- 3 weeks ago
Gravel cycling and gravel bikes are booming in popularity but are they worth the hype and is gravel cycling really better than road cycling? In this video we take 2 Cube gravel bikes, one carbon gravel bike and one aluminium gravel bikes to go on a gravel cycling adventure to explain why we think that gravel bikes are best!
This video contains paid promotion on behalf of Oneway.
This video contains paid promotion on behalf of Oneway.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Gravel riding is so good. Isn't it good?
00:03Knackered now and I've only traveled about two meters.
00:09This is a gravel bike and this is a gravel bike and they vary quite a lot in price but
00:16today
00:16I don't think that matters one bit because today we're going to tell you why we like gravel bikes
00:22and why I think you might like gravel bikes too. You join us under the 1966 Severn Bridge.
00:29It doesn't get as much traffic as the new one anymore but even the new bridge that opened in 1996
00:35still far outdates gravel cycling as we know it. It's easy to see then why some skeptics call it
00:42a passing trend or just a phase whilst we realize that mountain bikes are better but actually I
00:48think that the popularity of gravel bikes has been driven by consumer demand and not brands trying
00:54to just push more product onto us. So today we're going to go through eight reasons why we think
01:00gravel bikes are great and one reason why we think they're less great. The good thing about gravel bikes
01:06is that they're great for adventure and so today I've devised us a challenge and by us I mean me
01:12and cameraman Ed I've got your bike. Thank you very much it looks lovely. It's a cappuccino coloured
01:18by Fiat 500. Great. And what we're going to be doing on these bikes today is trying to find the
01:25most
01:25easterly point of Wales. Is that not here? This could be a very short video. No no contrary to popular
01:33belief it is not here. I've heard that it's off-road and therefore we're going to need some gravel bikes.
01:39So today's video I suppose you could call it why gravel bikes are good. We're riding up the Y river.
01:52Ah Ed I've got you a present. What a coincidence I've got you a present I've got you two presents.
01:57Have you? Yep get a load of those. They're actually sick they match. I don't think I've ever seen
02:04matching bottle cages especially not when they've got a funky paint job like this. Well I've got you
02:08I've got you a bigger present. Now I know you like these. All right. What are they? Pianos?
02:17Oh yes. Yes. Luggage solutions. Acid make all sorts of bags that should fit on the bike very nicely.
02:26Am I actually going to need these? How long are we actually going for? I have no idea to be
02:30honest.
02:31I have no idea where the most easterly point of Wales is. It might just be down the road. Okay
02:36well hopefully I
02:36can accumulate some stuff to actually put in them on the way. Yes exactly.
02:43I'm very impressed Ed. I honestly didn't know that you had any fashion sense. I mean if I do then
02:48I'm not displaying it right now. Look at these. Oh those sorry. I thought you were complimenting
02:53my five-year-old cycling tights. Hang on. Get off my nose. Why do I have to look lame-o
03:01with the body mount?
03:07Now one of my issues with road riding is that the roads without traffic on during most of the year
03:13they only look a bit like this. And when they're like this you probably want to be on a gravel
03:19bike
03:19anyway. Hello. Off road. Actual off road. The gravel is cleaner than the road apparently. Uh-oh. We've got a
03:31fluorescent dog.
03:33Hi there. Thank you. So point number one why I think gravel bikes are good is that gravel bike rides
03:43are
03:43generally quite sociable. Like we can ride next to each other here. We can have a chat. We're in no
03:49one's way.
03:51And generally just having a nice time. Like this is what cycling is about most of the time isn't it?
03:59I know you can legally ride to rest on the road. Yeah. I never like doing it. It sometimes feels
04:06like
04:06bad to be honest. You do sometimes feel a bit of pressure especially if it's busy. You feel the
04:11pressure behind you. And I go cycling to try and relax. Yeah. Not to try and anger various people.
