gravel

It’s no secret that drop bar gravel riding and racing is hitting its stride and that’s even more apparent by the influx of custom bikes popping up within the bike industry. While most if not all production versions resemble cyclocross bikes rather than mountain bikes, clever insiders are pushing the concept of making custom, more ...

Adventure outlet REI is ushering in spring 2017 with their new bike line, Co-op Cycles. This new line of bicycles increases their focus on adventure products by placing a slightly increased emphasis on the popular, and growing, segment of gravel and adventure inspired bikes. Feedback from a co-op members survey directed REI’s decision making after ...

Words by Jeffrey Stern, photos courtesy of Eroica California Passing over rolling hill after rolling hill, surrounded by lush vineyards and old barns with signing birds, wispy clouds and blue skies you’d think you were in the famed Tuscan region of Italy. But no, you’re actually right here in the lower 48, the Central Coast ...

Ed. Note: Mountain Bike Trailer Park is a regular column written by Uncle Dan that appears monthly on the Dirt Rag Interwebs. If you missed his previous columns, check them out here.  My wife grumbles as the alarm sounds. It’s Saturday and she wants to sleep a little longer. She rolls away on her side ...

Words by Jeffrey Stern No longer a fad, but a full blown discipline covering a wide range of mixed surfaces such as dirt, sand, pothole-littered pavement, grass and of course, gravel. Events are springing up across the country featuring long courses, winding through relatively untraveled roads in the most remote corners of states. Gravel grinding, ...

The Dirty Kanza 200 is known as one of the first endurance gravel races in the world. It’s also known as one of the most challenging. Sending competitors out on the rugged, remote and soul-crushing dirt and gravel roads through the Flint Hills region of Kansas, the Dirty Kanza sells out all of its racer ...

This year is Marin Bikes’ 30th anniversary, and it marks the introduction of an all-new “utilitour” model, the Four Corners. The neutral gray steel frame gives the bike a timeless look, while disc brakes, wide tire clearance and an upright riding position keep pace with cyclists’ expectations for adventure touring and bikepacking.

Kona is pretty well known as a mountain bike brand, but it also has plenty of road-going products with finger-in-your-eye mountain bike attitude. While many companies start with road racing bikes and then branch out into adventure, travel and commuting, Kona focuses solely on the kind of bikes you’d expect to see in Bicycle Times.

Tester: Justin Steiner Price: $620 (frameset) Weight: 7.1 pounds (frameset) Sizes: 50, 52 (tested), 54, 56, 58, 60, 62 cm I’ve always been a sucker for bicycles that offer heaps of versatility. Sure, some folks will argue that aiming for versatility results in a “jack-of-all-trades, master of none” scenario, but in reality most of us ...

The first Sequoia bikes were designed by Tim Neenan as a road bike with an adventure attitude. The second generation, designed by Jim Merz, evolved into a full-blown touring rig to take you around the world. The name appeared on a series of, let’s say, “less-than-exciting” hybrids and city bikes through the years, but has ...

Tester: Eric McKeegan Price: $1,500 Weight: 22.4 pounds Sizes: 43, 45, 51, 54, 56, 58 (tested), 61 More info: Felt Bicycles V85 Felt makes a lot of drop-bar bikes: race, endurance, aero, cyclocross, track and women’s. This V85 is the middle child of the adventure branch of the Felt drop-bar family. What makes this bike ...

What the heck is this thing? It seems completely out of left field. It’s a mountain bike with drop bars, right? Not even close. So it’s an adventuremobile gravel grinder? Wrong again. Cannondale labels the new Slate as a “new road” bike, and I’d say it leans heavily toward just that: roads. Dirt roads sure, ...

Every day is a good day for an adventure bike! This one comes to us by way of REI. Say hello to the steel Novara Mazama, designed for bikepacking, grinding gravel and all of your off-the-beaten-path adventures. It seems to work well on the plain-old road too, just in case you were wondering. At first ...

The original inspiration for Soma’s Wolverine was “monster cross,” but this frame’s geometry, versatility and even the screaming orange means you shouldn’t save it for just one, specific purpose. This type of bike is becoming more and more common, and we’re out to discover what sets this beast apart. Soma currently sells its Wolverine as a ...

