BUYER'S GUIDE

allroad bikes

What is an allroad bike? A guide to this emerging road bike category plus a selection of the best

The latest crop of do-it-all road bikes are taking the fight to N+1, and the latest buzzword to describe such bikes is 'allroad'. Find out how allroad differs to other road bike genres and if it's right for you

by Jamie Williams

UPDATED Fri, Nov 01, 2024 08:36

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Both road bike and gravel bike clearances have ballooned in recent years, but the grey area between them remains. We've seen plenty of brands releasing bikes that claim to be neither gravel nor road lately, instead dubbing them 'allroad' bikes. So, what exactly is an allroad bike? Should you get one, and are they really the N+1 killers that they're cracked up to be? Let's delve into what an allroad bike is, look at a selection of the best and answer some questions about this emerging genre.

Our overall bike of the year 2023/24: Vitus Venon EVO-RS Force AXS All-Road
- Buy now for £3199.99 from Evans Cycles
- Find out more
We think that the "fastest and most comfortable endurance bike ever" is an all-road bike...: Specialized Roubaix SL8 Expert 2024
- Buy now for £4199 from Sigma Sports
- Find out more
Fast, anywhere: Ridley Grifn RS
- Buy now for £6662.37 from Ridley Bikes
- Find out more
Titanium but not at titanium prices: Gloria All-road titanium
- Buy now for £4399 from Gloria Cycling
- Find out more
Race bike looks, endurance bike comfort: Argon 18 Krypton Pro Ultegra Di2 2024
- Buy now for £7000 from Westbrook Cycles
- Find out more
A gravel bike that's at home on the road too: Orbea Terra M20iTeam GRX 825 Di2
- Buy now for £4799 from Sigma Sports
- Find out more
Affordable and suitable for beginners: Ribble Allroad SL - Enthusiast
- Buy now for £1999 from Ribble
- Find out more

As we've already clarified, allroad bikes are seemingly taking over the cycling world. You can think of them as either endurance road bikes on steroids, or as gravel bikes having an affair with Lycra. Essentially, they’re kind of a halfway house between a road bike and a gravel bike.

What is an allroad bike?

Canyon describes allroad bikes as "drop-bar bikes that are fast and capable on any kind of road surface from smooth asphalt all the way to light gravel tracks."

Compared to a road bike, an allroad bike often has wider tyre clearances, more laid-back or stable geometry, wider gearing and an array of storage options.

Sounds a lot like a gravel bike, doesn’t it? With wider tyre clearance, relaxed geometry, storage options, sometimes suspension, and wider gearing, there's definitely some overlap. The line between road and gravel bikes is still a bit blurry, but of you'd like more details on the differences between a gravel bike and an endurance road bike, we have a feature on that too.

Tyre clearance

Cyclists are increasingly steering to wider tyres on road bikes, a trend reflected in bike designs, while gravel bikes have been getting even more spacious.

Generally, road bikes tend to top out at around 32mm for tyre clearance, whereas gravel bikes will take at least 40mm tyres.

Allroad bikes are designed to bridge the gap between road and gravel bikes, offering tyre clearance from 32mm up to 40mm, depending on the model. The Ridley Grifn, for instance, can take 38mm tyres with a 2x crankset (as in our setup), 40mm tyres with a 1x crankset, and 32mm tyres when fitted with full mudguards.

Gearing

The gearing of allroad bikes sits somewhere in between road and gravel bikes. Many allroad bikes comes with a double chainset like on a road bike, but with smaller gearing. This is because allroad bikes are more commonly used for slower back lanes or gravel climbs, rather than smashing down an A-road.

Shimano GRX groupsets often come with 46/30T rings up front and SRAM makes a double chainset designed specifically for all-road bikes with smaller 43/30T rings, but with a 10T cog at the back to provide very similar ratios to this GRX setup.

Geometry

Similar to the gearing on an allroad bike, the geometry also takes a halfway house between road and gravel. Geometry is very important in how a bike rides, and in general, the progression of most to least aggressive geometry is: race bikes, endurance road bikes, allroad bikes, gravel bikes and then mountain bikes.

If this has created more questions than answers for you then my apologies, you can find what is hopefully a far more comprehensive explanation using the link below.

> What is an all-road bike? Is this new bike breed really an N+1 killer?

