- Gravel bike, cyclo-cross bike,
whatever you want to call them,
they're the workhorses of the cycling world.
And for that very reason,
more and more people are, quite rightly, buying them.
- Yeah, as an alternative to a road bike.
Or perhaps as a second bike.
One you use in the winter or as a commuter.
If you are contemplating buying one though,
there is undoubtedly gonna be that question
lurking in the back of your mind.
If you buy one, how much slower will it be
than a road bike?
- Yeah, and if you choose a gravel bike
as your only bike, how much are you losing out
to your mates on their road bikes
on a silky smooth road surface?
- Should we find out, Matt?
Like do some science and stuff?
- We're kinda here, aren't we?
- Should we do some science?
- Some wet science?
- Wet science.
- Damp science.
- I heard it's waterproof.
It'll be fine.
- [Matt] So what's the test then?
Well, we have two bikes at our disposal.
Both with powermeters to make sure
that our effort levels are consistent.
One is a Canyon Aeroad CF SLX,
and the other is a Trek Crockett,
which is in that broad category of cyclo-cross bike
to gravel bike.
- The test is a simple one.
We've condensed the whole ride into just eight kilometres.
We've got three kinds of twisting descent,
a short loop on flat roads
before coming back up this final climb.
Three distinct sections.
We're gonna do it twice each,
once on each different bike.
And we're gonna hold slightly different average powers.
Matt's gonna go for the lower end, 200 watts.
And I'm gonna go for a slightly higher end, 300 watts.
Then we simply compare the two.
Run number one,
cross bike, road bike.
- Well, sorry, I think you're gonna need
just a little bit of a headstart, to be honest with you.
Off you go.
- It's probably a fair point.
All right, mate, see you in a bit!
So what are we expecting to see then?
Well, the gravel bike's gonna be a little bit slower.
And that is partly because it weighs a bit more.
So about a kilo over Matt's road bike
and pushing two kilos over mine.
But I think it's the tyres
that could make the biggest difference.
See, these are wider and treaded.
So there is no general cyclo-cross/gravel tyre.
There's loads of different types.
These ones are Continental CycloCross Racers.
They are very, very capable off-road.
Not out-and-out mud tyres,
but they are grippy.
Nevertheless, they do feel like they roll pretty fast.
Not as fast as a road tyre, granted,
but in terms of my perception,
they do feel pretty good.
I just wish I were off there somewhere
actually making the most of what I have at my disposal.
- Okay, run number one on my trusty road bike.
Here we go!
Got my feet in second time. (exhalation)
Well, what can I say?
It's a top-of-the-range road bike,
and it feels absolutely amazing.
Well, I suppose I actually can say a little bit more.
And it's not just the usual things like weight
and tyres that separate a top-end road bike
from a gravel or a cross bike.
Because, generally speaking, a top-end road frame
will have aerodynamic shaped sheathing to help it
cheat the wind and cut through the air
that much better.
But aerodynamics is something that is open
to absolutely anybody, regardless of your budget.
Because the biggest cause of drag
is your body.
And this is where a road frame or road bike can help.
Because generally, they're lower and longer,
therefore stretching you out and making you
far more aerodynamic.
(breathing heavily)
- How was that, mate?
- Well, same as usual.
Brilliant, really.
- Yeah (chuckling), fair enough, I suppose.
- How was the gravel bike?
- Yeah, it was good.
It was really good.
Actually, it was surprisingly enough.
Descending was amazing.
Descending on road, it was like it was on rails.
So I'll be interested
to see what you think about it actually.
- Hold that.
I'm gonna give this a nudge.
That sounds fantastic.
Well in terms of feel, these two bikes
are remarkably different.
Straightaway when you get on the cross bike,
you just feel a lot higher.
Generally, the bottom bracket on a cross bike
is a lot higher.
So I feel far more off the ground.
And at that front as well, I feel the bars
a lot more higher.
Definitely not cutting through the air
quite as efficiently.
