rms13

I have recently become obsessed with this idea of the gravel bike (thanks bike industry marketing!). I live in a place with no gravel roads, the fire roads that are close to me are probably .5 mile climbs and any serious fire roads/trails/single track will involve putting my bike in the car and driving 30-45 minutes to ride and I prefer just getting on my bike and riding. But I do like "the idea" of disc brakes and being able to run super wide tires. It seems like the only difference between newer gravel specific bikes and endurance is ability to run wider tires, is that correct? Seems discs are common in both segments now and geometry is starting to converge between the two as well where there isn't much difference there. So are we going to see "endurance" bikes that run 700x40 tires soon?

RPK79

I dunno, but for my gravel rides I run my road bike with regular ol' rim brakes and some 700x30 Kenda Kwiks.

rms13

That's the other point I guess is that people have been running on gravel with standard road bikes for a long time. I think I'd have trouble with anything wider than 28 on my bike

RPK79

Yeah, I'm running a steel framed bike and they tend to be a little more generous in clearance. Even so, 30 is as wide as I am able to go and the selection for good gravel tires is pretty sparse in that size. 35-40 is the sweet spot.

Still, I'm quite happy with my setup and unlike you I have a lot of gravel available in my area. There are even organized gravel rides within riding distance of my front door.

FrozenK

Part of the problem is that "gravel road" is a very vague term covering from packed dirt to fist-sized rocks. While on some unpaved roads you will be fine with a 28c tire, on others you can be riding a 45c tire and be left wanting for more or (even a suspension fork)

The industry is trying to capitalize on "gravel bikes" but because the category is so undefined, you see a huge variation on what is sold as a "gravel bike." I would recomend looking at what gravel/dirt/unpaved roads you will realistically be riding on this bike and buying accordingly. This may mean a bike with caliper brakes and clearance for 30c tires or a bike with clearance for 45c tires.

rms13

I think that is part of the shift form "gravel bike" to "adventure bike". It's all an evolving category. And the bike companies want to sell the bikes to people (like me) that would have to go out of their way to find any unpaved roads so they can expand the market. It's really becoming gravel/commuter/touring

alexaschwanden

I just use what i got, a regular road bike with 23c tires on gravel and hard packed trails.

UnfilteredDregs

I call them "All-Road," bikes...and I can go a lot of places you simply can't take a roadbike because I can roll wider rubber.

RPK79

I've done that, too, but recently graded gravel roads are unpassable with skinny tires.

ColaJacket

I have a Fuji Sportif 1.3 C - 2014. It has 700x28 tires and disc brakes. There's plenty of room for wider tires on it.

GH

RPK79

I'm riding Fuji as well. '03 Roubaix Pro and I recently picked up a 2014 Track Classic that looks like it has clearance for 700x30 as well.

FrozenK

Yes, and you are right that there is some overlapping on these bike categories. I think when it comes to tire clearance people are overstimating how big a tire you really need. But given the current market, most manufacturers will provide high clearance because people just have to be able to run 45c tires.

MileHighMark

All my bikes are gravel bikes:

• Traditional steel road bike with 28-32 mm tires
• Bespoke gravel bike with 32-40 mm tires
• Rigid mountain bike with 55-60 mm tires

Lazyass

With as little interest as I have in discs, I have to admit some of these new "gravel" bikes are pretty cool. Realistically, they're more practical than the race bikes I have. I do want to test ride one to see how sluggish they ride.

RPK79

Salsa Warbird seems fairly well regarded in the gravel scene.

Hypno Toad

Did you ride the Almanzo this year? I had the wrong tires - my 28c were great on the 2014 Benjamin. But there was some much fresh gravel on the Almanzo this year, I was hating life. I'm going to pick up some 35c or 38c before the Benjamin.

Disc brakes versus rim brakes: Last year's Westside Dirty Benjamin was run in pouring rain and there are a number of trail sections that were MUDDY, this left the rim brake crowd on the roadside with sticks, cleaning out their brakes (same for the full fender crowd). I was running disc brakes and no fenders, I'd get on the road and let the mud FLY (BTW - I did had a mountain bike fender, cause that mud got really annoying). You won't find these conditions on every gravel race, but I'm a fan of disc brakes for the gravel grinder.

RPK79

Nope. A few of my riding buddies did though. I did the Miesville FiftySix back in April and barely survived that. Gravel is definitely a brutal grind and as early as the Almanzo is I'd have a hard time being ready for it. I'm a tax accountant so Feb-Apr I'm working ungodly hours. I'm just now getting back to 50+ mile rides being a regular thing.

rms13

I've read a lot of great reviews on both of those. Also surprisingly, the Diamondback Haanjo

Diamondback Bicycles - Haanjo Comp

and less suprising, the Raleigh Tamland

Raleigh Bicycles - Tamland Series

Bacciagalupe

I'd say it's about half marketing, half genuine need.

A gravel bike is basically a cross bike, with a handful of geometry tweaks specifically designed for racing on gravel. Gravel racing and riding is getting more popular, so it makes sense that a handful of manufacturers are making bikes oriented towards that market niche.

"Adventure bikes" aka light touring bikes are also very similar to both gravel and cross bikes, with a few nice touches for touring (e.g. more geo changes, more rack eyelets).

The differences between these bikes are -- as with so many other things -- important for racers, and almost entirely negligible for everyone else. I.e. you'd be fine with any bike in the above categories, as long as they have the clearance you want.

However, endurance bikes are a little different. They are more like "cushier road bikes." Compared to a gravel / cross / adventure bike, an endurance bike will generally be lighter, less robust frame, slightly more aggressive geometry, narrower tires / less clearance, fewer eyelets for racks. It's not optimal for all-day hardpack or gravel riding.

IcySmooth52

Good idea!

I like to describe them to people as half-way between a cyclocross bike & touring bike. Definately a small (but realistic) toll keeping up with a fast group ride even with slicks, but if you have to have one bike...

I wouldn't take any bike than can be called a "road bike" on single track though.

Willbird

It is all geared towards getting more people to 10N+1 :-)

Dan333SP

It's all about the rider. It's obviously not optimal, but a dude in my area has earned overall podiums in local singletrack mountain bike races on a pinarello FP2 carbon bike he's converted to flat bars with 25 tires. He's a monster bike handler and really just likes trolling people that think they're fast, but still... makes you think how much is marketing vs. need.

MileHighMark

Thankfully guys like Tom Ritchey and the late Jobst Brandt didn't take that advice.

Tom Ritchey: A Tribute to Jobst / Ritchey - News & Blogs

Lazyass

Cross bikes have a higher bottom bracket, which is why they never interested me for road riding. Seems the difference between endurance bikes and gravel is that gravel bikes can take an even bigger tire. That's why none of them have rim brakes. It's all kind of confusing to me.

RPK79

You don't sound confused.