I raced steamboat gravel on my allez sprint last year. 32 gravel kings.
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My “gravel” is maybe not full on gravel, but is branded as a CX bike, but in all truth the company (a local bike shop that runs it’s own house brand) uses the same frame/fork across several models for road, CX. It’s really more of an endurance road bike with clearance for up to 38+ that I run 35s easily, a compact crankset and 11-32 cassette for a mild gravel bike . If I put a set of 28 Conti 5Ks no one would look twice that it wasn’t a “road bike”.
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I somehow keep ending up offroad when out on my roadbike, I dunno why… 
We don’t actually have many gravel roads round here, so offroad is usually mud/cobbles/rocks.
I’ve just build up a new disc roadbike with 28s so it has a bit more clearance. The frame can fit 30s, but then there is about 1mm of clearance, and with the amount of mud/grit that usually sticks to the tyre, I’d rather ride 28s and have more space.
The bike feels very good on smooth gravel (like forrest paths), but after doing only 15 miles on very broken tarmac on the tow path, I felt shaken to bits…
Also I’d only ride the bike on real offroad paths when it’s dry, in wet mud I’d want knobbly tyres, and it can’t fit that.
With regards to doing a gravel race on it: go look at the gravel/surface, but I’d likely go for it, unless it was chunky rocks or wet. If its chunky, you might still be able to ride, but you’ll have to slow down a lot more than on bigger tyres, and your puncture risk is higher.
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If 32 mm is the criteria on a road frame, I would also throw in there the Giant TCR Advanced Pro Disc. Better value for money compared to those other brands, and is in a similar realm of lightness to other “lightweight all-arounders” even in its “heavier” guise.
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I rode Rouge Roubiax a few weeks ago on an Allied Echo in “road mode” on gravelking slick 28s and the surface conditions were everything from very loose gravel, to hard pack dirt, to chip seal, to downright bad pavement riddled with potholes.
After that event, I actually picked up a new road bike and sold the Echo, and have since rode gravel a few times on my new Gerard Force 100 on the same Boyd Podium 55s and GravelKing slick 28s with no issues at all.
I think it really depends on just how chunky or loose the gravel is, and your goals on said gravel. For the type of riding I like to do, which is usually 90% road with few gravel sectors, I do not hesitate to use a road bike, and when I own a gravel bike, it spends the majority of its life hanging in my shop collecting dust.
Nothing. I’m a simple guy and have one road/gravel bike, a Tarmac SL7. And a cheap grocery store bike with panniers. The gravel I’m riding is mostly hard packed dirt, absolutely fine with 32c road tubeless tires.
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My friend just reminded me I also own a fixie (Spesh Langster, don’t ask me how I forgot about it).
Now I’m thinking about throwing the 26mm knobbies on that thing instead. Wear some cutoff jeans, a tank top…
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The Bike Nerd on Twitter once posted “All bikes are gravel bikes”…
to which I was gonna say “My TT bike would like a word” but then I realized that I did indeed ride it on the trails one day.
So yeah, all bikes are gravel bikes. 
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Basically what everyone said, tires. Even on the smoothest dirt, you’ll be WAY faster on 35c+ tires.
The swapping out the tires part. Pain in the ass.
Also the burlier gravel bikes can handle legit MTB terrain. Rocks, steeps, you name it. I take my Canyon Grizl down short sections of black diamond singletrack. Not quickly, but I can get down. The 45mm tires give me enough traction to roll down slowly. Belly on the saddle.
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I recently watched a video where a guy took a road bike on a gravel race. An I retesting point he made is that with most routes, you’re likely to feel like you have the “wrong” bike at some point, whether you bring road, gravel, or mtb.
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What on earth is this dude doing with his legs while riding through the water?!? 
Not sure how this is helping!
But yeah, Madone takes 35mm depending on the rim size. I rode a bunch of trails in Italy around the Garda lake last summer, it was pretty awesome.
Someone tried unbound on a TT bike last year and someone tried it with 808s. Neither person finished.
That’s just a normal road ride round here. Suitable for 25mm tyres, but likely been ridden on 19mm tyres by the older guys when that was fashionable.
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Alll the cool aero-crossers are doing that.
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It’s what people did long before gravel bikes were a thing.
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I find that most people’s “gravel” is nothing like riders encounter is some of the more high profile races like Dirty Kanza, etc.
Additionally, many (most) gravel bikes are designed for the more aggressive gravel situations.
Locally, our “gravel” is primarily rail trail and hard pack gravel roads. Though I do have a gravel bike (factor LS) it’s more on the road bike side of the spectrum and I routinely ride my road bike (spec SL6) with 30mm Schwalbe Pro1 tires that measure out to 32mm-ish on the wheel
Don’t fall victim to the advertising out there - if your local riding doesn’t require a tool from the more aggressive end of the gravel bike spectrum, look at something that works for you and your riding situation.
my $0.02
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And I’ll throw the opposite out there. People riding roads with potholes or hard pack like to call it gravel and talk about putting 28s on a road bike. Don’t fall for that and then try to ride 50 miles on real gravel, sand, light or even medium singletrack. That’s a recipe for a very long day and possibly disaster. The bottom line is you check the surface you will ride on before you decide which tool to pull out of the box.
How is this the opposite perspective? You’ve said the same thing as I have.
Tame gravel not requiring full on gravel bike but just a tire upgrade and more aggressive gravel requiring something purpose built.
Fair enough. I was responding to the fact that this thread, like most gravel threads, always seem to devolve into people saying “don’t fall for the marketing, you can use your road bike with 28s”.
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