04:19Point number two of why I like gravel cycling. It's just there is so much variety. Now on the roads
04:26I know around me I've ridden them all countless times. If anything changes then I don't want it to
04:32change because it's normally that there's a massive pothole that's going to catch me by surprise or
04:36something. Whereas gravel it obviously changes with the seasons. There's generally some different stuff
04:42to see. And around me at least around here in Wales there is so much. It would take you absolutely
04:49years
04:51to tick off all the gravel routes. Look there's a little track that goes up there into those woods.
04:56There's some really technical stuff. There's some not very technical stuff. And of course there's all
05:02the road to join it up as well. Oh no. I think we've hit a hiccup. That's the bat tunnel.
05:10This was all
05:11old railway line. And yeah during the summer you can ride through. And then yeah it's closed at night
05:18time and also during the winter for the bats. Do you want to look through? Here you go.
05:35All right he's bloody attacked me now.
05:40Oh well that was quite a climb. I can see why they put a tunnel there. I know I'm actually
05:44quite warm.
05:45I'm starting to wish that I'd worn shorts. It is really warm actually. That can be a point.
05:50Point number three. Gravel cycling is always warm. Maybe not always warm. But it is warmer than road
05:57cycling. Because generally your speed's a bit lower. Sometimes you're in woods and like in a bit of
06:02shelter as well. But because your speed's lower you have less wind chill. Yeah. And you're still often
06:08trying as hard. Yeah. Because it's constant ups down, ups down. Yeah. So you're trying just as hard
06:13but you're travelling further. Yeah. Equals more heat.
06:24We're going this way Ed. Yeah. Right we're going to find the river now. I'm going to get a head
06:28start.
06:28All right. Duck.
06:42We started in Beachley. We're now here. If anything we've got further west. Which is not good.
06:49There must be somewhere further east. There you go. That bit there. You can always tell because of the
06:54names. Because like Kerhlan. That's got to be Welsh surely. Clearwell. English. 1876 this bridge was made.
07:03For trains. And gravel bikes. And gravel bikes. Yeah they were probably thinking of gravel bikes in 1876.
07:09I reckon so. Penny farthings. Oh with a gravel bike tyre on a penny farthing.
07:23Right. I forgot that we hadn't actually talked you through our bikes. So this is the bike that I've
07:28been riding. It's been excellent. It is the Cube New Road EX. And what that means is that I've got
07:34a
07:34nice carbon fibre frame. I've got a nice carbon fibre fork. The handlebars. They're also carbon fibre.
07:39The wheels. They're also carbon. In fact most things are carbon on this bike. They're from Newman.
07:44And on them I've got some Continental Terra Trail tyres. They're 45mm. But the frame itself just like
07:52Ed's has space for 50mm tyres. As for the group set. Well that is all Shimano GRX Di2. So electronic
08:00shifting. And it's got a 1x chain ring on the front. And 12 at the back. But this is 1152
08:06I think.
08:08I'm going to have to check. And then under here. This is a really nice touch. It's got a big
08:13plasticky
08:14rubber smash guard. So that when you're bombing it down a gravel descent. It's not going to
08:21smash into your carbon frame. And then as you can see I've got it kitted out with some acid bags.
08:27So
08:27little saddle bag there. What have I got in this one? I've got my gloves in that one. I thought
08:33that was a
08:33good place to put gloves. And then up top. What have I got in here? I've got my power bank
08:40for if my
08:41phone goes dead. And that's also powering the light. And then I've also got my AirPods for if
08:52Ed gets really boring. I can just nod along and pretend when he goes on about storage solutions.
08:58I love storage solutions. Do you remember that one time that I was bikepacking across Italy?
09:09Oh no. Progress has slowed down. Is this sustainable?
09:17This is literally a marsh. Yes. This is not exactly fast progress is it?
09:22Oh I found a solid bit. Oh well done. And it's over. The good thing is though you get back
09:30from a gravel
09:31bike ride and you always have a story. Yeah that's true. It's just always a story like oh yeah I
09:38rode
09:38through a marsh or I ended up in a river or I got chased by a bull. Well so once
09:45you're covered in mud
09:47you're covered in mud it doesn't really get much worse than that. You can't get any muddier. I feel
09:50like once you are covered in mud that's when the fun really starts. Hopefully that's the end of that.
