Can You Use A Gravel Bike As A Road Bike?
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- Опубліковано 6 чер 2024
- Once you've changed out tyres, how much difference really is there between a modern gravel and road bike? We find out.
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Eagle eyed (no pun intended) viewers may have spotted the spec of the gravel bike was different to what I described at the start of the video - turns out the original bike was dismantled so slightly higher spec addict gravel (minus rival levers) was subbed in!
- francis
I think there is missed opportunity with focusing on comparing a road bike with 2x12 and a gravel bike with 1x12. There are gravel bikes available with double rings where you can have both range and small gaps between gears. Gearing is generally lower than a pure race road bike but finally more suited to most non competitive rider, especially if most of their riding is alone or in small groups. In that case swapping wheels is easy between say, a 11-34 cassette on the gravel wheels and a 11-28 or 11-30 on the road wheels.
Staying on 1x groupsets, this is also a missed opportunity of talking about Campagnolo Ekar. I am riding with a Sram Force 1 converted to 13speed EKAR thanks to the Ratio Technology kit on my gravel bike and it is really nice. I can use 10-44 cassettes on 650B gravel wheels and a 9-36 cassette on the road wheels that give me much slower gaps while having a good range. 38x9 is slightly higher than a 46x11 or 50-12 and 38x36 is similar to a 36x34 or 34x32 so very close to what most people are using with compact cranks on the road.
Also pedals. Many recreative riders ride with 2 cleats pedals anyway and there is nothing that prevent anyone to put road pedals on a gravel bike. Outside of ... hum... special events like Outbound, walking your gravel bike is a very rare event. In fact, many gravel racer do use road pedals. Same with position and handlebar. This is one thing buying a gravel bike when you already own a road bike or buying/speccing a do it all bike. If you want to have a do it all road+gravel bike you may want to do compromise on one or two fronts: e.g. choosing a frame with a more roadish position (they do exist), mounting a longer stem or using a non flared handlebar. You won't suddently die in a non paved road because you are using a few non "gravel branded" components. Hey that is what we used to do for years before the industry created a new category of bikes.
One thing you also forget to mention: lazyness. While having one bike is good when space is limited, I don't like "preparing my bike" before my ride. I usually stop my work day, put my cycling clothes, fill my water bottles, grab my bike, check quickly the pressure and go. Just switching a set of wheels, although not a long job, is annoying and I've done many road rides on my own on knobbly gravel tires just because I was too lazy to put my carbon road wheels out of their covers and mount them to my gravel bike. And most of the time, especially when not doing group rides, it just doesn't matter ! You reach home maybe 2 to 5 minutes later for any given distance. So what? But if you are the kind of person who attend fast group road rides, have plenty of space at home and still want to mix with gravel, by all mean use 2 bikes. It is just easier to grab the perfectly set up for purpose bike and go.
@@0dcd9530 Don't you have a problem to tune 1x13 setup in time? I'm using it similarly but on same wheels, just swapping dtswiss freehub with 10-42 cassette (XD) for more hilly rides and 10-34 for more flat rides (HG), chainring 40T. Even with same wheel, I always have to play with rear derailer to make it right after the change. The other 650b wheel due to my lazyness is not used as much, as you said, not too much work to swap but... :)
@@petertapaj4859 Yes you need some b-screw adjustment definitely.
Having said that I have 3 pair of wheels, tubular road wheels with 25mm tires, 650B with knobbly wide tires and... a set of 700c fulcrum alu wheels I bough recently which sports 700x40mm slick tires. In the end the last one is the combo I use the most. Jack of all trades, master of none but I don't have to think about what kind of ride I will do and sometimes improvise a shortcut or longer route through dirt roads I didn't plan at the beginning of the ride. Caveat: I am living in south of Spain so almost never encounter mud.
@@veganpotterthevegan with a double ring yes a 11-32 is enough on the road. With a single ring you don't have enough range to tackle both low and high gear needs.
As a long term viewer of the channel, I find the content shifting more and more towards GCN and Co. All the sponsored stuff, the product reviews, quite similar. I don‘t mind but I kinda miss the days where the local cycling scene was involved, the social aspect was more present. Production value has skyrocketed and yet, I miss the spirit. Thanks for getting the vids out nontheless!
Miss the video where Francis used to meet up with a mate and chatted.
Yah, I think he has crossed the Rubicon where gonzo gives way to making a better living through sponsorships - which is understandable, and most of the good UA-camrs have or will go through it. We just continuing enjoying the free content - thank you - and look out for the next cycle channel steam punks.
