I'm curious to know what others road conditions are like that would not make full-suspension a better option.
I live in San Bernardino high desert and there are many, many dirt roads and they are 95 percent ungraded. Since I started 'gravel' five years ago, I've done front-suspension gravel, rigid gravel and full-sus gravel. My two current bikes could both be considered drop-bar mtbs because that is what the frames are, but that is not how I use them at all. I use my rigid bike for mostly rough pavement and riding paved mountain roads above 5,000 feet where the surface is bad going up and down. I use the full-sus bike for everything else. It has aerobars which I can ride comfortably and fast off-road.
Recently the full-sus was down for a bit and I did some mixed-surface rides on my rigid and I did not like it one bit. I just can't see how full-sus is not faster in every condition except climbing paved roads. After an hour of my local dirt on rigid, i feel like I've had the crap beat out of me and that is riding with 46-48mm tires at 22-25 psi. I won't even mention the weight of my full-sus because the weenies will cry foul and tell me it has to be the slowest bike in creation, but I'm guessing they don't ride where I do.
Where can you ride rigid with 35-40mm tires and not have your kidneys shaken to death? This thought has been on my mind lately.
ccand51997 wrote:I'm curious to know what others road conditions are like that would not make full-suspension a better option.
I live in San Bernardino high desert and there are many, many dirt roads and they are 95 percent ungraded. Since I started 'gravel' five years ago, I've done front-suspension gravel, rigid gravel and full-sus gravel. My two current bikes could both be considered drop-bar mtbs because that is what the frames are, but that is not how I use them at all. I use my rigid bike for mostly rough pavement and riding paved mountain roads above 5,000 feet where the surface is bad going up and down. I use the full-sus bike for everything else. It has aerobars which I can ride comfortably and fast off-road.
Recently the full-sus was down for a bit and I did some mixed-surface rides on my rigid and I did not like it one bit. I just can't see how full-sus is not faster in every condition except climbing paved roads. After an hour of my local dirt on rigid, i feel like I've had the crap beat out of me and that is riding with 46-48mm tires at 22-25 psi. I won't even mention the weight of my full-sus because the weenies will cry foul and tell me it has to be the slowest bike in creation, but I'm guessing they don't ride where I do.
Where can you ride rigid with 35-40mm tires and not have your kidneys shaken to death? This thought has been on my mind lately.
Logically, it all depends where everyone rides. I think we’re all over the map (pun)! I’m northwest of Toronto and in the rural areas I ride 70-80% of the roads are paved. There are also at least a couple rail trails. The gravel roads are a bit uncomfortable on 40mm tubeless tires. If I drop the psi down to 25-30 they’re noticeably more comfortable, but tires are sluggish on paved roads (way more paved than gravel as I said). If I rode where you are, sounds like suspension would be very helpful.
Our "gravel" here in the northeast is mostly well cared for dirt roads. Depending on how rural, I go from 30mm slicks (rail trail), 32mm Pana SK (dirt roads), to a whopping 36 mm if it is going to be a bit looser materials.
Where I ride (Hudson Valley, NY), it's actual gravel of various grits, dirt, and rocky dirt. On some of it, suspension would be nice (and maybe a little faster)--but I do have a shockstem and a compliant seatpost, and that takes the edge off. One of the main reasons why I didn't want a suspension fork or full squish is about maintenance and complexity. It's fun to be able to just ride without having to deal with that.
I ride 80% on the road and 20% on a mix of fire roads and trails. I have a MTB as well, but don't use it much because I don't like riding it for the half hour of road to and from the start of the trails. So typically I'll climb on the road and descend off road. I've just adjusted my riding habits to the gravel bike - slower descents, no trails that would have me break my wheels or my head...
In western MN, Class V gravel. Chunky and wash boarded. During planting and harvest times, lots of heavy equipment traffic so it gets beat into submission. I live in rural MN, so the only pavement I ride is the .25 miles out of town to the gravel. I don't have suspension per say. I've got a checkpoint with the isospeed decoupler in the seat tube. I've also installed the Redshift shock stopper stem. I just went up in tire size last fall to GK 43's for a more cushy ride and better performance in deep chunky gravel.
