Confession of a two-wheeled miscreant
Yes, I fell for it once again. She is black; perfect in her cranks; silent in her changes of pace; toothy and bold; anodized; integrated into any aerodynamic envelope; could disturb fawns and snakes as well as be a perfect positive mold of gnats and flies; she has no name because she is built in some canton in Switzerland … is my second gravel bike .
Some will ask: why a gravel bike? Why, a second bike always gravel? Why black? Why halfway up the hill do you think you are always at the end?
I answer the first question with one word : Freedom
To the other questions I don’t have an answer but, I think, they are due to some zodiac sign or planet having a different course than the usual ones.
Ma, andiamo per gradi .
But, let’s go step by step .
Gravel is one of the latest innovations to emerge in the world of cycling, arousing interest and curiosity because of the innovative spirit with which it approaches the discipline.
For the past four years or so (but with a boom just in the past year) cyclists have been discovering this middle ground between road, off-road, and cycle touring that not only gives you exciting rides but also avoids the sense of competitive riding and certainly allows you to ride without performance and race anxieties.
You can in fact take long road rides, even bikepacking, with stops to admire the view and take photos, take it very easy on the steeper climbs and even dirt roads and country trails, or a more intense workout and some single trails, if that’s what you need that day.
The basis is always non-competition and going without competitiveness, enjoying the trail to the fullest and making gravel your lifestyle.
To ride the best you need to have the right bike. But what is a gravel bike? Let’s find out together what gravel bike means how these bikes are made and the difference with other models.
How to recognize a gravel?
Gravel bikes are designed to ride on so-called “white roads,” gravel roads, as well as trails and long trips. The gravel bike is new to the market; it is different from all others even though it takes its cues from all of them.
It is indeed a nice mix between road bike, mountain bike and those vintage bikes.
The road bike was the inspiration for the frame, handlebars and wheel diameter.
The frame of the gravel bike is usually made of aluminum, carbon or steel and has a comfortable design.
For example, it has a higher trim, a low center of gravity, and an elongated rear carriage to give you good bike stability.
The brakes are generally disc brakes, both hydraulic and mechanical types, so they are comfortable and give you a high level of safety even when braking on rough trails.
From mountain biking, on the other hand, it has taken the treaded design of the tires, with wider and more treaded tires ideal for tackling different kinds of roads going for many hours, always remaining relaxed and effortless to pedal.
The handlebars are also made more ergonomically and the saddle is a little less light than usual, again to ensure comfort on any terrain and increase the absorption of vibrations that gravel terrain can give.
Finally, the construction materials of gravel bikes have taken their cues from historical bikes-used by the great champions between World War I and World War II to tackle the unpaved roads of the time. From these also comes a comfortable and less “race-like” design of road bikes, not to mention rideability.
Gravel bikes should not be confused with cyclocross bikes; cyclocross is a discipline that focuses more on competition and speed, while gravel more on comfort. So a cyclocross bike, while at first glance very similar to a gravel bike, has technical features and measurements designed to optimize speed and is therefore more uncomfortable than a gravel bike that is less extreme.
Obviously, this can vary from model to model and in a way correlated by expense. Gravel bikes have performance on the road close to road bikes and on dirt close to mountain bikes.
Close, in a very competitive Market, actually means : distant. If we could sum it up in one sentence : it does everything well but excels at nothing.
The writing date of this article is December 2022, the technologies on these models are becoming dedicated and very specialized, therefore, everything above will in the years ahead be closer and closer to both road bikes and the other extreme of mountain bikes.
Three words for three types of bikes
For simplicity of nomenclature and definitions, we categorize all bikes into three main groups: road, gravel, and mountain bikes. For readers who are well-versed in the bicycle world, what I have just written above will seem like heresy; each group has in turn a further subdivision into other subgroups, which in turn are different depending on the merit of the equipment. In short, it is a mess.
We associate each of these groups with a single word.
Road bike = Speed
Mountain biking = Adventure
Gravel bike = Freedom.
That’s right, for the latter type … Freedom. A concept that is different from the previous ones.
Freedom is the potential of any act: from standing still in absolute stillness to unraveling the most jagged paths of an Apennine mountain range, not to be confused with Adventure: mountain bike territory because it involves adrenaline and “eating” the terrain with notched wheels built to proceed unimpeded or against obstacles.
What about speed? Road bike environment. Road and territories experienced as a gradient of colors and wind as an analog hourglass; the GPS computer is a blackboard of whole and absolute numbers, the depicted tracks serve only as a reminder of lines and curves that one knows by smell alone.
Gravel ? Freedom. Totipotent, smart in imbecile environments and imbecile in smart uphill sections. That cousin you see once a year but, you’ve liked all your life and want in the house every minute of the year.
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