Maybe that content does not pay the mortgage any more
@@deadpool8340 that is a fair point.
I started with the Red Hook Content... I truly miss the fixed times
I have just bought a road wheelset to put on my gravel bike.
I make the change in 6 min flat and enjoy whatever the day brings.
I am super happy with the decision and encourage others to try it!!
Can you adapt quick release clamps? I don't see any on the models I'm looking at.
I dont know. I use thru axle. Not particularly fan of quick release @@DR_1_1
@@DR_1_1 I run Giant PR2 wheels (thru-axle) on my Triban RC520 (QR frame) as my secondary road wheelset using MUQZI adapters. Works like a charm!
Great discussion, I currently use a gravel bike as my primary road bike. I have 2 wheel sets, 28's on the road set up and they spend the most time on the bike, I have the 2x grx and am able to hold pace on club rides and with friends without issues. I can then pack the bike with bags etc for a bit of cycle touring or bikepacking. I never run out of gears and can climbs most gradients. For me it's the perfect and most cost effective set up. I have been riding the bike this way for over 2 years.
Same for me. Road tyres I also inflate much more to get better speed but the gravel tyres are pretty fast too on the road.
I use a sportive because I couldn't afford a gravel frame and chain set.
Hey, so I'm thinking about doing the same. I have a gravel bike with 2x11 GRX. Do you use the same cassette with the road tires, or a different one?
@juliusriedelbauch7204 each wheelset has it's own cassette, so I have 2 cassettes that are the same. I have so far never needed to index the gears when swapping between cassettes.
Completely agree. I tried road tyres on my gravel bike and transformed it completely. The only issue for me was the 1X gearing, which limited it.
I think 2X gravel gearing is definitely the way to go 👍👍
Absolutely LOVE this debate and wish it could be covered more often. The whole idea of one bike to rule them all (for most people) with the popularization of disc brakes and gravel frames kind of means to me that can do about 90% of all riding with one bike and not really miss out anywhere. If you want to get into the rough stuff you'll need a mountain bike, and if you're getting into the ridiculously fast riding you'll want an aero bike. But MOST people I believe can probably have one bike with two (or even 3) sets of wheels!
The only think I don't like about this debate is that my wife may find realize I don't *really* need 3 bikes.....
@@richardhaselwood9478 hahaha so true. As a 3 bike owner I have to agree, although if I was just getting into it I'd probably only have the one
@@slickfast In all seriousness, it's a tough call isn't it?
If someone was starting out and asked me, I'd have to show them how much alloy gravel bike I got for $2K Australian, that would start them out really nicely. Would be a great commuter and good on group rides with faster tyres. And still able to do some moderately stupid shit with decent off road tyres.
I still love my road bike though. And the MTB is soooooo much fun too.
@@richardhaselwood9478 I think this is the first time in the history of the internet but I totally agree! A modern gravel bike is a damn versatile machine, but dedicated bikes (especially mountain imo) are just another level. But again, if you told a newbie that they needed to buy two or three bikes to really get the full enjoyment out of it a LOT of people would probably say "not for me". Any better way into the sport is good in my book... this just makes their first bike that much more useful!
i swear bike channels have this conversation every 6-7 months. Yes, you can use gravel bike as road bike. Why is it so hard to understand? Why is it even up for debate? I used to have three sets of wheels for my Diverge: commuting, gravel race, crit race. Done I used that bike for everything and it worked just fine...
You nailed it. I mostly ride my old 2012 gravel bike now with 700x40mm tires and (usually) a semi-slick rear tire. I use a 48/32 rings x 11/34 cassette gearing. Amazing all the different things you can do with that set up alone. The road bike is mostly sitting on the trainer.
Another open & honest review guys between the bikes & the variations of setups. As amateur cyclists, we have choices and we can mix them up with the resources we have👍
Great video Francis!! Been waiting for you guys to make a video just like this. I’m 15 and I started road riding a cheaper gravel bike last year and really got into the sport. I was noticing some difficulties and this video really helped explaining them.
I recently switched over from a road bike to an All-Road (Ridley Grifn) with 35mm gravel tires (Schwalbe GS-ONE RS). I don't have any issues following my friends on their road bikes. I actually started off with 32mm road tires and they felt slower then the ones I have on now. I'm not regretting my decision so far. It's way more comfortable and I have more riding options. I did go for a 2x setup. I live in a quite hilly area (Tour of Flanders region), so having easy gears to go up hills like the Koppenberg is a real must.
