Is a gravel bike slowly reverting back to a mountain bike?

Captain Brainstorm said:
What we do in Jersey isn't an analogue for what's happening everywhere else. Up in VT for example there are miles and miles of dirt road, the seemingly perfect place for a gravel bike, except all of the local guys I ride with just put bigger volume tires on a road bike and call it a day.
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Judging by the results of some of these races, John Tomac was not wrong. Drop bars on a mountain bike greater than a road bike with fat tires.
 
this comes back to a discussion i had with STBKevy a lot, a lot of us are getting older and not part of the new generation anymore. we are the old grumpy people. maybe some of us are getting with the times, but there is this new generation of "kids" that are doing crazy shit that the people that have been here for 10+ years think is silly.

cables on road bikes (shit i could just stop here) that came out of the side of the shifters?
racing CX with rim brakes? tubulars?
everyone tubular tires for road racing?
tubes in mountain bike tires
whats a full suspension XC race bike?!

the kids are learning and going faster/riding more comfortable bikes for what they wanna do
 
Pearl said:
this comes back to a discussion i had with STBKevy a lot, a lot of us are getting older and not part of the new generation anymore. we are the old grumpy people. maybe some of us are getting with the times, but there is this new generation of "kids" that are doing crazy shit that the people that have been here for 10+ years think is silly.

cables on road bikes (shit i could just stop here) that came out of the side of the shifters?
racing CX with rim brakes? tubulars?
everyone tubular tires for road racing?
tubes in mountain bike tires
whats a full suspension XC race bike?!

the kids are learning and going faster/riding more comfortable bikes for what they wanna do
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Are you guys actually grumpy and wishing for all that old garbage?

All those changes were a little here, a little there and over a pretty good span of time.

Everyone had those shitty bikes with those sideways shifter cables emulating TDF riders on skinny ass tires. And then some brave souls tried 25mm while everyone thought they were nuts for the extra 10 grams. And then 28c, etc etc.

I've for sure moved on from most of those things. Screw anything with rim brakes and am glad I was able to get rid of it all during Covid pricing.

Why isn't a 29er SingleSpeed the ultimate bike anymore? Because gears, full suspension, modern geometry w/ droppers are amazing now on well built trails. And it's way more fun to ride a bike with a real suspension on fun trails as opposed to the tame XC trails of 20 years ago. You're right, grandpa Utah wants to see hardtails on gravel in world cup XCO but everyone else wants some tech.

And for all the "Is a Gravel Bike just a 90's mountain bike" question, the answer is no. There's no shitty 90's mountain bike anyone wants to ride as their gravel bike over a modern gravel bike.

Pearl said:
the kids are learning and going faster/riding more comfortable bikes for what they wanna do
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Definitely true. I am really jealous that kids these days are riding really sorted out bikes. I'd take any $1k bike kids are riding around on today compared to anything from when I started.
 
Santapez said:
Are you guys actually grumpy and wishing for all that old garbage?

All those changes were a little here, a little there and over a pretty good span of time.

Everyone had those shitty bikes with those sideways shifter cables emulating TDF riders on skinny ass tires. And then some brave souls tried 25mm while everyone thought they were nuts for the extra 10 grams. And then 28c, etc etc.

I've for sure moved on from most of those things. Screw anything with rim brakes and am glad I was able to get rid of it all during Covid pricing.

Why isn't a 29er SingleSpeed the ultimate bike anymore? Because gears, full suspension, modern geometry w/ droppers are amazing now on well built trails. And it's way more fun to ride a bike with a real suspension on fun trails as opposed to the tame XC trails of 20 years ago. You're right, grandpa Utah wants to see hardtails on gravel in world cup XCO but everyone else wants some tech.

And for all the "Is a Gravel Bike just a 90's mountain bike" question, the answer is no. There's no shitty 90's mountain bike anyone wants to ride as their gravel bike over a modern gravel bike.
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ha no, i dabble in some of the new things, but slow to adapt i think. like, i dont know what tire inserts do, but i have 36cm bars on my road bike
 
Pearl said:
ha no, i dabble in some of the new things, but slow to adapt i think. like, i dont know what tire inserts do, but i have 36cm bars on my road bike
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Tire inserts take your time and maybe some blood during install. Then when you swap your tires the next time you say "WTF was the point of this thing?" and then it takes up space in your bike parts collection.
 
Santapez said:
Tire inserts take your time and maybe some blood during install. Then when you swap your tires the next time you say "WTF was the point of this thing?" and then it takes up space in your bike parts collection.
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And then youll put it back on the next tire swap....
 
Steve Vai said:
You’ll probably need big tires on your road bike then too. Almost likes it’s more comfortable to ride a gravel bike on the road or something.
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My road bike…
IMG_2890.jpeg
 
scott62 said:
Getting a gravel bike in NJ is like getting a dh bike in Florida…..
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Depends where in NJ you're talking about. Up here in Sussex County I have 50+ miles of uninterrupted gravel out my front door. Some of it is fairly primitive, and there are multiple options for singletrack diversions. Gravel bike is ideal for this. Running 650bx45 with some knobbage.
 
SmooveP said:
Depends where in NJ you're talking about. Up here in Sussex County I have 50+ miles of uninterrupted gravel out my front door. Some of it is fairly primitive, and there are multiple options for singletrack diversions. Gravel bike is ideal for this. Running 650bx45 with some knobbage.
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Very true, I ride in north nj 5 miles south of ny and 5 miles west of the Hutson…… EVERYTHING is paved. The gravel guys around me ride 30 miles to get a couple miles of gravel… kinda silly to me.
 
SmooveP said:
Depends where in NJ you're talking about. Up here in Sussex County I have 50+ miles of uninterrupted gravel out my front door. Some of it is fairly primitive, and there are multiple options for singletrack diversions. Gravel bike is ideal for this. Running 650bx45 with some knobbage.
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Same in the pineys. No climbing, but so much that can be ridden with 35mm tires. Bigger just opens more of it, that's all.
 
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