I started gravel grinding years before it became a thing in Switzerland. At the time gravel-specific bikes didn’t really exist so my first two gravel bikes were pure cyclo-cross bikes. I did a bunch of gravel riding for seven years and then moved on in 2018. I can still be found on gravel, but now it’s generally to get from one paved road to another, which are not otherwise connected. When I was gravel grinding, I always planned my rides to be on gravel all the time. Gravel rides did not cut into my road riding, but cut heavily into my mountain biking. The more I spent on gravel, the less I spent on trails. So, I currently no longer own such a bike, although I may get back to it in the future.
Back in 2011, I bought a Focus Mares CX2.0 cross bike to do gravel rides when I didn't feel like mountain biking. A few years later, in October 2014, I replaced it with a Focus Mares CX 0.0. I only kept that bike for a year and bought a second Volagi Viaje the following spring. This one was set up as a gravel bike with a 1x11 drivetrain. Loved it; the stealth black frame, the re-purposed Enve AM 29er/700C wheels, and mostly how the bike performed.
The bikes I ride on pavement or gravel are more than road, all-road, or gravel bikes. They are efficient, practical, surface-agnostic bikes that bridge the functionality gap between road and off-road. In this post, I want to look at the geometry of the bikes I have ridden in the last nine years.
I got into cycling with mountain bikes. After several years of trail riding, I and a few friends decided to do some road cycling as well. In 1992 I bought a Trek 5200 from my local bike shop. I rode it through the Jura and…
An incomplete list of the bikes I've owned. Before the digital age I rode two different Muddy Fox mountain bikes, a Specialized Stumpjumper, a secondhand Litespeed and a tricked out Merlin Mountain, which I bought slightly too small. FortyFour Big Boy (sold) First ride Mar…
Comments