I've been using one bike on the road and gravel for the last three years. I love it. I swap the tyres around, I'd love to have two sets of wheels but hey ho, budget etc. I have a 2x set up, with a Praxis Alba chainset with 48/32 rings on it and a 11-34 cassette on the back. I've yet to feel under geared, even on a 100km ride last year when the folk i was riding with took it up to 40kmh plus on the ride home... I use SPD pedals, and love them. It's proper comfy on longer rides. I'm not going to race anymore, so I'm not stressing. Great video lads, nice one.
Yeah I increasingly use my gravel bike w/ 30mm slicks and my gravel shoes + SPD pedals for long days / chill rides. The less aggressive position makes it more enjoyable if I'm pacing with someone slower than me, I am not on a more aggressive bike that makes me want to always be hammering it. I have 46/30 and 11-34. Sure, I could spin it out on some descents but I never feel the need nor desire to.
I've used my gravel bike as a road bike for years 11,42 cassette with 42 chainring and 30mm road tyres .... absolutely fine
Looks like it will be massively under geared on the descents. A 50 tooth chainring and 11 tooth cassette would be much better for speeds over 40 km/h.
@@kiuk_kiks a 11 42 on a dscent is absolutly fine , if you want to go for 70-90kmh pls be an organ doner !
@@kiuk_kiks 44t with a 10-36 is the answer. Spins out around 40 mph.
@@kiuk_kiks I can hit 40 MPH (64 kph) on my 42-11 gravel bike on descents. You're not pedaling hard enough!
@@veganpotterthevegan i understand that yes 60-70 km/h is not that fast I try to say we. Or al ones shouldn’t go all out on descends so small bigger chainrings are fine
Thanks for going through this comparison. I use my gravel bike to commute during the week and then take it on dirt on the weekend. I've also used it for bunch rides with slicks, and it was fine, even with the 1x 42T front chainring and 11-46 cassette.
I bought a Merlin Malt G2P gravel bike, and a second wheelset. Gravel tyres on one set, 700x28's road tyres on the other. It's running SPD's and Tiagra 50/34 - 11/32 gear set up, and it's a great all round bike. 100% agree with this video :) Thanks guys.
100% agree with you guys! Since I got the CruX, my road bike has been laying, disassembled, in a corner of my room 🤣 I then upgraded to 3t Exploro racemax with a 2x electronic, and it’s basically all i ride, mostly mixed surface rides. Great vid 🤙
Spaced out cassettes to me seem a great training tool to become less dependent on a specific cadence. I came to a point in my MTB races (little elevation, tight singletrack) (9spd 12-27 and 12-25) that I shifted over a 1000 times per hour. Drove people around me nuts. When I bought a singlespeed bike, I found that the legs can indeed handle speed changes just fine. In many case, I was faster singlespeed than "using the gears". My legs got way better when I trained and at times raced singlespeed. It feels so powerful when you can use your les from a 60 rpm situation all the way up to 130 rpm and the people on shifter bikes just can't seem to follow the acceleration or pedal precision on singletrack. I now do my flat road rides on a 9spd 11-34 cassette and it's just fine. I deal with it. Used to have a frankencassette bike that was like 13-16-20-25-33. Makes it singlespeed for 5 scenarios. Within a scenario, there was not shifting. Headwind 20, no wind 16, tailwind or downhill 13. Mind hill 25, freak hill 33. Legs took the smaller speed differences. A really peaceful riding experience. Too many gears can hold a rider back, because legs are lazy so they will take a shift when there is one. Doesn't make it faster or a good way to train. In certian situations, I'm sure it can be. But then, I won races on a singlespeed against riders I'd not automatically beat with gears. Some of the best singletrack laps I've done were singlespeed, gears WOULD have held me back.
There are plenty of videos out there with the same title as this one, but this is by far the best one. For an average bike rider like myself you can do beautifully with a gravel bike and two sets of wheels! Go Francis and Jimmi!
