Replacing my roadbike and hardtale for a single gravelbike.

[PappaWatTrap]

Hi everyone

That time of year when everyone has the need for a dramatic change,

So this is my end of year "crises"

I want to replace my 2011 Merida Scultura and 2014 Scott scale 930 with a single gravel bike. 

I enjoy the odd road race here and there with the yearly Argus to see if "This year is my sub 3 year". I enjoy riding in Jonkershoek but enjoy the climbing more than the coming down so would always opt for the fire roads down seeing that its still harsh on the Scale coming down Armageddon. 

Would I regret such a decision and would I still be able to push it in the odd road race if I put some skinny road tyres on the gravel bike? I guess its all in the legs, the real question is would I feel such a big difference between the road and gravel bike if I put on proper road tyres on the gravel bike, Like the GP5000 tyres.

Has anyone tried racing with a gravel bike on the road with road tyres, and how was the experience?

Edited December 12, 2023 by PappaWatTrap

[MongooseMan]

You'll get many opinions on this from the hub, obviously

I have one bike, a Spez Diverge. I find that, with a set of 38mm Pathfinders (or maybe Pirelli Cinturatos if it's muddy) and a set of 32mm road tyres (I have the Roubaix Pro), you're pretty sorted for anything you could come across.

Reasons I like having a single bike:

• I don't have to think about issues like "which bike do I invest in?" (buying a power meter, electronic shifting, etc). I just upgrade the one bike.
• Less bike shop costs

Pain points:

• Ideally I'd like 2 completely different wheelsets, and will probably go this route next year. Just makes it even easier to switch between road and offroad.
• You need to be ok with under-biking if you leave the wide roads for single track. I don't mind this, so it's not an issue for me.

Other:

• The Diverge has a futureshock stem, which absorbs some vibrations (10mm or so). It's not a fork shock, obviously, but it's better than nothing.
• I run 1x Sram AXS, with a 10-50 on the back. I also have 2 chainrings, 40 and 48, depending on whether I'm doing crazy climbing gravel, or flattish road. I only swap these out about once a year.

Edited December 12, 2023 by MongooseMan

[thebob]

31 minutes ago, PappaWatTrap said:

Has anyone tried racing with a gravel bike on the road with road tyres, and how was the experience?

Did a sub 3 hour Ride Joburg 947 this year on a Giant Revolt with 32c slicks. May have been a little quicker on a dedicated road bike, but probably not by much. The fatter tyres did a great job absorbing the rough tar and occasional pothole on the route and the more relaxed geometry kept me comfortable throughout the day.

Edited December 12, 2023 by thebob

[Spinnekop]

So.........
Having had the privilege of owning all three bikes for at least the past 2 years, here is some thoughts:

No ONE bike can do all three functions (obviously)
So taking your choice above into consideration..........

1. You'll be able to ride 90% of dusty roads and singletrack here and there with your gravel bike.
2. You'll be able to race with your gravel bike in road races.  I have a lot of friends that race on their gravel bikes.  If you add a decent wheelset with skinny tyres, there is NO reason not do have good times and results
3. You will HATE corrugated roads on the gravel bike.  It is not like the MTB.  It sucks riding corrugation.  
4. Riding singletrack on the gravel bike is not much fun.  MTB is way better at it
5. If you consider doing an event like Trailseeker or Sani or W2W, you'll want to have a MTB.  It is just better.

All things said and done, you have to decide what your riding is going to look like the next year or two.

But consider this:
I am a full on roadie.  (love singletrack but not as much as going fast down Long Tom pass on the skinny wheels)  Only do maybe one or two events per year on the MTB and riding Sundays with my wife at the local bike park.

Past 12 moth's stats:

• 42% gravel bike
• 40% road bike
• 12% mountainbike
• 5% Racing and events (mostly road)
• 1% running and yoga.

[guidodg]

all you need...

[Mountain Bru]

12 minutes ago, guidodg said:

all you need...

[Bub Marley]

I currently have a road bike and a hardtail 29er. I’ve started entering gravel events this year on my hardtail and I have a few thoughts. I’ve changed my tyres to Vittoria Terreno as they are currently the fast rolling available mtb tyre. The grip is not that great for cornering and single track etc but for gravel events you can’t beat them. I’ve also added a Farr aero bolt on bar for alternate hand positions with a slight aero advantage. I can definitely say you’re still at a massive disadvantage. Two major things for me are gearing limitations on the hardtail wrt the front chainring and also the front suspension i think is a major negative when it comes to efficiency. I was thinking of maybe putting in a rigid fork but honestly, you’re still gonna be at a major disadvantage compared to a dedicated gravel bike so therefor I’ve decided not to spend any more money on the bike and just start saving for a dedicated gravel bike one time.

 

In terms of a do it all bike. If you can only 1, buy the one that you’re gonna be active in the most. But a gravel bike cannot do what a hardtail can do on proper trails whereas a hardtail can pretty much do everything just not as good. So if the cutting out proper trails is fine for you then go for it. For me personally, I need all 3 bikes as I do loads of road racing and I love proper trails. But now I also love gravel. So I’m basically screwed as things stand.

