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

Dave Taylor

Dave Taylor

Rex kwan Do
I have watched the Lifetime Gran Prix the last couple years and have noticed a a gravel convert(Dylan Johnson) running larger and larger tires for gravel races.He's also on a new Felt gravel bike that can fit 2.4 tires. Last year it was a dropbar MTB. Are gravel bikes really just a product dump for bike manufacturers to claim more of your bank account? I do own a gravel bike myself but am second guessing my decision making.
 
Short answer is, it depends. I think that as in MTBing, gravel has found niche applications for types of bikes. Some gravel roads are almost the same as chip seal, and if that's what you're primarily riding, your gravel bike is going to reflect that (likely in the form of close-to road geo, running a 38c-40c tire with minimal tread). If you're on dirt 'roads' that are prone to rutting and mud, you might opt for something that can swing bigger tires, along with something with slacker geo. And then there's the racing aspect to consider as well, where aero does figure in.

Also true as above, the bike industry is a tad greedy 😄
 
Dave Taylor said:
I have watched the Lifetime Gran Prix the last couple years and have noticed a a gravel convert(Dylan Johnson) running larger and larger tires for gravel races.He's also on a new Felt gravel bike that can fit 2.4 tires. Last year it was a dropbar MTB. Are gravel bikes really just a product dump for bike manufacturers to claim more of your bank account? I do own a gravel bike myself but am second guessing my decision making.
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Yes, its always been a way to get you to buy a different bike. For the big quiver people, i guess whats the difference, but the ability to put bigger tries on a road bike has negated gravel bikes for some people.

seems like it leans towards the person that gets the biggest tires that can handle the worst 5% of a ride.
 
Dave Taylor said:
I have watched the Lifetime Gran Prix the last couple years and have noticed a a gravel convert(Dylan Johnson) running larger and larger tires for gravel races.He's also on a new Felt gravel bike that can fit 2.4 tires. Last year it was a dropbar MTB. Are gravel bikes really just a product dump for bike manufacturers to claim more of your bank account? I do own a gravel bike myself but am second guessing my decision making.
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My worthless opinion? Yes, it’s a total money grab. Gravel biking is what mountain biking was in the early 90’s, the bikes look the same, you even dress the same. Throw some flat bars and bar ends on your road bike and voila, start the time-travel music.
 
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There was this I saw recently. At what point do we just call these Mary bars with a bit of flare?
It would seem that gravel bikes have become early 90s mtbs with better brakes…
 
Lifetime GP is essentially all borderline gravel races. If Leadville was announced first time this year it would be marketed that way too. None of the courses would be out of line with a drop bar MTB.

Wider tires are just faster in those borderline gravel/mtb courses too, DJ is a marginal gains guy so he does everything he can to eek out more 17th place finishes. Meanwhile Keegan is like "bike goes BRRRR."
 
Cassinonorth said:
Lifetime GP is essentially all borderline gravel races. If Leadville was announced first time this year it would be marketed that way too. None of the courses would be out of line with a drop bar MTB.

Wider tires are just faster in those borderline gravel/mtb courses too, DJ is a marginal gains guy so he does everything he can to eek out more 17th place finishes. Meanwhile Keegan is like "bike goes BRRRR."
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He's smart I guess at marketing as I would probably not know the names of places 2-16.

Likely wouldn't even know DJ if he wasn't constantly on my Strava Flybys actually. MFer keeps flying past me.

Leadville seems weird, definitely gravel a race. They need to anger Utah and put in world cup XC rock features.
 
stb222 said:
Yes, its always been a way to get you to buy a different bike. For the big quiver people, i guess whats the difference, but the ability to put bigger tries on a road bike has negated gravel bikes for some people.

seems like it leans towards the person that gets the biggest tires that can handle the worst 5% of a ride.
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This kinda resonates with me. I've been on a Mr Pink for a while which is really just a road bike with more clearance. I run it with 32c Gravel Kings (the slick version). They roll great on the pavement, and the bike has been fine the few times I've gone through the Bedminster gravel. It gets a lot of mileage on the D&R towpath and it's perfect for that too.

I do wonder about a more gravel or "all-road" oriented bike at times (Diverge etc) but my money is better spent elsewhere for the near future.

TBH I can probably get away with 35s on the Mr Pink.
 
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My "road" bike has 700 x 34c tires on it. I'm no faster or slower than I seemed to be when I was running 700X25. I will however say that I theorize that tubeless sealants work better at the 60 psi I am now running vs the 100psi I ran on 700x25.


Much of the early drama with tubeless road (i think) was caused by the sealant having little chance of sealing a hole at 100psi.


I do think these are more comfortable than smaller sizes. Apparenly this will be the most popular road bike tire in 2026?? (says a friend who works at schwalbe)
 
rlb said:
This kinda resonates with me. I've been on a Mr Pink for a while which is really just a road bike with more clearance. I run it with 32c Gravel Kings (the slick version). They roll great on the pavement, and the bike has been fine the few times I've gone through the Bedminster gravel. It gets a lot of mileage on the D&R towpath and it's perfect for that too.

I do wonder about a more gravel or "all-road" oriented bike at times (Diverge etc) but my money is better spent elsewhere for the near future.

TBH I can probably get away with 35s on the Mr Pink.
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This is exactly the thinking… “being fine” versus fastest setup are two different things.

I was a big Mr pink fan and my blackheart all road is pretty much the sibling to that. it handles the road great with 32s and I just recently put some 40s on it and as @jdog said, it wasn’t drastically slower and way more comfortable. If you can fit a wider tire on it, do it!

I mean I havent been around that long, but we all did HOH on 25mm tires and tubes with gigantic 11-28 cassettes on our road bikes and didn’t die… doesn’t mean it was the fastest. Adapt!
 
Pearl said:
This is exactly the thinking… “being fine” versus fastest setup are two different things.

I was a big Mr pink fan and my blackheart all road is pretty much the sibling to that. it handles the road great with 32s and I just recently put some 40s on it and as @jdog said, it wasn’t drastically slower and way more comfortable. If you can fit a wider tire on it, do it!

I mean I havent been around that long, but we all did HOH on 25mm tires and tubes with gigantic 11-28 cassettes on our road bikes and didn’t die… doesn’t mean it was the fastest. Adapt!
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FWIW, most of the fastest times on those HOH segments are from
The 25mm era
 
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