vibe of the cade media videos are seemingly that all bikes are great and im loving it
I have one frame I use for both, and two sets of wheels. I ride the Ribble CGR SL, I have the mavic Aksium for gravel, and a set of 50mm carbon wheels for the road. The frame is great for both in my opinion, and it saved me a few thousand on a second bike. Loved this video. Thanks
Just come back from my 30 plus road ride on my Cube cross pro on gravel tyres im about 2mph slower if i chuck on my road wheelset and gp 5000 the bike is phenomenal a big tangible difference great content guys
Bought my Triban RC120 after watching your review. Got another pair of wheels, 650B with 40mm tubeless gravel tires, swapped out the stock crankset for one with 165mm cranks and 2 less teeth on the smaller ring (32T) as well as the cassett (x2) to another Microshift but with 6 more teeth on the largest cog (38T) and naturally a different Microshift RD with a long cage (didn't even need a Wolftooth!). Now it's got a suspension seat post and suspension stem and rides like the wind through the nearby forest roads on weekends. Weekdays I swap on the tubeless 28mm road tires and commute 45 minutes to work and home again. Gonna take it on tour from Stockholm to North Cape and down the Norwegian coast this summer, fully loaded with 15 litre rear panniers, fork bags, top tube frame bag and a Specialized Handlebar Harness. 63 litres of baggage space and the bike will probably weigh about 25kg - half of what I usually tour across continents with. But bet I'll be glad I got one lower gear on the new drivetrain!
Very good video and a lot of good points. My all around bike is a Trek 520. Gets me every where and I live on gravel roads. Did go to a 35 tire thou. Thanks for the video. Really enjoy your channel. Take care, Al
2x gravel bike with 2 sets of wheels, same cassette on both. Allows me to use my gravel bike everywhere comfortably. And no issues keeping up on group rides.
This is such a great channel lads! Keep up the amazing work you do!!
Call me crazy but wouldn't this give more justification for going with a 2x groupset?
Absolutely
@@Cade_Media Forgive my ignorance here, but is gear indexing typically the same within a brand between the same speeds of gravel and road cassettes (ie both 12x)? Would be annoying to have to reindex each time you swapped wheels. Would be another argument towards 2x so you could reasonably run the same cassette on both wheels.
1x is more limiting but it's still best for if you use your gravel for more off road than on road. Messing with the FD when needing to quickly get up a bank is a pain. But 2x gives more possibilities.
Yeah. I'm currently using an 11-42 cassette on my gravel/road bike, but it's just too limiting for high speeds or going steep uphill. I'm now going to try an e*thirteen 9-46 tooth cassette, once it's delivered. Otherwise I'd wish to have a 2x instead of 1x.
My first thought exactly! With 2x absolutely no problem. Something like 46/30 in the front, 11/40 in the rear and you're set in 99 % of all cases, unless you're really fast and 46/11 is too slow for you, which will not be the case for most riders. Personally I don't get the advantage of 1x at all, even for gravel.
Trapped in a room today waiting for jury service and watched a load of cycling content pushed to me by the algorithm. Only Cade’s videos have a constant attention to narrative and flow and keeping me engaged. Not just “random thought” smash cut to cycling footage smash cut to “another random thought”.
This is something I think about a lot, I have a carbon bike with endurance geometry, is it worth spending £5k to upgrade to aero when all I do is ride with mates? Prob not.
Great vid! I've been doing this for a year. Use a Cannondale TopStone Carbon 2 with Corsa 28mm tires and a 2x11 GRX 810 gears. Perfect endurance bike, just a bit more stable and better climbing gearing for us non-100kph riders :) Having said that, there are gravel bikes out there that are much closer to MTB territory, and the conversion might not be as effective.
A great video! Newly subscribed, as I am hopeful this week buying my first bike!
Cycling only roads but as a 7mile commute to work.
People have been saying go gravel with road tyres....and this is exactly the video i needed!!
Give wide slicks a try. I ride 700 x 38 and they are great!
Yes, with 2 sets of wheels. I do it. You can also use less aggressive gravel tires in 35 with a slick center section if you ride mixed surfaces. If you race then a two by set up on your gravel bike would be better. There are carbon sole mountain bike shoes from Shimano and Sidi. There are probably others as well. Gravel bikes are the Swiss Army knives of bikes.
If one can run Unbound Gravel with Schwalbe G-One RS it should be quite ok for most gravel and it rolls very very well, measures withing 3 watts per wheel with GP5000S TR 32 according to bicyclerollingresistance. I run 40 mm Tufo Speedero's on my Canyon Grizl SLX gravel bike with Reynolds ATR Carbon wheels; I've looked into getting another set of wheels for road but it in the end it just does not add up, there is very little to be gained for a non-racer.
Good discussion, I agree with your observations. I just rode a (hired) Canyon gravel bike across the Pyrenees (10 days riding, 800km, 18,000m vertical). I chose a gravel bike for the low gears and put road tyres on it. The bike was great. I thought lowest gear would be good for a bail out only on some sections, turns out I spent hours in it on the steeper climbs. 28mm road tyres worked well but should have get better tyres with puncture protection as I got a couple of flats in the rain. Should have done some training on hills before the ride too...
