Gravel bikes v N+1 — is a fat tyre bike the best alternative to a fleet?

When this article was first published I had two bikes - a "fast" best road bike and a general purpose gravel/commuter/tourer. The main differences between the two being tyre clearance, braze-ons, and position. The only reason I got the fast road bike at the time was because I CBA to do wheel swaps when I just had the one bike, meaning I ended up running my Gravelking SKs for everything, including sportives. 

Fast forward two years and both bikes have gone, replaced with a short travel hardtail. I'm no longer commuting so it's focused to the "go anywhere" end of the scale which suits me as all my riding (bar transitions) is off-road in the New Forest and at trail centres. Quite apart from the lack of rack and mudguard mounts there's no way it would do double duty as a commuter, it's just too long, slack, and inefficient for that. However, if you can find a steel XC hardtail - or a carbon one with the required mounts - that could be the way to go if you're mostly riding offroad with a nod towards adventure/bikepacking.

Why? Because MTBs can be more adaptable. 11sp and 12sp cassettes make them efficient on the road (as long as the geo isn't too MTB-focused) and you can easily play with things like stem length and bar shape depending on what you're doing with it. A bar swap with flat bars is literally a 10 minute job. So run wide straight bars if you're at a trail centre and something like a Jones H-Bar if you're off for a spot of bike packing.

Tyre-wise you have access to all the "road plus" tyres that have come on the market for roadies going gravel, particularly if you run 27.5" rims. A lot of frames will take a 2.6" 650B tyre so there's huge flexibility.

MTB groups (when they're available) are cheap compared to the same level road/gravel groups - a full Tiagra level 1x group is around £140 from Bikester for example - that's not much more than the price of a single road shifter. You're going to knacker components quicker if you're doing serious gravel miles and I'm not convinced that GRX has the required longevity for British riding and to a certain extent Shimano have recognised this with the new Linkglide groups.

Ultimately, it is a compromise. If you're mostly on the road, towpaths, or flat hardpack gravel, go with a gravel or modern CX bike. If you're going further afield but still need efficiency on the flat, go with an XC bike, or something like the Mason ISO.

I was influenced I guess by all the talk about the whole gravel 'thing' to rebuild my fave bike as more of what we used to call a 'light tourer' back in the day. Rather than a Super Record setup, its now got Chorus with a semi-compact crank and a bigger cassette and a set of frame bags. It's not able to take more than 25mm tyres (rim brakes, old school frame building) but it's already taken me on a series of adventures and off road numerous times. So maybe 'adventure' bikes just mean a change of mindset? Less 'Strava' and more 'Landranger 1:50,000'?

I nearly got sucked into the gravel or n+1 marketing phenomenon, then I remembered I live in the city, have no more storage,  enjoy riding efficiently fast and don't like getting wet when I ride. So it was an easy excuse not to purchase. 🤓

3 years and 15 refreshes later, the answer is still "no".

N+1 still applies collectively and within bike categories. Since getting a gravel bike I now need a lower spec one for days I'll choose it for a gravel commute; a mountain bike for the routes where the gravel bike was defeated; plus it's time to upgrade my road bike but I won't sell the old one as I could do with a road bike geared for the hills. Luckily my wife has the same urges.

As the article points out, not all 'gravel' bikes are the same. A more mtb-inspired one, with slack angles (like the Evil Chamois Hagar) and a massively heavy frame will be absolutely dreadful anywhere except challenging off-road terrain. I have an Orbea Terra which is superb in all except the most bouncy, technical downhill type stuff, because it's basically a road bike with a beefier frame and capable of taking wider tyres. Specced with a single chainring that might be different, but Orbea allow you to choose the spec, so choose your spec and you're good.

For the riding I do, it's perfect, and I'd rather have a day on it than my 3kg-lighter road bike, because I can basically ride where I like on it, and if the road is busy I dart off into the woods. That wouldn't be the case if I had a Hagar.

Some bikes that are marketed as 'gravel' can be the ideal N-1 bike, but not all of them. There's a comment below about the Whyte Glencoe being a tank and useless in headwind and uphill. That's not to do with the fact it's a gravel bike, it's because it's an exceptionally heavy one. My Terra is just under 9.5kg - not heavy enough to be noticeable except when racing for me.

Had one, never rode it, got rid of it

I've had a Ribble CGR 725 for the last 9 or so months and I love it, With large-ish (35mm) slick 700c tyres, panaracer gravel kings, it's a great commuter, over engineered town/hybrid bike, and great for the less appealing months when a ride outside with mudguards or just not worried about going so fast will do. With 650b wheels and chunkier tyres it does really well keeping up with my brother and his other half on their hardtail mountain bikes on anything that isn't super muddy or has lots of jumps/downhill sections.

