Gravel bicycle
A gravel bicycle is a type of
While bicycles have been used for riding on such roads since bicycles were invented, the "modern" gravel bicycle, as a category, evolved in the 2000s, adopting technology from
Design characteristics
Gravel bikes have been constructed out of a wide variety of frame materials, including
Gravel bicycles generally use
Gravel bikes have frame geometry that is intermediate between a road bike and a cross-country mountain bike, leading to a bike that is slower to turn but more stable, particularly in low-traction descents, than a road bike or cyclocross bike.
Gravel bikes almost universally use disc brakes, and many models use hydraulic discs.
Gravel bikes often have additional mounting points for bottle cages, as well as carriage points optimised for carrying bikepacking gear.
Suspension
The majority of gravel bikes sold to date rely on the cushioning of their wider tyres, and controlled flexing in wheels, fork, and frame, to provide a cushioning effect. However, a few gravel bikes offer mechanical suspension in some form. Where offered, the suspension travel is typically limited to about 20–30 mm.
Examples of gravel bikes with suspension are the Lauf True Grit, which has a leaf spring front fork for suspension as well as the Cannondale Topstone Carbon Lefty, which has a pivoting seat stay and flexible chainstays to provide increased suspension, and a single-sided hydraulically-suspended "lefty" front fork. Both front and rear suspension offer around 30 mm of travel.[3]
Drivetrain
The drivetrains for gravel bikes are mostly supplied by the three major groupset manufacturers, Shimano, SRAM, and Campagnolo, and, like other aspects of gravel bikes, offer a blend of characteristics from road and mountain bicycles.
Unlike touring bicycles, where bar-end shifters remain quite commonly used, most gravel bicycles use integrated brake levers and shifting ("brifters") either identical to, or very similar to, modern racing bicycles.
Shimano and Campagnolo have branded families of dedicated gravel components, namely Shimano GRX[4] and Campagnolo Ekar.[5] SRAM recently developed its own XPLR collection adding gravel-specific features in some of their RED, Force and Rival groupsets, as a complement of using their mix of AXS for electronic mountain bike and road bike ranges.
Unlike on road bikes, where "2x" drivetrains with two front
While chosen gearing depends on terrain and rider preference, it is typical for gravel bikes to offer slightly lower gearing than road bicycles.
Wheels
Gravel bike wheels are very similar to tubeless wheels used on some road and cyclocross bikes, and, indeed, 700c gravel wheelsets are often interchangeable with road and cyclocross wheelsets. 650b wheels used for gravel bikes are often derived from mountain bike wheels.
Cheaper gravel wheels usually have aluminium rims; carbon fibre is used for more expensive wheel sets. Aerodynamic shaping is used on some wheelsets to reduce drag, as on road bikes.
The main distinguishing features from tubeless road bike wheels are slightly more robust construction, and wider rim widths.
Pedals
Gravel bikes can be fitted with
Tyres
Gravel bikes are able to fit a wide range of tyres, from tyres used on road racing bicycles to the narrower end of mountain bike tyres.
Unlike cyclocross bikes, which are designed exclusively for 700c wheels and a maximum tyre width of around 33 mm (still wider than a typical racing bike tyre of 28 mm), gravel bikes are designed to fit much wider 700c tyres, often around 40 mm but sometimes up to 45–50 mm.
Tyre choice is a major point of debate in
References
- ^ Nehr, Zach (16 September 2021). "What is a gravel bike? Here's everything you need to know". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
- ^ "Aero bars on gravel? Dirty Kanza winner Mat Stephens says yes". VeloNews. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
- ^ Rossiter, Warren (21 May 2021). "Cannondale Topstone Carbon Lefty 1 review". Bikeradar. Archived from the original on 18 April 2022. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
- ^ Loveridge, Matthew (19 January 2021). "Shimano GRX gravel groupset review". Bikeradar. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
- ^ Huang, James (24 September 2020). "New Campagnolo Ekar groupset brings mechanical 13-speed to gravel". Cyclingtips. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
- ^ Rome, Dave (10 February 2022). "2022 BMC URS LT gravel bike review: Ups and downs of integrated suspension". Cyclingtips.com. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
- ^ McLaughlin, Ronan (10 March 2022). "Orbea's new Terra Hydro is an alloy gravel bike we're eager to test". Cyclingtips. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
- ^ Fretz, Caley (2019-05-16). "The basics of gravel racing: How to pick the best gravel tires". CyclingTips. Retrieved 2022-04-18.