Road Bike vs. Gravel - For Beginner Riders

[si_c]

Gravel bikes as a category are becoming more specialised, you only have to see the stupid Canyon handlebars on their gravel bike for that to be evident.

I think that a good "all-road" or what would have been known as an Endurance bike, so Canyon Endurace, Trek Domane or Giant Defy for example are moving far more in the direction of what a "beginner" cyclist would want, wide tyres, low gears and a relatively upright position.

I have a very quick, comfortable and racy bike, but a lot of the time I end up grabbing my Domane, despite the narrower tyres simply because it's a more practical ride. It's worth noting that the former bike with 28c tyres is less comfortable than the Domane with 25c, but I run 32c tubeless on it which is like riding on pillows.

Geometry and riding position, combined with gearing and tyre choice can make more difference than the choice of Steel/Alu/Carbon frame or groupset and new cyclists would be well advised if they learnt this.

 

[I like Skol]

Note to self...... Must swap out the 35mm slicks and fit the 35mm knobblies to my carbon bike then go have fun. It's been far too long

 

[Chislenko]

I don't have a gravel bike.

Where is all this gravel?

The next door neighbour has a gravel driveway but it wouldn't be a very long ride.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

I don't have a gravel bike.

Where is all this gravel?

The next door neighbour has a gravel driveway but it wouldn't be a very long ride.

I know, weird choice of term isn't it... I can't think of a "gravel" place near me. I guess gravel bike just means a bike designed for a dirty or stony sort of track.
The dirty, muddy and stony tracks near me don't bother my tourer, it's got 37mm tyres with tread. Not sure we needed a special category of bike for that surface that tourers, MTBs and hybrids eat for breakfast. But the category sure sells, so you can't argue much with that! I sort of get the concept even if I don't agree that it was needed.

I'm officially 50 though and therefore old and probably irrelevant!

 

[cougie uk]

I don't have a gravel bike.

Where is all this gravel?

The next door neighbour has a gravel driveway but it wouldn't be a very long ride.

We aren't blessed with much round these parts. Delamere Forest has some trails and there's a few bridle paths you can do but you need a mud bike now...

 

[Grant Fondo]

Loads of canal tow paths are gravel, or even cobbles near me. A real handful on the road bike when they are not maintained.

 

[a.twiddler]

After all this talk of wide and knobbly tyres, out of curiosity I went out to the garage and measured up my Revolution Country Explorer for clearance. It currently has 700 X 38C Panaracer Paselas on it which are actually 35mm in width but there is clearance for at least 50mm with space to spare on forks, seatstays and chainstays. This is helped by having discs which even though being modest mechanical ones have never given me trouble, and have always worked. I put a set of 42mm Nitto Randonneur bars on it when I had it which are shallow drop and slightly splayed. I would have fitted wider ones if I could have got them at the time. It's 11 years old and has a "traditional" 9 X 3 Sora set up. And of course, it's steel. One thing I do like about Sora of that era are the "mouse ear" thumb levers on the Brifters.

So, there's nothing Revolutionary about gravel bikes (if you'll pardon the pun). What I bought as a tourer could become something that at least looks like a gravel bike with a change of tyres and wider bars, though as it works pretty well as it is, I'm not inclined to change things. The next step up for more extreme terrain or mud would most likely be a hardtail mountain bike. I actually bought one three years or so ago but ended up selling it as it was overkill for the sort of riding I do, and the Revolution did the job well enough.

 

[Arrowfoot]

I wonder what people did when there were just road bikes and commuter bikes?

Human being are highly adaptable and it does not matter which bike, the ride mechanics principle is the same. The balance bike is another. Balance bike did not exist until in recent times and kids learnt to ride then. We fool ourselves even when there is no science behind it.

Give a kid or an adult a unicycle and they will get it.

Will I get the grandkids a balance bike? Hell yes, as I do not want the Joneses to think that I am not keeping up.

 

[biggs682]

Rode my touring bike over all sorts of terrain that I didn't know I was supposed to buy a different sort of bike for. Am I a bad person?

Here here

 

[ianrauk]

Formula 1's Valtteri Bottas loves a bit of gravel racing.
So much so that he's even launched his own race in Finland.