It doesn't lose out in terms of speed all that much to my dedicated road bike, despite the 1X gearing, I've given my hybrid bike to my dad as I have no need for it at all. I don't ride proper mountain bike trails, there's only one or two around here that are too much for it, and it's forced me to get a bit better at choosing lines and handling the bike.

I still have a 'proper' road bike, and likely always will, for the few months a year where it all comes together and it's the perfect bike for riding, and I still own a folding bike from use on my old commute, but for pretty much everything else I'm a gravel/adventure convert.

Bought the entry level 3T exploro with a sram apex 1x for half price in a sale last year.

Totally blown away - got some Fulcrum red power 27.5" for the off road and some DT Swiss 1400 ERC for the on road.  Bike is amazing at both disciplines.

Lightening on road and pretty capable at the offroad without having suspension.

I have just indulged myself in building one of these beasts, a Genesis Vagabond with triple up front and friction bar-end shifters (controversial/old school/flexible- you decide) and very nice it is too Braking is TRP HY/RD cable/hydraulic. On the road my road bike is better, but hit the gravel it's fantastic. Is it worth having one? Depends on what you want to do. There are many miles of gravel tracks near me I have never been able to comfortably explore. That will change soon!

I bought a Kinesis G2 last year which I use for commuting (30 mile daily round trip), winter club rides and light off road. I agree it could be the one bike for almost all riding, only really rough off road would be beyond it. That said I've had the proper road bike back out for the last few months and the lower weight and quicker responses do make it a much more enjoyable ride.

I splashed out and got the Open U.P, at first with 'gravel' tyres, it was really comfortable but I turned it into a road goer (Greek winters aren't as bad as UK) and am very impressed. It doesn't seem to be quite as (dare I say it) fast as my Cipollini road bike but it's a trade off I will gladly live with at the moment for the comfort factor. I don't think I will every buy a pure road race bike again - I don't race and I'm not very aerodynamic so saving watts isn't very high on my priorities list.

I opted for a Cannondale Topstone 105 last year, came with 46/30 11-34 and 40mm tyres on 23mm rims. I bought 52/36 rings, and a pair of wheels which have 32mm tyres on 19mm rims and an 11-30 cassette. Genuinely two bikes for the price of one and a bit. Bit of a faff to swap the rings as it can't be done without taking the chainset off, but only need the 46-30 for stupidly steep gravel/byways.

Its personal. I had a gravel bike for my commute (whyte glencoe) and....it was an utter tank. Great for easy cruising speeds, awful, awful, awful for trying to go fast or in a headwind...or going uphill due to the weight. And riding with others with a single chainring on road? Doable but not ideal.

A more expensive, lighter gravel bike would've been better (theres a lot of choice out there) but for me, it simply was too much like hard work on the road compared to a road bike and so I swapped it for a caad12 disc. Best decision I've made in a while - commutes are (were) fun again!

Since starting riding in the 1990s, I have seen many trends come and go, lusted after many technical fads, experimented with stupid training techniques... but the one great idea I had, the one I'll never regret, is deciding "maybe I could get a CX bike; with road wheels it'll still do 99% of what a road bike does, and I could swap in wheels with big knobblies and a wider cassette, and go offroad too". It was a precursor of the "gravel bike", it's one bike for everything, and I love it. I can ride a sportive one day then explore muddy moorland the next day. My next bike will definitely be "gravel".

If you worry that you'll have 1% more drag (or mass) than when sitting on an aero road bike, either you're an actual pro rider in the tours, or you're fretting about something which won't detract in the slightest from how much fun you have on your weekend ride. 

Once you have One Bike For Everything, you then have much more money left to spend on carbon-fibre bidons or whatever accessories turn you on.

A year ago i thought not. But, now you can get stuff like the grail or the new grade, fast gravel frames, with grx and a subcompact double (48/31 is all the gears anybody ever needed really), then yes, cautiously. Still need two wheelsets in truth though to properly kill the quiver.

No, I wouldn't tell you anything about Belgian/Brussels roads because I don't know them. I was going to say that I have never used them but I did ride once from Catzand to Knokke-Heist and back. I don't envy you having to ride there based on the road traffic I have experienced around Brussels and Antwerp. Mind you, you probably wouldn't like it round here (I live inbetween Dusseldorf, Duisburg, Essen, Wuppertal). I guess we get used to what we have to get used to.