We have to admit, we initially thought that allroad bikes were just one big, massive compromise, that was until we tried some out...

You can see a selection of the best allroad bikes around right now below, and we've a bit more information about allroad for you in the Q+A section underneath our product recommendations. As always, if you want to know more about how we review products and make selections for our buyer's guides, you can have a read of this that explains why you can trust us over a dodgy AI-generated list off of Google...

Best allroad bikes

Vitus Venon EVO-RS Force AXS All-Road

Vitus Venon EVO-RS Force AXS All-Road

Our overall bike of the year 2023/24

Buy now for £3199.99 from Evans Cycles

Awesome performance

Well thought out geometry

Good spec for the money

Versatile but not compromised

Full mudguards will require fettling to fit

Even though the people who designed the Vitus Venon have now moved on to pastures new, it is an excellent example of what an allroad bike should be.

This thing is quick, forgiving and well, just about perfect for most riders here in the UK, in fact, it’s so good it won our Bike of the Year award last year. In the words of Stu, our senior reviewer it’s a great interpretation of what an all-road bike should be, with exceptional performance and handling whatever the terrain.

The Venon Evo has more tyre clearance than most allroad bikes, up to 45mm in fact, but the main thing it’s got going for it is its value for money. This Force AXS spec bike that we reviewed complete with carbon wheels and componentry will set you back £4,400. It is worth noting that Vitus was owned by the same owners as Wiggle so when that went pop, Vitus was left high and dry. We thought about not including it in this line-up but then we thought, it’s a bloody good bike and you can still buy it. In fact, there are some absolute bargains to be had!

Read our review of the Vitus Venon EVO-RS Force AXS All-Road

Specialized Roubaix SL8 Expert 2024

We think that the "fastest and most comfortable endurance bike ever" is an all-road bike...

Buy now for £4199 from Sigma Sports

True all-road bike with 40mm tyre clearance and mudguard mounts

Smooth ride quality

Threaded BB

No internal headset cable routing

Compatible with mechanical and electronic drivetrains

Adjustable Future Shock only on top models

The Roubaix SL8 is what Specialized calls the “smoothest and fastest endurance road bike ever"... an odd choice to include in this allroad bike line-up then? Well, the truth is all the lines between bike categories are well and truly blurred, so rather than try to stick to some made up rules and nomenclature we thought we’d just show you the best bikes that we think classify in this category.

This latest incarnation of the Roubaix has space for up to 40mm tyres, which is one of the main reasons that we think this now qualifies as an allroad bike. For reference, the previous generation could only fit 33mm tyres. Suvi put quite some miles in on the Roubaix SL8 and said that although it might look much like its predecessor, the list of updates has added to the versatility of the bike beyond paved roads. There are now additional top tube and down tube mounts for storage and the Future Shock, which is the suspension thingy (technical term) in the headset that delivers impressive smoothness and control.

The Roubaix SL8 starts at £2,500 and goes all the way up to £12,000 for the S-Works version, but we reckon the sweet spot is this Expert model with Sram Rival AXS, carbon wheels and a power meter for £5,500.

Read our review of the Specialized Roubaix SL8 Expert 2024

Ridley Grifn RS

Fast, anywhere

Buy now for £6662.37 from Ridley Bikes

Clearance allows decent size gravel tyres

Geometry works on all kinds of terrain

Non-standard mudguard mounting positions

We liked the Grifn RS mainly because it’s just got a great feel about it. Not just the ride quality, but also the geometry and finishing kit make it behave just like a fast and fun road bike, but it’s more than capable when pointed at some gravel. The Grifn RS has space for 38mm tyres when used with a 2x groupset or 42mm when used with a 1x groupset. Either way, it’s pretty spacious for an allroad bike and it’s got plenty of mounting points too.

Read our review of the Ridley Grifn RS

Gloria All-road titanium

Titanium but not at titanium prices

Buy now for £4399 from Gloria Cycling

Plenty of tyre clearance

All the perks of titanium

Cheaper than most titanium bikes

Now, It wouldn’t be road.cc without a titanium bike making the list, and our allroad bike of choice is from a brand that you might not be too familiar with. The full review of this Gloria Allroad titanium isn’t live yet, but our reviewer's initial impressions are that the bike rides "like a beaut" and it's very well constructed, so we're happy for it to make the cut (and will update this article when the full review is live).

