But we can’t agree on the holy document. It’s like that scene in the Monty Python movie “The Life of Brian” where the Peoples Front of Judea are arguing against the Judaen Peoples Front.
Brian:
Excuse me. Are you the Judean People’s Front?
I guess one could have both. But it seems redundant to have a gravel bike if you have a road and a MTB. And, you can do a lot more on the road with the road bike, and a lot more offroad with the MTB. The only value I can see with a gravel bike is if you were just going to have one do-it-all bike. However, it won’t give you the capability of a full road bike nor a full offroad bike.
The gravel bike I got actually has similar dimensions to an endurance road bike I used to have and looks almost identical in shape. The groupset and the tires/wheels are the big difference. However, I max out very quickly on the types of trails I can go on with a gravel bike and that makes me wonder what the point was.
Road and mountain biking have incredibly toxic and gate keeping cultures. Gravel has been so successful because it’s evolved as a direct response, and is much more inclusive with way better vibes at races.
Great point. It really does depend on what is accessible to ride and certainly there’ll be better use cases for a gravel bike. But, I do think gravel bikes are generally way overmarketed/overrated.
If you use the phrase “don’t diet on the bike” in response to someone saying they don’t gulp down sugar during one of their shorter Z2 rides; then you need to examine your own relationship with food.
I got rid of my road bike as I’d just rather have the comfort of my gravel bike if I am on the road. But I rarely ride much road other than to get to gravel. My full suspension mtb could work for some gravel rides and I have taken it on some routes but it’s definitely slow me down.