okay controversial video five reasons you need a gravel bike
are gravel bikes are fad is it just some sort of transition period into mountain biking but
there are some convincing reasons to buy a gravel bike if you're looking for a new bike number one
now there are some exceptions but most gravel bikes have a very relaxed geometry
shorter reach and higher stack means the handlebars are going to be closer to you
you don't need to be flexible in order to ride it the majority of riders that we see coming for
fits here at bicycle are better suited to riding a bike with a more relaxed geometry
your bike is going to handle and look better without a stack of spaces underneath the stem
you do want to make sure you check the geometry charts before buying though because there are
a few more aggressive racing style gravel bikes out there for example they'll open up
they're more versatile than road and cyclocross bikes the span of terrain that you can ride
on a gravel bike is absolutely huge sure you wouldn't want to race a crit on one but with
some slick tyres you're gonna have a great time on the road using a gravel bike now we did make
a video a while back comparing gravel to cx bikes and unfortunately we used not the best examples in
the video we compared a cad x with a top stone and strangely enough the geometries are really
really close on them the cadx is no longer a traditional cyclocross bike they really have
skewed the geometry to make it a lot more ridable perhaps it was just an attempt from
cannondale to make it more versatile and end up selling more but a proper cx bike will be short
twitchy aggressive and handle really well at low speed the sacrifice there being
stability at higher speeds so you're not going to have the most fun time descending a mountain
on a cross bike and you're going to be limited in terms of tire clearance too proper cyclocross
bikes are of course designed to be used in cyclocross which is a very specific discipline
you're going to find a gravel bike is better in almost all other situations point number three
massive tyre clearance now my happy medium and the tyre that i use most on my gravel bike is a
40 millimeter these are the hutchinson tour eggs i find at 40 millimeter they still roll pretty fast
on the road so the rolling resistance isn't that noticeable that it sucks all of the fun out of
your riding they're all so wide and grippy enough that you're going to have fun on the trails as
well we ride some single track mountain bike stuff on these no problem whatsoever but you can go mega
mega wide something you won't find you'll be able to do on a cross bike if you fit slightly smaller
wheels so 650b is on here you can actually go up to 2.1 inch mounted by tyres and then you can do
some really stupid stuff downhill run super low pressures and have an absolute blast number four
now unless you're racing or doing some really smashy club riding i would prioritize comfort
over stiffness most manufacturers will try and make their road bikes as stiff as possible
because previously that's what people wanted now people are doing much longer rides adventure
staff gravel stuff so frames oriented towards this have ended up a little bit more flexible
and softer my gravel bike especially compared to my road bike is a super super smooth ride and this
is a carbon one definitely if you're bike packing or just doing some longer rides try and prioritize
your comfort because long days in the saddle can be completely ruined by a bone shaking ride
six hours in materials like steel and titanium will nearly always produce a comfortable ride
but there are carbon gravel and adventure bikes out there doing just as good point number five
now this last point is a thing that has been built into cyclocross bikes for a
while now perhaps another attempt to try and sell more because they're not actually
very good for anything but cyclocross and that is mounting options gravel bikes tend to have
loads of mounting options extra bottle mounts rack mounts and pannier mounts
these are all things that are really useful if you're going to be doing longer rides and want
to fit bags to your bike extra options for fitting bottles for example these are going to mean you
can carry more stuff with you if you're doing bike packing or longer rides you need to carry
a bit more water your standard road bike won't have any of these options and i think it's a
really handy thing to have now there are my five reasons that you should get a gravel bike if you
can think of any more please put them down in the comments i'd be interested to know do make sure
if you're looking to buy a bike that you check out the spec properly because there are always
exceptions to these rules these are just some of the most commonly found features on gravel bikes
at the moment the industry is always changing i just think if you're considering a new bike after
coming into the sport at an entry level a gravel bike is a really versatile way to do it it's a
safe option in terms of fit and you're going to have a great time doing a vast array of different
types of riding on it also sixth reason n plus one as always thank you so much for watching
today's video please leave a comment down below leave a like and subscribe and i'll see you guys
soon
me