Informative gravel vs. mountain bike comparo on GCN

[Jeremy McCreary]

Say what you want about GCN, but when it's good, it's really good. The gravel and mountain bikes under comparison here weren't electric, but the content still applies.

Of course, the playing field was heavily tilted toward the gravel bike in this 100-mile, mostly luxury gravel route. But the expert riders dropped many valuable pearls about gravel and mountain bikes along the way. Found the discussion of flat vs. drop bars particularly illuminating.

Speaking of their smooth, flattish gravel route through rural Somerset, Simon (the gravel bike rider) said at 7:00, "Absolutely premium gravel bike territory, this. Not going to win any awards for exhilaration, but as a way of cutting through the countryside away from cars, absolutely brilliant!"

Pretty much encapsulates one of gravel's main attractions. Also makes me very happy to have a Vado SL 1 with tubeless gravel tires for added compliance and offroad grip. Would have been a ton of fun on this route — possibly doable with a single range extender (at my pace , not theirs).

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I rode a full suspension e-MTB on one of metric century gravel group rides. Even if the MTB shone on the sand and steep climbs, it was too slow to even match the group, especially on asphalt. On the other hand, I could successfully ride a Vado SL 1 on big gravel group rides, the "slower" group, 80% assistance and four range extenders

My mate was second in a gravel e-Sprint 50 mile race riding a Vado SL. The female winner rode a powerful e-MTB with a big battery. The terrain was difficult all the way, including long segments of deep sand and many kilometres of rough cobblestone.