Rawland Cycles has been filling a niche in the bike industry for a decade now as a small brand that produces versatile models that don’t fit neatly into any particular category. “There’s this awesome new zone where I think the fun is,” said Rawland’s Creative Director and VP, Jeremy Spencer. If your idea of fun is getting off ...

Originally published in Bicycle Times Issue #31 OF BIRDS AND BIKES Titanium burst onto the scene in the 1950s in military aerospace applications. Favorable ratios of strength, durability and toughness to weight—along with its corrosion resistance and high temperature capabilities—made titanium the material of choice in airframes and aerospace hydraulic systems. The first bird to ...

Photos by Jesse Carmondy and the author It was a pretty difficult prototype to disguise. When former professional racer Tim Johnson started ripping around on a modified Cannondale affixed with a Lefty suspension fork a few years ago it attracted quite a bit of attention. Would he race cyclocross on it? Was it even allowed? Was ...

From Issue #37 Bicycle touring has changed a lot over the past few years, and while riders once rejoiced for a smooth ribbon of asphalt, a rough and rocky road is now de rigueur. Right on the Trek website you see signs of this preference as the new 920 Disc is classified under the banner ...

Oskar Blues’ Old Man Winter Rally had a wildly successful first year in 2015, with nearly 700 riders from Tour de France participants to 10-year-olds on fat bikes, and is set to go even bigger in 2016. The event takes place in Boulder County, Colorado, on February 7, 2016, and you’re invited.   Choose either the ...

Deadwood Somewhat surprising is this 29plus touring bike that Salsa says will be produced in somewhat limited numbers. More evolutionary than revolutionary, it’s kind of like what you’d expect to get if a Fargo and a Mukluk enjoyed a little too much bourbon around the campfire before snuggling into a sleeping bag together. It’s built ...

  “Adventure” is all the rage these days, but the scope definition and scope of these adventures varies greatly from source to source. In this case, Jamis defines adventure with a heavy dose of performance and a side of versatility for their new go-anywhere, do-anything road bike. The highly engineered Renegade joins a stable of ...

The Camargue from Velo Orange is a bike designed to extend the ride beyond where the pavement ends. Named after an ancient French horse breed, the Camargue is as rugged as its wetland-dwelling namesake and capable of taking you on adventures both near and far and in a style normally reserved for bikes with much ...

This is a fun one from Kona to get the word out on the Libre. Kona Adventure Team riders Barry Wicks and Erik Tonkin have been riding together for what seems like forever. Their relationship was built around mentorship and racing, but over the years has evolved into a unique kinship. On this trip, they conquered ...

Salsa Cycles has just released updated build specs and colorways to their Warbird models. While the frame specs will remain the same as the 2019 models there are lots of great builds to get the gravel fanatics wound up for the springtime. The Warbird is the perfect machine for tackling epic gravel events like the ...

The annual Tour Divide event has become almost a right of passage for the bikepacking enthusiast. The route, taking riders from Canada to Mexico through the heart of the Rocky Mountains is a grueling and taxing ride at even a casual pace.  This year Lael Wilcox set out to break records, and while weather and ...

The Pivot Vault has been positioned as a versatile drop-bar bike since its debut in 2013. Built for gravel, dirt, and road, its geometry has always leaned in favor of the cyclocross world more than the endurance scene. Now, with the latest geometry tweaks on the fourth-generation Vault, Pivot maintains the focus on high performance ...

It strikes me as a bit of a chicken-or-the-egg scenario as cyclists are taking their bikes to places they’ve never been, and new bike designs are allowing them to push them even further. That trend extends to events as well, and the Maneha 250 is an epic two-day bikepacking ride with a unique twist: a fully ...

What would you say if someone took your favorite bike, swapped out your go-to compact gearing or reliable triple crankset, and installed a single chainring with a ginormous 11-speed cassette? Then, to pour salt into the wound, told you to climb nearly 3,000 feet of elevation on California’s central coast? On nearly 15 miles of ...

