Gravel Culture: Gravel riding – is it just marketing snake oil?
Posted By Gravel Union
On 27 May 2020
We received an interesting question on the Gravel Union Facebook page recently, which essentially asked what was the point in buying a gravel bike – if you already had a road bike, CX bike and an MTB, surely each of them was better at their respective disciplines? Wasn’t a gravel bike simply bike company marketing to persuade us to buy another bike which would be less good than the three separate bikes at the different disciplines?
This question raised a few metaphorical eyebrows in the Gravel Union office! What was the point of a gravel bike and why was it worth adding to your collection if you had the chance? Could we define what made a gravel bike different to a CX bike and why would you want one over the other?
So first of all – how do you define a gravel bike (and how is it different to a CX bike for example)? In essence they’re similar and you can do a lot of the same things on them. But, it depends on what type of CX bike and what type of gravel bike. A CX race bike will have steep angles (to make it fast and responsive), be super light and stiff (to maximise speed and efficiency), have limited tyre clearance (as you can only run tyres of up to 33mm width in UCI world cup races) and often won’t have any unnecessary accoutrements such as bottle cage mounts or eyelets for racks/mudguards etc (to keep the bikes as light as possible).
A gravel bike on the other hand will have clearance for much fatter tyres (up to mid 40s mm is pretty standard), slacker angles and a longer wheelbase (to make the handling less twitchy), are likely to have additional mount points for luggage etc and may come with features to enhance comfort over all-out speed.
Arguably the most useful feature of a gravel bike is the ability to run larger volume tyres. Bigger volume tyres (40mm and beyond) offer greater comfort and better traction on less-than-perfect gravel surfaces with only minimal weight penalty and very minor differences in drag/energy efficiency. If you are taking part in a typical CX race (one hour, flat out, in the typical deep gloopy mud of mid-winter) then a narrow tyre which cuts through the mud to the hardpack below and which is super lightweight, is probably the winning choice, but for everyone else, in our view fatter is definitely better!
If you’re considering buying a gravel bike, the first thing to ponder is where do you live and what type of riding do you want to do? One person’s gravel is another person’s pebbles. Gravel can be scientifically defined using the Udden-Wenworth grain size scale, but in practice, everyone’s view of ‘what is gravel’ depends on where you live. If you’re lucky enough to live in southern Tuscany (home of the beautiful strada bianche gravel roads) or Kansas USA (home of miles and miles and miles of gravel roads), you’ve got real-gravelTM right on your doorstep, but for everyone else gravel really means mixed surface – crushed stone/broken asphalt/cycle paths/woodland singletrack/hardpacked mud/grass and many others.
The gnarlier/more technically demanding the terrain you want to ride your gravel bike, the more you will need to choose your bike to suit. This is where the dilemma of “why don’t I just ride an XC MTB instead?” comes to the fore. A lightweight XC bike, fitted with front suspension would be the answer in certain situations (for example the recent Atlas Mountain Race where competitors on gravel bikes found the terrain too demanding in places), but XC MTBs tend to be heavier and less efficient on smoother/less technical surfaces. If you’re fortunate enough to live in the French Alps, Colorado or Nepal we would suggest thinking carefully before spending your hard earned money on a gravel bike. But if you live somewhere with less demanding terrain, a gravel bike suddenly opens up significant opportunities to you.
Imagine you’re out on a ride, heading out of town for the hills. On a pure road bike (even fitted with 28mm tyres) you have a be a bit cautious about the trail surface – the risk of punctures is likely to put you off venturing too far from smooth surfaces. If you were on an XC MTB, the weight, drag from more heavily treaded tyres and stance on the bike mean you’re burning more energy riding along. But on a gravel bike you have the best of all worlds – ability to ride all the different surfaces you come across, not much more drag than a road bike and less weight/more aero than an XC MTB.
So that’s the ‘science’ - what about gut feel? We suspect quite a high proportion of gravel bike riders have chosen their steed because they’re fun to ride. A good gravel bike doesn’t have the trail deadening feel of an MTB or the less-than-comfortable position of a flat-out road racer.
“You can’t make a purse out of a sow’s ear” according to the ancient British proverb. “Nope, but you can find gravel gold in a housing estate” is the (slightly more modern) response.
One of the biggest selling points (and the reason we most often choose to ride my gravel bike in preference to a road bike or XC MTB) is the adaptability and flexibility it offers. Set off from your home on a paved road, turn off onto a gravel bike path which takes you to the woods, where you ride the twisty, rooty singletrack trails. All on the same bike. All with a big grin plastered over your face.
Not only does a gravel bike give you flexibility, but it manages the alchemist’s trick of turning fairly mundane trails into trail gold. Take the section of gravel cycle path in the image. At first glance, not that exciting - running through a huge housing estate, slightly lumpy surface, with a small wooden bridge made of old railway sleepers just out of shot. On a road bike it would be too lumpy with a significant risk of punctures and the railway sleeper bridge would be lethally slippery. On an XC MTB it would just be dull - too flat, too boring, too sanitised.
But on a gravel bike, the magic happens. Potter along gently, listening to the bird song (normally drowned out by car noise, but currently the soundtrack de jour) or go full gas, weaving around the potholes and then hard on the brakes before skipping over the bridge and turning 90 degrees left. Always on the ragged edge of in-control, minimally treaded big volume tyres offering the perfect balance of grip versus speed, no suspension to dull the sensation or soak up your acceleration. But durable, comfortable and dependable.
And most importantly fun.
That’s what we love most about riding gravel bikes. They’re just the most fun bike to ride. And that must be the best reason for riding one, right?