[cheering]
Paris Roubaix, arguably the hardest one-day race
in the world. 257 kilometers long with 54 kilometers of the hardest cobbles
you could possibly imagine.
Bone-sappingly brutal,
but also one of the sport's biggest spectacles.
The blood, the sweat, the tears, the glory, but wait, wouldn't it just be easier
if everyone did it on a gravel bike?
[music]
Now, we have come to various points on the Paris Roubaix course,
and we plan on testing out our bikes on the two different sections to get
a rough estimate of the differences in speed and time of the two different bikes.
Paris Roubaix is 257 kilometers long.
The route consists of 202.5 kilometers of paved roads and 54.5 kilometers
of brutal cobbles across 29 different sectors,
such as the infamous Carrefour De L'arbre.
Now, I think a road bike is going to be quite a lot faster than the gravel bike
on the paved road sections but by how much and will the gravel bike
overturn the road bike's lead on those really brutal cobbled sections
and across the whole Roubaix course, will the gravel bike actually beat
the road bike?
Look at the size of these cobbles.
The gaps in the stones, the irregularity, just the sheer brutalness of it.
I can barely walk on them.
[music]
This is the bike I'm going to use in our experiment
for the road bike trial.
I'm going to use the Orbea Orca, size 60 because I'm very tall, obviously,
and it's just the normal road bike you'd use for everyday riding.
It's also the bike that any of the pros would use in Paris Roubaix.
It's purely set up to race, perform at the absolute limit
and top performance on the road paved surfaces.
Cobbles are a big test but it can conquer them and it will be pretty fast.
I don't know if it'll be as fast as the gravel bike, but we will see.
I've opted for 28 mm tires with around 60, 70 PSI.
I've got a lot of pressure in the tires just to give me a bit more traction
and comfort on the cobbles.
The usual road wheel set, my Mavic Comete Pro carbons.
Apart from that, it's just everything you'd normally see in our road bikes.
Let's see, this is a top of the range bike.
It is going to be designed for speed.
Let's see how it compares to the gravel bike.
Maybe I will be proved wrong, maybe it will actually be faster
than the gravel bike on the cobbles.
[music]
This is the gravel bike that I'll be using on the test.
It's a Canyon Grail CF SL,
and I guess the main difference that you can see is the wider tires,
providing a lot more surface area on the cobbles.
I think this will really make a big difference, actually, in the test,
especially on the Paris Roubaix cobbles where you see those big gaps
between the stones.
On a road bike, you can sometimes lose your wheel in the gap
and that can really throw you off and I think on the gravel bike
you're going to flow over the cobbles a lot more.
The other difference is the clutch mech.
I think that will keep the chain on.
Well, possibly on the road bike I might lose a chain on these cobbles.
It really is that rough, and if I don't lose the chain,
obviously I'm not going to have to stop and put it back on again.
That's a definite bonus.
The Canyon Grail also has this rather unique bar setup.
Canyon christen it the hover bar, and according to them,
it will dampen the vibrations and the impacts you'll receive on the road.
This, I think, is going to make a massive difference in our experiment,
especially on these really hard Paris Roubaix cobbles.
Your hands and your arms are just in pieces during any effort,
especially after such a long day as well.
At the end of it, I've finished a race
and literally not been able to get my hands off the bars,
they're aching that badly.
I think during the experiment, if I'm able to to use the hover bar
and take any vibrations out of the effort, I'll be able to put more power down
on the bike and it should help me go faster, so I think this is going to be
a big advantage.
Also, you might notice that my Wahoo is being improvised on the bars
and there's only one reason for this and that's because I forgot
the integrated stem that would normally go on these Canyon Grail bars and stem.
That's my fault everyone, sorry about that, but it will do the job.
Now, we have come up with a few different experiments
to really try to get to the bottom of our conundrum.
We found a two-kilometer section of paved road,
and we've also found a two-kilometer section of possibly the most brutal cobbles
you could possibly imagine.
