Hair Face
Well-Known Member
So, I've been enjoying gravel more and more the last couple of years and have been considering upgrading my gravel bike all year long as a result. The problem is I'm so torn on what would be the right bike for me. So I just keep riding my base checkpoint sl5. I don't dislike the bike, it's significantly more comfortable of a ride than the alloy grail it replaced. Has reasonable tire clearance with 47 pathfinder pros squeezed in. And it honestly does everything I need it to do just fine. I just wish it were a little faster and racier feeling, I could just train more and make up any gains that would come from upgrading bikes but new bikes are more fun.
I like the idea of getting a bike with more tire clearance but the reality is most of my "gravel" rides involve just as much riding on pavement as they do dirt and gravel segments so I assume bigger tires would feel slow on the road sections. And most of the local gravel is plenty manageable on 47's so why do I feel the need for larger tires?
As much fun as bike packing sounds, life just wouldn't allow for it so I'm not concerned with having rack mounts.
I have tried the whole underbiking thing and much prefer to ride my mountain bikes on mountain bike trails so no need to get radically slack and am honestly not very concerned about suspension corrected bikes.
I think a Mog would fit my riding well but it's a bit more coin than I'd like to spend and for some reason the fact that it's been out for two years is a deterrent to me. I worry that as soon as I shake out my piggy bank it would be replaced by a new revision. Similar to the Lauf Seigla on the revised design concern though one thing I really like about the Lauf is the option to run mechanical shifting, but since they aren't currently offering any mechanical builds that doesn't really matter. I like shiny objects and have been oogling the new Allied Able but the minimum tire size makes me worried they may have leaned a bit too far into the "big tires=better" game.
I could keep going on and on, but I'll stop there and see if this post gets any traction. What's everyone else currently riding? What would you like to be riding? And what are your opinions about the gravel bike trends?
I like the idea of getting a bike with more tire clearance but the reality is most of my "gravel" rides involve just as much riding on pavement as they do dirt and gravel segments so I assume bigger tires would feel slow on the road sections. And most of the local gravel is plenty manageable on 47's so why do I feel the need for larger tires?
As much fun as bike packing sounds, life just wouldn't allow for it so I'm not concerned with having rack mounts.
I have tried the whole underbiking thing and much prefer to ride my mountain bikes on mountain bike trails so no need to get radically slack and am honestly not very concerned about suspension corrected bikes.
I think a Mog would fit my riding well but it's a bit more coin than I'd like to spend and for some reason the fact that it's been out for two years is a deterrent to me. I worry that as soon as I shake out my piggy bank it would be replaced by a new revision. Similar to the Lauf Seigla on the revised design concern though one thing I really like about the Lauf is the option to run mechanical shifting, but since they aren't currently offering any mechanical builds that doesn't really matter. I like shiny objects and have been oogling the new Allied Able but the minimum tire size makes me worried they may have leaned a bit too far into the "big tires=better" game.
I could keep going on and on, but I'll stop there and see if this post gets any traction. What's everyone else currently riding? What would you like to be riding? And what are your opinions about the gravel bike trends?
