Cycling Weekly takes a look at Gravel bikes.
As the discipline as boomed, it seems as though the tech hasn't been able to keep up with the level of popularity and it's left the bikes feeling a bit confused. We've rounded up all of those flaws and told you everything that we hate about gravel bikes. They are by no means perfect and there's a few things you should know before buying a gravel bike.
As the discipline as boomed, it seems as though the tech hasn't been able to keep up with the level of popularity and it's left the bikes feeling a bit confused. We've rounded up all of those flaws and told you everything that we hate about gravel bikes. They are by no means perfect and there's a few things you should know before buying a gravel bike.
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00:00Gravel bikes. What's not to like about them? They're incredibly versatile, they're good for both evening blasts and multi-day treks, and capable of handling a whole spectrum of terrain, from pan-flat double track to swooping single track.
00:14Gravel bikes even make for a pretty handy urban utility steed, with their plethora of mounts and chunky tyres.
00:21Of course, there are plenty of reasons to buy a different style of bike, whether you're racing on the roads or hitting up gnarlier trails.
00:29But you can't really criticise gravel bikes for not performing in spheres that they simply weren't designed for. That's not really very fair.
00:38Still, despite being the cycling industry's current golden child, there are still some pervasive problems that the overwhelming majority of bike brands could do with addressing.
00:48So, without further ado, here are some things that really annoy us about gravel bikes.
00:53Gravel bikes are really over-geared. Even with the gravel-specific group sets currently on the market, the gears offered on gravel bikes simply don't go low enough for a huge swathe of their intended use.
01:10Sure, gravel riding on open double track is perfectly well catered for, but when riding off-road with a full set of bikepacking bags, the gears simply don't go low enough.
01:20Let's put things into perspective with Trek's XE racing machine, the Supercalibur.
01:26In the top-level racing spec, it comes with a 34-tooth chainring and a 10-52 cassette.
01:32So as not to overstuff this section with numbers, I'll use the Supercalibur setup as a reference point and then relay everything back to that.
01:40And do remember that the Supercalibur is set up for racing. XE courses can be very steep, but so too can the trails that you find yourself on with a gravel bike.
01:51And races don't have to contend with all the kit that you would be carrying if you were bikepacking.
01:56Sure, with SRAM AXIS and Shimano Di2, you can set up road shifters to work with mountain bike cassettes and get similar ranges.
02:05But let's keep this to setups that have single-tooth jumps in the cassette progression for smoother riding on the roads.
02:11With those as the rules, SRAM offers the lowest gearing with a 43-30 crankset and a 12-speed 10-36 cassette.
02:21Then comes Campagnolo, pairing a 13-speed 10-44 cassette to a 38-tooth chainring,
02:28followed by Shimano, which boasts only a 46-30 crankset and an 11-speed 11-36 cassette.
02:36But all three of those options give a bottom gear that falls in between the second and third easiest ratios on the Trek Supercalibur.
02:43A cross-country mountain bike has two gears lower than the lowest gravel bike.
02:48And, in the case of SRAM and Campagnolo, both those options are seriously expensive.
02:55You only need to look at the Trek 520 touring bike and its 26-36 bottom gear
02:59to see that gravel bikes have remained hopelessly overgeared for a large amount of the segment of the riding that they're supposed to be designed for.
03:11Traditional rack mounts are disappearing.
03:13The versatility of gravel bikes is one of their major selling points.
03:17Yes, aesthetics can be divisive.
03:20Surly's bottle-boss heavy approach gave rise to the term fork warts,
03:24but there are options for mitigating their visual impact, from zip bits to plain simple grub screws.
03:30But with that in mind, it's more of a shame that more and more gravel bike brands
03:33are removing more and more traditional mounting points,
03:37at the same time as decking out the fork legs, top tube and down tube.
03:41The humble rear rack and mudguard mounts don't cause any problems with cross-compatibility,
03:46and their usefulness as a cheap and easy way of boosting your luggage carrying capacity
03:50and ability to stay dry is unquestionable.
03:54We would hazard a guess that the bike industry doesn't want to dilute the gravel look of saddle pack, frame bag,
04:01and bar bag, and other bikepacking paraphernalia, with that of an old-fashioned set of panniers and mugguards.
04:08But, we say, if there's no good reason for taking those mounts away,
04:13why impose this arbitrary limitation of what people can and can't do with their own bike?
04:19The vast choice of tyres is a blessing and a curse.
04:28Much like road and mountain biking, there's a whole load of different tyre options out there to riders.
04:33However, unlike both road and mountain biking,
04:36the gravel tyre has the very tough job of trying to perform well on multiple terrains.
04:42This means that there's a whole lot of options out there,
04:45but it does create a bit of a double-edged sword situation.
04:48On one hand, you've got plenty of choice for whatever parkour you'd want to ride on,
04:53but on the other hand, you're left wondering what part of the ride you want your tyres to perform best on.
04:59Do you choose something that works for all the muddy trails around you,
05:02or do you opt for something that works really well for all the fast riding that you do,
05:06or do you opt for some sort of halfway house that only kind of works on both?
