Originally Posted by
scottfsmith
I bet if Strava ran a data analysis on all the miles in their database done on so-called gravel bikes they would see that 95% of those miles were on pavement. Personally for me it is a lot of work to get to good gravel riding, it takes 1+ hours in the car each way. So I'm yet another 95%-er.
Anyway, in practice most people are using gravel bikes as road bikes with occasional gravel riding thrown in. Kind of like how SUVs today are doing 99%+ road miles. There is nothing wrong with that, but to me it doesn't make a lot of sense to own two different bikes when two wheel sets will do the job.
This isn't a new phenomenon though. I grew up in the 1980's and went to college in the 1990's. Every kid I knew from middle school and beyond owned a mountain bike. College freshmen at my large state university all needed bikes for transportation - and every single person I knew had a mountain bike. Most/all of these bikes had front suspension forks, super aggressive knobby tires and triple cranks. I'd wager that less than 5% of them were ever used on an actual trail.
Looking the part was definitely part of it, but also MTB's were more durable and more comfortable than any of the road bikes available in those days. I think gravel bikes are playing this role now. Unless someone is looking to get into racing or has a specific interest in road-specific riding, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend a gravel bike as a "road bike" for them. They're just way more versatile, and they also work pretty great on pavement.