Started riding bikes again last year (after many years off) and went with a gravel bike with road pedals and shoes. Didn't realize how much I was going to love it, (averaging 100 miles a week) and was debating whether to buy a road bike as well, or just a second set of wheels. Ended up having a second set of wheels built with identical hubs, (so the brakes are aligned) set them up for road. I run 47's on the gravel set up and 30's on the road, both tubeless. I usually average 2-3 mph faster on the same 40-50 mile courses, 17-18mph with road wheel/tire v.s. 15 mph with wider and heavier gravel set up. Still think I may get a road bike in the future, but this set up is serving me well for now. Thanks for the video!
Great video, and I completely agree. I have two bikes, a road bike and a gravel/commuter bike. And the only difference between commuter mode and gravel mode is the tires I put on it. The most important thing to me is comfort and fun, regardless of the bike I'm riding. My road bike is the Scott Solace, and the commuter/gravel bike is the Cannondale Quick 3. Neither bike wins any awards for aero positioning, but both are really comfortable and fun to ride.
Damn I was just looking for this topic. Lucky me!. Love your channel
Great video diving into the nuance between a gravel bike and a road bike. So many people think "Oh I'll just slap road tyres on it"... not exactly, your gears wont be optimal. The observations regarding the frame are also worth considering
You two are hilarious together. Really enjoying the new "Cade Media" and "Cade Media Extra"!
I had to laugh at the talk about the road cassette. That’s just a 1x problem and not a gravel specific problem. 2x gravel bikes exist! 😉
Shimano FTW
@@maxpetification 2x is not shimano exclusive @.@
2x GRX is the bomb I love mine.
2x AXS. Have it, love it. I can go to 10-36 with a 48/35 front.
@@zedddddful same, by far my fav groupset
Thanks for this video. Good timing for me, as I’m just about to order a second set of wheels for my gravel bike. I was swapping tyres on the one set of rims, but that means no tubeless (or a lot of mess). I have GRX 2x at the moment and I think I’ll probably stick with the same gearing for now (46/30 front, 11-34 rear) - it’s very hilly where I live so I spend like 80% of my time going uphill and the descents are pure recovery time! Maybe with the road wheelset I’ll feel like I’m hitting that top gear limit more often. I’ll wait and see.
That’s it! Ordering a new wheelset for my gravel bike! Been thinking of this for a while!
Much appreciated
Absolutely! I have a Scott Addict Gravel 2x11 with 2 set of wheels. One with 45mm tires for gravel and another with 30mm for road!
Cheers! You guys have answered a lot of questions I've had regarding the differences between the two types. Looks like I mmmmight be in the game for some road wheels...
I've been thinking about this for months! Finally chose an endurance road bike to accomplish the majority of what I need to do
first time first :D
And yes this is kinda my setup now, I have one set of wheel with knobbly tires and another set of carbon wheels with slick tires. They serve me really well with my casual gravel ride and most of training in road wheels set
I use my 2011 CAADX for bikepacking and road. Recently upgraded wheels and R8050 Di2. Works great for both.
Absolutely! There’re just endurance road bikes with larger tire clearance. Just need another set of wheels for the skinny tires.
They also have a different bottom bracket height, slacker head angles and longer rear stays. I have a diverge and it's a different handling bike to my emonda even if i change over the wheels to road on the diverge. You can ride a diverge or other gravel bike with a more race geo in a road group or sportive etc but the weight is that bit heavier on a gravel bike
I'm riding a - on paper - road bike with bigger tires - 700x38 slicks. It's perfectly fine for gravel and road. 50/34 + 11/36 cassette. It handles all climbing needs easily. Triban RC520 "road", 2x Shimano 105 - the almost perfect bike. And under 1000.
36 cassette? Which one?
@@tonyg3091 Missed this question. I've since updated to 11-40 SLX cassette and GRX RD.. No other mods needed - works like a charm.
Gravel bikes make really good road bikes: especially the more "race" oriented ones, put some road worthy 28-30 mm slick tires and off you go.
The more relaxed geometry of other gravel bikes (adventure, etc) is more of an endurance road geometry, also perfect for road.
The point is, with two sets of wheels, one for road and one for gravel and you have a do everything setup all in one bike.
If you are a serious road racer, yes a dedicated road bike would be better, or if you are into gnarly MTB stuff then a mountain bike is the way to go .
The hallmark of gravel is versatility and rides that encompass many surfaces. for that I'd like no other bike than a gravel bike.