Being around the industry as long as I have I know a lot of people, many of whom congregate once a year in a different location to look at the fashionshow we call The North American Handmade Bicycle Show. Where artisan framebuilders show off their latest and greatest creations, which are judged and given giant ...

For decades Trek has offered its model 520 steel touring model, specced with bar-end shifters, a rear rack, braze-ons for fenders and low-rider front rack, and clearance for chubby tires to tackle any terrain. For 2015, two new models are joining it in Trek stores: the rugged 920 adventure bike and the lightweight 720, both made ...

Each year, Quality Bicycle Products, the parent company of Salsa (as well as Surly, All-City and others) hosts a dealer show at is Minnesota headquarters. Salsa took the opportunity to announce it would be officially offering a production version of the Powderkeg tandem that has been floating around in prototype form for years. Powderkeg Not ...

The Aurora series has been part of the Jamis stable of bikes since the late 1990s and has included the Elite build since 2008. The Aurora Elite comes outfitted with all the basic building blocks for a bike that could be used in any number of ways: full aluminum fenders and aluminum rear rack, both painted ...

Editor’s note: This review originally appeared in Issue #32 of Bicycle Times. To make sure you never miss a bike review, order a subscription and you’ll be ready for the everyday cycling adventure. The Specialized AWOL Comp ($1,950) is an adventure bike, and a darn good one at that. What’s most surprising about the AWOL ...

Last year we saw a prototype fat bike rim from Stan’s NoTubes, and while we figured a 26-inch wheel was in the works, today we saw the finished product: the Hugo is a 50mm-wide, tubeless rim with a unique cross section and options in all three wheel sizes. We also got the details and a ...

Photos by the author and Dane Cronin, courtesy of GT Bicycles. Let’s face it, the vast majority of us are never going to need the kind of elite-level performance that modern race bikes are designed for. We want other things, like bigger tires, maybe some fender mounts, and a slightly more comfortable ride for our real-world ...

Let me answer this question first: no, this is not a Krampus with holes drilled in it. While ECR closely resembles its 29+ brethren, it is a completely different beast. The frame is different, the geometry is different, the build kit is different and the fork is different. Built for loaded touring, exploring and “Escaping ...

Rather than a beefed-up touring bike like the Co-Motion Divide we reviewed last week, the Fargo 2 is actually a drop-bar mountain bike, with a lighter compact frame, 2×10 drivetrain, tubeless wheels, and slacker geometry than the Co-Motion. A tall, 44mm head tube means a higher handlebar for comfort off-road, and suspension-corrected geometry allows a ...

The Co-Motion Divide’s rugged looking frame is hand-built in Oregon using oversized Reynolds 725 chromoly tubing. Co-Motion’s tandem expertise is evident in the massive chainstays and the 40-spoke wheels, built using DT-Swiss 540 tandem hubs (with 145mm rear spacing for a dishless wheel) and Velocity Cliffhanger rims. The stout 44 mm-diameter head tube on the ...

By Mike Cushionbury For a great many of us, road riding isn’t a dedicated endeavor of criterium racing and hill repeats. It’s a combination of long days on the pavement, as many dirt roads as we can find, a training race here and there and maybe even a cyclocross race. This of course begs the ...

By Justin Steiner

Specialized classifies the Crosstrail series of bikes within the “fitness adventure” category, which is an apt description given their aptitude on mixed surfaces. My Crosstrail Sport Disc retails for $830, making it the second least expense disc brake equipped model in the lineup. Only the base Crosstrail Disc is cheaper at $630.

Chris Akrigg takes his dynamic skills and puts them to work in the latest edit from Mongoose on a drop-bar all-terrain, half cyclocross, half freeride meets gravel show. Which begs the question, do you even freeride/cyclocross/trials/gravel bro? Well, do you?

As we polish up our last issue of the year, the Offbeat Races issue, our attention has turned toward all the wacky bike stuff going on out there. This Friday, the self-proclaimed world’s hardest ATB Race-Experience is taking place in the Southwest Kingdom of Vermont (SKOV). According to race promotor Old Mark, their lawyers recommended ...

