Road bike that can handle bridle paths

[PaulSB]

Would be happy with 1x - now need to decide between mechanical and electronic . . .

Off road or gravel riding is when electronic gearing really comes into its own. The ability to rapidly drop gears is a great benefit. For example suddenly faced with a short sharp climb with an unexpectedly loose surface.

 

[fossyant]

Off road or gravel riding is when electronic gearing really comes into its own. The ability to rapidly drop gears is a great benefit. For example suddenly faced with a short sharp climb with an unexpectedly loose surface.

Do that with cables. Even faster with old down tube shifters. Bang a Di2 mech and you are looking at massive money to replace it. I'd love a Di2 2x12 gravel bike, but the boss said I have too many bikes, so the 2 x 10 CX bike will have to do.

 

[PaulSB]

Do that with cables. Even faster with old down tube shifters. Bang a Di2 mech and you are looking at massive money to replace it. I'd love a Di2 2x12 gravel bike, but the boss said I have too many bikes, so the 2 x 10 CX bike will have to do.

It's so long since I rode down tube shifters that I can't comment. I will say though of my current bikes, ten year old cabled Cervelo, Kinesis and new Cervelo both di2, there's no way I can shift anything like as quickly with cables that I can with di2. Perhaps there's a technique I'm not aware of??

This isn't a frequent occurrence but I genuinely recall a few occasions when fast di2 shifting prevented a foot down or fall.

 

[T4tomo]

Even faster with old down tube shifters.

...or bar end shifters...
that said Apex AXS is dropping into the "not much more expensive than mechanical shifting" category. Defo an option for me when i upgrade my bought 2nd hand some years ago gravel bike. Think I can justify that as I use it a heck of a lot.