One Good Bike for Both Road & Gravel Racing

I don’t think you articulated why you would prefer having only one. I think most would like to have multiple bikes (N+1), each optimal for a particular pursuit. I have three, not counting my backup bikes.

After some great feedback the appropriate solution is to have 2 different bikes.

Cheers

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Sounds like you need the Ring, from One bikes. It will rule them all. :joy:

I’d still encourage you to try running the Crux on the road for a bit and see how you like it.

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You’ve forced my hand - My most recent Ti build needed a theme and being a lotr fan and gold being one of the available ano options I went with a gold and black motif so as the make it “the one bike.” For the extra nerdy if I’m going with horse names from the fiction this one is Nahar (dust off your silmarillion) cuz that horse was gold and silver. I’ve yet to post pics on this forum. But I digress.

But to @OliverTwist - You both can and can’t have one bike to rule them all depending on your tolerance for shortcomings in one direction or the other in regards to handling or capability. I’m of the mind that n=2, maybe 3, is ideal for my situation. n=2 at the least because considering you’re posting here I’m guessing you’re pretty enthusiastic about cycling and might be bothered if you don’t have a bike to ride due to a mechanical issue of sorts that requires a part that takes days to arrive. As such with at least 2 bikes you’ll always have something to ride.

As far as road/gravel overlap you’ll either find yourself wanting in the tire clearance department from the road side or the snappier geometry on pavement department from the gravel side. I had a road bike that had narrow clearance and a traditional, very nimble geo that I wasn’t quite cool with. My current gravel bike isn’t a so much gravel as it is a dirt road endurance bike with rather nimble geo for a gravel bike that’s closer to say a BMC road machine but clears a 45. I went through a period trying to decide if I wanted a new road bike with calmer geo or use the “gravel” bike and adapt it for road. After an experience where I did road bike the gravel cuz the road bike was laid up with a power meter issue so only one crank arm and also a gravel excursion to vermont with a lot of pavement I decided the gravel bike would make a decidedly boring road bike (for comparison said gravel bike has a shorter wheelbase, front center and steeper head angle than your crux). I went with a custom geo Ti road that came out similar to a giant defy or the new Aethos (didn’t know at the time that I was on trend). This thing is nigh “one bike to rule them all” with 35c clearance so kenda alluviums fit and function well on it and damn if it doesn’t handle easy gravel quite well. And it’s still nimble enough to be exactly as nimble as I want on the road which is where I spend most of my time. I took it on a gravel event that the previous year I used my “gravel” bike and I’ll say it did a great job, but not without shortcomings. There were many paved sections so this year I opted to favor those over the chunk and gnar. It did leave me wanting for bigger rubber in those chunk and gnar sections which still leaves room for a dedicated gravel bike, not to mention one with a higher and shorter front end than my road bike.

So long story short, you might find riding a gravel bike on road boring and sluggish, even your crux with road wheels/rubber, where as a road bike with “wide enough” tires might be close and almost capable but a little too twitch, too rough, and put your face too close to the action for gravel comfort. So yes, have 2 bikes but with a bit of overlap in capability. Truth be told I’ve now got an eye cocked at the trek checkmate or something like it for my n=3. A full sus gravel bike that overlaps with a hard tail a bit but doesn’t need different wheels. Can handle the extra chunky forest roads but maybe falls a little short on real MTB stuff.

Unless you are a pro or very competitive state elite rider, any will do the job, since it is the monkey not the bike. I use a checkpoint slr which is very comfortable vs my previous aerodynamic road bike, one set of road tires and one set of gravels. And depending of my physical condition and training I can challenge those on high end enve wheels ceramic, bla, bla bla, on the road. You can just ride on gravel tires and still maintain the pace of your peloton. For me is very convenient just 2 bikes (checkpoint and a xc mtb) and I enjoy occasionally competing on local races, mtb, gravel or road. Just look the one you fit comfortable and enjoy your rides.

Agree that it’s mostly about the rider, but I do think it depends on what your objectives are and how competitive you want to be. I don’t road race any more, so a gravel and XC bike are all I need for my focus on gravel racing and marathon XC. The gravel bike is more than good enough for road training and fast group rides on the road (even with gravel tires). But if road racing was still a focus, the aero penalty of the gravel bike is big enough that it would bother me and potentially affect results. Most of my best results on the road were solo finishes or small breaks where ~10 watts of aero advantage becomes non-trivial when spending extended time in the wind. The weight wouldn’t matter to me, a couple lbs isn’t going to alter my race results in any road race that I’d sign up for (ie - I’m way too heavy to be competitive in a road race with extended climbing regardless of bike weight).

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Totally agree. I was just wondering what your original motivation to try to get by with just one bike was.