Raleigh Tamland 2 – $2,400 raleighusa.com By Scott Williams Designed to be that jack-of-all-trades ‘road’ bike the Tamland has been aimed directly towards the gravel crowd since Raleigh first introduced the bike in late 2013. The Tamland is available in two build kits, the Tamland 2 which we review here and the Tamland 1 for ...

Donnelly Cycling $72.00 per tire What makes the ideal gravel tire? Is it size, tread pattern, or lack of rolling resistance. Likely for most of us, it’s a combination of the three. When I started looking for the perfect mixed surface tire, the Donnelly X’Plor MSO caught my attention. When Donnelly emerged as Clement a ...

Randonneuring is long-distance, unsupported, noncompetitive cycling within prescribed time limits. The events—called brevets—are 200km (13.5 hour time cut-off ), 300km (20 hours), 400km (27 hours), 600km (40 hours), and 1000km (75 hours). Grand Randonnées are 1200km and riders must finish in 90 hours or less.

Today, Pivot Cycles introduces the new Vault – a bike where massive tire clearance, pro-caliber power transfer, and ride-tuned frame compliance come together for the fastest thing to ever hit backcountry roads. Gravel, road, or cross, the all-new Vault checks all the boxes with clearance for 700x45c and 650bX47c tires, tight 420mm seatstays, compatibility with ...

A few years back a good friend and I took a trip down Highway 1. Our trip started in the Bay Area, and we beelined it for the coast on our first proper morning of the journey. With our backpacks and camping gear stuffed in the back of a cherry red Chevy Cruze (RIP) we ...

Dirt Rag contributor Zach White spent three days with Eric Porter riding their Diamondback Haanjo gravel bikes on a big loop starting and finishing in Salida Colorado on pavement, gravel and singletrack. They rode sections of the Continental Divide Trail and Colorado Trail, through a ghost town, and finished by floating the Arkansas River back ...

If you’ve ever broken a bone, and perhaps even moreso if you haven’t, you likely understand the apprehension of getting back on the bike once it’s healed. Colin Strickland broke his pelvis just this past October, and merely hearing that puts a chill in me when I see footage of him riding the Dirty Kanza ...

Everything is turning up gravel these days, and GT Bicycles has revamped their Grade model which they introduced in 2015. From afar, the changes to the Grade may look subtle but move closer, and you will see some unique updates. The triple triangle has long been synonymous with GT bicycles, and the Grade integrates that ...

If you want to up your stoke for a season of bikepacking, check out this new show streaming on Amazon and Vimeo. Season One of Ride To Extraordinary (R2E) features the 2017 Trans North Georgia Adventure (TNGA). In doing so, R2E blazes uncharted territory by being the first of its kind — an on-demand series ...

If you missed it last week Shimano has released the newest addition to their family of componentry in GRX. Geared (pun totally intended) towards gravel, cyclocross and adventure riding, Shimano builds on their existing road platforms by offering components to meet the demands of steeper and more grueling terrain. The GRX group will be offered ...

Salsa Cutthroat Apex 1 Price: $2,900 Sizes: S, M, L (tested), XL Online: salsacycles.com Tester: Scott Williams Age: 33 Weight: 170 lbs. Height: 5’ 11” Inseam: 32.5” Reach: 15.1” Stack: 25.4” Top Tube: 22.8” Head Tube: 71° Seat Tube: 73° BB Drop: 2.8” Chainstays: 17.5” Weight: 23.9 lbs.without pedals, specs based on size tested “During ...

This years edition of the Croatan Buck Fifty was an amazing event and Jack Anderson was there to capture the race in this little film. Get a glimpse of why this is event is toted as “the best bike game ever” and be sure to stay up with everything Croatan Buck Fifty. You’re not going ...

Bombtrack Beyond 1 Price: $2,000 Sizes: XS, S, M, L (tested), XL Online: bombtrack.com Tester: Stephen Haynes Age: 41 Height: 5’11” Weight: 210 lbs. Inseam: 30 in. Price: $2,000 Sizes: XS, S, M, L (tested), XL Online: bombtrack.com Reach: 15.5” Stack: 25” Top Tube: 23.2” Head Tube: 7” BB Height: 11.5” Chainstays: 18” Weight: 27.5 ...

