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Home / Mountain Bikes and Gear / Mountain bikes / Gravel Bikes / Survey

Do You Ride Gravel?

Given the choice between riding on a paved road or on gravel, we'll take the gravel every time. Yet there are only so many hours in the day, and the singletrack siren calls.

By Jeff Barber
August 14, 2022

7 comments

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Gravel is like, so hot right now. Of course cyclists have been riding bikes on gravel since before pavement even existed, but no matter. Given the choice between riding on a paved road or gravel, we’ll take the gravel every time. Oh, and if the trails are wet, gravel is usually a go.

Yet there are only so many hours in the day, and the singletrack siren calls…

Tell us what you really think about riding gravel in the comments below.

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Jeff Barber

Jeff Barber has been mountain biking since 1992 and has tested hundreds of mountain bikes and components. He is the co-founder of Singletracks and serves as Editor in Chief. Contact him at [email protected].

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7 Comments

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Gerow Washington // 2014
Aug 15, 2022

Between every piece of singletrack!

3 reply

kenprice195 Louisiana // 2021
Aug 14, 2022

I love to hear the sound of my tires on gravel while riding through Kisatchie National Forest. Seeing the deer, turkeys & other wildlife if a bonus as well.

2 reply

Chin Gao New Mexico // 2016
Aug 14, 2022

Gravel my favorite of all bicycling disciplines. You get to really enjoy the full affect of biking on and off paved, double track, single track, climbing flats on and on. The only area that is a tad more challenging is the dreaded sand. Do I get strange looks when riding single track on my Orbea Terra ? Yes all the time I m not in it for the competition but for the exposure to hone in my riding skills, it makes for a very challenging effort having to negotiate areas mainly suited for either a hard tail XC or a full suspension rig. At well over 65 years of age this form of riding is helping me the opportunity to stay fit both physically and mentally. One big surprise to me recently was the purchase of WTB NANO 700 40 tires which I run at 45 psi along with a seat post and handle bar suspension gadget makes it nearly perfect for me. When I want sand well then I just pull out the Mukluk.
hey it’s all good…..

0 reply

Oldandrolling South Carolina // 2018
Aug 17, 2022

I ride on rural roads when I am not on the trails. My gravel bike is effectively a light duty trail bike, a gravel bike and a rough road bike. Basically, it is my all purpose bike.

0 reply

marvinmartian 2009
Aug 15, 2022

I was not sure how to answer this. Technically I have ridden gravel since I started mtn biking in the 90's, when there were not as many trails in GA and we would ride gravel to get to/link trails or just ride the gravel roads in N GA. Back then we were just riding our mtn bikes and didn't see a need for a different classification. These days I don't have as much time to spend a whole day driving to a place to ride gravel roads, as I live in the metro Atlanta area and there are not too many significant gravel miles that are convenient so I only ride gravel for certain events; I make Southern Cross the one race/ride I will try to get in every year. Sometimes I ride a mtb and sometimes I ride my trusty 15 year old Specialized Tricross; the tricross gets funny looks from the gravel guys who have gotten into it during the boom as it still has rim brakes and is apparently an oddity in that regard.

0 reply

Namesarehard-1 South Australia // 2021
Aug 14, 2022

Me and my mate bought gravel bikes at the same time, rode gravel for a while, then he needed to sell his to fund a new mtb, now I have no one to ride gravel with and I just use my gravel bike for commuting

0 reply

Sunspot Colorado // 2019
Aug 14, 2022

There are many gravel routes that lead to the good stuff, so yeah gravel with my Middlechild singlespeed creates the vibe for some fine singletrack experiences. No need for a dropbar to increase the chiropractor budget!

G-One 2.8's for street session, Rocket Ron 3.0 for XC and speed runs on clean well laid out singletrack with lovely features and banked curves galore, Nobby Nic 3.0's for a more rowdy session.

My bike has the right shoes to play various sports!

0 reply

Tagged: survey, gear, gravel bikes

First published August 14, 2022 @ 2:34:00