Obviously, the benefits of titanium are that it’s pretty much bulletproof, it’s very resistant to scratches, and impacts when your skills aren’t quite as good as you thought they were and is designed to last you a lifetime. This All-road model comes with all the rack and mudguard mounts that you could want and space for 45mm tyres so it’s capable of going pretty much everywhere.

There are lots of excellent titanium bike manufacturers out there but Gloria sets itself apart by making bikes that with a bit of saving you might be able to actually afford. The Sram Rival AXS and carbon wheel equipped bike that we're testing has an RRP of £4,399 but the frameset starts at £1,249 and complete builds at £2,699 with 105 mechanical. If you’re in titanium bike circles then you’ll soon realise this is pretty damn cheap!

Argon 18 Krypton Pro

Argon 18 Krypton Pro Ultegra Di2 2024

Race bike looks, endurance bike comfort

Buy now for £7000 from Westbrook Cycles

Great ride quality

Impressive performance on road and hardpacked surfaces

Internal storage is roomy

Stiff and light

Road-focused gearing is quite tall for off-road sections

Road groupsets limit tyre clearance

You don’t see as many Argon 18s riding around in the UK anymore, but we seriously loved this one and think that it’s perfectly suited to broken lanes and crap roads.

Although it looks like quite an aggressive race bike, the design is actually masking what is quite a tall head tube and stack height, this not only makes it more comfortable but also probably better suited to most riders who perhaps aren’t as flexible as they’d like to be.

Our Ultegra Di2 model came in at 7.6kg on our scales complete with tools hiding in the downtube, it’ll take up to 38mm tyres or 35mm with mudguards fitted and is well specced with Hunt wheels and Vittoria tyres.

Read our review of the Argon 18 Krypton Pro Ultegra Di2 2024

Orbea Terra

Orbea Terra M20iTeam GRX 825 Di2

A gravel bike that's at home on the road too

Buy now for £4799 from Sigma Sports

Customisable build spec and colour

Nice effective and stiff frame, but no harsh ride quality

Mudguard compatability

Small storage hatch opening limits what can be fit in it

The Orbea Terra, despite being marketed as a gravel bike, we think makes an excellent allroad bike. During the review, Suvi found that this was a bike that was very capable on the road and with quite narrow rims, for a gravel bike that is, quite short chainstays, and a zero setback seatpost. It's really rather easy to ‘roadify’.

Being a gravel bike you can fit up to 45mm tyres but that's reduced to 35mm with mudguards fitted and it just goes to show that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, or a bike by what the manufacturers say it is…

Read our review of the Orbea Terra M20iTeam GRX 825 Di2

Ribble Allroad SL - Enthusiast

Affordable and suitable for beginners

Buy now for £1999 from Ribble

Price

Tall front end gives a relaxed riding position

Full mudguard mounting points

Ride quality lacks involvement

Mudguard mounts aren't in the traditional position

Mudguards limit tyre clearance to 32mm

The Ribble Allroad SL - Enthusiast with Shimano 105 2x12-speed mechanical is the entry-level model in the company's mixed-terrain road bike range. It combines the geometry of an endurance road bike with bigger tyre clearances of up to 35mm making it ideal if you're looking for a one-bike-does-it-all kind of thing, or it would make a good winter trainer, commuter or lightweight tourer if you want to keep your fast road bike for special days.

The Allroad SL uses a blend of Toray's T700 and T800 grades of carbon fibre composite, which sit below the T1000 used on the SL R and SL R e models, but strike a good balance of weight, stiffness and robustness.

The SL is available off-the-shelf in three builds, starting with the Sport at £1,699 based around a Shimano Tiagra groupset and Mavic Aksium 1 Disc wheels, and topping out with the Pro, which has a 105 Di2 groupset and Mavic Cosmic S carbon wheels for £2,999. This Enthusiast build, with the latest 105 mechanical groupset, R7100, sits in between and costs £1,999.

Read our review of the Ribble Allroad SL - Enthusiast

Everything you need to know about
allroad bikes

How do allroad bikes differ from gravel bikes?

