Will gravel bikes go towards full suspension?

[Marin]

It does handle like a truck compared to my Ritchey Logic road bike though.

Funnily enough, before I had my Heretic, I would ride my Ritchey Logic - on 27mm Open Pavés - on gravel a lot. So does Tom Ritchey himself BTW - check out the video for some trail action.




http://www.roadbikereview.com/reviews/v ... om-ritchey

[AJS914]

He keeps a Silca pump on that bike - now that is old school!

[icenutter]

I don't reckon we'll see full sus road bikes. I can see the value in front, but not rear. It's really a compromise at the rear that doesn't work out. It'd add maybe 1kg to the frame, but only be of use every once in a while on a particularly rough bit. And you can always stand up for that.

[Stalkan]

It does handle like a truck compared to my Ritchey Logic road bike though.

A couple of years ago I built up a Niner RLT and while comfy and sharp looking, I felt it handled in the exact same manner as you describe. The UP is much quicker responding even though I am running much larger rubber (33c LAS vs 2.1" Thunder Burts). There is some give in the tires that takes some of that sharpness out of the handling in the UP ( I run ~17/22psi F/R), but the bike does not disappoint in it's ability to carve. It really does leave one thinking they could rock an UP in a Crit with only a tire/wheel change.. I'm really curious how it would feel with some 28 or 30 road tires. I'll probably never know as I prefer the comfort of the fatties and if I want to ride skinny tires I have plenty of other bikes that are already setup that way.

Interestingly, the guy I sold the RLT to preferred it's handling to his CAADX and currently uses it as his race rig for CX. So, I guess we all have different perspectives on how a bike should handle or perhaps certain bikes/geos work better for some styles vs others?

[icenutter]

Geometry is always a compromise, so what suits me might be an unrideable heap for someone else.

But over time things settle down on optimums.

[F45]

I see enough people on fs mountain bikes riding gravel that I'm sure there's a market for it. I find my 38mm tubeless tires to be more than enough.

[TheKaiser]

Yeah, between fatter and very supple tires, and built in compliance systems like the Domane decouplers, Canyon hi-flex seatpost, redshift stem, general frame flex enhancements, etc...I don't think an actual "full suspension" in the MTB sense is needed for gravel, or at least the sort of gravel that I think most users are riding.

Having said that, "gravel" itself is a very broad category, with some people riding finely polished dirt roads and calling it gravel even though a road racing bike would handle it fine, with other people doing back country bikepacking that perhaps might actually be better done on a MTB.