Can You Use A Gravel Bike As A Road Bike?

Eagle eyed (no pun intended) viewers may have spotted the spec of the gravel bike was different to what I described at the start of the video - turns out the original bike was dismantled so slightly higher spec addict gravel (minus rival levers) was subbed in! - francis

As a long term viewer of the channel, I find the content shifting more and more towards GCN and Co. All the sponsored stuff, the product reviews, quite similar. I don‘t mind but I kinda miss the days where the local cycling scene was involved, the social aspect was more present. Production value has skyrocketed and yet, I miss the spirit. Thanks for getting the vids out nontheless!

I have just bought a road wheelset to put on my gravel bike. I make the change in 6 min flat and enjoy whatever the day brings. I am super happy with the decision and encourage others to try it!!

Absolutely LOVE this debate and wish it could be covered more often. The whole idea of one bike to rule them all (for most people) with the popularization of disc brakes and gravel frames kind of means to me that can do about 90% of all riding with one bike and not really miss out anywhere. If you want to get into the rough stuff you'll need a mountain bike, and if you're getting into the ridiculously fast riding you'll want an aero bike. But MOST people I believe can probably have one bike with two (or even 3) sets of wheels!

Great discussion, I currently use a gravel bike as my primary road bike. I have 2 wheel sets, 28's on the road set up and they spend the most time on the bike, I have the 2x grx and am able to hold pace on club rides and with friends without issues. I can then pack the bike with bags etc for a bit of cycle touring or bikepacking. I never run out of gears and can climbs most gradients. For me it's the perfect and most cost effective set up. I have been riding the bike this way for over 2 years.

You nailed it. I mostly ride my old 2012 gravel bike now with 700x40mm tires and (usually) a semi-slick rear tire. I use a 48/32 rings x 11/34 cassette gearing. Amazing all the different things you can do with that set up alone. The road bike is mostly sitting on the trainer.

Great video Francis!! Been waiting for you guys to make a video just like this. I’m 15 and I started road riding a cheaper gravel bike last year and really got into the sport. I was noticing some difficulties and this video really helped explaining them.

Another open & honest review guys between the bikes & the variations of setups. As amateur cyclists, we have choices and we can mix them up with the resources we have👍

I've been using one bike on the road and gravel for the last three years. I love it. I swap the tyres around, I'd love to have two sets of wheels but hey ho, budget etc. I have a 2x set up, with a Praxis Alba chainset with 48/32 rings on it and a 11-34 cassette on the back. I've yet to feel under geared, even on a 100km ride last year when the folk i was riding with took it up to 40kmh plus on the ride home... I use SPD pedals, and love them. It's proper comfy on longer rides. I'm not going to race anymore, so I'm not stressing. Great video lads, nice one.

I recently switched over from a road bike to an All-Road (Ridley Grifn) with 35mm gravel tires (Schwalbe GS-ONE RS). I don't have any issues following my friends on their road bikes. I actually started off with 32mm road tires and they felt slower then the ones I have on now. I'm not regretting my decision so far. It's way more comfortable and I have more riding options. I did go for a 2x setup. I live in a quite hilly area (Tour of Flanders region), so having easy gears to go up hills like the Koppenberg is a real must.

Thanks for going through this comparison. I use my gravel bike to commute during the week and then take it on dirt on the weekend. I've also used it for bunch rides with slicks, and it was fine, even with the 1x 42T front chainring and 11-46 cassette.

Call me crazy but wouldn't this give more justification for going with a 2x groupset?

2x gravel bike with 2 sets of wheels, same cassette on both. Allows me to use my gravel bike everywhere comfortably. And no issues keeping up on group rides.

I bought a Merlin Malt G2P gravel bike, and a second wheelset. Gravel tyres on one set, 700x28's road tyres on the other. It's running SPD's and Tiagra 50/34 - 11/32 gear set up, and it's a great all round bike. 100% agree with this video :) Thanks guys.

Bought my Triban RC120 after watching your review. Got another pair of wheels, 650B with 40mm tubeless gravel tires, swapped out the stock crankset for one with 165mm cranks and 2 less teeth on the smaller ring (32T) as well as the cassett (x2) to another Microshift but with 6 more teeth on the largest cog (38T) and naturally a different Microshift RD with a long cage (didn't even need a Wolftooth!). Now it's got a suspension seat post and suspension stem and rides like the wind through the nearby forest roads on weekends. Weekdays I swap on the tubeless 28mm road tires and commute 45 minutes to work and home again. Gonna take it on tour from Stockholm to North Cape and down the Norwegian coast this summer, fully loaded with 15 litre rear panniers, fork bags, top tube frame bag and a Specialized Handlebar Harness. 63 litres of baggage space and the bike will probably weigh about 25kg - half of what I usually tour across continents with. But bet I'll be glad I got one lower gear on the new drivetrain!

I've used my gravel bike as a road bike for years 11,42 cassette with 42 chainring and 30mm road tyres .... absolutely fine

Spaced out cassettes to me seem a great training tool to become less dependent on a specific cadence. I came to a point in my MTB races (little elevation, tight singletrack) (9spd 12-27 and 12-25) that I shifted over a 1000 times per hour. Drove people around me nuts. When I bought a singlespeed bike, I found that the legs can indeed handle speed changes just fine. In many case, I was faster singlespeed than "using the gears". My legs got way better when I trained and at times raced singlespeed. It feels so powerful when you can use your les from a 60 rpm situation all the way up to 130 rpm and the people on shifter bikes just can't seem to follow the acceleration or pedal precision on singletrack. I now do my flat road rides on a 9spd 11-34 cassette and it's just fine. I deal with it. Used to have a frankencassette bike that was like 13-16-20-25-33. Makes it singlespeed for 5 scenarios. Within a scenario, there was not shifting. Headwind 20, no wind 16, tailwind or downhill 13. Mind hill 25, freak hill 33. Legs took the smaller speed differences. A really peaceful riding experience. Too many gears can hold a rider back, because legs are lazy so they will take a shift when there is one. Doesn't make it faster or a good way to train. In certian situations, I'm sure it can be. But then, I won races on a singlespeed against riders I'd not automatically beat with gears. Some of the best singletrack laps I've done were singlespeed, gears WOULD have held me back.

There are plenty of videos out there with the same title as this one, but this is by far the best one. For an average bike rider like myself you can do beautifully with a gravel bike and two sets of wheels! Go Francis and Jimmi!

Very good video and a lot of good points. My all around bike is a Trek 520. Gets me every where and I live on gravel roads. Did go to a 35 tire thou. Thanks for the video. Really enjoy your channel. Take care, Al

Trapped in a room today waiting for jury service and watched a load of cycling content pushed to me by the algorithm. Only Cade’s videos have a constant attention to narrative and flow and keeping me engaged. Not just “random thought” smash cut to cycling footage smash cut to “another random thought”. This is something I think about a lot, I have a carbon bike with endurance geometry, is it worth spending £5k to upgrade to aero when all I do is ride with mates? Prob not.