Yeah, as others pointed out - if you want a bike to do double duty, you want 2x gearing - gives you the gear spacing you need on the road and the low gearing you need for gravel. Where it gets hard is if you get a super slack frame with wide bars and 1x and want to road ride and want it to feel like a road bike... at that point you probably really want a lightweight hard tail and an endurance road bike but (gasp) that would be like what we were riding in the 90's and we can't undo all the progress ;)
Can you use a road bike as a downhill bike?🤔
Blue red or black or double black?
100%
I remember watching a video where Yoann Barelli rode whistler bike park on a giant roadie. Insane dude.
Of course, do roadies get off and walk their bikes down the hill ?
I have a fully rigid xc bike that I use on the trails! Started off as an aggressive slack hard tail, but I found some mtb carbon forks cheap and decided to have a play! It’s now just under 8kg and shreds! I’m somewhat tempted to put drop bars on it.. just not sure if it will be way too long for me then
Video I’ve been waiting for !
Yep. I have a Addict 10 and use it for everything other than racing. Use it for the shops, casual rides , commuting, training whatever really.
It came with 45mm tyres and when they where about done I went down to 35mm that are slightly less aggressively treaded.
I have no problem keeping up with amateurs on nice bikes or even those ridiculous over powered garage e-bikes.
Crucially it’s two bi, as standard and it’s fine in everything. Never run out gears.
I did a bit of research before I bought it and it just made so much sense.
Maybe a little compact on the long rides but equally it is slightly more comfortable because of this.
This video just reinforces my idea im pursuing right now.
I'm refitting my old trekking cross with dropbars, rigid fork and a 2x11 system with a 34-50 crank system and got myself 2 sets of wheels - on with 11-36 and roady, still comfortably wide tyres and one with an 11-46 and more off-road, mountainbikish tyres 😊
Appreciate the videos, they help out this newbie to riding more than casually around with the Mrs. and the kids~ :-)
Best comparison - and there are many! Thanks guys!
Great content fella’s! Love the way you break down your decisions. Quick question - I don’t get out of the saddle to ride caused by a knee injury from way back. Would I be better suited on 2x vs 1x thinking I’d have more choices?
Thanks Again
Been using a Grizl AL (converted to Di2) with a pair of Parcours Alta's and a set of Strade for the last 3000KM and couldn't be happier :)
I use the same bike + tires set up, but with the stock wheels and groupset 2x11. really love the bike + tires, i can still be in any group ride i like, doesnt hold me back whatsoever.
💯! My commuter is a gravel bike with smooth(er) tires, fenders, and a rack, and it's kinda become my Swiss Army bike. It's the go-to utility steed for anything short of a century or a tour.
My bike is a Cervelo C3 with GRX 46/30 and 11-40, and it suits me mighty fine for the big hills round my way, and when I'm bikepacking too.
One advantage for gravel shoes when commuting, is that's it generally easier to unclip. Really practical when you have to stop on red lights, etc.
Been riding my SuperX to and from work, and it does wonders in the urban city terrain (tram tracks, traffic, intersections, and the bunch)
my experience is the exact opposite, I really miss my spd sl road cleats & shoes, it's really hard to get out of SPD and to find the spot to click in (but for that the reason is that I have hybrid pedals)
I live in west Devon (hills, hills, hills!) and have a Giant Revolt with a 43/30 SRAM chainset and 2 sets of wheels (10-33 cassette and 32mm tyres on the road ones, 10-36 cassette and 42mm tyres on the off-road ones). It works a charm.
I’m running the stock Maxis “Receptors” on my Kona Rove (with 650b rims) and I rode in a century. Very comfortable bike and no noticeable pain other than being very tired.
I've put some Gravelking slicks+ on my gravel bike when the snow melted, made a huge difference!
I bought a gravel bike to be used as a road bike...Ribbgle CGR SL with 650b all road wheels and WTB gravel tyres, plus 2x Force eTap. I also then got some Hyper wheels, the 45's with GP%K's perfect
I got my first Space Chicken gravel bike and was blown away so sold my TCR and bought road wheels. It was great but 1x in club road rides was tricky. So bought a Giant Defy and got gravel wheels and tyres. Better but max 35mm tyres was a bit limiting off road. So now back to specific Giant Revolt gravel bike for gravel and Defy road for road. Though the Revolt with 2x would be perfectly fine for road with 32/48*11-34
Exactly , I have equipped the Gravel bike with Road wheels 35c and Gravel wheels 40c 👍. And kept the Carbon Roadie for the Sunday Bunch rides😊
I run a 2x canyon grail that I swap wheels and it works great. I run a 11-34 cassette for both wheels to make it super easy for the swap.