And in terms of handling,
along the descent, the cross bike felt just as good
as the road bike in the corners.
Plenty of grip
with this wide, knobbly tread.
But the one thing you do notice,
after you've shaved off speed going into a corner,
you don't pick up the speed again quite as quick
due to the increased road resistance
of these bigger, knobblier tyres.
- My road bike, not Matt's.
Only difference, slightly less aero
and no disc brakes.
But, kilo lighter.
See what happens.
I don't know about speed yet,
but the two bikes feel like chalk and cheese.
Now, there's the fact that this one rolls faster
and all that kind of stuff.
But actually, it's the way it handles
proves out the biggest difference.
It changes direction much, much easier
and with much less input at the handlebars.
Partly 'cause the bars are narrower.
But certainly because the actual geometry of the bike.
Now, it's important to know it's neither better nor worse
one way or another.
You just get used to it.
And to be fair, you probably only notice it
literally jumping off one and straight onto another.
But they are very different bikes.
Right, enough of the touchy-feely stuff.
How much slower is a gravel bike?
Well, about two kilometres per hour.
Or 6.7 %.
And weirdly, it was the same for both me and Matt.
It's almost as if we actually got it right.
However, as you might expect though,
it's not as simple as that.
On the technical, twisty descent,
the gravel bike actually wasn't slower at all.
The stable geometry on the corners
more than made up for the slower rolling tyres.
On the flat, they were relatively closely matched.
Just a few seconds separated them
over the three minute section.
Which works out at about 5%.
Then on the climb, the differences bloomed out.
Partly of course, because it was a slower section.
Therefore it took longer.
But perhaps also because the weight became
more of a factor, particularly at the lower power.
Matt was therefore 12% slower on a cross bike,
and I was 9% slower
So, gravel bikes are faster.
There's no doubt about that.
- No. - Not with our results. But--
- No, they're slower.
- They are slower. What did I say?
- Faster. (laughing)
(Matt cackling)
- So gravel bikes are slower.
There's no doubt about that from our results.
But, the differences aren't exactly huge.
And what you have to remember
is that cross bikes or gravel bikes were designed to go
where road bikes would struggle.
As Dan found out.
- Yeah, Dan really did find out.
Now, you might be able to tell from the bike behind us
that we weren't entirely satisfied with the results.
So what we did is we stuck a set of road tyres
on the cyclo-cross bike
to see how much faster it would then go.
And the difference is pretty significant.
It was pretty much as fast as the road bike on the flat.
And then on the climb, it gained 20 seconds
over the cyclo-cross bike.
Now that still made it, compared to my bike,
a good 30 seconds slower than the road bike.
But we accounted for most of that
with the fact that's it two kilogrammes heavier.
Then the rest, we couldn't quite explain.
But it's only a handful of seconds.
- Yeah, so if a cross bike, gravel bike, is gonna be
your singular bike of choice,
it's really worth investing in a pair of slick tyres
which you can swap out when you go on the road.
And you won't be at too much of a disadvantage at all.
- No, not at all.
You basically get two bikes for the price of one,
which seems like a winning situation.
Now undoubtedly, some of you
would of already caught on to that.
So let us know in the comment section,
is a gravel bike your one and only bike?
Is it your commuter bike?
Is it your winter bike?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section
down below.
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It's your one-stop shop for all things cycling.
Now sticking with gravel for a bit,
how 'bout clicking just down here
where we tested some gravel bikes in deepest Wales.
- That's right.
How much can a gravel bike do
that a road bike can't.
One of our favourites,
and not just because Lloydy gets really grumpy.
- He did get super-grumpy, didn't he?
- Yeah, the video where I got a little bit grumpy actually
was where Matt and I raced an e-bike against a road bike.
I was on the road bike.
Matt was on the e-bike.
That's a great watch even if I...
Well, was really grumpy.
- He probably was grumpy.
- I was really tired.
You weren't tired at all.
- No, I was just on an e-bike.