Gravel Bike vs. Short Travel Dual Sus MTB

[Glen84]

Hi All,

I want to upgrade from my Trek Top Fuel and looking at two options considering I don’t ride super technical trails all year round where a live (mainly longer gravel rides) - just not sure what would be the best option…..

 

1) Gravel Bike (ie.Specialized Crux/Diverge)

2) Short travel dual sus MTB (ie. Trek Supercaliber or Specialized World Cup)

 

I know it will come down to personal preference but just out of interest, what option would you take. 

 

Many Thanks

[Bub Marley]

Get a hardtail. 

[devvydoesdonuts]

Hi Glen,

I have both a hardtail (Giant XTC) and short travel dual sus (Specialized WC), and like yourself majority of the trails I ride are more gravel orientated with a few slightly technical sections here and there.

The hardtail handles all the terrain with no issues at all, I never felt that I was under biked for where I ride. The Spez does everything the hardtail does but with a bit more comfort. So if comfort is what you want go with the dual sus, but a hardtail will give you a good balance between the two. 

I am now considering converting the hardtail to a gravel bike to be able to keep up with some of my buddies that have gone over to gravel. 

[Glen84]

Thanks for the reply. I am in the same boat as you - occasionally I ride gravel with gravel riders and those bikes roll so well (25-30kh/hr avg) which is hard work on a MTB! Just wanted to know if shorter travel dual sus mountain bikes feel more like a hardtail....

[Cat2forLife]

I think you also need to consider the differences in geometry between gravel bikes and MTB (soft tail or hard tail). And the gearing on a gravel bike vs what you'll get on an MTB.

Gravel bikes have longer gearing than MTBs, so if you want to keep up with your mates, you'll need a bigger chainring on your MTB if you choose to go that route.

In my opinion, a soft tail will be over kill. And you'll need to change so much to keep up with your friends if that's your goal and if you are planning on getting a new bike. You might as well just get a gravel bike to start with.

 

EDIT: But if you intend to do a little bit of trail riding here and there, then I would agree with Bub and maybe look at a hardtail MTB. If you can only have 1 bike. It still doesn't solve the gearing and geometry issues, but it will be quite a bit lighter than your current dual suspension I'd imagine.

Edited February 20 by Cat2forLife

[splat]

If you converted your MTB frame to a gravel bike, just check what max chainring size your frame can handle.
That could be a limiting factor.

[MORNE1102]

Best gravel bike is a nice dual sus xc bike hands down. Buy the gravel bike if you only want to do road with light gravel. everything else i'd rater get the MTB

[Bub Marley]

44 minutes ago, Glen84 said:

Thanks for the reply. I am in the same boat as you - occasionally I ride gravel with gravel riders and those bikes roll so well (25-30kh/hr avg) which is hard work on a MTB! Just wanted to know if shorter travel dual sus mountain bikes feel more like a hardtail....

You can lock out your suspension on a full suspension to get closer to a hardtail feeling but it’s still not a hardtail. Ive had both bikes and the main difference is comfort. If you are doing long gravel rides then maybe that extra cushioning will be helpful. However there is nothing that beats a super light and stiff hardtail. If you are doing majority gravel stuff with the odd trail then for me the HT is the best of both worlds. It’ll be faster on the gravel stuff and still allow you to ride trails when you want to.

Edited February 20 by Bub Marley

[dave303e]

supercaliber with a 38tooth up front if it will fit would be my advice

 

[RobertWhitehead]

N + 1 in my opinion, why try and get best of both worlds when you can get both worlds 😁

[guidodg]

Best gravel bike I have ridden to date , both with and without front suspension.

Dual suspension is complete overkill...rather get something with compliance built into the rear

[Simon123]

I've been doing milage ("gotta get fit for the CTCT") on my gravel bike.   Around the mountain essentially every Saturday morning.   But I slashed the tyre on Saturday past and dashed home on a papwiel, grabbed my trail bike (130/140mm travel, and 11,7kg) and did the loop on that.

Granted the Camps Bay to top of Suikerbossie stretch I could feel every knobbly, but in real terms I had 100000% more fun.  I also find myself taking it for greenbelt burns instead of the gravel more these days too.    I got caught up in the gravel bike thing, but realised that actually the short travel MTB is way more fun and not really slower as you're effectively quicker on the roughish sections and way more capable in the technical bits.

That said though, I've lugged my gravel bike to Namibia twice for a project I did out there with loads of gravel roads and some nice interesting loops back.   It made a lot of sense there with open road sections running for km at a time.  A friend joined and brought his gravel bike too and it was great exploring on them.     But that said, in CPT I find the short travel MTB way more fun personally.

 

[Scary Rider]

49 minutes ago, RobertWhitehead said:

N + 1 in my opinion, why try and get best of both worlds when you can get both worlds 😁

I bought my gravel bike, and duallie, from @RobertWhitehead last year.

And I told Robert earlier in the week that he is sort of responsible for some domestique unhappiness because the hardtail, roadbike and duallie look at me very accusingly when I take out the gravel. Every day...😉

A gravel bike is so much fun, and in Potch with our offroad tar streets, a must🙈🙈

[devvydoesdonuts]

3 hours ago, splat said:

If you converted your MTB frame to a gravel bike, just check what max chainring size your frame can handle.
That could be a limiting factor.

Currently jump between a 36t and a 38t, but I think I can get away with a 40t. The major cost now for the conversion would be on bars, hoods and a fork. Need to do more research on it to be honest but playing with the idea in my head at the moment. 

[babse]

3 hours ago, Simon123 said:

 grabbed my trail bike (130/140mm travel, and 11,7kg) and did the loop on that.

*snip

 

impressive weight for a trail bike 💪

[Simon123]

57 minutes ago, babse said:

impressive weight for a trail bike 💪

Thanks.  It's a 2019 Intense Primer