That was a great video, thank you!
I have just bought a Specialized Diverge E5 Elite to replace my 8 year old Boardman hybrid. I went for this model over the comp due to having a 2x setup, as i will be using the bike on the road/touring as well as light gravel tracks. I intend to buy a second set of wheels in the near future, when budget allows purely to use on the road. I have had a road bike in the past (Allez), but never really got on with it. Not sure if it was wrong frame size or just the ergo of road bikes having been a Mountain Biker most of my life, but it always caused me pain in the back/shoulder/neck.
I am hoping the new Diverge will complement my Mountain bike well.
I use my Grizl AL7 as both my gravel and my 'winter bike' - I have a separate pair of wheels and tyres for the winter bike set up (35mm slicks) and gravel (45mm panaracer SK+) -> I'm still able to beat most of my riding group on my winter bike :D
I have a road and a gravel bike (both geared) as well as a single-speed gravel bike for my commuting. I keep the single-speed tyres to a small width and am thinking of trying some 30 or 32mm slicker tyres.
If I were to have use just one bike for leisure riding, it would definitely be a disc-brake gravel bike with two sets of wheels, but I’d also make sure it was a 2-bar front chain-ring because I’d already thought about the wide gaps in the gear ratios that Jimmy spoke about. I’m thinking of treating myself to a decent quality bike for my 50th, and the plan is what I’ve described above on something with Di2 gearing, which I’ve never had and the others can just sit there for winter riding or during maintenance.
That's what I do with mine, really comfy on bad roads, not that slow on slick ones, and if I need/want to take a more bumpy path, I can too.
Brilliant video, the answers to exactly what I wanted to know
I currently ride a (totally suspension-less) gravel bike mostly as a road bike. With road tyres, 30/46 chainring, and 11-34 cassette. It serves pretty well as an endurance road bike with decent fender (mudguard) mounts. It's not that fast, but fast enough, I've put a LOT of miles on it, and it's easily my favorite bike.
You can slap a 40 cassette there. Hard to beat. And 46-11 is plenty fast. I ride the same on my gravel bike.
I do everything on an allroad bike (in between gravel and road but still with a 40mm clearance when using 1x setup). It works great, however I really feel a difference when using Keo cleats vs SPD, as the power transfer is much better with the Keo
Of course. I have a cyclocross super commuter as a road bike. I only had to replace the cyclocross tires with anti-puncture protection road tires on the stock wheels. Although, I did go a little wider from 32mm -35mm.
I use spds on a road shoe for my road bike, I also have a MTB bike with a similar pedal setup. The gravel/mtb shoe was too flexable for me for the road. Works great now...and if needed, I can hop on any bike with any shoe...same setup for my wife...
My Fairlight Secan is my only bike with 3 sets of wheels. 50mm deep wheels for road, a second set of 35s for gravel. Then also a set of 650s with 2.1” tires for gnarly off road
I do the opposite and have a road bike that occasionally rides gravel. The same frameset is sold as both a road and a gravel bike, but I have the road version with 2x chainset etc. That doesn't stop me from putting wider knobbly tyres on occasionally and hitting the local gravel trails.
So, in the end, Gravel bike with a front mech or road bike with extra tire clearance. For me it’s SPDs every time. But if your racing, you need specific equipment to be competitive. In my case, I’m just looking for “Proof of sweat”
I've got 2 wheelsets for my 3T Exploro, on Force AXS 2x. I've raced it on the road (with 700c/30) and it works well enough, the only downsides to it really is that the gearing that works so well for gravel (with a top gear of 46x10) leaves you a little spun out when the sprint trains wind things up. Basically it's my go-to bike for group rides, for gravel, for all weather- the only time I reach for my race bike these days is to go to actual races with it
Great video guys 😁 I do have one question as I’m debating doing this with my gravel bike. Is there much difference speed wise between a gravel specific wheel set and a road wheel set if they’re both running a proper slick tyre ?
I run my gravel bike with 650b x 47 WTB Horizon tyres as a daily commute and bikepacking rig, I've even been known to put a set of Maxxis knobbly tyres on it and take it out into the wilds !