I'm going to ride as hard as I can over each experiment,
over each section to really get to the bottom of the differences between the two bikes.
We have a power meter on both bikes and I'm also wearing a heart rate monitor.
We've got enough stats to really analyze each effort.
I'm really interested to see which one's going fastest, actually,
so I guess there's only one thing for it, let's get started.
[music]
All right, three, two, one, let's do it.
Clip in.
Okay, we're going.
[music]
After getting up to speed quickly
the road bike came into its own on the paved roads
and I found it easy to settle into a good pace.
Felt like I was right back in a race and the familiar feeling
of adrenaline was flowing.
[music]
That hurt the legs.
Lungs as well, lungs were burning.
Felt like I had some good speed though,
but guess it's over to the gravel bike now.
I think I'll have a recover first.
[music]
Let's go, come on.
[music]
I had to put down a bit more effort getting going on the gravel bike.
The legs were definitely stinging throughout the effort,
but I was surprised at the speed I could achieve and maintain.
[music]
I gave my best effort there.
It was definitely harder to get it up to top speed, I think.
You got more rolling resistance on the tires, they're obviously wider.
Guess I struggled to get up to that speed
so I'm not sure how it'll compare on the time I did,
but anyway, let's get to the cobbles.
[music]
Right then, first up, the road bike.
I'm going to head off, give the cobbles a go, see what time the road bike can put down.
Three, two, one. All right let's do it.
[music]
I gave it all I had on the cobbles but they were just brutal
and I definitely lost my speed in places.
If I'm honest, I was grateful just to make it to the end.
[music]
That was sketchy.
[laughs]
Flipping heck.
You just forget how hard those cobbles are, I think.
I gave it a good effort anyway, and hopefully I've done a respectable time.
I could get the speed going on--
There's some good sections I could get the speed going well there,
but on the middle section's so tough.
I was struggling just to keep the bike upright.
We'll see how it compares, anyway, to the gravel bike, but yes,
that was hard.
[music]
I'm ready to go.
Well, I'm not sure if I'm ready to go. I'm a bit nervous, but anyway,
only one thing for it, here we go.
Hard as I can go. Come on gravel bike.
The gravel bike definitely flowed over the cobbles
and I found it easier to maintain my speed.
I've been tied to my Wahoo [?].
Saying that, these cobbles are so hard and I still had to concentrate
to keep my balance.
[beep]
[laughs]
Okay, I'm going to be honest.
I actually had to do a second run on this attempt.
[music]
Oh man.
It was still super hard on the gravel bike, I tell you.
They're just so hard.
They really just shock you.
I was struggling to keep my line, actually, at some of the parts.
I still think the gravel bike was faster.
Not sure how much, I'm really interested to find out.
It definitely helped, it felt smoother.
I could glide over the cobbles a bit better.
I didn't have to be as picky with my line.
Definitely more comfortable.
I was hoping that's translated to speed.
I'm hoping we've picked up some ground on the road bike there.
We'll have to wait and find out.
Flipping heck, it's tough, those cobbles.
Back in the studio.
Recovered from Belgium. Thank goodness.
I was absolutely freezing, I tell you.
It feels nice to be home,
and I say home because I'm not actually in the studio,
I just kind of made this up myself, given the circumstances.
This is actually a spare room in my mother-in-law's house,
so bear with us, folks.
It'll do for the time being.
First and foremost, let's run through the results.
The cobble bike versus the road bike on the Paris Roubaix course.
It was freezing, the terrain was difficult, but I think we always want to see the results.
Let's go through them.
On the paved road section first, I have the results in front of me.
The road bike completed the two-kilometer course--
Ready?
2 minutes and 50 seconds.
An average speed of 42 kilometers an hour.
Average power, 400 watts.
Not bad, if I say so myself.
The gravel bike, however, see, a little slower, three minutes and five seconds.
