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Gravel bikes are being hailed as the new all-purpose weapon in the cycling cosmos. From a technical point of view, the unsprung gravel bikes catapult us back to the early years of mountain biking. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? In search of an answer on the Orbit360 gravel adventure through Bavaria.
The term sale becomes sale, we order cookies ice cream in the ice cream parlour and gravel replaces the good old gravel road: While linguists criticise the advance of Anglicisms in the German language, the marketing machinery is happy about it, because new, hip trends can be created from them. The most recent prime example in the cycling cosmos: off-road racing bikes, aka gravel bikes, which even make it onto the pages of daily newspapers and lifestyle magazines. The bike industry is firing on all cylinders and supplying the right bikes in all price categories. In addition, special clothing from helmets to shoes, a professional scene including tough races and new events for the community. The idea: the gravel bike should appeal to road cyclists and mountain bikers alike. Some are happy about the freedom away from tarmac roads. For others, who are fed up with increasingly downhill-heavy bikes, the gravel bike is the panacea for relaxed rolling on gentle trails and gravel paths.
But how close is this trend to classic mountain biking with a rigid rear end? Or is this new type of bike even unnecessary for kilometre-loving hardtail bikers? We wanted to find out. Nowhere better to do this in Germany than on one of the 18 routes of the Orbit360 Gravel series.
This story is part of BIKE 9a/2021 "Trail". Order the Special issue of BIKE free shipping to your home or read the digital edition in the BIKE App for iOS or Android.
