Road orientated Gravel Bike / E-Gravel Bike

[Cookster3]

So it is time to upgrade my 15 year old Scott MTB to a more suitable bike for my needs. I am a novice/heavy set/road/track biker in my forties and am looking for a bike that will be used mostly on road but can handle the odd off road excursion.

Not to make things too easy I am also considering an electric option but ideally one that does not compromise the bike performance when switched off.

I would like the bike to be nimble, lightweight and comfortable. Does such a bike exist, it sounds like holy grail territory!

My list so far:

Ribble CGR Al e SRAM
Cairn Cycles E-Adventure 1.0
Orbea Gain
Planet X On-One Space Chicken SRAM Force 1 Gravel Bike

I'm really wrestling with the whole electric bike dilemma. I'm sick of being passed by everyone on my MTB and want that road bike feel. I am sure a more road orientated bike will give me that feel & speed I am looking for but I feel I may regret not having gone electric in future. Hence my desire to have it in the locker but not inhibit when switched off.

Any advice appreciated

 

[Darius_Jedburgh]

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/ribble-cgr-58cm.265235/#post-6090350

Is this of any interest to you? Still available.

 

[vickster]

No electric bikes are lightweight compared to non-e (even if you don’t ever use the battery).
if you dont want electric now, just buy a normal bike that meets your spec and change to e in the future (they will inevitably get lighter and better as the tech develops)

 

[Specialeyes]

Where are you based? If it's within striking distance of South Essex and you're 6ft or under, you'e welcome to come and have a hoon around the roads and woods on a pair of Ribbles (not for sale - just as a test ride) - one set up with SRAM 1x and 57mm 650b tyres, one set up with 32mm tubeless 700c tyres for more on-road use. You'd just have to prise me and my daughter off them for an hour or two! Highly recommended

It's the same drive system as the Orbea Gain, so with one set up for road and one for 1x offroad, it's a decent comparison.
The Cairn is a bottom-bracket motor, so I presume it's got more torque and can push harder if you need that bit more assist?

Whilst it's true that with the Orbea and Ribble pedalling with the assist switched off is 'transparent', as there's no more resistance, only extra weight, psychologically it feels disproportionately harder as you're used to the assist kicking in. It can also make you very good at riding at exactly 15.5mph! In other words, using them as a 'normal' bike is a bit of a compromise - but you get a great workout. With the assist on, you still get a great workout - you just go further in the time

 

[kingrollo]

I have the Ribble cgr tiagra - not electric. It is quite heavy compared to my best road bike....and also the alu giant defy it replaced.

 

[Kestevan]

Trek domane+
The battery and motor can be removed entirely and replaced with a ightweight cover turning it into a ”normal” bike.

 

[stoatsngroats]

I looked at the Cairn, it has a fazua motor, so a lot of the weight is removable easily. I like the Fazua idea.
Cairn are good for communication, they’re also quite close to me, but that won’t help you necessarily.
If I had the choice, this would be the one for me.
I bought a non-e bike in the end, Genesis CdA 30, just released, which I find very agreeable.

 

[gzoom]

If you really pressed me I would trade in my 6 month old Boardman Hybrid eBike (Fazua motor), for a used Trek Domane/Emonda non e road bike.

Whilst the electrical assistant is very helpful up hill, its simply not as 'fun' to ride as my road bike. Even going up hill with the electrical assistant on you still feel the weight of the bike versus my road bike.

It doesn't necessarily make you quicker either, am quicker on my road bike in virtually all conditions except for gradients of over 10%.

There are eBike with bigger motors that will be quicker than a normal road bike, but part of the fun in cycling for me is the hills.

This a good review of the Canyon e bike, the electrical assistant no doubt helps, and for just commuting/slow rides its fine, but if you are after a weekend toy to ride for fun a normal road bike is much better.

https://road.cc/content/review/canyon-enduraceon-70-2020-275539

 

[Pale Rider]

I agree there is nothing to beat the feel of riding a lightweight bike briskly in agreeable conditions.

You will lose that feeling with any ebike, no matter how you ride it.

For a roadie/gravel ebike you currently have a choice of bikes with the Ebikemotion hub motor or the Fazua crank drive.

Given this thread is all about rider feel, the only way to resolve this question is for you to test the bikes.

Realistically, once you've ridden one Ebikemotion bike, you've ridden them all, same with the Fazua.

This at least means you only have the faff of arranging two test rides to get a very good idea of what will suit, or whether you want an ebike at all.

 

[uilleam]

Depends on how much you want to spend. Do you have a budget figure in mind? The more you spend the lighter they may become, carbon, titanium etc. Look at some of the vids on the Global Cycling Network (GCN) on U-Tube. They have stuff there on e-bikes, gravel bikes and road bikes.
The lightest e-bike i have come accross was about 13kg

 

[inveral]

So it is time to upgrade my 15 year old Scott MTB to a more suitable bike for my needs. I am a novice/heavy set/road/track biker in my forties and am looking for a bike that will be used mostly on road but can handle the odd off road excursion.

Not to make things too easy I am also considering an electric option but ideally one that does not compromise the bike performance when switched off.

I would like the bike to be nimble, lightweight and comfortable. Does such a bike exist, it sounds like holy grail territory!

My list so far:

Ribble CGR Al e SRAM
Cairn Cycles E-Adventure 1.0
Orbea Gain
Planet X On-One Space Chicken SRAM Force 1 Gravel Bike

I'm really wrestling with the whole electric bike dilemma. I'm sick of being passed by everyone on my MTB and want that road bike feel. I am sure a more road orientated bike will give me that feel & speed I am looking for but I feel I may regret not having gone electric in future. Hence my desire to have it in the locker but not inhibit when switched off.

Any advice appreciated

I’ve had an Orbea Gain D30 road bike for 1.5 years and done about 1200miles in a very hilly area (argylleshire Scotland) the motor handles the steeped hills with a little bit of effort and is great on the flat where you don’t notice the motor. My average ride is 40 to 50 miles and I usually come back with 25 to 30 percent battery left. The bike has been a game changer for me as I have knee problems and couldn’t manage hills on an ordinary bike. They do a gravel version but I haven’t tried it. The newest models come in about £3000 which is about £500 dearer than a year ago.
Ribble does virtually the same bike, drive train,brakes etc at a cheaper price.
The Boardman is a bit cheaper than the Orbea, same price as the Ribble but 2kg heavier

 

[Gunk]

Bikeradar says that it is not so good

a really pretentious review,

Relatedly, the bike is fitted with a 31.6mm seatpost, rather than the 27.2mm size we’re more used to seeing these days. A narrower diameter seatpost inherently offers more flex.

who on earth is going to notice the difference between a 31.6 and a 27.2mm seatpost, it’s just bollocks