Originally Posted by
Caliper
I wouldn't call gravel bikes late at all. Consider that the original 700C tire (way back when C stood for the tire width) was about 700x40mm. Funny how that's right where most gravel bikes are equipped... To me, it's really just a modern version of what road bikes were before pavement was everywhere, like in some of the very old TdF photos.
28mm tires will work on dirt, in a suffer through it sense, but if all your riding is on dirt/gravel roads (by which I mean actual roads, not trails) then something wider really is faster. Now, before the gravel bike boom, tell me where I could find a sporty road bike that would clear a 40mm tire? 35-45mm of tire is about the sweet spot for all the dirt roads anywhere near me (which vastly outnumber the miles of pavement) and it's absolutely faster than my dropbar 29er, probably because I'm not lugging around an extra two pounds of suspension fork that spends its life locked out.
I agree. It seems to me that a "gravel bike" is basically an endurance bike (similar to what we used to call "sport touring"--a road bike with predictable straight-line handling, but still lightweight without all of the classic "touring" add-ons),
but with wider tire clearance. I can barely get 28's on my road bikes, and that simply won't do on the crushed limestone trails I have around here. Yes it's possible, but sandy areas get precarious, and the ride is quite harsh. I also don't like to max out the tire clearance on a frame. A small twig getting picked up by the wheel can cause catastrophe. The trails I ride are cut through wooded areas, so trail debris is common and hard to avoid.
I will admit, I was immediately skeptical of so-called "gravel bikes" when I first saw them introduced, and had a kneejerk negative reaction. And the similarities to cyclocross rigs are confusing to most people. But they have perhaps found a sweet spot for the type of riding that a lot of people like to do, and it turns out, a type of riding that is very convenient for me in my current location--a traffic-choked large metro area with a well-developed system of crushed gravel bike trails. I'll still keep at least one road bike, though.