I've have two wheelsets for exactly this reason. One I use for my weekly commutes, the second for the long rides, gravel, bike packing. The only issue I have is my chain is a little slacker on the road setup, but I can live with that.
a very fair review. in addition to my 10 year old road bike i have a newish gravel bike with 2 sets of wheels. The gravel bike is fun on the road - even with the gravel wheels. The front is a bit high on the road - so a bit more time in the drops (odd how the same position doesn't feel high even on nice gravel), and i think the long wheelbase makes it feel more sluggish than it really is. My gravel bike is a lot more sturdily constructed than my road bike. The carbon used isn't as nice and it feels a bit overbuilt for the road and lacks a bit of compliance (but probably more robust if impacted or i crash it) - but that could be just the particular type of bike i have.
Yeah I noticed that too, my gravel bike is way less comfortable on road (even with big tyres) than my road bike. It doesn't cope with small bumps/uneven roads vibrations well at all.
I mostly ride gravel, but I have a second set of wheels with 700X38 slicks for days that I spend only on pavement. With slicks the gravel bike rides much like a touring bike.
Awesome video!!
Did you have to reset the indexing after changing the wheels or was it fine as it was. I am mainly asking, because on an "acoustic" groupset, the wheel change may be quite time consuming if you have to do all that. My guess is that on the electronic groupset can reindex itself automatically.
I have two sets of wheels for my gravel bike, one for the road and one for gravel. I have identical cassettes (11-42, 1x groupset) on them and I gotta say, I do sometimes miss a gear here or there when I ride on the road but not to the point that I'd consider getting a second bike for the road, especially since I greatly prefer the gravel bike's geometry. I have the option to fit a 2x groupset on my bike but since I ride mostly offroad I probably won't bother.
Big caveat: My riding has changed from real training and trying to beat PBs all the time to just getting out there and enjoying a leisurely ride several times a week. I suppose whether or not a gravel bike works as a road bike for you with a second set of wheels depends on your riding style and preferences.
I searched that yesterday, now i got a vid from you thanks
AI.
I ride (commute/train) a 2010 Giant TCX Aluminum gravel bike. Wheels are Dt swiss CSV RA 2.0 (entry level) with Maxxis Receptor (Slick) tires. The difference in speed with my Scott CR1 roadbike is very minimal I'd say.....Gravel bikes are the best all rounders
I do the same thing with my Addict Grav- been trying to convince Jesse and Chris over at Nero that it’s a totally reasonable setup.
Perfect timing. Just put some slicks 30mm on my gravel bike …KOM here we come 🤔. Thanks
I have watched a few of your videos and have found them quite informative. I am not a cyclist, I am a runner. I am looking to get into cycling though. Do you have any recommendations on a first bike? I would primarily be riding on the road. I live in the U.S. on the East Coast.
Ribble CGR Ti owner here. Two sets of wheels, take 2 mins to change over.
Worth taking a look as the geometry is more endurance road like rather than more aggressive gravel bikes. Its very capable on the road with deep carbon wheels and gp5000s but also can rip on trails using 45mm Gravel M tyres
My gravel bike does it all. Definitely recommend 2 sets of wheels, 1 for pure road, 1 for more uneven surfaces. I spent ages looking at gearing when I bought mine and went 2x in the end, it gives me big gears for fast roads and little gears for the steep stuff… sure 1x is neater, simpler, lighter etc but if I was buying again I’d make the same choice again. I have no need for a pure road bike…
…but I went and bought one anyway because it’s sleek and fast and you can’t have too many bikes 😂 Seriously though, I’m lucky to be in a position where I can have both, but if I could only have one bike, it would be the gravel bike
I'm a gravel bike for everything guy and I recently went from 21mm deep, 24mm width rims with 30mm tires to 50mm deep, 32mm width rims with 30mm tires on my gravel bike road wheels and the difference is very noticeable. In the last 2 months I've beaten most of my PBs on the regular rides without making any extreme efforts. 50mm deep wheels FTW
I have a gravel orientated frame , which has canyon endurance geo with 45 mm tyre clearance. But i have 50 mm deep sections, road tyres, 2x10 road gears. I ride mainly road now. But once in a blue moon i put on gravel wheels and go offroad. I think you can have one bike with 2 sets of wheels if youre willing to deal with some compromise.
You mention gravel bike at the TDF. I have a feeling Jumbo Visma is gonna have a few this year. They already had some for the Giro
GREAT VID!
I use my flat bar Canyon Roadlite, both on road and on gravel. I simply switch my wheels between the original ones with 28 mm tires and a new pair I equipped with 38 mm tires.
Brilliant topic :) i'm a fat bloke was 145kg now 115k, on my way down, the road bikes usual don't cover my weight with the luggage I bring on my way to 100 mile Sportiv next month so gravel all the way, so seeing you struggle up the hill I know exactly how you feel! now looking into a new set of wheels and cassette as suggested.