[Mountain Bru]

I flirted too much with this question last year, and eventually added a Spez Diverge to the stables to go alongside the dual sus (Spez Epic) and road bike (Wilier Cento10Air). My findings:

• I'm not competing for a win at any races, so adding 10 or 15 minutes onto my road race time because I have 42mm tyres on my gravel bike rather than 28mm GP5000s on my road bike is purely an ego issue - no one but you cares about your "sub-3" time. 
• I often wish my gravel bike was a hard tail on the rough offroad stuff. The 10 or 20mm of travel in the future shock definitely helps, but nowhere near as much as a 100mm travel fork. 
• Some "gravel races" should really just be called MTB races, and you'll be much faster on a hardtail (looking at you Cullinan2Tonteldoos). Some MTB races are so tame that you'd be faster on a gravel bike.
• The Diverge is nowhere near as stiff and responsive as a road bike. It's heavy and feels slow on the road compared to an aggressive and stiff road bike. But other gravel bikes might be different.
• It's 1000 times more relaxing to ride a gravel bike on the road and not have to worry about every bump and pot hole. It's also lekker not having your brains rattled out on a super stiff road bike. But you're definitely slower.
• Gearing can be an issue on the road. I have a 2x GRX system on the Diverge to try get around this, and even then, you spin out long before the roadies with a 53-11 ratio. This, coupled with the added rolling resistance of the wider tyres, means you might get dropped by the bunch on downhills if you're a lightweight. 
• Tyre clearance becomes a big deal on gravel bikes - to make up for the lack of suspension, you end up wanting to run larger volume tyres. But when you're putting a 2.2 on your gravel bike, you basically have a rigid - drop bar - hard tail. 
• N+1 will always apply

In summary - if you love riding a road bike, a gravel bike just isn't gonna replace that feeling. But if you only dabble on the road now and then, a gravel bike is more than good enough. Every bike has it's perfect terrain, and the further you get from that, the worse your experience is gonna be. Cruising on a gravel bike on a smooth gravel road is unbelievably lekker though. 

To help answer your question though - What gravel bike are you looking at?? If you imagine a spectrum from road bike to hard tail, you can kind of get a gravel bike that fits anywhere in between. A  spez crux is probably the closest to a road bike, and I reckon the new stigmata with a 40mm travel fork is super close to being a drop bar hard tail. 

[Mountain Bru]

 

[MongooseMan]

1 minute ago, Mountain Bru said:

 

aka, why settle for 2 wheelsets when you can have 2 completely different forks? 😂

[Mountain Bru]

Just now, MongooseMan said:

aka, why settle for 2 wheelsets when you can have 2 completely different forks? 😂

Why stop there?

I think the best way to replace your road bike and MTB with a gravel bike is to have 2 wheelsets, 3 forks, 2 cassettes, 2 chain rings, and maybe even 3 different handlebars for road, gravel and MTB. Changing and bleeding brakes is hard though, so maybe have dedicated brakes attached to each handlebar and run the cables externally. Drive train can be AXS to avoid the hassle of cables. It might seem expensive at first, but at least you're saving by only having 1 frame, crank and power meter. And as an added bonus, you'll be a epic bike mechanic in no time with all the component switching you'll have to do. I can't see any issues with this plan 👌👌👌👌

[Jbr]

I'm currently frothing on this : 

 

[Pandatron]

From all the youtube videos ive watched and bikes tested on this topic, gravel bike (Addict Gravel, Factor Ostro? etc) with road tyres will be as fast as a road bike for the majority of people.

Gravel bike with two wheelsets will do just fine for gravel/tame mtb and road.

But given that everybody on the Hub fell off the world tour after narrowly losing to Wiggo or had their golden chance dashed by Lance at the US Postal trials...the time loss on a gravel bike will therefore be unimaginable on road ....🙃

Edited December 12, 2023 by Pandatron

[Jbr]

2 minutes ago, Pandatron said:

But given that everybody on the Hub fell off the world tour after narrowly losing to Wiggo or had their golden chance dashed by Lance at the US Postal trials...the time loss on a gravel bike will therefore be unimaginable on road ....🙃

haha,

yeah I train almost 6 days a week on my gravel bike, and half of the time it doesn't involve any dirt or gravel roads, so for anyone not seriously into racing any gravel bike will do just fine for road/gravel, even on the group rides.

I pretty much only use my Tarmac at the races.

[Pandatron]

Just now, Jbr said:

haha,

yeah I train almost 6 days a week on my gravel bike, and half of the time it doesn't involve any dirt or gravel roads, so for anyone not seriously into racing any gravel bike will do just fine for road/gravel, even on the group rides.

I pretty much only use my Tarmac at the races.

Further controversial statement, 90% of riders could have endurance frames and would be happier..

[Cardio Goth]

50 minutes ago, Pandatron said:

Further controversial statement, 90% of riders could have endurance frames and would be happier..

I'd agree with you .. until I realised that 42mm is a sweet spot in tyre size. For me. On the gravel I ride here. But I've also realised that on a lot of that gravel, a hard tail with fast rolling tyres is more comfortable and, in some cases, faster. So now I split my time between them (well, not now exactly, because there's still 10cm of snow on most of my gravel routes, but you know what I'm saying).

That said, I do agree that the majority of people would be happier with an endurance frame that would let them run 35mm semi-slicks.