What do the gravel nay-sayers say now?

[Robbie Stewart]

If one lives anywhere that is not either Cape Town, George, Knysna, Plett or Karkloof I can understand the desire to confuse a gravel bike with a mountain bike.

But for those of us who have been fortunate enough to ride real mountains and trails...

Do I really need to expand on that?

[Shebeen]

4 hours ago, Eldron said:

 

Who really cars though? Nobody should. Ride your bike on wooden boards, tarmac, gravel, air or dirt and enjoy it.

Just don't buy an ebike though - those are Satan's bicycles and will make you a homeless tik addict in 16 days.

great Freudian slip there!

 

I'm against you on ebikes though. I don't own one but see them growing the sport. hating on them is bad for all of us.

[karma]

Cycling: what are your intentions with gravel?

...

UCI:

[bleedToWin]

Still nay.

[Baracuda]

1 hour ago, Robbie Stewart said:

If one lives anywhere that is not either Cape Town, George, Knysna, Plett or Karkloof I can understand the desire to confuse a gravel bike with a mountain bike.

But for those of us who have been fortunate enough to ride real mountains and trails...

Do I really need to expand on that?

Exactly, I love bombing down Karoo roads on my gravel bike with drop bars. Yes, you need to choose your line and work it, but I would feel like a complete tool on my 140mm Pyga riding 100km of flat dirt roads.

[Mook]

 

I put new life into my 1994 26" Hard tail Gary Fisher - RIGID as they come

3 x 8 STi with original cantilever rim brakes

Tubeless done

Did the 361-Half in November 2020. Best 36ONE eva ????

Have DIY gravel bike ........... will ride ????

[Schmorglebot]

Many roads lead to the rainbow bands, but not all rainbow bands are equal. Gravel is a thing you do on a bicycle so if that's your jam I support you, get out there and ride a bike, but having a world championship for something isn't going to validate it in the eyes of the naysayers. 

[Eldron]

59 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

great Freudian slip there!

 

I'm against you on ebikes though. I don't own one but see them growing the sport. hating on them is bad for all of us.

Everybody has to have something to hate on. Keeps us ironic. And hypocritical.

Plus I didn't really mean it. To be honest it probably takes at least a month for a Satan bike to turn you into a tik addict.

[Robbie Stewart]

51 minutes ago, Baracuda said:

Exactly, I love bombing down Karoo roads on my gravel bike with drop bars. Yes, you need to choose your line and work it, but I would feel like a complete tool on my 140mm Pyga riding 100km of flat dirt roads.

Done 3 x Karoo to Coasts to date. Once on a hardtail. The corrugations made my ass as lame as its ever been. The full-suspension by contrast was like riding on a cloud. I can only imagine how kuk it must be to ride that on a gravel bike as far as discomfort goes. But to each their own.

You would feel a tool to ride that on your 140mm Pyga, but you would also feel like a tool when you suddenly find yourself confronted by some epic, techy singletrack and all you have is a gravel bike. Sure, you'd manage - but when I get to the bottom I'm not stopping, and I'm guessing neither would you?

You see, the gravel bike does tar okay, gravel good - and that's it.

MTB does tar and gravel okay, everything else, good - and that's the difference.

[Kom]

30 minutes ago, Robbie Stewart said:

Done 3 x Karoo to Coasts to date. Once on a hardtail. The corrugations made my ass as lame as its ever been. The full-suspension by contrast was like riding on a cloud. I can only imagine how kuk it must be to ride that on a gravel bike as far as discomfort goes. But to each their own.

You would feel a tool to ride that on your 140mm Pyga, but you would also feel like a tool when you suddenly find yourself confronted by some epic, techy singletrack and all you have is a gravel bike. Sure, you'd manage - but when I get to the bottom I'm not stopping, and I'm guessing neither would you?

You see, the gravel bike does tar okay, gravel good - and that's it.

MTB does tar and gravel okay, everything else, good - and that's the difference.

I did three K2C's on a Diverge from 2016-2018. The first year i was the only guy, the next year more, and then more etc

The descend down Wa-Pad at the start is a risk, from there onwards i had a smile on my face all the way to the finish cruising past my fellow competitors. 

