Originally Posted by
Atlas Shrugged
The question asked was “So why not?”. Every time someone posts a reasonable response why these bodges are compromised, the usual gang tells stories how they rode their Criterium bike on the Red Bull Rampage course and didn’t die.
A quality modern gravel bike is optimized for its use case and the solutions provided by the barn find conversion crowd are no where close in comfort and performance.
Or - here people often go to extremes or absolutes. Extremes, like the red bull example you just made.
Modern gravel bikes - like many new bikes - can be seen as an expensive obstacle for new people, especially young people. If y'all haven't noticed - one of my main arguments is how cycling in this country is dwindling, and how bike companies typically focus on the enthusiasts or semi racers. And they keep the price and offerings at a high level.
Where many of these conversions can be done cheaply, will function on gravel just fine - and can introduce many new folks into the activity. There are countless garages full of these 1/2 used hybrids and rigid MTB's that could be converted into fully functional gravel machines.
But - someone looking to do so may stumble upon threads like these and leave with the impression that changing said bikes is a waste of time and they will be left with something 1/2 assed/not worth the trouble.
This thread could have been positive... but... it wasn't.