You might be wondering, why don’t I just go full hog and get a gravel bike? And the answer to that is going to depend a lot on the terrain that you ride. An allroad bike is very similar to a gravel bike, just with smaller tyre clearances and the gearing and geometry to match. For riders who usually stick to the roads and well-surfaced gravel paths, an allroad bike will hit the absolute mark. There's also the added benefit of being able to take an allroad bike off-road.

Can I use an allroad bike for commuting?

Absolutely! One of the benefits of an allroad bike is that it can be ridden by on and off road, so they are great for commuting, especially if your route includes a bit of everything. My commute along a disused railway line, for example, has sections of loose gravel, that whilst passable is less than ideal on a dedicated road bike.

Are allroad bikes new?

There have always been bikes like allroad bikes, but up until now we haven't given them a fancy name. It's only recently that gravel bike clearances have ballooned, so a gravel bike from 10 years ago is, for all intents and purposes, an allroad bike nowadays.

There has long been the desire to ride wider tyres on the road, and have a bike that can be used both on the tarmac and on light gravel. As much as brands would love to scream and shout about their new creations right until the next model comes out... allroad bikes aren’t exactly an all-new invention, it’s just the name that’s new to a lot of us. If you'd rather, they can be seen as a sub-category of gravel bikes.

Are allroad bikes slower?

Allroad bikes aren't necessarily slower, as they are designed with versatility in mind rather than pure speed. For example, allroad bikes typically have a more relaced geometry than road bikes, make them less aerodynamic and the lower gearing compared to road bikes can mean sacrificing some top speeds on flat roads with a tailwind.

Yes, the latest road bikes are stiffer and more aerodynamic, but the vast majority of us simply aren’t after that though. In fact, I'll go as far as to say that on the abundance of lumpy potholed lanes in the UK, you’ll be seriously hard-pressed to find a faster bike than one shod with 35mm slick tyres.

Are allroad bikes N+1 killers?

The best allroad bikes manage to be fast, reactive yet stable and well-balanced like a road bike with enough comfort, clearance and gearing for long days on rough roads. I’d happily line up on the start line of a Gran Fondo on an allroad bike. However, everyone’s riding, and therefore perfect bike, is different.

It’s easy to get hung up on what label a bike brand has given their latest bike, and even easier to decide we don’t like any one particular genre of cycling. The good news is that there’s more choice than ever for whatever type of riding you do.

So, will allroad bikes break the N+1 rule of bike ownership? Maybe for some people, maybe even a lot of people, but certainly not for everyone.

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6 comments

Shades | 5 min ago

I built up (well a bike mechanic did the work) a titanium gravel bike earlier this year; my vision was more all-road but the mechanic nudged me towards wider tyres (700x40 front/700x45 rear; Maxxis Ramblers; tubeless). Took it out to Tuscany where there is plenty of gravel (and tarmac obv!), which could quickly vary from nicely graded, to pretty lumpy/broken up and even single-track. The wider tyres were very welcome and I think 32mm would have been a bit challenged at times. Didn't feel particulary slow on-road. It was all new (all-road) routes for me and when off-road you just had to deal with whatever 'gravel' you got; I was glad I wasn't 'limited' by tyre size.

Cugel | 1 hour ago

This harticle is a bit late. It claims that:

"There have always been bikes like allroad bikes, but up until now we haven't given them a fancy name. It's only recently that gravel bike clearances have ballooned, so a gravel bike from 10 years ago is, for all intents and purposes, an allroad bike nowadays". ..... But ......

https://www.renehersecycles.com/our-new-book-the-all-road-bike-revolution/

But, as this book itself mentions, a great deal of the all-road design features are taken from French fast-touring and audax bikes that existed even before WWII !

And many a rough-stuff bike of decades ago was in practice an all-road bike, with cantis allowing bigger tyres, mudguard and rack mounts but a "fast" road geometry; or perhaps a more cyclo-cross design. Some of them took part in and even won events such as the Three Peaks.

Marketing, eh!? "See my new invention, The Wheeel".

mark1a | 2 hours ago

Turns out what I thought was my so-called gravel bike was actually an allroad bike all along...

lesterama | 2 hours ago

Looking forward to replacing my GRVL bike with an LL RD bike.

OnYerBike | 3 hours ago

Looking forward to the imminent release of allroad-specific pumps, shoes, jerseys etc!

jaymack replied to OnYerBike | 16 min ago

...but only if they're aero'.