Gravel in Az is definitely not smooth and often it is jeep, dirt road. The scenery makes up for the less cared for roads. I have 2 gravel bikes on which I have stem shocks and can notice the difference with road chatter. I also ride only tubeless which allows lower psi and that makes the biggest difference on my 38-47 mm tires that I switch out depending on road conditions. I have a hardtail and full susp mtb and definitely feel that they are slower and climb less well unless the trail is particularly gnarly (on which I would not ride a gravel bike anyway). The reduction in road chatter with suspension does not overcome the fatigue of having to work harder overall with a full susp bike especially when the ride gets out 30 or more miles.
We get above-zero days. They just come with mud, black flies, or mosquitos. 😊
A gravel bike with 38s(biggest I can fit) works well for the mixed-surface rides I do most often. If I know it’s going to be mostly dirt and rougher I’ve got a rigid MTB with fast 2.3s.
We get above-zero days. They just come with mud, black flies, or mosquitos. 😊
A gravel bike with 38s(biggest I can fit) works well for the mixed-surface rides I do most often. If I know it’s going to be mostly dirt and rougher I’ve got a rigid MTB with fast 2.3s.
One of my favorite rides was the Vermont Overland Maple Adventure ride. 30 miles and the SAG stations had peanut butter and maple sandwiches and Knob Creek bourbon. But in my experience, it definitely looked like this:
One of my favorite rides was the Vermont Overland Maple Adventure ride. 30 miles and the SAG stations had peanut butter and maple sandwiches and Knob Creek bourbon. But in my experience, it definitely looked like this:
Man, that looks like a disaster! Some Paris 2 Ancaster here in Ontario have been nasty, but only 70k and relatively flat so not suffering for too long
Being able to match geometry and tire size to every possible gravel riding condition that exists requires more flexibility than any single bike can offer.
I cannot think of a single type of gravel riding I want to do in which suspension, let alone full squish, would be advantageous. Using a gravel bike to purposely ride technical single track is like having sex for the herpes.
Try riding the full squish rig 200 miles at Unbound and let me know how it goes.
What is this “gravel” you speak of? 🤨 Maybe the “gravel” they spread on the roads and then spray with oil?
The only gravel near me is about 4 miles of potholed dirt road. Other than that, it’s paved, chip sealed, rail trails or snowmobile trails. On the plus side, I have miles and miles of quiet backroads and little to no traffic.
I have a Lefty on the front of my bike, but it’s really overkill, with 650bs.
I rode a small gravel hill three days apart, first with my gravel bike and then with my mountain bike. Roughly 2 miles, with 350 feet of vertical in 3/4 mile, a relatively flat 1/4 mile section, then the 1 mile descent. I was very surprised to learn that for a work effort that was nearly identical to the kilojoule, the 15 pounds heavier mountain bike was 6 minutes faster. This really surprised me.
For smoother ascents, I am always faster on my ~20lb gravel bike but almost never on the descents. I stopped taking my gravel bike on actual mountain bike trails/singletrack...too uncomfortable and not fun since you can't launch them over things. I use it for gravel and dirt roads. Trails...I use one of my two mountain bikes- an Ibis or a Pivot. Taking my gravel bike to trails would be too jarring, uncomfortable, and way too unsafe if going fast enough on descents. On smooth dirt and gravel though, I'm always significantly faster on the lighter gravel bike. My MTBs weigh 29 and 31 lbs (as heavy as I like them for climbing).
I don't have experience with full suspension of yore, yet marvel at what has been achieved wrt efficiency and low mass. Yet, with 38c, Redshift stem and Ergon/Canyon clone twin-beam seat post I get a LOT of compliance over poor urban infrastructure as well hard gravel. Not sure I'll join the springier world....