09:57Uh no. What another field? Not a field. I think you can push or pull these gates. It's single track
10:03now.
10:04Huh? I think you can push or pull the gates. Well it's a bit late to tell me that isn't
10:08it?
10:10Oh no. A whole new challenge. Oh good. Muddy single track with nowhere else to go. Aha.
10:17Yeah Ed's gone for that out the saddle technique. It's working quite well. Yeah if you're lacking
10:22rear traction get out the saddle apparently. Oh s**t. Uh no.
10:32Come on. Come on. Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh no. That's what I mean. Gravel cycling. Just little micro
10:42challenges. Like can you do it? Can you not do it? Who knows? Oh god. Serious wheel spin.
11:02All right. So my bike for the day has been the Cube New Road Race. It has got an aluminium
11:07frame.
11:08It's got Newman alloy wheels. 2x12 GRX groupset. So you don't want for any more gears. It's been
11:15absolutely fine today. Plenty of mounting points which is a good one. You've got mounts on the forks.
11:19You've got a mount under here which is currently holding a pump. You've got three bottle cages at
11:24the bottom. You've got a sort of tool storage. You've got mudguard mounts as well which
11:28kind of wishing that we'd actually made use of. And also my gift which is this bar bag on the
11:33front
11:33which was crammed full of stuff but I've eaten all the food and I've had to put all my layers
11:37on
11:37because it is starting to get quite cold. Are you enjoying yourself Ed? Oh yeah. Do you like gravel?
11:44Love it. This isn't gravel. Everything's gravel. Not this.
11:54So that bike Ed. 1500 pounds or 1499 pounds. I don't really for gravel for this sort of riding
12:03I don't really see why I'd feel the need to spend more than that. Is that another point?
12:08I think it might be another point. Point number five. Don't think you have to spend
12:13as much on a gravel bike as you might feel
12:16inclined to on a road bike. We've got a ditch. I might have to stop you there.
12:21Hang on. Go on. Go on. Go on. Go on. Go on. Pedal. Pedal. Pedal.
12:26Better. So close. Right. What bit looks good? That bit looks good.
12:33Oh yeah. Well done. Done it. What were we saying? I've completely forgotten. Gravel bikes. I don't
12:41think you have to spend as much money on them as you might want to with a road bike. You
12:45don't need
12:46to spend a lot to have a good time do you on gravel. There's some really capable not that expensive
12:53bikes.
12:53We would not be having a better time on more expensive bikes. No. Once you've got the tyre
12:59clearance you're basically there. Yeah that one's got 50 mil. Well this one's got 50 mil as well.
13:04Yeah whereas in the road I know you don't need to spend a lot but it sometimes does become a
13:09bit
13:10of an arms race of if you spend more you go faster. Also you've got the other issue of if
13:17you spend
13:171500 quid on a road bike which you can do but you can't then ride it anywhere else. You have
13:24to ride
13:24it on the road. Whereas spend 1500 quid on a gravel bike you can ride that to work. You can
13:32ride it on
13:32the gravel rides at the weekend. If you are taking it on a road ride you can ride on roads.
13:38It just
13:39doesn't work the other way around. Well that's another thing like you can spend you know up to
13:4510 grand on the gravel bike. Are you really going to be wanting to be sending that down rocky descents
13:53and whatnot like are you really going to like let yourself loose and have the same amount of fun on
13:57it as you could do if you got a cheaper one because you're just going to be paranoid the whole
14:00time
14:00that you're going to you know break it. Also and this might sound a bit counterintuitive
14:08even though we're on a ride and I've almost fallen off like four times and by the end of the
14:13ride
14:14I might have fallen off I still think it's safer than road riding. I think it's certainly a softer
14:21landing. Yeah in most cases. Jesus I think we're going up against the stream because keep going
14:28don't stop. I'm subject to soft landing. Don't stop. I think the consequences of falling off are just so
14:34much less. Back brake not front brake. Okay. All right. Yeah almost slid out and ended up in the river.
