But I’m also into paddling but don’t get paddleboarding either. And everyone’s mad for them too. At least I tried SUP once.

Here’s a list. Drop bars, hunched over, back-wrecking, neck-aching riding position; no droppers because of the high top tube; thin skittery tyres; rigid frames!; clip-on pedals. For off roading? Why suffer, it’s not the 1990s anymore.
Other than it’s a bike and they thankfully don’t have rim brakes, I just don’t get it for all-terrain riding. Is it a character building form of under-biking like cyclocross, or another irritatingly effective marketing victory for the emperor’s new clothes that came in around the same time as the term: ‘bikepacking’?

The clue’s in the name: designed for roads and easy, flat dirt tracks. But in my experience off-road surfaces are never consistently smooth for long. There’ll come a time like below (NZ end to end; a mate’s picture) when things turn gnarly and you struggle without suspension, fatter tyres and lower gearing.

The other day riding the Kerry Ridgeway on the Welsh borders I actually met some gravel bikers to set me straight – three middle-aged mates doing an accommodated tour with about a third off-road. And they weren’t just trend following dilettantes but were into MTB track days and maybe other cycling disciplines too. They admitted GBs (below) had compromises, but clearly not enough to put them off. We both ended up riding there and back along the 20km Ridgeway, and once back at the start point, I was sure glad I’d not done it hunched over a rigid, high-geared, drop bar bike, easy though the Ridgeway was.

Another road rider I know switched from his razor-tyred racer to a gravel bike for his city fitness rides and hasn’t looked back; the relative comfort and stability gains were clear. It’s a point I saw made online: want a road bike for fitness and fun? Then get a gravel bike unless you’re a hardcore racer.

I remember when MTBs reached the UK in the mid-80s. A breath of fresh air that went on to prove it wasn’t another trans-Atlantic fad. Flat bars to sit up and look around from, all the vital controls at hand, like a motorbike, no mushy brakes or groping for friction gear changers somewhere on the downtube. And within a few years we got disc brakes and suspension, just like motor vehicles and horse carts.
They say GBs are faster on the road than a knobbly tyred MTB, but, efficiency apart, so what? With pedals and wheels plus a chain you’ll get there. They also say the GBs are the Swiss Army knives of bikes when surely and MTB or even a hybrid fits that description much better. I also read that GB tyres are getting fatter (or tyre clearance is increasing) and short front suspension is creeping in too, but on loose surfaced trails I’ll still take a fat-tyred flat bar.

If I had to go rigid I’d sooner get another Cro-Mo Surly CrossCheck but with disc brakes. There’s something very appealing about the clean minimalism of rigid pushbike – the very opposite of my lardy Tero X5! Or I’d get something like the Merida Speedster (above). Or, I could just put a rigid fork on my slim-tyred Merida Big Trail and get the dropper, low gears, low stand-over and pounding for free.

Since writing this I reviewed the Gravel Rides South West England book and even tried a couple of the book’s suggested routes in Cornwall, Dartmoor and Purbeck. The rougher stages of those trails would have been pretty miserable on a gravel bike.

Inline Luggage
And when it comes to what I call ‘inline baggage’ which bikepacking gravel bikes use (above), I don’t fully get that either. Yes, you ditch the weight of a rear rack (all of 400g), but real world weight savings come in simply reducing your payload, not ways to carry it efficiently. I admit the spacious front triangle on old-style frame has always looked like an eminently fillable space. But I read that daily packing and securely mounting/dismounting inline baggage is a faff. I’ll take a rack and some clip-on Orts any day.

If the ‘Panniers vs Bikepacking Bags’ table towards the bottom of this page is to be believed, using the given figures of an albeit massive 102 litres of front and rear racked load volume vs less than 43L of inline, of course the smaller inline baggage will be lighter. A 102L of pannier volume has a: ’51kg’ potential according to their calcs – 43L inline has 21.5kg. But balance the two set ups volume for volume and the actual difference evaporates. Multiply 43 or 21.5 by 2.27 and you get the same, magical 102 and 51. You effectively save nothing but lose the benefits of easy lift-on/off panniers instead of groping about with straps every morning. Baggage weight saving simply adds up taking less stuff, just like it always did.

But then I’ll also admit I’ve never really got front racks either – you’d think they certainly kill any dirt trail steering agility. I managed to ride for a month from China to Pakistan, and the following year over the Indian Himalaya without any (above left), though my mate Steve had the whole four-pan set up (above right) and did fine too. We were doing no more than high altitude gravel biking before it became a thing.

Yes, but what does the Internet say?
After finishing writing this I decided to see what everyone else thinks.
What about our forthright chums on Reddit?. Nothing I skimmed there convinces me I’m on the wrong [gravel] track. And below is a PoV uploaded just yesterday and cued up to start where she gets to the point. I forget exactly what an ‘XC’ MTB is, but she makes an interesting observation: in the UK our day rides inevitably include quiet backroads between trail stages where a gravel bike feels more efficient. I must say I enjoy traffic- and gate-free backroads just as much as more demanding trails on either of my MTBs. Towards the end she spells out the cripplingly obvious: away from smooth groomed trails, XCs [MTBs] ride dirt better. As a top comment (when I looked) observed: ‘… hardtail xc bike is our gravel bike, gravel bike is our road bike!’ Yep.

And below is a typically lively West Coast PoV – a little bit shouty but he hits the point right off the bat. Two to three mins was enough for me to get the message which includes ‘… descents [on an MTB] are exhilarating as opposed to terrifying.’ Yep.

Bottom Line
Every rec ride I do includes some trails – they’re why I cycle. I feel safer, more comfrotable and more in control on the dirt with an MTB and dealt with road riding tyre drag and squirm ages ago by ditching knobblies for Schwalbe JWs on my Tero X5, or Contis DFs on my Merida HT. Both do dry trails and feel more secure braking hard into fast downhill bends.
But trying is believing and there are no bad bikes, just a sub-optimal place to use them. One day I may find that out. Or maybe I already have.