Bike Recommendation for all-purpose road/gravel bike

Hello all, 

I am looking for an entry level bike that will work well riding road and gravel. What I mean by that is my family are almost all pure road riders, but I like gravel, and I don't want to have two bikes. I also can't drop 2-3k on a bike right now either. My goal would be to have a second wheel set with pure road tires on to use when I'm riding with my family doing pure road rides, and the main wheel set with gravel. The bikes I am intersted in are:

Jamis Renegade Expat
Niner RLT 9 Aluminum

I guess one of my main question is steel vs aluminum. I like the idea of steel for comfort, but worried it will be much slower when doing pure road rides with my fam that are on carbon bikes. Aluminum will be ligher but don't like the harsh of the ride. Any body have any experience trying to use a gravel bike as a road bike as well? Steel vs aluminum? 

Just a note. I'm not racing. As for road bikes, I like endurance geometry more than race geometry. Thats why I think a gravel bike just makes sense. Gives me both options and gravel geometry is not much different than an endurance bike. 

If your local gravel doesn't get too rough then a bike which could fit something like a 35mm might be worth considering, as there's a handful of 'road' bikes out there with that clearance. 

I do use my one 'gravel' bike for strictly road rides as well, but don't ride on anything less than a 35mm these days. 

I am using a stock Trek Checkpoint for road rides and gravel, admittedly it is carbon fibre, the concept would be the same with the Aluminium models. I don't find any real disadvantages that matter when I use it on the road. 35 mm G-one tires seem to work fine. And when it comes to rough broken pavement it rocks.

BS

I got the Jamis Renegade Exploit last month for the exact scenarios you mentioned.   Love it so far, very comfortable ride with steel frame and carbon fork, 40mm tires.

My family is still all slower than me so no issues there.  I will also be getting a separate set of gravel wheels.

What bike size?

https://www.performancebike.com/ridley-xtrail-carbon-ultegra-2017-carbon-xsmall-31-5530-car-xs/p937813

Xtrail = 700 x 38 max rear tire size 

Toadmeister wrote:I got the Jamis Renegade Exploit last month for the exact scenarios you mentioned.   Love it so far, very comfortable ride with steel frame and carbon fork, 40mm tires.

My family is still all slower than me so no issues there.  I will also be getting a separate set of gravel wheels.

Did you ever have a pure road bike prior to this? Notice a change in speed?

owly wrote:If your local gravel doesn't get too rough then a bike which could fit something like a 35mm might be worth considering, as there's a handful of 'road' bikes out there with that clearance. 

I do use my one 'gravel' bike for strictly road rides as well, but don't ride on anything less than a 35mm these days. 

So do you use one 700c wheelset, and tyres in the 35-??? range?

Jseverson218 wrote:

Did you ever have a pure road bike prior to this? Notice a change in speed?

My gravel bike is the fastest I own.  Its got the most expensive frame, stiffness where it counts, short chainstays and amazing acceleration.  I do fast road rides with it (25-30mph pace lines).  Yeah, it is slower with bigger heavier wheels and tires.   With some good 32mm road tires I'm keeping up with the skinny tired road race bikes. 

Most gravel bikes that I have tried give up a little in acceleration for stability and ease of endurance - but they can be plenty fast when not doing sprints against road bikes.

Interestingly last night a (much stronger) friend tried to do this ride on some fat 650b Gravel King SKs.  Didn't work so well.  Boy was he suffering.   Tires (and wheels) make a big difference in handling and acceleration.  For long gravel or endurance rides - weight there is less of an issue.

chas wrote:

My gravel bike is the fastest I own.  Its got the most expensive frame, stiffness where it counts, short chainstays and amazing acceleration.  I do fast road rides with it (25-30mph pace lines).  Yeah, it is slower with bigger heavier wheels and tires.   With some good 32mm road tires I'm keeping up with the skinny tired road race bikes. 

Most gravel bikes that I have tried give up a little in acceleration for stability and ease of endurance - but they can be plenty fast when not doing sprints against road bikes.

Interestingly last night a (much stronger) friend tried to do this ride on some fat 650b Gravel King SKs.  Didn't work so well.  Boy was he suffering.   Tires (and wheels) make a big difference in handling and acceleration.  For long gravel or endurance rides - weight there is less of an issue.

Chas, do you have a steel frame or carbon?

Jseverson218 wrote:

Did you ever have a pure road bike prior to this? Notice a change in speed?

Was riding a Trek Donome 2.0 (Al frame, thin wheels and high pressure) road bike.  Felt every crack in the road and had numbness in hands.   No more!

Im not a speedy road rider by any means, I’d roughly say I’ve lost an average of 1mph on typical road rides ( maybe less).   I might be able to gain some of that back with a good set of road tires however.   Right now I’ve got 700x40mm Donally Explor MSOs on which isn’t optimized for the road.

droitaubut wrote:So do you use one 700c wheelset, and tyres in the 35-??? range?

 

No; I have a couple of 650b sets (which I use with a 48mm-2.1") and one 700c. I really would like one more 700c wheelset.

Only use the 700c with 35mm (at the moment) if the roughest gravel I'm going to ride will be fairly hard-packed and not too loose on top. Filetread or small knob. I do know lots of people like a 38mm-40mm, but I haven't gone up to that size yet. 

Of course the 650b fats are slower but I love the cush when in the really rough stuff.

Take a look at Breezer Radar Expert or Breezer Radar Pro. I just bought a Breezer Radar Pro for my cousin for $1,100 brand new on ebay. Steel bike with huge tire clearance. I really like it. Took it for a ride yesterday, it's pretty comfortable. Came with 45mm Riddlers.

My main bike is a titanium Lynskey with a carbon fork, which I love, but it's very expensive..

I you are not going to race, then steel is real for road and modest gravel.  The comfy factor and solid feel just cant be beat.  Just gear it right for climbing ( I changed to 11-36 cassette) .  You wont have a problem on the flat or downhill.  And, need tire about 40 mm size---not too wide.  

Does anybody know what frame is used inthis picture? I found this photo in Shimano's new gravel groupset preview page.and I thought the frameset look sick. I am basically looking for a frame that does not have dropped seatstay.

 

Jseverson218 wrote:Hello all, 

I am looking for an entry level bike that will work well riding road and gravel. What I mean by that is my family are almost all pure road riders, but I like gravel, and I don't want to have two bikes. I also can't drop 2-3k on a bike right now either. My goal would be to have a second wheel set with pure road tires on to use when I'm riding with my family doing pure road rides, and the main wheel set with gravel... 

I was facing a similar decision in choosing a gravel bike.  The main goal for me was to find a reasonably priced, comfortable, gravel bike that could serve as a back-up commuter and would compliment my Surly Ogre without a lot of cross-over.  At the same time I can (hopefully) keep up with my wife or daughter on rides we do with their dedicated road bikes.  Also, I'm going to ride the STP with my daughter this year, so needed something a little more lively than my Surly, without giving up too much comfort.

Anyway, a couple weeks ago I got a Cannondale Topstone, 105-build.  It comes stock with WTB Nano's 700x40.  It has been a lot of fun off the pavement, does well on single-track, and is definitely faster on the road.  I did order an extra wheelset, and am waiting for it to be delivered from Germany.  I chose the DT Swiss CR 1600 Splines and a set of Continental Grand Prix 5000's, 28mm.  I think that'll be a great combo for me when doing longer dedicated road rides.

Good luck with your choice, and hooray for new bike day!