Anybody riding gravel?

Sanoman

thecolorpurple
Site Supporter
Location
NE Tenn
I ride our local gravel/old railroad tract trail (tweetsie trail) and also Va. Creeper trail.You ought to come up and ride the Va trail with me sometime.Beautiful ride with a decent incline on the upper part.Va. also has the New River Trail.Another beautiful ride!
 

Big Kahuna

Administrator
Location
Tuscaloosa, AL
Just ordered a new gravel bike! Giant revolt 2. Couldnt afford the advanced version in carbon so I had to slum it with the aluminum frame. First brand new bike since I was 10! First nice bike since @McDog got my cervelo. really excited for this bike to show up but its like 3 weeks out.
https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/revolt-2
I have a Revolt 1..... Been riding more road here lately, Picked up a 2nd set of wheels with slicks.
 
I was a roadie for years,thats part of the attraction for me. I also have a thing against full suspension bikes, I feel like they rob me of pedal power. I had an amazing tt bike, but I like to jump curbs, hit gravel trails and even hit up the local mtn bike park. I can only have one bike to do it all besides my old redline bmx bike, so the gravel boke hits the most check marks for me. Plus it gives me a challenge when I do offroad stuff on it
 

Sanoman

thecolorpurple
Site Supporter
Location
NE Tenn
No,ride to the top.Could not do the whole Creeper right now if l tried!
l am so out of shape,haven’t rode much this year.My buddy took his first ride today since having a mechanical valve put in his heart 8 weeks ago.He did great! Been waiting on him to get better,so we could progress together.lt won’t take too long to get back in shape and then l can start riding some distance.
Probably a month and l can be back where l was
 
I am doing about 25 miles a day. I leave the house about 615 on my off days and try to put in as much as I can. I am fortunate to have a lot of greenway and trails near where I live. If I drive downtown I can do greenway some city riding and get in some dirt at the mtb park in South Knoxville. We won 100k from bell helmets several years ago and knoxville really put it into making some amazing mtb trails. I took my current crappy bike down one of the more advanced downhill trails and though it didn't like it we made it out the other side. Headed downtown for a ride tomorrow morning!
 

Aquaholic

World's Oldest Teenager
Location
San Diego, CA.
I have been wondering the same thing, saw this today and thought it was informative. I think I made the right choice of a hardtail for my conditions and style but see a place for gravel now. https://cyclingtips.com/2020/05/gravel-bike-vs-mountain-bike-are-you-better-off-with-a-hardtail-mtb/

So, what I'm hearing is that terrain and riding style dictates or influences justifying riding a gravel bike. So, lets put this in PWC terms... If you had to resort to only riding a SeaDoo 3D as opposed to riding a true standup... would it be worth it? That would be a total compromise for the majority of us, right? But hey...riding is riding? If I only had flattish, featureless trails to ride on...I would still get a MTB hardtail at the very least , rather than settling for a road bike in drag.
 
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Midlake Crisis

Site Supporter
Location
Bakersfield, CA
So, what I'm hearing is that terrain and riding style dictates or influences justifying riding a gravel bike. So, lets put this in PWC terms... If you had to resort to only riding a SeaDoo 3D as opposed to riding a true standup... would it be worth it? That would be a total compromise for the majority of us, right? But riding is riding? If I only had flattish, featureless trails to ride on...I would still get a MTB hardtail at the very least , rather than settling for a road bike in drag.
My thoughts exactly, but that says more about us and the typical X-H2O member and our preferences than anything about the bikes. There are guys in my area taking really long rides on flat dirt roads on full suspension bikes. They ride right past what I consider to be the more fun and exciting terrain. IMHO they might be better served with a gravel bike than either a FS or HT. One of my neighbors is a retired CHP close to 70 y/o. He is a monster for endurance but his theme is "keep both wheels on the ground", and he is riding a fat tired FS that cost 5x more than my HT.
 

Big Kahuna

Administrator
Location
Tuscaloosa, AL
Its just all about what you want to do. Yes, you can take a 29er Hard Tail and ride gravel roads. What you deal with is a good bit more drag, The riding position is not the greatest for 30 mile rides. With a Gravel Bike, the 40mm tires work really well, very little drag compared to a 29x2.35 Maxis Ardent/Icon Combo. The Handlebars and geometry of the frame is more suited for longer faster riding. Just about having the right tool for the job. You want to jump jumps or go rock crawing @Aquaholic , you go for a Full Suspension or Hardtail, If you want to do flips and spins you get an XFS, DVX, HE2, Eclipse, If you want to take long fast rides on dirt roads, some asphalt (Smooth or Rough) you get a Gravel Bike, If you want to take long fast cruises or run bouys, you get an SXR or SJ.......... You want to just cruise around the neighborhoods you get a cruiser bike, Just like if you want to take long slow cruises on the lake or bay, You get a 3D or a Couch......... But as long as your out riding some kind of bike, who gives a Schit. Go Ride
 

Aquaholic

World's Oldest Teenager
Location
San Diego, CA.
Its just all about what you want to do. Yes, you can take a 29er Hard Tail and ride gravel roads. What you deal with is a good bit more drag, The riding position is not the greatest for 30 mile rides. With a Gravel Bike, the 40mm tires work really well, very little drag compared to a 29x2.35 Maxis Ardent/Icon Combo. The Handlebars and geometry of the frame is more suited for longer faster riding. Just about having the right tool for the job. You want to jump jumps or go rock crawing @Aquaholic , you go for a Full Suspension or Hardtail, If you want to do flips and spins you get an XFS, DVX, HE2, Eclipse, If you want to take long fast rides on dirt roads, some asphalt (Smooth or Rough) you get a Gravel Bike, If you want to take long fast cruises or run bouys, you get an SXR or SJ.......... You want to just cruise around the neighborhoods you get a cruiser bike, Just like if you want to take long slow cruises on the lake or bay, You get a 3D or a Couch......... But as long as your out riding some kind of bike, who gives a Schit. Go Ride

So, riding hunched over on a road bike, with drop bars is comfortable? No thanks. If you're totally starving and McDonalds is your only option... a meal is a meal, right?

"Longer faster riding" means little to me...you know that.
 
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