05:12Tire choice can be a really tough one to navigate,
05:14and it often resolves in a lot of trial and error before you find something that works really well for your local area.
05:21But we do wish that the process of choosing a tyre was a little simpler.
05:26And actually, this takes me quite nicely onto my next point.
05:28There aren't enough aggressive tyre options for gravel bikes.
05:36This is less one for the frame manufacturers, and probably one for the manufacturers of tyres.
05:42Why can't a decent mud tyre for gravel bikes be produced?
05:46It really doesn't make any sense why this segment of the market is just so barren.
05:51Of course, there are 33mm wide tyres, which are directed at the cyclocross market.
05:58And these models are excellent in deep and sloppy mud,
06:01but in being so narrow, it makes it hard for them to be used anywhere else,
06:05especially where they may be subject to impacts on the rim from rocks and roots.
06:11At the other end, the mountain bike sphere is absolutely jam-packed with as many mud-specific models
06:16that you could shake a stick at.
06:18But they all typically come in at 2.3 inches in their smallest size,
06:23so they just don't fit the overwhelming majority of gravel bikes.
06:27Quite simply, what's needed is a tyre that comes in a width from 40mm to 56mm
06:33that has widely spaced and tall knobs, so as to dig into the slop
06:38and then quickly shed any of the mud that gets picked up.
06:41There are some models, like the Schwalb Ultra Bikes, which get close,
06:46but these could do with slightly taller knobs,
06:48and ones that aren't quite so thin in lateral direction.
06:52Squares are generally better than rectangles.
06:56For some riders in deserty conditions, the need for such a tyre won't even register,
07:01but for riders whose trails turn into mush in the winter,
07:04well, we would be very grateful for more aggressive gravel tyres.
07:12Gravel bikes are quite expensive.
07:15Aren't gravel bikes just expensive drop-bar mountain bikes or hybrid bikes?
07:20Well, we'll happily talk for hours about the nuances between them,
07:23but doesn't that kind of cut to the heart of the issue?
07:27Many of the differences are indeed nuances.
07:31Yes, there are cases when a gravel bike is best,
07:34when the need for speed and off-road capability is balanced just so
07:38that either a road bike or a mountain bike simply won't cut it.
07:42But for long rides that are more about the adventure rather than speed,
07:47is a gravel bike really that much better?
07:50Really?
07:51With a strong road background, there is much to be said about the familiarity
07:55of drop-bar shifters and the position that you adopt on the bike.
07:58But in terms of the roads that you'll be able to cover
08:01and the sights you'll be able to see,
08:03you'll do just as well on a hybrid bike,
08:06but with the gear range, the tyre clearance,
08:08and all the mounting points that you could ever need.
08:11The Cube Travel is an excellent example of this.
08:14It combines a dynamo front light,
08:16full-length mug guards,
08:17a pannier rack,
08:18a robust kickstand,
08:20and clearance for tyres up to 2.15 inches in size.
08:24It does have a 3x9 drivetrain,
08:27but the jumps between the gears
08:28are hardly any bigger than you'd find on a 10-speed 1136 cassette
08:32that you'd get with any entry-level Shimano GRX.
08:36And the absolute range is much greater at both ends
08:39compared to any of the other gravel group sets.
08:41And all of that for about a grand.
08:43It's a struggle to even get hydraulic disc brakes on a gravel bike for that price,
08:47let alone anything else.
08:48Gravel bikes can be a bit of a halfway house.
08:56When you look at a gravel bike,
08:58it may be easy to see them as a glorified parts bin
09:00from a big bike manufacturer.
09:02You've got drop bars paired with big burly tyres
09:05that are generally mated to 700c wheels,
09:08and more often than not,
09:09a fully rigid frame,
09:10but with a group set which is just as confused.
09:13You'll have shifters that look like they've come from a road bike
09:16and gearing as if from an XC bike.
09:19While this slightly bizarre combination of components may seem haphazard,
09:23it does culminate in a machine
09:24that will allow you to power over rough terrain.
09:27As we all know though,
09:29rough terrain can encompass a hugely wide variety of parkours.
09:32So while you can set your gravel rig up
09:34to take on what most may potentially opt for a hardtail mountain bike,
09:38you can also create a build that's streamlined for fast rolling gravel roads.
09:43The result is something that may never be the ideal weapon of choice,
09:47but does work the majority of the time.
09:50We've seen the pros take to gravel at the Tour de France
09:52aboard the same bikes that they race on the road with.
09:55We've also seen Mathieu van der Poel adapt to Canyon Ultimate
09:58to run gravel tyres,
10:00which he then went on to pilot to third place
10:02at the gravel world championships,
10:05with his teammate going on to win the race.
10:07So while it is annoying that in many circumstances
10:10there will be another bike that will do the job better,
10:13we can't also deny the sheer versatility
10:15that a gravel bike provides.
10:18Well, there we have it.
10:19That's everything that annoys me about gravel bikes so far.
10:23Is there anything else that you think I've missed out?
10:26Let me know down in the comments below.
10:27If you enjoyed the video,
10:29then please do drop it a like,
10:30subscribe to the channel for more content,
10:32and I'll see you again very soon.
10:33I'll see you again very soon.