BBC Linky HERE

 

[Sallar55]

You could say that the gravel bike is the purest form of cycling😁. Today's road bicycle would not exist if it were not for the motor car and its need for a smooth tarmac surface.🤔. A gravel bike is my multipurpose bike able to tackle most surfaces.

 

[figbat]

There are those who opine that a gravel bike is nothing more than a 90s XC MTB with drop bars and bigger wheels on. Which is precisely what mine is.

 

[gcogger]

My last 2 bikes were bought on the basis of the geometry, tyre clearance, frame mounts, max rider weight, supplied groupset and wheels etc. I couldn't care less whether they're marketed as Gravel, All-road, Touring or whatever - they're just bikes. I'm baffled why people care about what they're marketed as.
I'm actually quite happy that manufacturers are pushing 'gravel bikes' now, as there are a lot of bikes available with a less aggressive geometry and more tyre clearance.

 

[Sallar55]

There are those who opine that a gravel bike is nothing more than a 90s XC MTB with drop bars and bigger wheels on. Which is precisely what mine is.

Now how would a 90ies XC bike compare with a modern bike geometry and its components, not very well. 😁 Have a lefty carbon that's almost as good but its 7 years old and not as versatile as the gravel bike.

 

[freiston]

Hi everyone. I posted a while ago about comparing carbon to aluminum and I learned some interesting things, so I thought I would post another comparison and maybe I can learn some more.

Today I’ll talk about gravel vs. road, specifically for beginners. Gravel and endurance bikes have become extremely popular for beginners in recent years, and having tried both I think this is for good reason. Being a beginner myself fairly recently and knowing many new rides I can say that beginners aren’t focused on speed and stats all that much, and instead on the other aspects of riding like finding new places.

I have recently built a road bike (as some of you may have seen, it’s a Trifox X16) and after coming from a gravel bike I realize that for beginner riders a gravel/endurance bike is ideal. I like my Trifox X16, it’s snappy and fast but for newer riders I think a gravel bike is great.

A gravel/endurance bike allows you to explore interesting places that are off the traditional path. That’s not to say you can’t find interesting places on the road but when I was riding my gravel bike I ended up finding cool dirt trails and gravel paths that I wouldn’t have been able to access otherwise. Your speed ends up being much lower but for beginner riders that isn’t an issue. I think that a gravel bike helps beginners enjoy the ride, and once they start focusing on speed and stats they can move to a road bike. These bikes also are usually more comfortable and have a relaxed geometry, great for newer riders coming from a hybrid or something similar.

What do you all think?

I've put some of your post in bold to make a point. Your premise is effectively that "beginners" start off on hybrids and aspire to "road bikes" (a term I've never been happy with in its common useage) and that beginners transform into "road cyclists" that find speed and stats important.

That's a very limited perspective of what cyclists are and how their "journey" as a cyclist unfolds. Indeed, I gather that some beginners start on "road bikes" but then progress onto gravel bikes as road bikes do not properly suit their purposes and I would suggest that this would be a more appropriate progression for a lot of beginners who start off with road bikes. I suspect that many "veteran" road cyclists have also added a gravel bike to their stable as an enhancement to their cycling activities.

I've been cycling for several decades now (some significantly more than others) and whilst I'm aware of speed and stats, they are not a significant aspect of my interest. I've never owned what is now called a "road bike" and I have no desire to - it does not fit my purpose. I have two bikes: a folding bike and a touring bike very much suited to the road more than the "trails" though it will do them. If I ever get another bike, it will most likely be something better suited to the rough stuff than my current tourer but it will be more of a GP/touring bike than what is currently being marketed as a gravel bike. To be more specific, it will probably be based on a Spa Wayfarer frame with tyres >40mm. If money (and space) really was no object, I might get a road bike, but it would be a long way down the list - I would be much more interested in hardtails, gravel bikes, roadsters, utility bikes, hybrids etc. - but not because they're labelled as such - the bike has to have appeal and has to do a job well - the job being my bike ride, whether that be shopping, towpaths, a summer spin with just a spare tube and a multitool, a camping trip or whatever. Currently, my two bikes cover all bases but are not so happy on the really rough stuff.