Since the geometry is the same, I would absolutely go with the slightly wider tire clearance. You can toy with tire choices a bit. Since you plan to keep this forever, you’ll have the option for slightly wider and more comfortable tires down the road. Also, if you plan on some rides eventually with a bit more gravel or rougher terrains, the options are there.
Just go with comfort. The geo is the same and a bit of weight isn’t going to hurt. My steel gravel bike is 11-12kg’s and I often still pick it over my road bike just because I really enjoy the plush feeling some days.
Just put a pair of wide wheels, and fast 35mm tyres and It’ll be almost as fast but way more comfortable.
Have the bike meet the majority of your riding needs and just accept that for some portion of your riding, you won’t be on an “ideal” bike.
At least that is how I would view it.
Do you have wheels picked out yet? The road plus option would work beautifully with some of the wide 25mm+ internal carbon wheels out there. A 32mm GP5000 S TR would probably measure 34-35mm and be super fast and plush.
Just a few examples
not 100% picked but I was looking at these (assuming I go Road+) and GP5000 AS TR (35mm)
I thought maybe they would do better with crosswinds than the deeper wheels? so I could just not worry about conditions and take this bike always - I ride in all bad weather except for ice/snow
+1 for road plus
I think tire clearance is one of those better to have and not need versus the other things. Within reason of course but should you get the bug to ride a grittier route or someone insists upon dragging you along you’ll have the capacity to go a touch more plush. I don’t think there’s any detriment to having extra clearance around your wheel/tires other than cosmetics if that’s of any concern. My gravel bike has clearance for 45s but I’m using 32s on it more often.
I have a custom steel English with road plus geo and clearance. when I run 32 and 35mm GP5000, it is within 5% of the speeds of my aero road bike. I ride my English the vast majority of the time mainly due to comfort/fit.
I guess I don’t understand. You already ride your pretty nice roads on your Emonda with 31mm tires which are at the wider end for a road bike. Are you saying to yourself on every ride that you wish you had wider tires and thus wanting to go ‘allroad’?
Either choice is valid but you should already know the answer based on your current bike.
ty for sharing. I am really hoping for that. i’ll sell my road bike if I can get within 5% (and get a somewhat reasonable offer). that would be the best case to simplify my life.
on every ride for like 5% of the ride I for sure do. for the rest I dunno how i’ll like it or not tbh.
yeah I guess I don’t know so I am relying on other people’s experiences. I keep reading (like on this thread) that the speed loss is minimal and comfort is a big improvement…so that’s appealing to me.
and yeah I won’t sell my emonda until I see for myself that this is the case.
I also really don’t have anything to test ride. and even if I did it would just be one ride vs just asking opinions of others who had both types of bikes. I dunno. I totally get your point.
Like I said, there is no wrong answer.
I just like my road bike to perform like a sports car. Sometimes I spend a lot of time on my gravel bike but then when I’m back to road season, it’s like ‘yeah baby this thing handles like it’s on rails’. Sure, it’s rougher at times but you avoid potholes and road imperfections and it’s not an issue to me.
I have gravel and mountain bikes so for me the allroad category is one I’ll skip. I’ll either do road rides or gravel rides. We just don’t have 90% road + 10% gravel type rides around here.
I was facing the same decision, but from the „other end“. Getting the titanium road+ or gravel bike.
I decided to go with the gravel bike (which has a comparatively racy geometry) and haven‘t looked back. I go for gnarly stuff with my 45s but also do road bikepacking and audax on some 32s. From that experience I‘d rather go to the gravel end of the spectrum and accomodate inbetween with tire and wheel choice. At the monent it is my only bike, but I will surly get a pure road bike again at some point.
So maybe I‘m more in the camp of „go pure road or gravel and get another bike at some point“. If you‘re planning on going off road a lot – get one with even more clearance. If you‘re just hitting some loose gravel every now and then, 32mm should be plenty. You could also sell the emonda then and get a proper gravel bike. But YMMV
I would also lean towards road plus. Just a comment as to why you want 35 mm tires: you won’t have to stop or turn around as often.
Small anecdote: I have an aggressive aero road bike, a 3T Strada. When I go exploring, it does happen that the paved road turns to gravel or bad cobbles. Last time I made the decision to push ahead, I flatted really bad. 4 separate, substantial tears in my sidewall. With wider tires, I could have pushed ahead.
I’ve got my proper summer titanium bike on 32s and my travel beater on a set of 38s (gravel kings) and honestly I’ve been wondering if the 38s are faster! The extra comfort is definitely there and you can rip a fire road / gravel track on 38s with a lot more confidence. A 32 looks and feels like a wide road tire but the transition to 38 definitely feels and looks more “off road”. I wouldn’t be afraid to hit a dirt trail on a 38 gravel king but I would think twice on a 32 gp 5000
Faster on what terrain? Just pure pavement, no way the 38s are faster than 32GP5000 - unless the pavement so bad, that it’s not really pavement anymore.
If you’re talking about mixed surface riding, sure the 38s could be faster, but no surprise there.
On tarmac. It’s more a placebo I’m sure but my point is that it felt negligible to possibly faster based on the comfort!