There's no such thing as a do it all bike, it's always a compromise.  

I ride a gravel bike for my daily commute and also ride centuries/audax with it.  It's a generalist's bike.  Won't do proper all terrain riding, slower and more unwieldy than a dedicated race bike.  As someone said earlier, 7/10, but 7/10 on everything.

If I'd ride a genuine ultra light, all bells and whistles 'race' bike to work over my less than perfectly smooth roads/paths, it'd be shredded after a year, if that, and I'd be looking at huge maintenance costs.  On my commute I often encounter a guy riding a fatbike, he evidently commutes on it.  This is in an urban environment, not a wood or marshland.  I have one hill to conquer.  Far as I can see he's not overweight but when I meet him there, his face is the colour of a lobster that took a bath in boiling water and I hear him huffing and puffing over the substantial tyre noise to maintain maybe 15 kmph while I whistle past.  Whenever I read about fatbikes and how glorious they are, I think about that dude and wonder if he didn't regret the purchase.

If I'd have unlimited storage space (which would imply getting rid of my wife who'd slit my throat if I schlepped in a third bike) then I'd purchase a genuine racing machine.  But right now my Canyon Grail works fine.  There's also gravel and gravel:  from ultra relaxed to something on the sportier end, the latter is where I like to be.

For my way of thinking the only do it all bike is the mountain bike. If you have no intention of doing any rough stuff then a gravel bike is the next best allrounder. The road bike is the least versatile but I think the most satisfying at speed.

If you ride exclusively on gravel and towpaths, don't go properly off-road and aren't bothered about losing a few km/h on the road, yes.

For everyone else, there's N+1.

Is a gravel/adventure bike all you need?

Maybe, but there isn't much passion in aspiring to what you need*.

*With due regard to the millions of people who have far less than they need of things more important than pedal cycles.

In the UK they should call them "NCR Bikes"

The right weapon for taking on the less than pristine surfaces on our National Cycle Routes - they are a great boon when you dont want to tangle with traffic over a longer distance but lordy some of those surfaces!

At their best Adventure bikes are a worthy sucessor to something like the trusty Thorn 26" tourers.

Fat tubeless tyres, discs and flared drops all combining to update the rigid mtb with drops into something almost universally useful rather than the millions of niches MTB'ing exploded into.

But once manufacturers realise they have accidentally made half their existing niches obsolete they will stop building Adventure bikes and push us onto the next big thing.

If you're cool with a versatile bike that's a 6 out of 10 for everything or have very limited space then yes, I'd certainly get a gravel/adventure bike. 

However, if you're properly into off road a mountain bike is always going to do it much better, likewise if you want to be fast on the road an aggressively set up road bike which takes aerodynamics into account will still always be faster. 

If you can only have one bike then an 'All Terrain' bike it would be.  It can with 40mm tyres go fast on road and be able to cope with muddy or gravel paths.  

For me this rings true. I bought a Planet-X Tempest Ti with full Ultegra Hydro for what was an absolute steal at £2K 3 years back. The main purpose was for entering Dirty Reiver, but also with the intention of using it as a rugged road bike with 28mm tyres and mudguards for winter commuting and general road riding (2 sets of wheels as suggested in the article)

It has done both of those things brilliantly - including 200km Audaxes in "road" mode, and has allowed me to find a fantastic "gravel" commute to work through the Pentlands in the summer. It has also now twice done 1-week loaded camping tours - those fat nobbly WTB Nanos are great on tarmac, and allow me to venture onto some less gnarly off-road sections even with my camping gear.

Does it replace my road bike ?  - no, but it does all of those other things really rather well, without compromise. And my road bike has become a "summer" best bike, and its components now last a lot longer !!

Best bike I've bought (... so far ...)

At a casual level, maybe. But the more you enjoy riding, the more you realise that there is no one bike for all.

I have a strange admiration for the way manufacturers are managing to sell gravel bikes on the "do it all"/ quiver killer idea - funny how "the only bike you need" is always the one you don't yet have.

I say this not as someone who eschews the latest trends in favour of the trusty bike they've had for 30 years, but quite self-knowingly as someone who (a) knows full well he doesn't need a gravel bike; but (b) is almost certainly going to buy a gravel bike at some point. I am slowly realising that for me there is no such thing as a "do it all" bike because even if I find one bike that's technically capable of all the different rides I do (tarmac; slightly worse tarmac), there are other considerations. E.g. among other things I am currently lacking: a titanium one; a blue one; a Campag one; one with tanwalls; one with a Rohloff; one with a porteur rack; one with deep rims; a cargo bike...