14:44I've lost Ed again. Another thing with gravel opposed to the road it's not as embarrassing
14:52if you have to get off and push. I mean it is but I'll let you off. Yeah but we
14:59couldn't have ridden up this. Whereas if you're getting tired up a climb. Come on. We're yeah.
15:04We've got an easterly point to find Ed. Yeah. Having a good time? Yeah. Always when gravel riding.
15:10Oh my head is out and pained.
15:19Oh he's going for the overtake. Hello. He's had his cheese ploughmans and now look at him.
15:31You've got a bell. I have got a bell. Where's the bell? On the way. Oh I forgot. You just
15:36double
15:37tap the screen. You're one of them. Look at that. One of what? One of those bell people.
15:47Ah you got my face muddy. Stop with the bell.
15:54Right we must be getting close now. I'm feeling that I'm very far east.
15:58Well we're making good progress now that we're out of the uh marshland. Yeah since Monmouth it's
16:04been it's been easy going. Much better. This is more what I think of when I think of gravel for
16:09gravel riding. Ah rather than sludging through water. But is that not the great thing you can
16:17do either? To be fair we did get through it. Exactly. And now we've got a story and a video.
16:24Yeah. And we can go to work next week and we can say to everyone. Ha we rode through a
16:30bog.
16:32What did they do? I rode around my usual 30k loop. It took me one hour and 10 minutes and
16:40yesterday it
16:40only took me one hour and nine minutes. That was my impression of a road cyclist. It was good. Right
16:48well we're leaving the river Wye behind us and I reckon just up here is our target. The easternmost
16:55point of Wales. Let's go and see if we can find it. I'm quite like the lean that you're doing
17:14actually.
17:17I don't know if that works actually. I'm just gonna stand like this. Well this is a massive anti-climax
17:22really. Just there that's Wales. Just here this is England. Fish and chips cost about four times
17:32the price over this side of the line. Yeah I was expecting a rock or something at least. Yeah
17:38border patrol. Yeah nothing. Yeah I didn't even have to get my passport out. Anyway I guess it's more
17:43about the journey than the destination. However I did say at the start of the video that there was one
17:49thing that I don't like about gravel cycling and I think it's a pertinent one. I think it's a one
17:57that
17:58is only going to become more important and that is that people talk about the spirit of gravel all the
18:03time and over the summer I did a few events. I did a world series gravel event and I also
18:13did the
18:13British national gravel champs both of which put me off gravel cycling. Not as a whole just off of that
18:21type of gravel cycling because there was no spirit of gravel. I always wondered what people were on
18:27about when they were going on about this spirit of gravel and I think today we have encompassed
18:32that spirit. We have walked. We've taken in the views and stuff like that. There of course is now
18:40gravel racing. I've done gravel racing. I've enjoyed gravel racing in in small doses but I think it's
18:46important that not everyone thinks gravel racing is for them. It's not for everyone. It's going to be
18:52for the nichest of fit aero clad whoever's just like road racing is just for world tour pros. Well yeah
19:03and as soon as you start introducing the kind of technology that comes with racing you're losing
19:08they're just getting out and having fun and getting muddy and not caring at speeds that's kind of gone
19:14again because you're obsessing over like marginal things and spending money on it and whatnot and
19:19yeah so if there is a spirit of gravel it's that it doesn't require caring about like any of those
19:25things. Exactly. Well I hope that you've liked this. I hope that you've liked this and I hope we've
19:30managed to show you what is good about gravel or what we think is good anyway. If you have liked
19:34the
19:34look for these bikes then you can check them out on the Cube website. We'll pop a link down in
19:38the
19:38description below and if you like this type of content then please give it a like, subscribe
19:43to the channel for lots more bike stuff and we'll see you next time.
Comments