When Did "Gravel" Bikes Hit The Market
 

It seems more and more these days gravel bikes are getting a lot of play and occupying a greater portion of the market. It seems like it happened over night. I know that the acceptance and popularity has been more gradual though. When did they start appearing in manufacturers catalogs labeled as such? When did gravel bikes get added to out sub forums here?

Just a curiosity.

Why not ask this in the appropriate sub forum?

Rivendell has been making them since 1994.

No clue, but after buying mine, I see no reason for myself to own a proper "road" bike.

I love my gravel bike, it's my favorite bike... but I haven't rode it as much as I thought I would.

I ride my road bikes and hardtail 29er mountain bike a lot more.

Are you talking about the XO series bikes built around 26 inch wheels (some were built around 700c as well)? Those date a little earlier than '94 but agree that they are an early forerunner of a gravel bike. Bridgestone marketed them as fire road bikes. In the 90s, a 26 inch wheel was a good choice if you wanted some fat rubber for a road bike.

The Bianchi project series are the earliest examples of 29ers I am aware of,

https://www.bikehugger.com/posts/the...at-wasnt-700d/

I own and ride gravel on my '93 Bridgestone XO 2 with 26 x 1.75 tires and drops. I'd like to find a bianchi project bike to build and ride one of these days as well.

Even earlier in time I guess would be a 650b wheel bike; the French were fans of this a long time ago and it is having its day in the sun. You can certainly take a "vintage" road bike, add 650b wheels (not all vintage bikes work for this) and end up with a very capable all roads machine.

The OP is asking when gravel bikes "hit" the market and that is not that long ago that they became a "thing." I think they were pushed first by enthusiasts who modded existing bikes to ride on gravel roads mainly in the midwest, proselytized the idea, and then the manufacturers--always eager to sell you N plus 1--jumped on the idea. I know "Guitar Ted" has a bunch of posts on building the "gravel mutt" bike. It's not that different in some ways from the early days of mountain bikes when a bunch of hippies out in California built the first mountain bikes before they became commercialized.

In any case, if anyone knows more about the story of how gravel bikes became a thing, I'd like hear about it as well.

Around 1885, IIRC. 1893 would be a safer bet.

Funny but good point. Way back in the day, cyclists pushed for better roads since riding on dirt/gravel was a pain. But once cars took over the roads, alternatives like mountain and gravel bikes made sense. I guess these bikes are a return to the bicycle's 19th century roots in crummy to non-existent roads.

Little bit, but (again, for my purposes) I'm not overly speedy where I notice that. My Mazama is butted steel, and comes in at 25# with Clement USH gravel/road tires. The comfort of the plusher tires over a longer distance definitely makes up for any weight advantage compared to my actual road bike, and the triple makes up for weight in the hills.

About 5-7 years ago give or take. As others have said people have been riding bikes on gravel forever but as far as an actual marketing term and specific purpose-designed bikes, ~2010 or so depending on the company.

They had one of these sitting at an outdoor adventure shop that is also a bar that I was at Monday night. Real tempted to pull out the credit card after a few 10% stouts, luckily it wasn't my size...

Dunno the weight, nothing really online except a few reviews that put it in the 20-21# range. Looked like it had room to get to at least 40mm tires as well, and probably even bigger.

https://images.giant-bicycles.com/b_...or-A-Green.jpg
https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/anyroad-advanced-1

Honestly, the concept goes back to the first bikes which were designed for riding on rougher surfaces than tarmac. Calling something a "gravel bike" is just marketing.

There were tons of grass-track races in the 20s and the bikes used in those events were essentially the gravel bikes of that era with fatter tires and more slack geometry. Lots of builders have been proponents of randonneuring / audax bikes or similar fat-tires road bikes since at least the 30s. Some of the current "adventure bikes" you see on the Radavist look a lot like classic Rene Herse rando bikes or bikes that were used in Paris-Brest-Paris back in the day. The ballooners of the late sixties in California which led to mountain bikes were essentially modified road frames and again look a lot like some current adventure offerings. Tom Ritchey stated on a podcast recently that he and a bunch of California pros were doing what are now called gravel rides back in the late 60's. He called them "Jobst" rides after the legendary Jobst Brandt. As other have said, Grant Peterson has been preaching the gospel of these types of bikes since at least the mid 80s.

Today, I think a small but growing number of road riders are just kind of done with the whole lycra-n-Oakleys-n-carbon TdF racer thing. Also, more people are realizing (like me) that dirt road rides have less traffic and are often more interesting. I think "gravel bikes" are just more practical for lots of people.

"Gravel Bike" is just a marketing term. The material differences between a gravel bike and a cyclocross bike are minute at best.

The dedicated road bike I have doesn’t cut it on bad payment county roads on my cx and gravel bike I can hit stuff and not hit the ground. Gravel roads lead to interesting places with little traffic that doesn’t move at 75mph. I can hear vehicles approaching so I can get out of the way. Maneuvering around livestock and over cattle guards with relative ease. They more versatile and can ride almost anywhere.

That's incorrect. CX bikes have a higher bottom bracket to clear obstacles and a more aggressive racing position. Gravel bikes have a low, sometimes super low, bottom bracket for stability on gravel and a more relaxed position (for better control on gravel) with tall stack heights and head tubes. There's more to a gravel or CX bike besides the size of the tire you can fit.

Depends on which gravel bike manufacturer you look at. Some gravel bikes are very aggressive with super short wheelbases/chainstays and more aggressive riding postures, others have gravel bikes which are essentially hybrid bicycles with drop bars.

This is what I was looking for. If I were to find a 1994 catalog it would show a Rivendell "Gravel" bike by that name?

That would make a lot of sense. Brain phart on my part.

I didn't say all gravel bikes have long wheelbases and chainstays. The thing I liked about the previous Diverge model was that it had a geometry closer to a racing bike. But gravel specific bikes do have a low bottom bracket and higher stack heights than cyclocross. All for stability when you're flying on basically loose rocks. I don't know which models you're talking about. I've seen no bike marketed as a gravel bike that is actually a CX bike.

Now of course, people have raced and won gravel races on CX bikes. But that's a different subject.

Not exactly. The catalogs are online and but I think they talk about bikes designed for fire roads.

You're describing the old "sports touring" category
 

Lots of 60s and 70s bikes filled that niche and were called sports touring bike.

Most of the cyclocross bikes we sold that weren't race focused bikes became "gravel bikes" for the 2016 model year. Market differentiation was happening earlier in 2014/2015 but it really hit peak for us here in Georgia in late 2015. So far it seems to be a good thing, people are much more open to purchasing a gravel bike that they were a cyclocross bike as there's no racing association at all with the former.

Google trends is illustrative.

https://trends.google.com/trends/exp...=gravel%20bike

Perhaps some CX bikes have a higher BB but others, i.e. Specialized Crux, have the same BB drop as a road or gravel bike. It's a pretty fuzzy term with plenty of cross over.

Industry trend mongers at work..


<guess> Less than 10 years.. ?





...

It seems like CX bikes have more of an aggressive geometry and gravel bikes have more of an endurance geometry. I have never read into the specs, but going on appearance, it looks that way.