Also, just in case you haven’t noticed, the US bike market has been reeling from fad to fad for about 55 years now, ever since muscle bikes. Before that, only delivery boys and a few weirdo grownups had bikes at all. This fad is not less valid by being newer.
The defining characteristics of a gravel bike make it a good bike generally. They are,
Wide clearance for wide tires, ostensibly for mud clearance but also useful for even wider tires and fenders on the road
Protected full run cable housings (or hoses)
Lower, wider, and more useful gearing, at or below unity at the bottom and no 53-11 baloney macho gear
fairly relaxed body position and steering geometry
Disc brakes, thank god finally
It’s happened in the past that a combination like this has looked pretty good to people who are used to bikes that were worse. 10 speeds looked pretty good to people who had beach cruisers and 3-speeds. They were fast and efficient and had lots of gears. But really the gears were too high and everyone rode around on the tops. First generation mountain bikes looked pretty good to people who had 10 speeds. They were easy to sit on and have even more gears. But when you put slicks on them the gears are too low and they are kind of pigs. So then we got hybrids, freeing up MTB’s to continue evolving suspension for we who wanted it. Gravel bikes are another step in that category. They have broad appeal beyond their base.
Last edited by Darth Lefty; 08-22-21 at 10:43 AM.