Gravel Grinding Craze

[worriesnot]

anyone have a 2017, 54cm specialized diverge elite for sale ?

 

#asking for a friend.

 

Not sure I can afford eddy's

 

 

Thankfully that bike is too small for me, else I would have some explaining to do whilst being on the receiving end of some serious PK's (unfortunately my wife knows what bicycles cost, especially nice ones...)

[DirtyDan]

I don't think it's unwarranted. I must admit that this gravel bike of mine does make the more mundane paths far more interesting than my trail mountain bike. Yes, you can do a 100miler on a mtb, but I think it can be a little more enriching (for some) on a gravel bike... It's just got that novelty ye know?

[Zorro5614]

Had a gravel bike for about 6months and what a waste.  Rather should have kept my hardtail

 

Hardtail just opens up much more options and my old Momsen SL929 was just 10kg

[Underachiever]

I just love Fridays!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[GaryvdM]

I got a gravel bike, also Niner RLT steel.

 

35mm slicks for road. Fenders are really great in the rain.

Touring. (Old fenders.)

 

50mm knobbly tires for gravel.

 

 

Here is what I have learnt:

• Great on the tar. I never use my road bike any more.
• Great for ultra distance/touring on the tar.
• Good for shorter bits of gravel.
• Very capable on single track hard pack.
• Mhee for long gravel rides (100km +). By the end of the ride, I'm wishing I had suspension.

 

Once there are gravel bike at entry level prices, I think they will be great for people starting out, who don't know if they want to do MTB or road riding.

[Patchelicious]

I’m amazed that I am unable to make my own decisions and that everything I do is because I’m a sucker for some marketing campaign.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

I’m amazed that I am unable to make my own decisions and that everything I do is because I’m a sucker for some marketing campaign.

SHEEEEEEP

 

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[Jewbacca]

I love mine... I ride it around the peninsula, then up to the mast, then hit some single track round tokai for a while, then head up and down the Greenbelts.... Cork tree trail, some Newlands traverse and back home on the tar.

 

Anyone saying it's a waste of time or money or effort or whatever obviously enjoys very different things to me.

 

If I want to ride Black trails at Jonkers I take the trail bike. If I want to shoot the breeze with the boys but still ride all the single track I take the hard tail trail bike.

 

If I want to burn miles and still hit Cobra (albeit gingerly) I take the drop bar bike because it makes even the snake trails exhilarating!

 

Marketing shmarketing... I love mine and doubling up as a commuter with a dynamo front hub/light combo it rocks

[Shebeen]

.....the answer to a question no one had asked yet.

[Jewbacca]

.....the answer to a question no one had asked yet.

Except the CX junkies have been riding their CX bikes up and down mountain passes and through the back country for years... So maybe no one asked the question, but much like any craze, the demand has grown from social media making small ideas world wide.

 

These guys have been doing it for years, yet now with Instagram and social media, ideas turn into crazes which become marketable to a lot of people because #hashtag....

[The Ouzo]

So they are like the soft cross overs of the car world then.

Nobody knew they needed them, marketing made every want one.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Patchelicious]

I bought a GF02 and put 40c tyres on it, because we hit a pothole, in the dark, crashed and broke my collarbone, (exactly a year ago come to think of it) on my road bike. Gravel bike eats up our shitty roads.

 

But damn those magician marketers!

[Hackster]

I think I might have picked up a virus.

 

I'm starting to like the look of full-length fenders. 

[shaper]

Love how all the gravel grinders have to justify having one!!..... what ever happened to just n+1?.... no need for hype or justification..... you all ex-crossfit junkies?   as it's Friday !!!

[JAVSA02]

Been riding my interpretaion of a gravel bike since 2012. Hardtail with road bars, rigid carbon forks and 40c tyres (tubeless). Love the ride. Have had amazing rides / tours in the Karoo. Sold my roadbike last year. Mtb for CX/mountain and the "gravel" bike for road and gravel.

 

I have had to put up with all kinds of crappy remarks from people that should not have any concern about what or where I enjoy riding. These remarks usually coming from someone bopping up and down on a dual suss on tar or good gravel surface.

 

Now all of a sudden the remarks are usually about what a nice ride I have. I have known that since 2012.

 

In terms of speed and racing. The mtb is faster over corrugations. Races like the Transkaroo and Cedeberg 100 mile 1st choice stays the mtb. I would love to do the Swartberg Grand Fondo on the gravel bike but work commitments don't allow it this year.

[Lurch the stalker]

Every time I ride with Nathrix I want his bike.

He's lucky his frame isn't big enough for me or he might have had something happen.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd4peIFhMK6Ha0XSRzDfY1CQL-hMzGw1dQryJM0