Gravel biking is the hot new craze, and has held that role for a few years now at least. But what a gravel bike is is, well, far from settled. Beyond having drop bars (usually) and two wheels (pretty much always, but not always), there are few limits.
With a few new releases really testing the envelope, some might say this no-limits approach is getting out of hand. Dual suspension e-gravel bikes? Bikes that are clearly just XC frames re-painted with drop bars swapped in? Clearance for 2.2-2.4″ tires? “That’s just a mountain bike!” I can hear you saying. But is it? And who cares?
Fernie Gravel Grind is very much a run-what-you-brung style event, complete with the good vibes that ensue from that stance. Photo: Cody Shimizu / Fernie Gravel Grind
Rolling out the welcome mat, not a red carpet
Gravel is hot right now for a few reasons. It’s new, which is exciting. It’s approachable. Roads are less safe than ever and mountain biking is more niche than ever. Between those two, gravel is a great opportunity for escape and exercise, a way to ride a bike that doesn’t feel like it requires highly specific skills, unspoken rules or an unusual openness to breaking a collarbone.
Eight-ish bikes from Fernie Gravel Grind
The mass participation-style races are an extension of that approachable theme. They’re hard, but you don’t have to race in a pack or learn to hit drops on an xc bike to get involved.
For the gear nerds among us, gravel is also fun because you can do whatever you want. It might have started off as road bikes with more tire clearance, but it quickly turned into a fun wild west, anything goes frontier of bike design we haven’t seen since the 90s.
Gravel goes squish squish. Matt Stetson photo.
Should we put a limit on gravel bikes?
Should there be a limit to how far gravel can creep into territory once reserved for mountain bikes? Nah. That’s no fun. Just let people ride what they want. There’s so much complaining that mountain bikes and road bikes are being divided into absurdly niche categories. But if a bike dares defy that neat categorisation? Heresy!
I, for one, am done complaining that something isn’t a gravel bike. If it sparks joy in enough riders that a brand is willing to build it? Godspeed. Better yet, make frames that can cover more ground, then give riders an easy option to build their frame out how they want to when they buy it, instead of having to deal with swapping parts aftermarket.
So yes, gravel bikes look a lot like mountain bikes. (And, for what its worth, older mountain bikes make great gravel bikes). Or, in the case of the new Pinarello Grevil, are mountain bikes with different bars. And Trek’s CheckOut would be a fun casual green/blue run XC bike. Or, like the Salsa Wanderosa, would make a great eXC bike with different bars. But the same is true at the other end of the spectrum. With clearance on road frames growing, it’s pretty hard to tell road from all-road from fast gravel frames. If you’re sticking with strict categorisation. But, again, it’s the lack of strict marketing categories that made gravel so refreshing to begin with.
Just grab a bike and ride.