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-   -   Let's Retire the Term "Gravel Grinder" (https://www.bikeforums.net/cyclocross-gravelbiking-recreational/1251449-lets-retire-term-gravel-grinder.html)

Rolla 05-09-22 12:54 PM

Let's Retire the Term "Gravel Grinder"
 
I guess alliteration is cool, but referring to a bike or an event as a "gravel grinder" just seems so 2010.

Likewise "monster cross."

mstateglfr 05-09-22 01:02 PM

Yeah the gravel grinder term always made me cock my head a bit since the idea was to sit and spin so weight is on the rear and you don't lose traction.
But I guess more grinding was done 15 years ago before wide range gearing became readily available. At the same time, triples were quite common then so there is that.
Maybe it's just alliteration in the end.

As for monstercross, that pretty much died out after a short life. Sucks, since I have a frame literally called the Monstercross. If you get your way it will be nameless!

Rolla 05-09-22 01:05 PM


Originally Posted by mstateglfr (Post 22500631)
As for monstercross, that pretty much died out after a short life. Sucks, since I have a frame literally called the Monstercross. If you get your way it will be nameless!

I know -- I have one, too! :lol:

fishboat 05-09-22 01:25 PM

Other biking terms that can be tossed too..

>That catchall cute little term "kit". Too cute for me. The Brits can keep it.

>"Clipless" pedals. Having ridden the first 2-3 decades of my biking career using leather strap toe-clips and SIDI racing shoes with nylon-slot cleats..I get it. However, the first thing one does with "clipless" pedals is step on them and "clip" in (SPDs at least).

>"Shredding". Lots of drama. It's just riding a bike..no need for excess drama.

Now..one could no longer don some awesome kit, clip into some clipless pedals, and do some serious shredding and grinding on a fav monster cross bike, and still have a great day of riding.

Rolla 05-09-22 01:34 PM

⬆️ But how will you shred the gnar, bruh?

ThermionicScott 05-09-22 01:55 PM


Originally Posted by mstateglfr (Post 22500631)
Yeah the gravel grinder term always made me cock my head a bit since the idea was to sit and spin so weight is on the rear and you don't lose traction.

I didn't know the term even had that much meaning at one point! Just figured "grinder"/"grinding" got borrowed from other kinds of cycling to make it sound more "extreme." ;)

tyrion 05-09-22 01:58 PM

No way. "Gravel grinder" is cool. One term to retire (in a bicycle context): "steed".

tdilf 05-09-22 02:21 PM


Originally Posted by Rolla (Post 22500621)
I guess alliteration is cool, but referring to a bike or an event as a "gravel grinder" just seems so 2010.

Likewise "monster cross."

What alternatives are you offering up?

Rolla 05-09-22 02:43 PM


Originally Posted by tdilf (Post 22500732)
What alternatives are you offering up?

I'm just here for the demolition. Production is a separate department.

tdilf 05-09-22 02:45 PM


Originally Posted by Rolla (Post 22500768)
I'm just here for the demolition. Production is a separate department.

That's the easy part…

Rolla 05-09-22 03:07 PM


Originally Posted by tdilf (Post 22500772)
That's the easy part…

Commensurate with the salary.

Rolla 05-09-22 03:09 PM


Originally Posted by tyrion (Post 22500708)
No way. "Gravel grinder" is cool. One term to retire (in a bicycle context): "steed".

But what else besides "steeds" are in the "herd" we're always thinning? :)

prj71 05-09-22 03:33 PM


Originally Posted by Rolla (Post 22500804)
But what else besides "steeds" are in the "herd" we're always thinning? :)

Whips. Some people call them whips.

Gravel Grinder doesn't bother me. But the word "Kit" does when referring to bike jersey and bike shorts.

billridesbikes 05-09-22 03:58 PM

I always thought grind in Gravel grinder refereed to hard or unpleasant work or preserving through a difficult task not the pedaling style to be employed.

Gravel Grubbing?
Gravel Travel?
Gravel Humping? ( not that kind of humping you pervs)
Gravel Devil?
Gravel Pickle?
Gravel Jackpot? (not the fun kind of jackpot)

Probably none of these are what OP had in mind.

79pmooney 05-09-22 04:17 PM

I'm reading a book written by a WW2 bomber tailgunner. In the chapter I read last night, he talked of donning his "kit" - lots of warm clothes with his air suit over. So "kits " were the thing almost 80 years ago, at least "over there". (Author was English and in the RAF. Book was written during the war and not edited after. He didn't live to see the peace.)

tyrion 05-09-22 04:28 PM

Gravel Groping!

ThermionicScott 05-09-22 04:52 PM

Gravel jiggling.

dwmckee 05-09-22 07:04 PM

So, we should be calling these multi-surface or mixed-surface rides instead then? I bet I can guess where that will go if you put it to a vote.

Rolla 05-09-22 07:24 PM


Originally Posted by dwmckee (Post 22501053)
So, we should be calling these multi-surface or mixed-surface rides instead then?.

What’s wrong with just calling them “gravel rides”?

We don’t call road rides “road ramblers,” or mountain bike rides “mountain munchers.”

:)

Random11 05-09-22 08:24 PM


Originally Posted by dwmckee (Post 22501053)
So, we should be calling these multi-surface or mixed-surface rides instead then?

I like those names better than Gravel anything. I've rarely had my bike on actual gravel. Dirt? Yes. Sand? Yes. Grass? Yes. Lots of pavement. Gravel? Rarely. As I ride it, it is a multi-surface bike.

mstateglfr 05-09-22 08:28 PM


Originally Posted by billridesbikes (Post 22500856)
I always thought grind in Gravel grinder refereed to hard or unpleasant work or preserving through a difficult task not the pedaling style to be employed.

Very well could mean this too. This was so decentralized to start with and also very siloed that it could mean one thing locally and a different thing in another region or even a different area of the same state.

Hmmm 05-10-22 02:08 AM

Monster Cross has to stay!

Gravel Grinder can go. yeah.

Paul Barnard 05-10-22 04:36 AM


Originally Posted by fishboat (Post 22500670)
Other biking terms that can be tossed too..

>That catchall cute little term "kit". Too cute for me. The Brits can keep it.

>"Clipless" pedals. Having ridden the first 2-3 decades of my biking career using leather strap toe-clips and SIDI racing shoes with nylon-slot cleats..I get it. However, the first thing one does with "clipless" pedals is step on them and "clip" in (SPDs at least).

>"Shredding". Lots of drama. It's just riding a bike..no need for excess drama.

Now..one could no longer don some awesome kit, clip into some clipless pedals, and do some serious shredding and grinding on a fav monster cross bike, and still have a great day of riding.


Thanks for the additions. Kit is particularly irksome. It seems like the "full squish" is passing from the mountain bike lexicon, and that can happen quickly enough.

I call a bicycle seat a bicycle seat. I find it odd when people correct me and say that it's a saddle. Is the piece that connects the seat to the bike called a saddle post? What about the parts of the frame? Do we have saddle stays and saddle tubes? Do we have saddle post binders?

seypat 05-10-22 06:32 AM

As long as there are concrete mixers and trucks being used in the world, "gravel grinder" can't be retired.

mstateglfr 05-10-22 07:01 AM


Originally Posted by Paul Barnard (Post 22501338)
I call a bicycle seat a bicycle seat. I find it odd when people correct me and say that it's a saddle.

I certainly dont correct people when they call it a seat, but I also only ever call it a saddle.
A seat is something you sit in/on. A saddle is something you sit atop. Recumbent has a seat, diamond frame has a saddle. Yeah maybe its largely a distinction without a difference, but still...


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