Gravel / adventure bikes started a good few years back in the US and Canada where they thousands of miles of gravel roads in the mountainous regions and plenty of dirt roads in the flatter areas. As MTB's got more specialised they no longer filled the niche for riding/exploring/touring in these area so folk started to make frames to fill the gap. It's a huge segment of riders of there and only recently hit the headlines over here .
Or lie and call it marketing hype to cover up the fact you cba go look for yourselves.
I've been really swinging round to this view point as well, after initially dismissing the whole thing as marketing hype. Whilst we certainly don't have anything like the amount of trails that America has, we still have a huge amount of forest trails here in Germany. There are many rides and adventures to be had if you plan routes that go through these areas rather than trying to avoid them. A gravel bike makes perfect sense in that context.
I'm so curious in fact, that I've decided to order some gravel tyres for the old Galaxy. Now before anyone laughs, this is a cheap way of dipping my toe in the water. Think about it, the old Super has clearance for 35/38C tyres, it has the same relaxed geometry and long wheelbase as most gravel bikes and a bombproof 531 steel frame. OK, the brakes are laughable, but I doubt I'll manage to go that fast! If I get super addicted and decided to even try out some bike packing as well, I may be in the market for a new Gravel bike. But then I would in all probability make it out of bamboo, but that's a whole other thread for the future.
