Originally Posted by grumpus

Two main points:

• Old rigid mountain bikes are very suitable as gravel bikes. I like "butterfly" handlebars for the various positions they provide while retaining the original controls.
• None of the cheap Bikesdirect bikes are bargains - they tend to be uniformly nasty "bicycle shaped objects" that are not suitable for actual cycling.

​​​Also don't make the mistake of thinking that narrow high pressure tyres are faster than wider softer tyres - a good quality supple wider tyre will improve ride quality without sapping power, while a hard narrow tyre will be tiring on any but the smoothest of surfaces.