So I have a Evo as well. I think you'd have to lie to yourself to say a gravel bike rides like a road bike, especially an Evo.
I completely agree with the sentiment though - one bike would be nice
My suggestion is to stick with 2 bikes unless you can't afford the space:
If one bike is down for repair, you have another you can still ride
A road bike's feel will never be replicated in a gravel bike you'd want to ride on gravel
Gravel bike gearing is different from road bikes (Gravel is 1x instead of 2x, wider range rear cassette on gravel)
Gravel bikes are heavier than road bikes
Gravel bike geometry is slacker than a race bike, the bars wider, the rear triangle is longer
If you really don't care about being fast and chopping it up on the group rides I'd say go for it, but before you do take a gravel bike with fast tires out on a group ride and see how it feels. I think you'll find it lacking the pop, geometry, gearing and performance you'd want for road.
A few years ago, before the explosion of the gravel scene and the release of so many gravel specific bikes, I was trying to decide whether I wanted a great gravel bike that I could cyclocross on, or a cyclocross bike that could double as a gravel bike. I went with an All City Macho King, which certainly isn’t state of the art gravel bike by today’s standards, but it was when it first came out.
Turned out that I wasn’t really happy with it as a gravel bike and hated it as a cross bike. Sold it and went with a Specialed Crux EVO. It was(is) a much better compromise as it doesn’t have typical cross geometry, and has clearance for 40mm tires. I’ve found it more than capable of fast road riding, with the right tires, of course. For all but the hilliest courses, you could road race it.
Great bikes you are looking at! I'm currently trying to make a similar decision. For me, I've narrowed it down to the Norco Search XR and the Norco Threshold. The Search XR has better gearing out of the box, would be more comfortable on longer rides with the endurance geometry but will be heavier. The Threshold will have quicker, nimbler handling and much lighter, still takes up to 40mm tires but the geometry might be too aggressive for longer rides and worried about sorry back/wrists/neck. It has a 570mm stack in a 55.5cm frame size. Coming from a 2013 Giant Defy with a 586mm stack I wasn't sure if that's a big enough difference to be an issue
But the Norco Search XR seems a very similar bike to the Hakka MX on paper and the reviews I read on it said it had a pretty good blend of ride characteristics and sounded pretty similar to the Hakka MX. Room for 700x45c and 650x2.1. Also has shorter chainstays, not a super long wheel base, fairly steep head tube angle (72 on the 58)
BhamGravel wrote:The Canyon looks great, but I don't see them selling it set up with 2X. That could be a deal breaker.
Ugh – that would be a deal breaker for me. I guess I got a rare 2x model. My road rides peak around 40mph, and that isn’t going to work well with 1x. See Crux below.
edub wrote: If you really don't care about being fast and chopping it up on the group rides I'd say go for it, but before you do take a gravel bike with fast tires out on a group ride and see how it feels. I think you'll find it lacking the pop, geometry, gearing and performance you'd want for road.
Can’t say I agree with edub. My gravel ride is just like a road bike when I have 28mm tires on it. Gravel is a broad definition – there are aggressive ones (as mentioned here) and more relaxed touring ones. I go on group rides with CAT 2-3 guys and the bike pops, climbs, pulls on jumps, closes the gap as good as a $5000 road bike. But I agree, the typical longer lower slacker 20+lb gravel bike won’t do that.
There is a guy I ride with on a RLT RDO that seems to do fine (albeit he is often in the 11t cog, and with the CAT 3-4 guys as he can’t get much over 30mph).
Mudge wrote:Turned out that I wasn’t really happy with it as a gravel bike and hated it as a cross bike. Sold it and went with a Specialed Crux EVO. It was(is) a much better compromise as it doesn’t have typical cross geometry, and has clearance for 40mm tires. I’ve found it more than capable of fast road riding, with the right tires, of course. For all but the hilliest courses, you could road race it.
Worth a look.
