Our trio of new gravel machines here eschew the current trend for progressive-geometry, mountain bikeinspired styles such as the freshly crowned gravel bike of the year, the GT Grade Carbon Pro LE. Instead, our three contenders all take inspiration from road-going rides.
This means their frame design and geometry should blend the compliance and tyre clearances to cope with off-road riding with the rider position of a speedy roadster to produce an all-surface-capable bike. And one that'll keep you on pace with the roadies on a Sunday club run yet still be able to compete at the sharp end of a gravel event.
01 Single chainrings
All of our bikes use SRAM's electronic wireless 1x gravel-specific AXS XPLR drivetrains and all come with lightweight carbon wheels. A 1x set-up helps you avoid getting a clogged up front derailleur in mucky conditions. It still offers a decent range of gears to cope with the type of terrain you'll be on, but has bigger gaps between the gears and prioritises lower ratios over the highest gears of road bikes.
02 Which wheels?
The lightweight, faster-rolling 700c wheels wheels here show that the bikes are also built for speed. Larger wheels have more versatility for use on tarmac too. Reducing wheel size to 650b in order to fit widervolume tyres is more commonly seen gravel bikes designed for more rugged terrain. You might still find 650b wheels on smallersized frames, though, helping to maintain proportional geometry.
03 Treading carefully
Denne historien er fra Summer 2024-utgaven av Cycling Plus UK.
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Denne historien er fra Summer 2024-utgaven av Cycling Plus UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
GANARY A COALMINE
The James Brown tune 'It's a Man's Man's Man's World' comes on the radio, filling the coach, and does nothing for my pre-event nerves as I sit surrounded by serious-looking, wiry, tanned men in Lycra. It's 6.30am, pitch black outside and I'm feeling very out of my depth as a relative newcomer to the world of clipless pedals and hurting for fun. Last night's stress dream involved being very unprepared to get married and being handed my great-grandmother-in-law-to-be's hideous silver dress with lace trim to wear minutes before the ceremony was due to start. I'll let you psychoanalyse that one.
BORDER PATROL
British travel writer Tim Wild heads on a pilgrimage to Arizona's gravel Mecca, and isn't disappointed
COLD SNAPS
Chris Lanaway dons the deepest winter thermals for the Abloc Winter Challenge in southern Sweden
Master Age-group racing
Tips to keep you on the race course as you get older
Guava Spot Force AXS
£4,950 Big-value, Barcelona-born bike that hits the spot for gravel riding
Seasonal disorder
Pinpointing the start of the cycling season is no easy task, writes Ned
Ride all winter
10 scientifically proven ways to bolster your immunity
Joined-up thinking
Connecting more rail stations to the NCN is long overdue
Castelli Gabba
Castelli’s breathable, close-fitting yet waterproof and windproof jacket marked a watershed in cycle clothing
Air Apparent - Pollution hasn't gone away. It's still there in every lungful, even if we can't see it in the air or on the news. But there are reasons to breathe easier, thanks to pioneering projects using cycling 'citizen scientists'. Rob Ainsley took part in one...
The toxic effects of pollution have been known about for years. 'Just two things of which you must beware: Don't drink the water and don't breathe the air!' sang 1960s satirist Tom Lehrer.Over recent decades, though, pollution has dropped down our list of things to worry about, thanks to ominously capitalised concerns such as Climate Change, AI, Global Conflict, Species Collapse, etc. That doesn't, unfortunately, mean the problem has expired. Air quality often exceeds safe limits, with far-reaching and crippling effects on our health.
