One Bike to Rule Them All

[Wayne pudding Mol]

Wow there’s some nonsense on this thread 

hating gravel bikes is now becoming as fashionable as riding one

it all depends on what and where you ride when choosing your ride 

I have a few bikes nicely built to cover all terrain but I spend 90 percent of my rides on my gravel bike. Not because I’m a flannel wearing bearded hipster, but because it’s the best bike for the terrain. It drills my hardtail on any gravel 

ride what you like wherever you like as long as it makes you smile - don’t hate on anyone pedaling a bicycle unless they are in crocs 

Ps I wear flannel shirts when I ride but can’t grow a decent beard and I’m too old to be a hipster 

 

 

[eala]

12 hours ago, MTBeer said:

I see okes coming down from the Blockhouse on Table Mountain (for the up-country guys, it's a high speed rocky jeep track) on Gravel Bikes, getting the sht shaken out of them, and I think to myself "why?"

Why, and it is not safe for themselves and others around them .They can,t brake or turn as fast as the proper equipment 

[The Ghost]

On 7/2/2021 at 1:54 PM, Mountain Bru said:

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. 

 

A lot of people have given their opinion based on their experience with bikes and various terrain, so I’m going to give you my opinion based on the information you gave us of your experiences.

Is there one “do it all bike”? Based on your comments about wanting a road bike over a gravel bike on the road and a hard tail over a gravel bike on dirt roads I would say that for YOU there is no one bike that will do it all for you.

WRT selling your road bike and getting a gravel / endurance bike to do “some gravel” , you already tried a gravel bike on dirt and you didn’t enjoy it, so I don’t think you’d enjoy some gravel on one of these, and if you like your road bike you’ll probably miss it.

If I were you I’d get a decent hardtail for dirt roads, trails and gravel and keep the road bike for road rides - based on the information that you gave us.

 

 

Edited July 6, 2021 by The Ghost

[The Ghost]

5 hours ago, Wayne pudding Mol said:

Wow there’s some nonsense on this thread 

hating gravel bikes is now becoming as fashionable as riding one

ride what you like wherever you like as long as it makes you smile - don’t hate on anyone pedaling a bicycle unless they are in crocs 

 

 

 

More and more I find people hating on things, and it’s usually just because they’re unable to see something in a way that others do. It’s a limitation on their part and it’s easier to hate on someone / something than to try and see the other possibilities.

Peace ✌️ 

[Sid the Sloth]

7 hours ago, eala said:

Why, and it is not safe for themselves and others around them .They can,t brake or turn as fast as the proper equipment 

By this logic you will soon be telling people they need a bike made in the last 10 years to ride on the mountain and they aren’t allowed to ride rim brakes on the road! 
 

Many riders safely navigate their gravel bikes all over trails that people use a dual sus trail bike for (I am not one of these people). People should just ride what makes them happy! 

[ACE Cycles]

I love my road bike on the road

I love my MTB on the trails/single-track 

I love my gravel bike as a training bike, super comfy on the road and a thrill on gravel roads

Now I'm building a hardtail with drop bars and a rigid fork for long gravel adventures 

 

[NickGM]

12 hours ago, Wayne pudding Mol said:

Wow there’s some nonsense on this thread 

hating gravel bikes is now becoming as fashionable as riding one

it all depends on what and where you ride when choosing your ride 

I have a few bikes nicely built to cover all terrain but I spend 90 percent of my rides on my gravel bike. Not because I’m a flannel wearing bearded hipster, but because it’s the best bike for the terrain. It drills my hardtail on any gravel 

ride what you like wherever you like as long as it makes you smile - don’t hate on anyone pedaling a bicycle unless they are in crocs 

Ps I wear flannel shirts when I ride but can’t grow a decent beard and I’m too old to be a hipster 

 

 

I could have written this myself.... were it not for my fine beard. 

[MTBeer]

16 hours ago, Baracuda said:

They likely to pave the single track below the blockhouse soon. Part of erosion management in the area.

And no I don't have a hipster beard or wear checked shirts on bikes.

Plum Pudding? Probably the Epic guys complaining it's too technical.

I seriously hope not. One of the few bits of proper single track on the mountain

[MTBeer]

12 hours ago, Wayne pudding Mol said:

Wow there’s some nonsense on this thread 

hating gravel bikes is now becoming as fashionable as riding one

it all depends on what and where you ride when choosing your ride 

I have a few bikes nicely built to cover all terrain but I spend 90 percent of my rides on my gravel bike. Not because I’m a flannel wearing bearded hipster, but because it’s the best bike for the terrain. It drills my hardtail on any gravel 

ride what you like wherever you like as long as it makes you smile - don’t hate on anyone pedaling a bicycle unless they are in crocs 

Ps I wear flannel shirts when I ride but can’t grow a decent beard and I’m too old to be a hipster 

 

 

don't take me seriously dude. I don't care what they ride, I just don't understand it. I understand gravel bikes on gravel roads - that makes sense. But on those jeep tracks - I don't get it.

The more people on the mountain the better - from a safety perspective. They can ride 1978 choppers for all I care.

[splat]

1 hour ago, MTBeer said:

Plum Pudding? Probably the Epic guys complaining it's too technical.

I seriously hope not. One of the few bits of proper single track on the mountain

There are people riding that on gravel bikes

[AllTerrain]

I want to apologise to anyone I might have upset yesterday, I played a role in driving the “nonsense” being discussed here. It was all meant as light hearted, but I maybe went a bit overboard. 
 

I also don’t really care what people ride as long as they having fun. I do still fully believe gravel bikes are something invented in the minds of the marketing departments, but good on them if it’s getting more people riding. 

as to the idea of one bike for all conditions, I think that isn’t practically achievable, there will always be compromises. I’m not saying you need to follow the N+1 mentality, but if you can have two or three bikes to cover all conditions, that will always be the better option, as each bike will be great for its intended purpose and not just average everywhere. 
 

If I personally had to only have one bike, it would be a 29er hardtail with 2.1/2.2 XC tires, and maybe an extra wheel set with more road biased tires. 
 

But I am primarily a mountain biker. I have never owned or ridden a road bike, so I am obviously more comfortable with this. I love trail riding, but  I am enjoying long slow rides and bike packing more and more as time goes on, but I still think my mountain bikes are better suited to this than a gravel bike, and allows me more freedom with route planning.

 

if you grew up riding road, and want to get out into the country a bit more, then a gravel bike is probably an easier transition and more suitable choice for you. 
 

Im just happy we are all here talking about bikes.

[MTBeer]

27 minutes ago, splat said:

There are people riding that on gravel bikes

Yes I've seen them

[DJR]

1 hour ago, MTBeer said:

............. They can ride 1978 choppers for all I care.

Just not down plum pudding Hill or they'll take up half of the hospital beds with their broken bones..........????

[Mountain Bru]

14 minutes ago, MTBeer said:

Yes I've seen them

Did they have beards?

[MTBeer]

I must add, I rode down Blomendaler behind a guy on a gravelbike once. Jeez that guy could handle a bike. I stayed with him but just barely.

[Sid the Sloth]

1 hour ago, splat said:

There are people riding that on gravel bikes

That is seriously impressive...