Does a robust road bike exist?

[Dr Murdoch]

I've got a Genesis CDF 'adventure' bike, its a steel frame and pretty bomb proof and so it allows me to to cycle on or off road. However, on the road it is slow, and up hills its even slower!

So I'm thinking of getting a road bike but I would still like the ability to veer off the road and straight on to off-road paths and bump up kerbs etc.

Does such a bike exist? Unfortunately my budget probably tops out at £1.5k.

[TheDrownedApe]

isn't this what gravel bikes do?

[Siao]

TheDrownedApe said:

isn't this what gravel bikes do?

This.

I'd say that maybe try and find a gravel bike with a 2x front derailleur, instead of the single one, to give it a bit of extra range. Although, my bike is plenty fast with the single front cog.

Otherwise, no matter the material of the bike, the thinner wheels/tyres will always be the problem I feel.

[Dr Murdoch]

Siao said:

This.

I'd say that maybe try and find a gravel bike with a 2x front derailleur, instead of the single one, to give it a bit of extra range. Although, my bike is plenty fast with the single front cog.

Otherwise, no matter the material of the bike, the thinner wheels/tyres will always be the problem I feel.

As I understand it gravel bikes have a different frame geometry to road bikes, essentially they are hard tail mountain bikes with dropped bars?

Mine has a 2x front derailleur but is still really poor on the flat and uphill.

Cheers

[YorkshireStu]

Dr Murdoch said:

As I understand it gravel bikes have a different frame geometry to road bikes, essentially they are hard tail mountain bikes with dropped bars?

Mine has a 2x front derailleur but is still really poor on the flat and uphill.

Cheers

Nope, incorrect.

They are much closer to road bikes. In fact, one Pro team raced gravel bikes with road wheels in the Paris - Roubaix last weekend.

[Siao]

YorkshireStu said:

Dr Murdoch said:

As I understand it gravel bikes have a different frame geometry to road bikes, essentially they are hard tail mountain bikes with dropped bars?

Mine has a 2x front derailleur but is still really poor on the flat and uphill.

Cheers

Nope, incorrect.

They are much closer to road bikes. In fact, one Pro team raced gravel bikes with road wheels in the Paris - Roubaix last weekend.

I'd think more of a tourer geometry rather than anything else. But I am not sure, I won't pretend to be an expert!

[boyse7en]

It does sound like a gravel bike is what you need. They are (generally) shorter reach and wider bars than a road bike, and the current fashion is for a 1x drivetrain. Depending on the terrain you are planning to ride, a 1x may be OK, or it might leave you short-changed in hilly areas where you seems to have neither a very low gear for crawling up the hills or a big gear for drashing down the other side.
Otherwise, with some decent non-knobbly tyres fitted, you should be fine on the road with a gravel bike.

[Kawasicki]

All decent road bikes are robust.

I‘ve been off-road on my road bikes many times, I even did a weekend long gravel grand fondo on my normal road bike. Much of this event was on rock and root infested MTB singletrack. The only issue was simultaneous front and rear snakebite induced tyre punctures, from slamming into a hidden gulley at speed.

My wrists were fooked, but the bike totally fine.

Edited by Kawasicki on Wednesday 10th April 13:36

[lufbramatt]

Dr Murdoch said:

As I understand it gravel bikes have a different frame geometry to road bikes, essentially they are hard tail mountain bikes with dropped bars?

Mine has a 2x front derailleur but is still really poor on the flat and uphill.

Cheers

There's a wide spectrum. At one end it's more traditional CX bikes with steep head angles and short wheelbases, at the other end with stuff with fat 650b wheels, fat tyres and slack angles and even suspension forks. My carbon CX/gravel bike has been ridden a lot off road on bridleways and coped fine, hasn't broken when I've fallen off it yet I've done rides at 20mph+ average speed when I've fitted road tyres on it.

Mine uses GRX 1x gears with an XT mountain bike cassette. Spins out at about 28mph and will go up steep stuff but depends what your strength and cadence range is like, you might be better off with 2x.

[JEA1K]

Dr Murdoch said:

I've got a Genesis CDF 'adventure' bike, its a steel frame and pretty bomb proof and so it allows me to to cycle on or off road. However, on the road it is slow, and up hills its even slower!

So I'm thinking of getting a road bike but I would still like the ability to veer off the road and straight on to off-road paths and bump up kerbs etc.

Does such a bike exist? Unfortunately my budget probably tops out at £1.5k.

Sounds like you need a gravel bike ... its just finding one that suits your needs in terms of fit. They're as close to road bikes as they could be ... but with that extra robustness, better tyre clearance and slighly skacker geo. I've ridden my Cervelo Aspero on and off road for 18 months ... from fast group rides on a weekend to gravel rides with wider tyres. I've been riding with 35mm Gravelking slicks for over 6 months ... with 60 psi its v comfortable on thre road.

Have a look at the Canyon Grizl or Ribble CGRL AL if you're looking at a brand new bike.

