pressures are you running? I'd start you at something like 22psi on those tyres. It looks as though the bike is too long for your current comfortable reach. Terrain - unpaved roads and forest tracks. Music - yes and audiobook.
Great minds think alike: I've also thought about converting my DV9 into a gravel bike. I think it would take some interesting conversions to get drop bars on there, but that could make a cool gravel bike.
I did a couple times for like a millisecond, but I don't know if I captured it on camera. It felt super stretched out and weird. I wonder if I could get used to it, or if it's just always going to feel odd to me because I started out on a mountain bike. 🤔
Bell rock trail would be fun on a gravel bike, I did Adobe jack last time and that was fun, did have to walk some things but fun. I can see McDowell mountain being fun
Yeah, that was rough. But I'm still gravel-curious. That was definitely not my favorite ride, but I like the idea of being able to explore areas where single track doesn't exist. The question is, will I learn to love doing it on a gravel bike, or will I just stick with a light hardtail... Only time will tell...