Average speed of 39 kilometers an hour.
Similar average power, 395 watts.
Pretty similar force being put down on the pedals there.
Let's move to the cobbled section.
Most importantly, I'm really hoping the Gravel Bike made some gains here.
It was in its element on this terrain.
Without further ado, let's see how they compared.
The road bike managed 3 minutes and 50 seconds.
Average speed of 31 kilometers an hour. Average power, 370 watts.
Pretty respectable time, I think.
The gravel bike, however, managed 3 minutes 30 seconds.
20 seconds faster.
Average speed of 34.2 kilometers an hour.
Average power of 360 watts.
We've got the results,
let's extrapolate that now over the whole Paris Roubaix course
and see which bike comes out on top,
which bike was the best, really, for the Paris Roubaix cobbles.
The road bike completed the paved road section,
4 hours and 49 minutes, and the cobbled section, 1 hour and 45 minutes.
That's 6 hours 39 minutes for the whole course.
Just keep that there, remember that number.
The gravel bike.
This is where--
Crossed fingers. See what it managed.
On the road section,
slower, which I was expecting, 5 hours and 11 minutes.
The cobbled section, 1 hour 35 minutes. It was faster on the cobbled section.
The whole course, 6 hours 46 minutes.
The road bike was faster across the whole course,
but only seven minutes.
The gravel bike was only seven minutes down,
which isn't that much. It's pretty close, actually, at the end.
I guess we've got to admit defeat,
but I've still got some ideas.
I think I can come back and make some improvements.
Bear in mind, there are a few caveats to this.
Firstly, Paris Roubaix,
it doesn't hit the cobbles until 93.5 kilometers into the race,
historically anyway.
Although the gravel bike was only seven minutes faster over the whole course,
if I'd have been in a race situation, I think I'd have really struggled, actually,
to stay in the peloton for those 93 kilometers.
I probably would have been dropped.
I probably would have been dropped anyway, but I think
I probably would have been dropped this time, for sure.
That would have left me on my own, I'd have been battling against the wind
and I would have lost whole chunks of time.
Any gains the gravel bike made on the cobbles would have probably been overturned
because of this. You've got to bear that in mind.
Also, I did two kilometer TT test.
We're not really taking the drafting of the race into account
and I was going to max effort over those two kilometers.
We're not really taking fatigue into account, across the whole 250 k course.
Still, even though the gravel bike was slower,
in my head, I'm thinking the cobbles in Paris Roubaix,
they all come towards the end of the race.
Maybe you could do a bike change onto your gravel bike
in the really tough part of the race when the cobbles are coming thick and fast,
or you can have it as a spare bike.
If you have a mechanic and you wanted to change bikes anyway,
you wanted to change onto the gravel bike.
I think at this point, maybe it would have been an advantage.
That's something to bear in mind.
Also, if it was a super, super rainy Paris Roubaix, mud everywhere.
I mean abysmal weather.
We haven't seen that much in recent years, unfortunately or fortunately,
depending on if you're a rider or a fan.
If it was those abysmal conditions,
I think the gravel bike would have seen more--.
It would have a better advantage I think.
I think it really overturns it's deficit to the road bike
and potentially being a big contender for the whole course.
Especially in those last sections where there'll be farmer's mud
and all sorts on the cobbles.
I think it could have steamed ahead.
Just a few things to bear in mind there. Thanks for watching, everyone.
I hope you enjoyed that one, it was great fun to make,
especially riding those cobbles even if I did get absolutely freezing.
Please let me know, in the comments section below,
which bike would you rather have ridden at Paris Roubaix?
The gravel bike or the road bike?
I'd be really interested to hear the answers to this one.
Thanks for watching everyone.
It's time for me to go because I think the mother-in-law's is calling me
to do a bit of an odd job around the house, so I better get off.
Thanks for watching folks.
[bleep]
It's not tarmac [laughs].