****The Official Gravel Bike Gallery Thread****

Strange, I've heard nothing but positive experiences with Canyon CS. They might be a gimmick but i was very curious about the floating bars, if I ever see one in the wild I'd love to try it out.

Those delivery times have got to be hurting them (although i guess that's due to massive demand).
 
@Begbie they are and had me sold :p

Just not sure on their longevity and what happens if they go EOL a d you need to swap them out

May also be some sour grapes as Canyon wouldn't take my money :D

E: @explicit4u - they were terrible, over a week to reply to emails and then not answering the question. Live chat hardly ever live / working and then terrible responses again not answering questions. Biggest eye opener was their attitude when I wanted to cancel my order it was like they were expecting it and couldn't give a ****
 
This thread seems like a decent place for me to ask for some advice - I'm looking at picking up a bike ASAP stock permitting obviously, budget around 2k. I'm considering gravel bikes but erring more towards road capable ones so probably something with Shimano 105

The Trek Checkpoint ALR5 looks good at £1700
Ribble CGR SL 105 at £1799

What I wanted to get advice on was whether I should just go for a straight road bike, I've had one in the past and will be doing a lot of riding in the Peak District which obviously involves a lot of climbing...

The main reason for considering gravel is because I like the idea of opening up more terrain which there should be plenty of around Sheffield, I suppose I'm just looking for input on whether the type of bikes I am looking at will hinder me much if I'm mostly riding on road?
 
Illusion said:
This thread seems like a decent place for me to ask for some advice - I'm looking at picking up a bike ASAP stock permitting obviously, budget around 2k. I'm considering gravel bikes but erring more towards road capable ones so probably something with Shimano 105

The Trek Checkpoint ALR5 looks good at £1700
Ribble CGR SL 105 at £1799

What I wanted to get advice on was whether I should just go for a straight road bike, I've had one in the past and will be doing a lot of riding in the Peak District which obviously involves a lot of climbing...

The main reason for considering gravel is because I like the idea of opening up more terrain which there should be plenty of around Sheffield, I suppose I'm just looking for input on whether the type of bikes I am looking at will hinder me much if I'm mostly riding on road?
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It depends what you want to achieve. Yes, it will be noticeably slower than a lot of road bikes. That Ribble for example is probably around 1.5kg heavier than a similar priced road bike. That makes a real difference uphill. The tyres will also roll a lot slower compared to a 28c, even more so on something with aero wheels (an upgrade many make later on if they become more serious). They will however be a lot more comfortable to ride on. If you want something comfortable for mainly road, you could get an endurance road bike with relaxed geo and a 28-32 road tyre. It will be fine on rougher roads.

There isn't really such thing as a do it all bike, as even the closest thing to this makes compromises in one way or another compared to a bike designed purely for one thing.
 
Few from tonight

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I bought myself a gravel bike at the tail end of 2016 for £355 in the end of season sale. Primarily I bought it simply as a winter hack so I could keep my road bike in 'summer spec'. A Raleigh Mustang with a pretty basic spec - Shimano Claris, Tektro Mira mechanical disc brakes etc.



In all honesty... I love it, I probably prefer it to my road bike for the vast majority of my riding. It spends most of its time on the road but I want to keep the option of a bridleway available at all times so I now run 38 mm G-One All rounds on it. Over many thousands of miles I can confirm (via Veloviewer) that the average speed on it is just 0.6 mph less than my road bike :eek: It does feel more slugish than the road bike but the speed is closer than I'd ever have imagined. It would be interesting to swap in a set of 28mm slicks like I run on the road bike and a better set of wheels to see how much closer that 0.6 mph gets. The off road miles have obviously eaten into that average over the years too...

I've done three "Roubaix" events on it, 75 miles with around 15 of those being off road which it just soaks up. I've also (Covid permitting :rolleyes: ) got a 65 mile 50:50 on/off road event planned for November. What I really like most about it though is the ability to just map out a random route and ride it. Accidentally incorporate an off road section? Oh well! Last time I tried a random route on my road bike I came across a patch of deep gravel and binned it!

I'd certainly recommend one as the stereotypical "one bike to do it all" scenario. Obviously I'm a hypocrite though and have convinced my wife that the correct answer is in fact 4 bikes being the minimum number I need :D
 
I used to commute to work on a road bike with 25mm tyres, 7 miles each way, got a gravel bike a week ago and been using it instead, speed is about the same if not slightly faster (gravel bike is lighter) but I've been able to ride different ways home rather than the same road day in, day out.

Did a 30 mile today which was 50/50 road/cycleway (smooth ish gravel) and it absolutely smashed my emtb on the same ride by a massive 40 minutes. Lugging a 60lb bike around when the assistance cuts out at 15mph is hard work, specially when your fit enough to easily sustain a speed above it.
 
Just seen your seatpost, is that a canyon one or a santa cruz own? I got a knock off chinese version about 5 years ago and it's still going strong!
 
Hi - it's the Canyon one - I grabbed it second hand off eBay.

Didn't want to pay full price for a new one and looked at the Chinese copies but heard they can be quite hit and miss, but sounds like yours is holding up well :D
 
{SAS}TB said:
Hi - it's the Canyon one - I grabbed it second hand off eBay.

Didn't want to pay full price for a new one and looked at the Chinese copies but heard they can be quite hit and miss, but sounds like yours is holding up well :D
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Nice, I did try back in the day to get a proper one second hand but they didn't exist. Like all my chinese purchases I spent like what seemed an eternity researching them.

c3G3IqD.jpg One of mine last week down in the New Forest, some great gravel down there.
 
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