[jcd46]

All right guys, go at it. Leave the Gravel Bike Pictures thread alone.

have at it. :madman::madman::madman:

 

[93EXCivic]

A bike that you ride on gravel. Boom done.

And a grave bike is one you ride to a funeral.

 

[mrpercussive]

A mixed terrain bike? Though to be fair, any bike can be a mountain bike or road bike if you believe and am stubborn enough... HAhahahaha

 

[Forest Rider]

Sounds like one specifically designed for a death ride?

 

[ljsmith]

It’s like with mountain bikes, there are many different types of mountain bikes designed for different terrain/riding styles. Since “gravel” riders across the world ride different types of terrain there are a lot of variations of gravel bikes. Some people use fat bikes as gravel bikes, some use road bikes. If you ride it on gravel then it’s a gravel bike.

 

[Witterings]

It has to have drop bars .... It's the law!

 

[rides4beer]

Only bikes that are listed by the manufacturer as "gravel bikes", duh. Who are we to decide what a bike can be used for??

 

[tfinator]

I can't answer this question myself, I need someone to tell me and then tell me which forum to post in. I'm so inadequate

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

 

[mrpercussive]

Anyone here remember Shiggy's Kona Coiler?

 

[vikb]

Here is my gravel bike. She eats it up all day and is ready for more the next day. So far her biggest ride has been ~180kms in one day or ~850kms for a back to back trip. :thumbsup:

She works pretty well in the snow as well.

Setup SS for maximum grindage of the gravel.

 

[Jayem]

I ride this, the rims are 65 and the "4" tires only go out to about 3.5, but for super chunky baby-head/river-rock sections and rough downhills, it is way faster than a skinny bike. It's surprising to me how fast it can be. As long as I have a draft, I can keep up no problem. Pavement is a bit of a problem though, the rolling resistance goes up dramatically. Wind resistance is the biggest issue, but I can keep up behind some pretty fast people and they simply can't drop me. Got 6th in one last year, also because they tried to follow me down a rough DH near the finish and one of them rotated his bars on a bump and then crashed a bunch of people together. Got 11th in one earlier this year and just a week ago got 8th in the same one I got 6th in last year, but improved my time by 5 minutes. Keeping up with the top-tier riders in a gravel-grinder on a fat-bike is blowing my mind. Everyone keeps asking me when I'm going to get a "real" gravel bike. When I stop getting top 10 in the races?

 

[Witterings]

Posters #10 and #11 .. obviously have no respect for the law!!

 

[749800]

A road bike capable of accepting wider (say > 28mm) tires?

 

[chazpat]

Ride what you like but for me, the lack of traction is part of the fun and challenge of gravel biking. And on smooth sections of trail, they are a blast.

 

[J.B. Weld]

A road bike capable of accepting wider (say > 28mm) tires?

Wouldn't that be just about every road bike made these days? 28mm is the new norm for pavement, too skinny to be fun on gravel.

 

[MAGAIVER]

A rigid mountain bike with road geometry and drop bars, that's how I view mine anyway. Moutain biking where I live means farm roads that too tame for a proper mountain bike but a bit too rough for a gravel bike with skinny tires 40c and below. So my gravel bike with 650b mountain bike tires makes perfect sense and is a blast to ride.

 

[749800]

Wouldn't that be just about every road bike made these days? 28mm is the new norm for pavement, too skinny to be fun on gravel.

28mm might not be the ideal cut-off value; I just offered it because (a) it is the widest tire I can cram into my 1987 Bianchi, and (b) it is definitely too narrow for me to ride on gravel easily.

I think the ability to handle wider tires (maybe > 35mm should be the criterion?) is the single most important thing. Stuff like disc brakes are less critical (although I would hate not having them).

 

[justin70]

These definitions can get pretty loose and are quite debatable. But, I think the gist of a gravel bike is one which doesn't compromise too much for speed on the pavement, but can handle the dirt and gravel of unpaved roads and basic cross country trails. This appeals to many riders because the pavement only goes so far, and if you have a gravel bike you can continue on the logging road or single track and eventually connect up with pavement again and create some seriously epic rides that were previously impossible on a road bike or much slower on a mountain bike. So, if you have a 15 mile ride to the dirt, then 15 miles through the dirt, then 20 miles back home, a gravel bike is perfect for this.

Based on my friend's doing rides on Strava on "gravel bikes" it seems to be a bike that can lay down a decent pace on pavement (e.g. 16-18 mph on the flat and 30+mph downhill, usually meaning there are drop bars and slightly agressive/aero geometry, and gearing that can push that speed), and can handle basic dirt roads or double track without difficulty. Ability to handle 35mm+ wide tires with slightly aggressive tread.

 

[shekky]

some of today's gravel bikes closely resemble my '11 GT, which i ran panaracer 45's on for much of its life. a wider bar would have been of enormous benefit, though. my GT was sold as a cyclocross bike but had plenty of frame and fork clearance for big tires, and the geometry always seemed a little mountain-bikey to me:

 

[chazpat]

These definitions can get pretty loose and are quite debatable. But, I think the gist of a gravel bike is one which doesn't compromise too much for speed on the pavement, but can handle the dirt and gravel of unpaved roads and basic cross country trails. This appeals to many riders because the pavement only goes so far, and if you have a gravel bike you can continue on the logging road or single track and eventually connect up with pavement again and create some seriously epic rides that were previously impossible on a road bike or much slower on a mountain bike. So, if you have a 15 mile ride to the dirt, then 15 miles through the dirt, then 20 miles back home, a gravel bike is perfect for this.

Based on my friend's doing rides on Strava on "gravel bikes" it seems to be a bike that can lay down a decent pace on pavement (e.g. 16-18 mph on the flat and 30+mph downhill, usually meaning there are drop bars and slightly agressive/aero geometry, and gearing that can push that speed), and can handle basic dirt roads or double track without difficulty. Ability to handle 35mm+ wide tires with slightly aggressive tread.

I agree.