Thinking of getting a 'Gravel Bike'.

[SkipdiverJohn]

Not sure I see much similarity with my old MTB's other than the rigid frames. It looks a pretty unwieldy bike to me with stupidly wide 750mm drop bars, the big 700 tyres and the 1121 mm wheelbase in the L size.
My 23" Large size Raleigh 26" MTB has an overall length of 68" and the bars are 23" wide. That gravel bike in Large size is 72" long and 29 1/2" wide across the bars. I know which one I would rather be riding, especially where you need to get the bike through anti-motorcycling barriers or are riding on a narrow path and need to pass dog walkers or other riders coming from the opposite direction.

 

[Pale Rider]

Not sure I see much similarity with my old MTB's other than the rigid frames. It looks a pretty unwieldy bike to me with stupidly wide 750mm drop bars, the big 700 tyres and the 1121 mm wheelbase in the L size.
My 23" Large size Raleigh 26" MTB has an overall length of 68" and the bars are 23" wide. That gravel bike in Large size is 72" long and 29 1/2" wide across the bars. I know which one I would rather be riding, especially where you need to get the bike through anti-motorcycling barriers or are riding on a narrow path and need to pass dog walkers or other riders coming from the opposite direction.

It would be handier on 650b and with a few inches chopped off the bars.

 

[MrGrumpy]

@shep Enjoy your new bike, I quite fancy something similar myself but I will need to wait till my house is finished inside. Gravel/CX bike for me has a wide appeal to me. My Raleigh road bike never sees the light of day at the moment.

 

[DRM]

View: https://youtu.be/PJ8o0f2aAjA

Just to show how capable gravel bikes are in the correct hands.

 

[Deleted User]

Appreciate all reply's and opinions, to be honest, I've never really ridden 'off road' so I dare say all the Mountain bike lads on here must see the gravel bike thing as a load of tosh, quite understandably, but I thought I might give it a go and I didn't really fancy a full on Mountain bike as I've only ever ridden road bikes.

Might hate it, might love it, who knows? do fancy some 650b wheels though!

Cheers.

 

[Pikey]

It’s different strokes for different folks... if you like a gravel bike, crack on!
I started on mtb, went road, went recumbent and now several years later am now back with an mtb, many would frown on that in the mtb circles I’m sure as I rack up a bit of road mileage on it, but it makes me happy.
That’s all that matters really, a bike you enjoy riding...

 

[MrGrumpy]

Yep bash on with it , ignore the old 3 speed sturmey archer cyclists on here who refuse to to live into the 21st century

 

[Deleted User]

Well here it is, done a quick hour down the local trail and loved it!

 

[wafter]

View: https://youtu.be/PJ8o0f2aAjA

Just to show how capable gravel bikes are in the correct hands.

Meh, "entertainment" at best and biased marketing tosh at worst tbh. The proper test would have been the MTB rider testing both; in which case I suspect the MTB would have annihilated the gravel bike and rightly so; considering the latter is akin to what that former has evolved from over about 25yrs.

It appears that that Blake didn't particularly enjoy the ride too

 

[DRM]

Meh, "entertainment" at best and biased marketing tosh at worst tbh. The proper test would have been the MTB rider testing both; in which case I suspect the MTB would have annihilated the gravel bike and rightly so; considering the latter is akin to what that former has evolved from over about 25yrs.

It appears that that Blake didn't particularly enjoy the ride too

Not really, just shows how capable they actually are, they will never be better than an MTB on that terrain, but certainly capable of more then a bimble up the canal towpath