Originally Posted by
corn on the cog
On the contrary...The big brands all now carry “gravel bikes” or “adventure bikes.” Petersen is far from the only influence behind this, but he has been an unusually forceful spokesperson for a set of values, including the idea that an all-rounder, non-specialist bike for “you and me” can and should be as beautiful and well-made as a race-oriented bike.
Many have made this argument with no evidence. Here's what really happened:
1. the emergence of disc brakes allowed for wider tires. Now that discs are standard, riders figured out on their own that wider tires are more comfortable with little meaningful drop in efficiency
2. trek and especially specialized took road suspension seriously, pushing road full suspension to very affordable levels ($2.5K in specialized's case).
3. once riders started to install wider tires on their own, manufacturers began to recognize that they could create a new niche. For example, the secteur began as an alu Roubaix, then morphed into an alu Roubaix with discs, then the diverge with discs, and finally the diverge with discs and future shock.
4. There have been several complementary developments, such as redshift shock stop stem and now seat post, along with giant's d-fuse seat post. These products work very well, with tiny, trivial weight penalties. Add to that lauf's fork and later frame, along with cannondale's own line of front forks for gravel.
I guarantee none of these companies took their cues to develop suspension, spec discs or market gravel from grant.
Also note that the growth in popularity of crossover vehicles in the automotive industry. Were they inspired by grant as well? Gravel bikes exist because they are fun and more importantly, comfortable all-rounders. When I was in college, mtb's were taking off in popularity, and they were commonly used as commuters. Bike riders want comfortable bikes, and wider tires are more comfortable. Rider demand for comfortable road bikes (gravel bikes now labeled), along with the tech developments to make it possible (discs, suspension), made the gravel niche possible.
Grant is in no way shape or form responsible for the gravel bike niche that can be documented. The bicycling industry created the gravel bike niche on it's own, and that's all right. Meanwhile Grant's bike sales continue to tank with no end in sight. If there were demand for gravel bikes of the sort that grant sells, his market share should be increasing since all of his bikes are designed as all-rounders. Instead, the opposite is happening. Gravel bike sales have taken off while Riv, as Grant himself has announced is soon going out of business.