Ive owned both the Gen 1 Diverge with Zertz which was more of a CX bike, but when i got the Gen 2 with FSR, the bike really was super easy to ride. Ive also done two Om-Die-Pods (Around the Pot) with the Gen 2 and it was a total breeze (Felt like cheating).

As im sat here on Heritage evening, glass of wine in hand, im already looking for another gravel bike, im hearing good things about the RUUT ... any recommendations from the audience? (Not going to do another specialized, my beard and taste for kraft beer needs something more edgy)

[ChrisF]

2 hours ago, Shebeen said:

great Freudian slip there!

 

I'm against you on ebikes though. I don't own one but see them growing the sport. hating on them is bad for all of us.

O.damn .... you are fast slipping down the rabbit hole ....

 

 

WELCOME to the dark side

[ChrisF]

1 hour ago, Robbie Stewart said:

Done 3 x Karoo to Coasts to date. Once on a hardtail. The corrugations made my ass as lame as its ever been. The full-suspension by contrast was like riding on a cloud. I can only imagine how kuk it must be to ride that on a gravel bike as far as discomfort goes. But to each their own.

You would feel a tool to ride that on your 140mm Pyga, but you would also feel like a tool when you suddenly find yourself confronted by some epic, techy singletrack and all you have is a gravel bike. Sure, you'd manage - but when I get to the bottom I'm not stopping, and I'm guessing neither would you?

You see, the gravel bike does tar okay, gravel good - and that's it.

MTB does tar and gravel okay, everything else, good - and that's the difference.

Did a 60km gravel ride outside Prince Albert, on the full sus.

 

 

50km could have been done on a road bike, never mind a gravel bike.

 

8km of corrugations would have been shear h3ll on any rigid bike, irrespective of your choice of handle bars.

 

 

2km were so badly corrugated even the full sus could not soak it up .... would hate to endure that on any rigid bike.

 

 

I do love my hardtail MTB with its 700x50C slick tires.  Shock soaks up our bad roads.  Slicks work nice on longer tar rides, and okay when I do short gravel sections.   AND it has a proper handle bar.

 

 

Having tried a proper gravel bike .... not for me, purely due to the drop bars

[vanniri]

Clairvoyant

[Baracuda]

In our minds eye we all have different ideas about what "gravel" is, that is why arguments about gravel bikes just keep on going around in circles.

There is a sweat spot on dirt roads (not single track, not rocky jeep track and not heavily corrugated), where gravel bikes thrive and fly. Better position, speed and efficiency compared to an mtb and you have a grin from ear to ear.

A bit more bumpy and a hardtail mtb or efficient XC full-suss will be more comfortable. The downside, is that you have big mtb tires which slow you down and are a hack on tar roads in between.

A bit more bumpy than that (rocks larger than golf ball size and corregations larger than 3cm) and all bikes just suck, especially over 100km.

 

 

 

 

[Sid the Sloth]

1 minute ago, Baracuda said:

In our minds eye we all have different ideas about what "gravel" is, that is why arguments about gravel bikes just keep on going around in circles.

There is a sweat spot on dirt roads (not single track, not rocky jeep track and not heavily corrugated), where gravel bikes thrive and fly. Better position, speed and efficiency compared to an mtb and you have a grin from ear to ear.

A bit more bumpy and a hardtail mtb or efficient XC full-suss will be more comfortable. The downside, is that you have big mtb tires which slow you down and are a hack on tar roads in between.

A bit more bumpy than that (rocks larger than golf ball size and corregations larger than 3cm) and all bikes just suck, especially over 100km.

 

 

 

 

I was saying this morning that I love my gravel bike most on roads that would be manageable but uncomfortable on a road bike. I also love it for training in CT if I want to make a group ride a bit harder or turn my usual afternoon loop into something that takes a few minutes more, and to ride a bike with a proper granny gear and not 39-28 when I am doing a chilled ride. It is also lekker for Knysna where I don't want to ride my roadie on the N2 and I also don't want to invest in a nice mtb. It is a weapon for some KOM hunting. 

[Robbie Stewart]

But mostly, a gravel traveller can't do this...