Is there a bicycle that serves all surface and distance types?
It is clear that participating in a test of Cross country Going up and going down the mountain with a road bike is not the most comfortable in the world. In the same way, we are clear that a mountain bike It is not the most appropriate to make the breakthrough or simply leave the road through the road. But lately it seems that a new bicycle category designed to combine both asphalted stretches and rolling by ground tracks and roads without asphalting is being fashionable. They are the calls Gravel bicycles. This new category is designed to meet the needs of those who alternate the road with forest roads and tracks. But really serious bicycles are used for everything or is it an invention of brands? For what type of user is this bicycle? What can and what cannot be done with them? How is it different from other bicycles? Then I will try to clarify all these doubts based on my experience.
What is the Grave?
Gravel is a concept that was born in the United States, where it has already been implemented for years. Basically, part of the idea of mixing resistance and versatility in different fields of cycling bicycles, with the comfort of Type endurance or great background.
Gravel bicycles are not devised for competition, but rather they are focused on adventure and funThat is why a bicycle is achieved that is worth both to go by road and by ground, mud or some somewhat broken land, always from the point of view of leisure, since, although they begin to see races and marches of serious, these these Bicycles are not devised for competition, if not rather focused on adventure and fun. Neither the light weight nor the aggressiveness are the values of this bicycle, but the comfort, with more width handle, the stability with the highest distances between axes and a pedalier lower than those of Ciclocross. They also offer the possibility of mounting much wider covers thanks to a greater step by wheel both in the box and in the fork, and they are also usually prepared with special supports for luggage or saddlebags, known today as BIkepacking. Hence, they are also known as adventure bicycles.
Why can I go with these bicycles?
Here we find one of the strengths of these bicycles, and that is that thanks to their versatility and versatility they provide us with great freedom when choosing our route. Thus take a turn to this wonderful sport and makes us consider our exits from a completely different point of view to what we are accustomed to road or mountain bicycles. We can insert kilometers by road, without feeling excessively weighed -in the right pressure the Serlal covers roll very well -with tracks, roads and even paths, feeling a speed that we will not reach with the mountain bicycles.
Brands like Specialized, Canyon either Cannondale They are implementing damping systems on their serious bicycles to make them more comfortableHere in Spain we are privileged by the kilometers and kilometers of roads that are suitable for Gravel bicycles, which although it is true that a priori Its perfect site can be the plateau with its Zahorra tracks that connect farms and roads, the rest of the country is also plagued with ideal roads for this discipline.
Are they more comfortable on roads and paths than mountain bicycles?
Another example is the innovative handlebar Grave Cockpit And the shell VCLS of the Canyon Carbon grail, which makes both flex mm to improve comfort. There are also other brands, such as Cannondale, They are testing with rear suspension systems acting on the straps with a through axis pivot. It should be noted that no damping system for Gravel, whether front or rear suspension, contemplates a larger route of 30mm.
Is the Serlal for me?
Without a doubt this is the most personal point of all. The first thing one should do is put on the table with total sincerity they sew them that you like the most about the bicycle, what routes are the ones that enjoy the most, which ones are usually done, what space it has to store the bicycle (¿ Another bike? impossible!), Budget, etc. From there everything will be easier to decide and hit. It is clear that if yours is to download trialeras to open grave or if you are obsessed with low that the malvendas in a few months due to lack of use. However, if yours is not to get into impossible paths, since your priority is comfort and want a bike that is worth almost everything, you may have the perfect ally. On the other hand, here in Spain it is very stated in the novel cycatourists to buy a MTB first bicycle with a fork that really do not need and mounted with inappropriate covers for the use they will give it, how not to leave the 10 Kilometers of road around your home or make the green path that you have closer. Probably, what would really cover your needs would be a serious bicycle mounted with some developments in accordance with your level and the orography in which it moves, instead of a mountain bike.
Conclusions about Serlal bicycles
First we might think: “Another type of bicycle no, please! Marks are evil and just want our money by creating needs from the marketing departments! ” And it is that lately it seems that you have to have a specific bicycle for everything you do. Who knows, the same will soon take out the perfect bicycle to go looking for bread. But the concept of serious bicycles goes much further, and that is that thanks to the combinations that are today of cars or double dish, increasingly large cassettes that give us more developments of developments, etc., you can find an adequate configuration to each person and may become your only bicycle. For example, you can have two wheel games, one with wider and taned roofs for when you want of road, by the time you want to go out with your grupeta colleagues. Whether you are willing to try them as if not, the truth is that serious bicycles have come to stay and give us many joys to the most adventurous cyclists or cyclists.