[WPA]

Dr Murdoch said:

I've got a Genesis CDF 'adventure' bike, its a steel frame and pretty bomb proof and so it allows me to to cycle on or off road. However, on the road it is slow, and up hills its even slower!

So I'm thinking of getting a road bike but I would still like the ability to veer off the road and straight on to off-road paths and bump up kerbs etc.

Does such a bike exist? Unfortunately my budget probably tops out at £1.5k.

What spec is your CDF, I have been riding one for the last 6 months, do not find it slow on the road or up hills, great allrounder

[Dr Murdoch]

Just had a quick look round the web and these quotes stood out....

"So around 30 Watts more power was needed to keep the gravel bike going at a similar speed [to a road bike]".

"For those of you unfamiliar, the Pinarello F model is very much a racing-focused road bike; with 28mm tyres, deep carbon rims, road geometry, and a one-piece cockpit. Definitely not a gravel bike. Not even close."

So all I can deduce so far, is that I need a gravel bike as 'robust' road bike doesn't exist (accept the Pinarello F model above). Which is fine, I just needed to know. I had considered getting a road bike and upgrading the wheelset, but then that will costly and it will blow my budget sky high.

[Dr Murdoch]

WPA said:

What spec is your CDF, I have been riding one for the last 6 months, do not find it slow on the road or up hills, great allrounder

Its a 2017 Tiagra.

Out on one ride I was struggling with a steep ascent, whereas my mate was breezing it (and was obviously taking the piss out of my struggles!). We swapped bikes, and low and behold I was breezing it and he was struggling.

My CDF is nearly 12kg, which is quite a weight to propel around.

[Rustybanger]

I bought a Planet X London Road about 4 years ago for commuting to the station. It seemed fairly robust and not terribly slow

[lufbramatt]

Dr Murdoch said:

Just had a quick look round the web and these quotes stood out....

"So around 30 Watts more power was needed to keep the gravel bike going at a similar speed [to a road bike]".

"For those of you unfamiliar, the Pinarello F model is very much a racing-focused road bike; with 28mm tyres, deep carbon rims, road geometry, and a one-piece cockpit. Definitely not a gravel bike. Not even close."

So all I can deduce so far, is that I need a gravel bike as 'robust' road bike doesn't exist (accept the Pinarello F model above). Which is fine, I just needed to know. I had considered getting a road bike and upgrading the wheelset, but then that will costly and it will blow my budget sky high.

A gravel bike IS a robust road bike.

Lots of the components are basically the same but what makes the most difference for going off road is tyre clearance. The ability to for 35-40mm wide tyres is what will unlock the ability to hit the trails. Many road frames top out at 28-30mm.

My CX/gravel bike is a Ribble CXSL. Ribble do an endurance road frame that is essentially identical apart from being slightly lighter and having less tyre clearance. On the same tyres there will be naff all difference between them on road. But the gravel frame is much more versatile due to the ability to fit 40mm tyres.

[frisbee]

Assuming your position isn’t bolt upright, tyres make the biggest difference between a road bike and gravel bike.

[JEA1K]

Dr Murdoch said:

Just had a quick look round the web and these quotes stood out....

"So around 30 Watts more power was needed to keep the gravel bike going at a similar speed [to a road bike]".

Firstly, I'm guessing that a 30w loss is from a particular speed ... and that won't be at say 16mph or 18mph which the average rider may travel at and secondly, a 30w deficient is irrelavent unless you are racing.

[Bill]

Presumably you've checked for dragging brakes and a shagged drivetrain?

[HughG]

I've got a Trek Checkpoint ALR5. It is the same geometry of my previous Domane road bike. The ALR is the aluminium variant, which I went for as I wanted it to be robust and to be able to fit a rack for commuting, go bike packing, tow kids trailer trailer along etc. It has done it all very well. I use it as a winter bike for club rides when I CBA to fit guards to my road bike, and can keep up fine, albeit it is harder work on the hills than my carbon road bike. It is probably 2-3kg lighter than a CdF which I also looked at before getting this.

[defblade]

I've got a Kinesis R1, slightly above your budget now but not much, takes 32mm tyres + guards, found its off-road limit on 10% uphill mud/leaf covered karst... but that's likely more to do with trying to ride up it on GP5ks than the bike itself. It has ridden many normal gravel tracks/footpaths/fire roads without a problem.
1x, with a wide spread that means there's enough for ups and downs, but gaps on the flat - I don't mind a wide cadence range, so doesn't bother me, and I live in SW Wales where most roads have noticeable gradient so I'm usually high or low in the range anyway.

The R1 attracted some criticism/comment at launch for potentially being basically their gravel frame with some road bits slapped on it

I wouldn't slam it up and down kerbs; but I don't slam my MTB up and down kerbs either; or my ebike... I have been known to hop all of them a tiny bit, or to look for a dropped section.

There's a huge continuum from racer to endurance/audax to tourer to mtb, and you can find gravel bikes that would fit under any of those titles.