Is it just me or do you also have an uncontrollable urge to buy a bike and ride it on a dirt road? It’s nearly all you can read about these days. I will not succumb yet, but the endless advertising is slowly chipping away at my resistance.
https://www.cyclist.co.uk/in-depth/2718/the-best-uk-gravel-events-for-2020
The Vicious Cycle 
I don’t get it, just get a mountain bike and enjoy the gravel and other tracks properly and in comfort 😊
I immediately thought about MTB, not to mention CX. I know the answer, but why do we need to buy a new bike just for gravel? 😉
omg. yes. keep fantasizing selling the hybrid & 2 MTBs gathering dust in our cave in exchange for a gravel bike.
there’s an amusing GCN video (of course) comparing gravel bikes to 90s-era MTBs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC_xFpg_UmA
although where you live, you might actually have access to interesting single-track. maybe it’s time to explore the trails of ventoux?
I have seen that video pop up but haven’t watched it yet (I will). I’d like to see a comparison between gravel and CX, but I don’t have enough money right now to go and look! K has brought up this amazing looking ride in the Alps along the border of Italy and France to me and I just happened upon bits of it on Street View the other day. I’m tempted.
Absolutely no desire. I’m not just a clean freak, I’m a clean super freak. So riding a bike in dust, dirt and grime isn’t my thing. Also, I’m into down sizing everything, including the bikes I own. My formula is N-1. I only own bikes a ride on a regular basis.
Getting ready for the big Down Size, I see. I never thought of you as N-1, but then again I know you usually trade in your old ones when you get a new Rossetti. I suppose I just never thought about it. I don’t think about the dirt part of riding in dirt, but I should. It took me months to get the Strade Bianche out of my bike the first time I rode that thing.
Oh, that pull is real, brother! Do it. You’ll love it! Well, I did, and I do, anyway. Gravel is good stuff.
Do you do that on a ‘gravel bike’, Jim?
I do. I have a gravel and a mountain bike but I prefer the gravel bike. Mountain bikes are great, but because I’m so much a roadie, I just feel more comfortable on a road setup. The gravel rig is a little “faster”, which suits my spirit a little better.
https://fitrecovery.wordpress.com/2019/11/07/doin-it-in-the-dirt-the-rise-of-the-gravel-bike-craze-why-gettin-dirty-is-where-its-at-and-the-advantages-over-mountain-bikes/
Gravel bikes are overrated.
I can only imagine they are, since you can certainly ride on gravel with other types of bikes. Do you have one?
Nope. I’m not falling for the hyped up marketing creation (this time). I do have a CX bike though.
I’m with you on that…for now. My excuse, if I do buy one, will be that I don’t actually have a CX or MTB.
I’ve got a hardtail MTB which is fine on gravel and much more capable and fun once that gravel turns to singletrack trails! Apart from the lesser traffic, I don’t see the overwhelming appeal of riding gravel roads.