One Bike to Rule Them All

[Mountain Bru]

A few years ago I tried to replace my mountain bike with a gravel bike (one of those steel frame Farr jobbies)... The hope was that it would be an awesome "do it all bike" that's fun to ride on gravel roads, decent to ride on the road, and capable of doing some light single track. 

But I hated it. I stay in Pretoria, so there aren't miles and miles of perfectly smooth gravel roads on my door step. So what I ended up with was a bike that I liked, but that made me wish I was on something else every time I rode it. On the road, I wished I was on my road bike, on gravel roads, I wished I was on a mountain bike, and on anything remotely technical, I wished I was sipping coffee on the couch. Not sure if it was just my setup, or the geometry, or the steel frame, or that I needed to pump the tyres quite hard to prevent dinging the rims, but it was unforgiving on anything bumpy or rocky. It felt like I was always too heavy on the front wheel, and always missed not having any suspension in the front. 

So now I'm wondering.... does the perfect "do it all bike" exist?

I'm also wondering if it's not a better approach to replace my hardcore road racing machine with a carbon endurance bike like a Spez Diverge or Roubaix, and then have a gravel wheelset with wide tyres, and a road wheelset. That way I'll have a decent road bike that can do some gravel, rather than a bike thats kind of average at everything but leaves you always wishing you were on something else. 

 

[Mountain Bru]

For some eye candy, here's a pic of my Farr bike before I sold it. On a smooth gravel road, it was a wonderful machine. 

[Spinnekop]

Easy rule
N+1

[Sid the Sloth]

I reckon a 2x gravel bike with a set of road wheels and a set of gravel wheels is perfect. Something that can run wiiide 650b gravel tyres is ideal. I really don't think you lose much on the road unless you are serious about racing. Just make sure you pick up some of the easy marginal gains along the way... Fast rolling road tyres, light saddle, nice light and stiff bar and stem, etc. 

[Grease_Monkey]

Funny, here I thought I had a perfect do it all bike in a 140/160mm trail bike. 

[Mountain Bru]

39 minutes ago, Spinnekop said:

Easy rule
N+1

This isn't super effective when going on holiday and you need an N+1 bike rack ???? 

[Mountain Bru]

24 minutes ago, Sid the Sloth said:

I reckon a 2x gravel bike with a set of road wheels and a set of gravel wheels is perfect. Something that can run wiiide 650b gravel tyres is ideal. I really don't think you lose much on the road unless you are serious about racing. Just make sure you pick up some of the easy marginal gains along the way... Fast rolling road tyres, light saddle, nice light and stiff bar and stem, etc. 

Any specific bike you'd recommend? 

I like the idea of running wide 650b tyres. Do you think that'll negate the need for suspension on the bumpy stuff?

[Mountain Bru]

6 minutes ago, Grease_Monkey said:

Funny, here I thought I had a perfect do it all bike in a 140/160mm trail bike. 

Sorry to disappoint ????

[Baracuda]

I have a light 2x gravel bike (9kgs). In CT, I ride it with 28mm tires on the road and for Karoo trips, I pop on 43mm Gravel Kings, which I usually inflate to 30psi but on bad Karoo roads have had them at 20psi which irons out a lot.

BUT, there is a clear threshold / tipping point, when the corrugations get about 2-3cm in size and then it just sucks. At that point a full sus MTB would suck less, but it would not be great. Kilometers of corrugations are just terrible on any bike, even on a new Anthem / Top Fuel with 2.4 tires.

(I also have a Pyga for single track and enduro stuff).

 

 

Edited July 2, 2021 by Baracuda

[Eldron]

Ibis Hakka MX and Ridley Kanzo FAST are my two favorites.

[Grease_Monkey]

5 hours ago, Mountain Bru said:

Sorry to disappoint ????

Haha not even a joke. I replaced 4 bikes (XC, trail hardtail, gravel, and enduro) with a mid travel trail bike because to me that is the perfect one bike to do anything from bikepacking to XC to Enduro. Luckily we are all different

[Jewbacca]

To be fair, a BMX is capable of riding everything you've mentioned and is super fun.

With the right attitude and the right mindset, any bike can do it all. Not one bike can be good a it though

[MudLark]

I think I got reasonably close by converting a Trek Procaliber into a gravel bike. I call it my GADA bike. Go Anywhere, Do Anything. It doesn't excel at any one thing but it does everything moderately well. You *can* go anywhere and do anything with it. 

[Wayne pudding Mol]

I ride the Ti version of this - this is their steel one which is more reasonably priced - I run it with 50c tyres on mtb rims.  I do ride a lot of nice gravel but I also go through some pretty technical rocky stuff and descents - I have limited skills and this goes pretty much everywhere - it does take 650b wheels so you can really beef it up.  I nearly went this route but found the 50c on the Lauf fork a better all round option.

on the tar it’s super comfy and by no means slow 

that said one bike to cover everything involves compromise and enjoying the challenges where you machine isn’t ideal 

My bike handling skills are so much better because of this bike, I’ve gone from extremely crap to ordinary 

so while I am punting a curve because that’s what I have, I’d just say that an adaptable gravel bike with the right attitude is the best holiday bike 

[MORNE]

26 minutes ago, Wayne pudding Mol said:

I ride the Ti version of this - this is their steel one which is more reasonably priced - I run it with 50c tyres on mtb rims.  I do ride a lot of nice gravel but I also go through some pretty technical rocky stuff and descents - I have limited skills and this goes pretty much everywhere - it does take 650b wheels so you can really beef it up.  I nearly went this route but found the 50c on the Lauf fork a better all round option.

on the tar it’s super comfy and by no means slow 

that said one bike to cover everything involves compromise and enjoying the challenges where you machine isn’t ideal 

My bike handling skills are so much better because of this bike, I’ve gone from extremely crap to ordinary 

so while I am punting a curve because that’s what I have, I’d just say that an adaptable gravel bike with the right attitude is the best holiday bike 

Plus the steel one would make you more metal since the Ti one is the….’S-works’….of gravel bike????

Edit: amazing color that. If they made them in my size it would have been a serious contender for my new project. 
ps: to me “the one bike to rule them all” is also a comparatively low maintenance bike…so no, anything with suspension doesn't count. Well any non mechanical suspension at least. Ill draw the line at coils and leaf springs.
 

Edited July 3, 2021 by MORNE

[MudLark]

Probably the best all round bike yet made is the Niner MCR (https://www.ninerbikes.com/products/mcr-9-rdo/). I have long been contemplating landing myself a frame. But find myself wondering if its going to do much more than my Trek Procaliber monster - and I suspect probably not. The Trek also gives one probably about the equivalent of 50mm of rear travel (11 vertical flex plus seat tube flex) but without a shock. And I can fit proper fast MTB tyres for when the occasion requires it. But the MCR is probably a faster pedalling bike on gravel because of geometry.

Edited July 3, 2021 by MudLark