Gravel Bikes...........anyone got a new(ish) one..........any thoughts ?
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nickAKA
Über Member
- Location
- Manchester
I bought a gravel bike from wiggle (a verenti substance, just short of £550 with free shipping to Spain) to tackle some of the old mountain roads near Malaga. The reason being I didn't fancy my chances on 25mm road tyres or with an 11-28 cassette and the spec was correct for the type of ground I wanted to cover. My observations thus far having done barely 100 miles:
1) Tiagra / FSA gearing works well for the given purpose and is OK on the "proper" roads.
2) The wider, flared drop bars were comfortable but just look weird (to me)
3) Liked the disc brakes. Wouldn't say I was a convert yet but I can see the logic of having them on this type of bike
4) It weighs a ton compared to my road bike but you could argue some of the weight translates to added strength (and the smaller budget).
In summary, I enjoyed riding it up & down some very steep, very rough 'roads'. I found it even more pleasant up & down the proper roads too, although I would have preferred my proper bike for this particular purpose... I wouldn't consider the gravel term to be gimmicky if you're getting the right spec/tyres/groupset for the purpose as described without the hassle of then having to modify bits, it's just horses for courses.
1) Tiagra / FSA gearing works well for the given purpose and is OK on the "proper" roads.
2) The wider, flared drop bars were comfortable but just look weird (to me)
3) Liked the disc brakes. Wouldn't say I was a convert yet but I can see the logic of having them on this type of bike
4) It weighs a ton compared to my road bike but you could argue some of the weight translates to added strength (and the smaller budget).
In summary, I enjoyed riding it up & down some very steep, very rough 'roads'. I found it even more pleasant up & down the proper roads too, although I would have preferred my proper bike for this particular purpose... I wouldn't consider the gravel term to be gimmicky if you're getting the right spec/tyres/groupset for the purpose as described without the hassle of then having to modify bits, it's just horses for courses.
