Originally Posted by BluesDawg

I have friend who is mostly a MTB rider, though he does have a drop bar road bike and a bike for gravel rides. His gravel bike is a Specialized Sirrus Sport with a 2.0" front tire and a 38mm rear. (the most he could reasonably fit in each case)

We rode together this past weekend on a mostly hard packed gravel ride and he did very well. I've ridden with him before on a ride that involved gravel, pavement and a few miles of moderate singletrack. No problems with the bike at all. While I am far more comfortable with drop bars on that kind of ride, he is equally biased toward flat bars.

It really comes down to what you feel better with.