Speaker: In this video, I'm going to talk you through what gravel bikes suspension is for
and why you might want it. Before we start, I suspect a few of you are probably feeling
a little bit angry. You've clicked on the video, but you've already made up your mind,
and believe me, I know how you're feeling. A couple of years ago, that was me too. If
you want suspension on a bike, you buy a mountain bike. However, over the last two or three years,
I've ridden more gravel in different weather and different parts of the world and on different
bikes and so on I’m now a little bit more open-minded, I don't have an agenda here though.
These are just going to be the facts and I'll let you make up your own mind. I'm
going to be using a Cannondale Topstone Carbon Lefty to demonstrate here, and to be clear,
Cannondale have helped to fund the creation of this video. Before you say, well, this is just
an ad bare mind, the Cannondale make rigid gravel bikes, as well as full suspension, gravel bikes,
and they're famous for their mountain bikes. They don't really mind where the answer to
this question is yes or no. For better or worse, these are my words, as in fact, they always are.
Firstly, though, it sounds like a simple question, but what is suspension actually for? Well,
two things. It enhances your control of the bike by maximizing the grip of your tires,
keeping the rubber in contact with the ground for more of the time. Secondly, it improves your
comfort as it limits the impacts to you, the rider, from the road or trail. You always have
suspension on your bike, thanks to your tires, but with mechanical suspension, you take it several
steps further on. With this 47-millimeter wide tire, you can see you've probably got
about 30 millimeters of travel before the ground would hit the rim. With this Lefty Oliver Fork,
you've then got an additional 30 millimeters. However, the two things are not the same at all.
This is a tire. It does many things. This exists specifically for the purpose of suspension and it
has been tuned for gravel riding, what will it combination of air, spring, and oil damper. It
means that it's not overactive on small bumps so that it doesn't barb when you're paddling.
It doesn't generally feel soft, but instead, it's responsive to mid-sized bumps, but it
still doesn't blow through all its travel really easily when you hit big stuff. It's really clever.
The rear suspension on this bike meanwhile is slightly different. It doesn't have dampers but
instead relies on tuned, flex in the carbon to provide 30 millimeters of suspension. Now, it's
not super active over small stuff. Again, instead, it takes the edge of those medium and bigger hits.
From a company perspective, the lower pressures that you can run in wider gravel tires and
particularly these even wider 650 V tires absorbs that high-frequency road and trail bars. Where
the suspension then kicks in is on medium-sized bumps like they stutter bumps or breaking bumps
that litter gravel roads or the technical stuff when you're venturing properly off-road like rocks
or roots. Now, that basically means that the suspension stops the full force of the impact
being transmitted from the bike into your hands and your arms and your backside. It stops you
getting quite so fatigued from riding over bumps, but then it also means you can actually go faster
for the same effort because your forward momentum isn't constantly being impeded by the energy
required to bounce you up and down over bumps. From a control perspective, the suspension
prevents your wheels from bouncing off bumps quite so much so that your tire stays in contact
with the ground for more of the time. Ultimately, this means that when you want to get a power down
by paddling or corner or breaking, you have lots more traction. Now, you can see, you can carry way
more speed as a result through bumpy sections, but you can also tailor your tire choices. You
could run the slicker faster rolling tires, but still have similar levels of grip to before.
[music] Suspension first started to appear
on bikes in the late 80s as more and more people realized that if you want to ride a bike off-road,
it really helps to enhance the experience for the exact reasons that I've just described. Now,
in fact, it's pretty difficult to even buy a mountain bike without at least front suspension
on it. The question is then are gravel bikes at the beginning of this same journey and therefore,
if that's the case, would you not be better off just skipping the last 30 years of sometimes
painful technological progress and just buying a mountain bike? That's a really
common question. My opinion, despite similarities like grippier tires and in this case suspension,
the two types of bikes are really different. Fundamentally for me, a gravel bike still has
to feel nimble and fast on tarmac and you still have to be able to get your optimal position
on the bike. Not one that's been dictated by 100 millimeters of suspension that puts your
handlebars at the same height as your saddle. Now, yes, you can of course use a mountain bike
on payment. Of course, you can, but with a gravel bike, it makes riding or pavement actually fun.
Now, part of that is down to the narrower drop handlebars that make you whisper it,
make you more aerodynamic. I know you didn't come here to hear that, but when it's worth 3Ks
an hour, a cruising speed, that's important. A part of it is down to tire choice. Gravel
tires typically prioritize low rolling resistance over outright grip, but then a big chunk of it,
a big chunk comes down to the geometry, more nimble handling, but also lower handlebars.
On the top stone range, the stack height of the bikes is the same, whether you've got the
rigid fork or this lefty Oliver suspension fork. However, on the Lefty Axio fork on the front, that
lovely looking FSI XC mountain bikes that puts the stack height of the bike five centimeters
higher. That's like turning my road bike into grandad's touring bike. In contrast, the stack
height on this Topstone Carbon Lefty is just five millimeters higher than on the SuperSix road bike.
So far, so good then, but what about the drawbacks? Well, suspension is more complicated
at least compared to an equivalent straight carbon tube, and there's also a bit of a weight penalty,
not much but a bit. You've got obviously a few grams from that pivot at the back
here, and then also about 800 grams from the fork. It's got to be said, one of the real
appeals of gravel bikes is their simplicity and low weight compared to mountain bikes. Although
some of you will undoubtedly point out that some cross country mountain bikes can be ridiculously
light and yes, you would be correct in that. Now the other thing is that suspension can
be quite expensive. There is a huge amount of engineering that goes into this setup,
not to mention the hardware as well. For an entry-level Ratford bike, a rigid bike
will give you much more for your money. As I mentioned earlier, you can get a bit of extra
suspension from the tires. If the bike allows it, you could simply fit fatter rubber. Now,
that's not without its drawbacks, but it's certainly a cheaper and simpler alternative.
Is suspension that future of gravel bikes then? Well, yes, but not only future of gravel bikes,
but for riders who were using gravel bikes as a means of escaping traffic and for a nice relaxing
ride, perhaps on one of the Neo e-bike versions, then the additional comfort from suspension is
going to make sense. The people who are out for really long distances on bumpy and sometimes
rough gravel roads, the additional comfort and speed is going to make sense. Plus you'll still
get the benefits of a gravel bike and the feel of a gravel bike compared to a mountain bike.
Then for those riders that are out looking to push the boundaries of gravel bikes into
mountain bike territory, it definitely makes sense as well because you've got more control.
You can go faster. You'd have to worry quite so much about we're about rocks basically,
which ironically still a gravel bike worst enemy. However, for many, many people,
one of the reasons why gravel bikes are so cool is because there aren't road bikes on steroids.
A rigid, lightweight, and simple machine is always going to play a big part in the gravel spectrum.
Ultimately though, I think that the tide will turn in favor of suspension on gravel bikes when
pro gravel races realize the benefits of it, just like the same thing happened in mountain
biking back in the day. However, please don't confuse a suspension, gravel bike for a Short
Travel XC mountain bike. The bulk of the DNA for this comes from the road. Now as ever, I would be
very interested to hear your thoughts on this. In fact, more than ever, this is a particularly
contentious topic. Please get involved in the comments section down below, and also give this
video a big thumbs up if you've enjoyed it. [00:09:40] [END OF AUDIO]