From off.road.cc: Forget gravel bikes, XC MTBs are better, and nearly as fast

zmartene

zmartene

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off.road.cc

Forget gravel bikes, cross-country mountain bikes are better, and nearly as fast

For years now, gravel has been compared to old-school mountain biking, and that’s only gotten worse as gravel tech has progressed. Now, with suspension forks and dropper posts growing in popularity in the gravel scene, mountain biking’s influence on gravel is becoming very apparent, and it's...
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Gravel bikes faster on gravel.

I know there are probably holes in this science, but….


Both rides were done on the Columbia trail. Started and ended in the same place, same exact ride.
I worked less on the gravel bike but went faster.

Same brand power meter. 2.1s with 22psi on gravel bike and 2.4s with about 20psi on the xc bike. XC bike is probably 4 lbs heavier.

This was on a gravel bike
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This was on a FS xc MTB.
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Jeremy said:
Gravel bikes faster on gravel.

I know there are probably holes in this science, but….


Both rides were done on the Columbia trail. Started and ended in the same place, same exact ride.
I worked less on the gravel bike but went faster.

Same brand power meter. 2.1s with 22psi on gravel bike and 2.4s with about 20psi on the xc bike. XC bike is probably 4 lbs heavier.

This was on a gravel bike
View attachment 266129

This was on a FS xc MTB.
View attachment 266128
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While I agree with this....I have ridden both....if im not specifically in a gravel race...the xc bike just makes so much more sense. One sucks on everything except gravel...the other can be ridden anywhere.
 
UtahJoe said:
While I agree with this....I have ridden both....if im not specifically in a gravel race...the xc bike just makes so much more sense. One sucks on everything except gravel...the other can be ridden anywhere.
Click to expand...

At the same time, an XC bike sucks on road.

A route like Bedminster 40-45cc on a endurance/gravel bike is way more enjoyable than an XC bike.

JDurk said:
Just got done reading this.
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Kind of surprised Keegan won't have his lead out this year at Leadville. Tobin has been super vocal about hating that race so I'm sure he was more than happy to skip it for a fun race like Downieville. Should place well with Keegan and Cam Jones in Leadville instead.
 
Norm said:
To Pearl's point, I don't think the Columbia Trail is really gravel, is it?

That said, has any of the big gravel races ever been won by someone on a MTB? Focus study be damned. That's the only real study that matters.
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In the 25mm tire days “we” used to say the yow path isnt gravel and now somehow in the 50mm tire days, it is.

Its all a mentality thing, i am not a huge fan of mtb on the road, but thats only because i know the road bike is much faster / better geo for road. I can ride on the towpath to singletrack places, which i did at somepoint but now prefer to drive.
 
i think the road bike will be slower on the columbia trail but "feel" faster

jeremy get on it
 
everyone gets caught up in feelings

i paint the picture of my past;

a civic with no interior pieces, slammed to the ground on shit tires doing 120mph feels like you're going to die and 120mph feels like rocket speed = tubed road bike tire at 25mm at 110psi

while on the gravel bike/bigger tires = a porsche with proper tires, suspension, handling... 120mph you can eat a burrito and change the AC settings without feeling like death, but feels like 50mph

now just because the tires wider doesnt mean its faster, there are shit tires on both sides of this argument, also do you consider a 2.1-2.2 a mtb anymore lol
 
Jeremy said:
The gravel bike is actually pretty good on the road. Even with 2.1 mtb tires on, it’s surprisingly fast.
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Mine was ok, but at the end of the day it was heavy and slow compared to my ~17ish lbs road bike.....and just everywhere else, its useless....I mean maybe you ride 6 mile with it, but my trails? ya, it would totally suck. And I used to ride my XC bike on the road all the time....but it was a proper 22lb XC bike...not a santa cruz tall boy with minions on it....I thought it was awesome to be able to ride fast on the road to wherever I wanted to ride....then have a bike that could handle most things.
 
Norm said:
To Pearl's point, I don't think the Columbia Trail is really gravel, is it?
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Is that what Pearl said? LOL. I think you’re giving him too much credit.

It’s not paved… some sections are smoothed out but most aren’t. Overall I guess it’s probably smoother than some of the dirt roads in bedminster.
 
UtahJoe said:
Mine was ok, but at the end of the day it was heavy and slow compared to my ~17ish lbs road bike.....and just everywhere else, its useless....I mean maybe you ride 6 mile with it, but my trails? ya, it would totally suck. And I used to ride my XC bike on the road all the time....but it was a proper 22lb XC bike...not a santa cruz tall boy with minions on it....I thought it was awesome to be able to ride fast on the road to wherever I wanted to ride....then have a bike that could handle most things.
Click to expand...

Of course a gravel bike isn’t fun on technical trails. But on normal single track, underbiking can be fun.
 
Jeremy said:
Of course a gravel bike isn’t fun on technical trails. But on normal single track, underbiking can be fun.
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I would still want a dropper post even for normal single track, a fixed post on steepish single track with drop bars can get scary pretty quick.
 
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