![]() On the left side of the continuum, trail can be as low as 55 mm, sometimes even lower. The longer the lever, the slower the bike will steer. Gravel Fork – Tires up to 55 mm and even a bit largerįor any of these forks, you’ll have a fork rake, also known as “offset,” which when combined with your headtube angle creates a figure called “trail.” Trail is a lever arm.Forks generally fall into five categories: The fork is going to dictate the max tire size the bike will fit as well as the steering geometry to a certain degree. Tire size and the fork your bike is designed around will have more to do with where it falls on the continuum than anything else. Path Less Pedaled – Your Tires Are Lying to You Rather than restating others’ work, here are a couple of interesting links about tire size: The key is figuring out just how big you want to go-and that will depend on the terrain you ride. Larger tires, if inflated to the proper pressure for the rider, can be faster, more comfortable, and grip better. ![]() We’ve recently been learning that that’s not actually the case. Until recently, it was thought that smaller tires with higher air pressure were the fastest. I think changing opinions about tire size are largely responsible for this revolution in bike design. It also gives the rider the ability to unweight the front wheel faster to avoid potholes and obstacles. This takes a little weight off the hands which helps with comfort on rough surfaces. Most riders prefer their handlebar to be higher on a gravel bike than a road bike. That’s the difference in height of the saddle from the ground to the top of the bars to the ground. The most common difference with a gravel bike fit is the saddle to bar drop. More often than not, they have drop-bars (although we are starting to see more and more with flat bars, blurring the line between MTB and gravel road). The gravel bike fits somewhere in between. In practical terms, that means the all-road will be designed for faster riding and the adventure bike will be designed to carry more weight for camping. An all-road bike is typically closer to the left end and the adventure closer to the right. The basic difference goes back to our continuum. But because there is such a range within the category, you’ll hear other terms like all-road or adventure bike. The most common general term we hear referring to these non-road bikes is gravel bike. ![]() Let’s take a look at each of these areas of bike design and discuss how we design for gravel bike use as well as all others along the spectrum. Of course, there are lots of other bikes, but for this conversation, we’ll limit ourselves to this range.īelow are the key areas that are taken into consideration when designing any bike. On the right side, we have a cross-country style MTB. On the left side, let’s say we have an edgy road race bike. I like to think of all bikes fitting along a continuum. But what about dirt roads, jeep roads, logging roads, trails, or for that matter, paved roads? This is where things get interesting. Most simply, a gravel bike is a road-style bike that can be ridden comfortably on gravel roads. You can now find the bike that will serve the adventure you desire, and you can optimize it for the ride you envision. Or if you want a big adventure, you can do the Tour Divide. You can add dirt, gravel, or trail to road loops. Take that turn and go down that road you always wondered about. The all-road and gravel bikes are perfect for those riders because they get you off the busy streets, out where you can relax and enjoy yourself-places where you can ride side-by-side and chat without worrying if someone is going to buzz you or confront you.Īdventure – You are no longer tied to the pavement. Safety – With more and more cars on the road and drivers being so distracted, many riders don’t want to risk being hit. The adventure bike opens up riding that you just wouldn’t want to do on a heavy, fully suspended MTB. In the same vein, the adventure bike is to the MTB what the gravel bike is to the road bike. But they don’t limit you to the smaller tires and allow you to install larger tires to run gravel or use them with fenders for spring and fall training on the road. You can run smaller road tires and they are just about as capable as a true road bike. If I had to guess why they are so popular, I would boil it down to three things: flexibility, safety, and adventure.įlexibility – All-road and gravel road bikes offer little to no compromise.
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