We returned once again this year to the Carteret Motor Speedway in North Carolina for the second running of the Croatan Buck Fifty. The 150-mile race around the Croatan National Forest had caught the eye of the east coast racing scene after it’s first go-around in 2018. Where the first year saw around 200 competitors ...

Rapha has just released its Explore Shoe. If you are looking to have the fanciest pair of slippers on your next gravel epic, all day multi-terrain death march or just for showing off at the café, look no further. Priced at $295 the new Explore Shoe is on par with other brands top XC models. ...

Words and Photos by David Wilcox The winter solstice marks the onset of winter, and the shortest day of the year, usually falling on December 22 in the northern hemisphere. Short, dark days that are often cold, wet, and coincide with the hustle and stress of the holidays make getting out for any kind of ...

It’s winter for a lot of us living in the Northern Hemisphere which means shorter and wetter days. While we are mountain bikers it doesn’t mean we shackle ourselves to flatbars and 2.4 wide tires exclusively. When the trails are slop heading out to explore the back roads and paths can turn a bad day into ...

Enter for a chance to win a Fyxation Sparta All Road Carbon Fork and Fyxation Mesa MP Subzero Pedals Start clickin’ below to earn 20+ entries. Once you enter, you’ll receive an email with additional sharing instructions to improve your odds! 🙌 The Fyxation Sparta All Road Carbon Fiber Fork is ideal for dropping weight and adding ...

Editor’s note: In excitement for our upcoming issue on Making Do, in your mailboxes and select storefronts soon, here is a story from contributing writer Bryan Chambala on his quest to finish the Green Mountain Gravel Growler. For more stories like this, subscribe now to Dirt Rag by clicking this link, to ensure speedy delivery ...

Built for smashing out big miles on the roughest of gravel roads, the Topstone’s confident rider position, nimble handling and grippy high-volume tires make it an ideal weekend tourer, an all-weather commuter, or simply a supremely comfortable all-around road bike. The light and smooth-riding SmartForm C2 Alloy frame offers plenty of clearance for 700c tires ...

Last weekend, I took a scenic drive up to Montpelier, Vermont to check out the unassuming state capitol and spend three days pedaling along dirt roads and single track with a group of Women, Transgender people, Femme-identifying individuals and non-binary folks (WTFs), coordinated by WTF Bikexplorers. I spent a night stealth camping in a bivy ...

If you look up the word stoke in the English dictionary you will find that it means, “to poke or stir up or supply with fuel” or “to increase the activity, intensity or amount of.” On highway 58 in the town of Cedar Point, North Carolina, there is an old service station coated in fresh ...

Today at Land Run 100, Salsa is launching a new gravel/all-road bike known as the Journeyman. With a significantly lower price point than the brand’s other bikes in that category, this model seeks to reach new audiences, continuing Salsa’s recent goal of providing more affordable entry points to the sport of cycling. The Journeyman will ...

The Skull 120/60/30 Gravel Grind highlights Harney County, Oregon’s rugged character, from long mountainous ascents to teeth-chattering and eye-watering descents, to breathtaking vistas, open rangeland and alpine forests. With two stream crossings and cattle guard after cattle guard, this gravel grind is a feat to finish and a testament to the rider’s grit and determination. The Skull 120 ...

Surly has been coming out with a lot of new stuff lately, from the Pack Rat front-loader touring bike to the redesigned Pugsley fat bike. Here at Frostbike in Minneapolis, the brand launched yet another brand new bike, the Midnight Special. The folks at Surly describe the Midnight Special as a bike that can ride ...

Gravel Cycling by Nick Legan is a comprehensive guide to many aspects of the latest up-and-coming niche in cycling – gravel riding and bikepacking. The 300-page book is packed with photos and covers gravel races and events and adventure touring routes, as well as tips for race prep, choosing a bike and outfitting your bike ...