[chazpat]

Also road kit with spds and mtb shoes for gravel. Just bought some new shoes as my old ones finally wore out and I wear 510s on the mtbs. Also often wear a Camelbak.

 

[norcalbike]

picture Wout Van Aert, but fatter.

 

[Bassmantweed]

 

[BadgerOne]

I wear bike shorts with a bright liner inside out, so it looks like I have a Mandrill arse. I already have a native permanent sweater, so no need to put a shirt on.

 

[Hurricane Jeff]

I wear a road kit that's 3x my size that way I'm not really aero roadie or a rad mountain biker, I'm somewhere in the middle....kinda like gravel.
Really, I mostly wear road/ XC gear and sometimes use mtb baggies if I'm putting around.

 

[p0is0n0ak]

Mustaches. Oh: and flannel.

Flannel for sure. Seriously. The Club Ride flannels are perfect for fall gravel riding in the Bay Area.

 

[twowheelmotion]

I dig around until I find something clean and weather appropriate. When I lived in California I mostly wore tights for everything. Now that I live in Oregon, it’s mostly baggies for everything.

Is someone giving you a fashion scorecard at the end of your ride?

No, and if they were I would get an "F" when I had a major wardrobe malfunction a few weeks ago and overshot a sandy corner and shredded my bib shorts. Max ventilation in the hind quarter region. Swapped to my mtb shorts and they are pretty long, so of course they bunch up. The other "F" would have been mtb shorts and Look pedals since I didn't have SPDs right away.

 

[Taroroot]

Kilt

 

[brex17]

Wear whatever you're comfortable riding in, WGAF what others think.

 

[Stop Drop N Roll]

I ride a good mix of trail/doubletrack fire road and gravel so I wear roadie shorts for the padding and mountain bike shorts over them. Roadie jersey that is one size larger. Spd pedals and mtb shoes. Mtb helmet

 

[firebanex]

Bulk of my gravel bike rides are actually commutes so I tend to wear road bibs, mtb baggie shorts, a tech tee-shirt, flats, and mtb flat shoes. All of the actual gravel rides I did I wore the same things as they ended up more on the adventure and fun side of the spectrum than trying to churn out fast miles on gravel.

Wear what you want to be comfortable.

 

[SteveF]

Dunno what the gravel roads are like where you are but the ones around here are often heavily shaded by lots of trees right up to the edge of the road. So a hi-vis top is at least if not more important to me than on pavement. Something bright, yellow or orange, basically the same as what I wear on a dedicated pavement ride. Safety trumps fashion in this case, at least for me.

 

[Chrispy1974]

View attachment 2006468

That takes care of the 'high-vis' portion....and now for some eye-bleach....lol

 

[LetsGoOutside]

Full road kit w/ xc shoes and a road helmet. Used to spend a lot of time road biking though so I own all those things.

 

[eatdrinkride]

When I got my first gravel bike last year I had the same questions.

My rides require several miles of road to enjoy the canals and gravel. I've settled on a day-glow green high Viz loose dry-fit top and I bought a pair of Louis Garneau road bike shorts. I simply wear my 510 flats that I use for mountain biking but I did buy a Smith helmet that does not have a visor cuz that gets in the way sometimes.

This is the first pair of road bike shorts I've ever used and surprisingly they snag the saddle far more than my mountain bike shorts ever did.... which is almost never. They're super stretchy and grab the nose easily.

If you ride roads at all then please keep visibility in mind. I've come closer to death/injury more in the past year on my gravel bike simply trying to get to the gravel then I have in 20 years of mountain biking. Scariest was when I was crossing the street on a green light and some guy who wanted to make a right turn (he had the red light) actually had to lock up his brakes to keep from hitting me, put my heart in my throat. I now use front and rear lights when on the road, day or night.

 

[Cleared2land]

Roads can be a bit challenging.

 

[eatdrinkride]

Roads can be a bit challenging.

Roads totally suck!

 

[twowheelmotion]

The high visibility is a good point. Where I live in CA we have one road with a sorry bike lane, no stop signs or signals and the shoulder is littered with beer cans. I'm not convinced that the red blinky is any sort of safety solution as it is much less for me. All good points. Yes, roads suck.

 

[jochribs]

Roads totally suck!

Nah!! Just need better roads man!

 

[eatdrinkride]

I'll rephrase my point.

Cars totally suck! I got no problem with roads per se.