Since my experience with bikes is limited, I figured I would try and get some advice from those who have plenty of time riding all sorts of setups. My “problem”: I don’t know what bike or what style to get. I currently have two bikes - a BMC Teammachine SLR02 Disc One and a Cannondale Topstone Alloy 105. The Topstone is my gravel/ride around bike whereas the BMC is what I primarily ride. Looking to sell the BMC.
The issue is I really can’t pinpoint a style of bike. I like riding fast (who doesn’t), but the idea of being able to go offroad a bit is intriguing and I may be moving to Colorado soon where they have more dirt roads, spurring me to look for a road bike with more tire clearance than the BMC (28mm). From what I gather, most of those dirt/gravel roads would be fine running a road bike with 30-35mm tires compared to the 40mm I run on the Topstone for the Midwest gravel I currently ride on.
I’ve been going back and forth a lot between bikes like the Roubaix and Domane, as well as the SuperSix Evo and Canyon Ultimate. I don’t know if there’s a substantial difference between the endurance vs aero setup when it comes to the actual ride itself, as the BMC is more racy but I’ve ridden plenty of centuries on it with no comfort issues.
I guess my question/ask for anyone in the TR community is if they have a particular bike they find works great for multiple surfaces, or anything they would simply recommend?
If this post seems redundant to previous posts or is too niche, feel free to remove, thanks!
No, sorry forgot to mention that. I really dove into cycling when I got injured from running and essentially ride 10-20 hours a week, primarily doing tempo type stuff with occasional structured workouts. I guess I would consider racing down the road but it’s never been a goal for me.
I think if I moved back to Colorado and could have 1 bike it would be a cross/gravel bike with two sets of wheels. One for the dirt and one for the road.
Way back (10 years before gravel bikes were a thing) I had a cross bike. My road bike was in the shop for a week so I put some road tires on the cx and was able to do everything (speeds) as my road bike.
I would look into a Cervelo Aspero. It can do gravel, its very comfy also for road use.
I had a crossbike and an Evo and I sold both and bought an aspero. I own a propel also, but its never ridden as I enjoy the aspero more, its a smoother ride.
If your not racing right now, I dont see the need for an aero bike. The aspero is an endurance bike that happens to take a 42mm tire which is everything you can ask for where your moving too.
A lot of new road bikes, even the racy aero ones, have much larger tire clearance than previous years. I have 30mm tires on my Allez sprint disc and there is still decent clearance remaining. It’s enough tire if I’m taking gravel to link some asphalt sections but if my ride was 25+% gravel then I would just ride a gravel bike.