I needed that ATBtitude again. Full suspension bikes can be used as well, but could add weight (and price) and would need to offer the ability to lock out the rear suspension to avoid energy loss in flat … Ugh. I have flat bars on mine and its perfect. I ride a rigid carbon 29er (Scott Scale) which, in effect, could be thought of as a gravel bike, but is more capable offroad, and more fun, but admittedly a tad slower on road (which doesn’t matter to me these days…). MUKLUK ... Bikes. Quote 0 0 0. Yesterday I did like 30miles from my door (zone 2 London) taking in roads, woodland, bridal way and cutting through a few parks on a mountain bike it would have been hard work and WAY over biked. Some of the gravel bikes can take panniers and full guards more easily so thats a consideration, but then the lines become blurred between adventure/touring bikes like a kona sutra ltd. A drop bar bike that rides and feels like a mountain bike. Login/cookie issues? CX bike, then you don’t have the ignominy of owning a gravel bike. Nukeproof Giga Launched: A Super-Enduro shouldn’t descend AND climb this well! Way more fun on a bike designed to do that in my opinion. All depends on the road to offroad ratio. It sucked the joy out of cycling. It’s without a doubt designed for off-road adventure. Began overfeeding my happy brain the whatifs and expensives and lookits. Too many, even. Specialized Epic Hardtail Pro. Gravel bikes are equipped with drop handlebars while mountain bikes use flat handlebars. With just a few quick changes you can optimize a mountain bike for gravel riding. Main reason for wanting to try something different is to get more hand positions, as flat bars do get uncomfortable after a while. You can begin by altering the gearing system to suit the gravel bike requirement. With or without drops. Totally agree. With a FS bike and a gravel bike/road bike it’s pretty much the perfect combo. Having watched that GCN video I’d say my bike is actually in-between those two. Well unfortunately it’s quite a difficult one! Round my way that’s not a big deal because we have lots of earthy singletrack and I can avoid the steep and rooty/rocky climbs, but in the Lakes personally I’d be leaning more towards flat bars, ie an MTB, to avoid being too constrained by the bike. Expect anything up to 47c on either 700c or 650b wheels. Hardtail mountain bikes do not feature a rear shock, whereas full suspension bikes feature front and rear shocks. Around in CycleStore since the beginning, John has a great knowledge of all the action behind the scenes. This video discusses using a hardtail mountain bike for gravel riding. The answer lies in how good you are at riding a gravel bike. I really don’t think thats right the geo is different, they can take bigger tyres and also don’t weigh the same as a car. But yeah, from your previous posts sounds like you already have mountain bikes covered so get a drop bar that can cope with a bit of off road. A post shared by Bez (@mashing53) on Jul 23, 2020 at 11:32am PDT. A fast hardtail is never going to make a good road bike whatever tyres you put on it. Of course a gravel bike would be your top choice but don’t rule out a hardtail MTB or a rigid MTB. How do your times compare on road and off road? Consequently, it beats me up on chunky surfaces more than a true gravel bike would. With the help of your smartphone and the COBI.Bike app, the Bosch SmartphoneHub on the JARIFA² turns into an intelligent control centre for … Are you going to be riding primarily on tarmac/gravel and how much genuine off road are you going to be doing? Tires: 700c x 40mm. It is noticeable though that my XC style bikes are faster than it (they’re also lighter though) on most off-road sections – all my current KOM’s are rideable on gravel bikes but the KOM was set on a mountain bike. I'm currently building a dedicated steel gravel bike for this very reason. If you like riding drop bars and the handling feel of road bike like geometry then gravel bike, if you like flat/riser bars, front suspension and MTB geometry then get the MTB. Joint 1st the worse bike I ever had*. The rigid mtb fork is stiffer, the frame is stiffer, and the bars are stiffer. SHOP NOW. I just would like to see what people think, rather than buy a completely new bike, just put on some narrow 29er tires and run your hardtail. more fun. Just the memory of it makes me angry. Though they’re not quite as comfortable as a hard tail with front suspension. But riding an MTB of any kind just isn’t like riding a quick road or gravel bike. 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Contact Us Privacy Forum Rules Premier Club Classifieds Rules hardtail vs gravel bike Removal Login/cookie issues selling and buying a bike. Big difference how fast you can go 620mm ( carbon ) flat bars on mine its.