Agreed – that was my first choice until I found the Inflite. They are pretty similar bikes. Love them both. If Canyon doesn’t have 2x any more, the Crux would be my choice.
After kicking the idea of building a gravel bike around in my head for too many years, I took delivery of a Ritchey Outback yesterday. It is a hoot to ride and on the road, it feels almost as good as some of my fast road bikes. The hilly farm lanes that I took it on yesterday were fun as well. I actually like the 1/11 set up. 42 and 11/38 but I think that for the 12% stuff here, a larger cassette might have been a better choice but not a huge flaw.
I have a “53” DB Haanjo EXP. I usually ride closer to a 55 top tube, but I was able to get this to fit pretty well. I striped the stock components and built with ultegra hydro, it’s been a fun bike. Actually looking to sell just because I usually buy a bike for a year and then switch it. They are a great buy if they fit.
I recently did a custom build on an Ibis Hakka MX frame (1000g) with a set of i9 gravel wheels (40mm tires) and i9 road wheels (28mm tires). Here's a picture of the gravel set up weighing 20lbs with saddle and pedals. I went with big gears living in West Virginia, we have some pretty steep gravel hills so I'm running an Ultegra 50/34 in the front and 11/40t in the rear and this bike can climb anything. On the road with the 28mm tires it's super fast and smoke all but the fastest race bikes in my area.
I just pulled the trigger on an Argon 18 dark matter with similar goals as OP. I believe if you want to get it down to one bike you want a 2x drivetrain.
Just took my Ibis Hakka out for its maiden voyage on some road wheels. My god this bike is fast! Only rode 8 miles, hitting up 5 segments on the local hills around me. Took home a KOM (steepest hill the county 18%) and 4 other top 10 finishes. Granted I live in a small town but most segments have between 40-60 riders.
Seriously this bike is insane. I was only a few seconds off some of the podium riders in the area with their full on road race bikes. Considering I’m a mountain biker by trade, gravel rider second, having a gravel bike I can swap wheels on and crush it on (comfortably) feels like cheating. It shouldn’t be allowed and buying a separate road bike seems like a complete waste of money at this point unless I was racing professionally. I love this bike!!
Fantastic. I got a Canyon and had the same feeling. Suddenly I was getting KOMs and PRs on every new ride I did. It was crazy! I didn't think my old bike was slow, but the statistics don't lie. (stats never lie, right? LOL). A good gravel bike doesn't have to hold you back. Glad you are having a similar experience.
OP asks a loaded question that just can't be really answered because 'Gravel' can't be defined. The gravel bike set up I take to the Flint Hills of Kansas wouldn't be the same gravel bike set up I'd take to my local ride in the Francis Marion Forest or wooded roads in the areas around my house. Chainring and cassette changes would occur. Throw in road riding and stuff really changes. For that reason ... I got a road bike and I got a gravel bike. While I do ride pavement on my gravel bike, I don't necessarily want to bias that bike for those sections as I would bias it towards the off road segments.
With that said ... I might be more inclined to look for a road bike that can take some damage on some dirt roads with a change of wheels/tires much in the same way I have my gravel bike ready to change bias with a change of wheels/tires. Kinda like TdF rides Roubaix one day ... tough road bike set ups ... not gravel bikes. But that is me ... and more about where I live ... where it is flat and swampy.
chas wrote:Fantastic. I got a Canyon and had the same feeling. Suddenly I was getting KOMs and PRs on every new ride I did. It was crazy! I didn't think my old bike was slow, but the statistics don't lie. (stats never lie, right? LOL). A good gravel bike doesn't have to hold you back. Glad you are having a similar experience.
grail or inflite?
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I was able to get my giant tcx for <$2k including new wheels and other upgrades. I ride more road than gravel on it, and it's pretty fast. it doesn't feel as fast as road bikes i've ridden, but I think that's only the feeling. the geometry plays a large part of how fast a bike feels.
the problem with sram 1x that's so popular now is you often don't have the option to put a 2x in the front, which I think you definitely need for the road.
