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Bikepacking Q&A EP:20
In this video I answer a follow up question from last month’s mtb vs gravel video. Touring bike or Gravel Bike? Which is best?
Scotland with my Dad: https://youtu.be/-Va2HE2eKJQ
Make sure you leave your bikepacking questions at https://www.cycling366.com/contact/ – or drop me a message on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cycling366/
Timestamps:
00:00 – Intro
00:18 – The Gravel Bike?
01:53 – The Touring Bike?
05:13 – Which is best for bikepacking?
05:56 – Summary and Q&A Reminder
#bikepacking #gravelbike #touringbike
34 Comments
Let me know which bike you'd have in the comments 🙂
Just a comment..you CAN fit wider tyres in the Surly Disc Trucker . Fatties Fit Fine..says so on the forks 😂
Or a touring MTB? I have a Genesis Longitude that can go anywhere!!! Also got a Genesis Tour de Fer which manages most places the Longitude can go until the mudguards jam up with mud!
Own a gravel bike but i actually like the look of touring bikes… Surly and the Genesis Tour de Fer being my favourite.. Great comparison by the way.
i have a marin four corners steel frame , 2.0 gravel tyres , 1x 10 deore , alt bars. pretty much does everything i want from it. around your neck of woods. Goole canal to Rawciffe Bridge to Snaith ( bacon butty at The Kitchen!) Carlton to Burn airfield. Selby canal then trans pennine trail to Howden then back to Goole. its about 35 mile loop which i enjoy but im 58 now so enough for me! great channel.
I've been useing a kona sutra with 2.25 tyres on it a 3by 9 gear set up and it will take everything i give it.
You made a very interesting point about the width of panniers, do fork leg bags suffer the same issue? I’m trying to spec "likes" and "must haves" for a bike purchase and I had fork bolt points as a must but starting to wonder if it’s not so important.
have had a Dawes Galaxy tourer for quite a few years and love it. Dont feel it’s heavy and has taken me through the Western Isles and Wester Ross/Skye and Moidart and various areas in France including over Mont Ventoux. It’s still going strong after all these years, and i think it looks pretty cool!
If I’m totally honest I must do about 80% on road and 20% off. So I bought a Kona Sutra. I love it, it’s just a pleasure to ride. Loaded with full touring gear, loaded with a few days of bikepacking gear or just naked, it just delivers a pleasant comfortable ride.
To me, the touring bike in the Video looks more like a gravel/road bike than a touring bike. Touring bikes usually come with different bar type and small suspensions in front plus dynamo lights
I’ve done quite a bit of gravel, including bits of the Highland Trail 550 on my touring bike, a 26 inch wheel Thorn. Steel is so comfortable. There have been days when I would have appreciated suspension but I disagree with your final comment about everyday use. Everyday is what I use my touring bike for. Tesco. Day rides. Training days. Then fly on the carbon Roubaix after the hard preparation work on my heavy metal Thorn.
My biggest regret was selling my Dawes Super Galaxy I used it every where and for commuting to the hospital I worked in. Great for carrying fresh wardrobe in for my on-call shifts. I’d happily have another. Even gravel bikes can be pretty much subdivided mines is a Pinarello so very much more race orientated but still easy to use for touring. Prior to having a gravel bike I was using both my carbon road bikes on gravel etc did the gear Glen Way on my Domane with road tyres😂. I still have a triple set MTB but I do like the simplicity of a 1x on my new MTB and Gravel bike and if you have the right set up they will go up anything. I think it doesn’t matter what you use to tour on I started on a Shopper bike as a teenager and I know folks who are still using Moulton etc to tour on and on rougher terrain.
It’s all pretty subjective.
I have both. I'm not a strong neither fast cyclist, so i feel good with my heavy goofy Salsa Marrakesh (and 1990 Trek 520).
Seems like every time I hear about someone going to exotic places on a bike for long distance excursions, it turns out their bike is a Surly Long Haul Trucker. I just checked and they handle 700C X 45mm tires. I do not own one nor do I work for them.
the best thing about touring bikes is the geometry! having a slightly longer wheelbase, which increases stability and means your heels won't strike panniers, and a more upright comfortable riding position is wonderful.
whaaaat?
gravel bike has wider tire than touring bike?
absolutely not true
even touring bike in your video has sticker fatties fit fine
just depends what kind of frame it is
and touring bike not suitable for bad roads?
come on ,what fits better,sturdy frame or carbon frame made to load couple of chocolates?
I was convinced my Thorn Raven Sport Tour, now 14 years old, would be my last ever bike purchase. Then a mate temped me onto gravel and I made an impulse buy of a Decathlon Second Life RC120 GRVL – for under £400. What a revelation! I love it, but for any proper biking adventure, rather than a day's ride, I'd go with the practicality of the Thorn. It will do road and light trails happily. But the RC 120 is far more fun for a shorter blast. Horses for courses, and owning two is allowed. Luckily! I enjoyed your review of the two.
Totally disagree, some touring bikes look very cool (including your dads)
I have a touring bike with a flat bar and 55mm tyres, so actually wider than most Gravel bikes, so I would disagree that Gravel bikes have generally wider tyres, it strongly depends on the individual bike. My frame is from aluminium while my rigid fork is steel and has a rated capacity of 180kg. With chunky tyres I have taken the bike on the first 2000km of the Great Divide mountain bike route, while in the standard setup I have gone all over Germany (mostly to work), but also the UK and France and technically Switzerland.
I would categorize your Dads bike as a (beautiful) Randoneuse, rather than a general touring bike. It is just one variety of the wide array which can be touring bikes, where I would say flat bars are more common.
I do agree though on the downsize of classical panniers with aerodynamics and width, on the upside is the ease of mount and carrying capacity.
i thought bikepacking and biketouring are 2 different disciplines?
Looking at bike theft, maybe it is a good idea not to have a bike that looks "cool"
If you,re over 90kgs, get a tourer for all your rides. They're made to take the weight, aluminium is rubbish in my experience.
You say a touring bike isn't capable off road, but the Rough Stuff fellowship crossed Iceland in the 50's on them. Maybe kids are softer today…
You are certainly a brave person to tackle a touring vs gravel comparison – and well done for the well-balanced discussion you gave. A hitch is that like gravel bikes, touring bikes have also ‘moved on’ – any hope of a comparison between up to date gravel and touring bikes that have similar features (eg wider tyres, lighter weight frames…)?
mountain bike is the all around bike…gravel bike is just a fad….LOL
I'm with a lot of comments here, a touring bike is far from being ugly and the weight is obviously a matter of parts being put on, including the fenders which limit the tire size. If you take them off tire clearance is pretty much on par with the gravel bike. Oh and the material, steel being heavy? Who taught you that? A carbon frame is most probably lighter, an alloy frame not really. But IMHO they just don't look as good as a slick steel frame. And companies today stick to that as well, just look at Surly, very timeless classy gravel bikes made of steel
How the bike looks is very subjective. I agree 100% with you, but many people love touring bikes and we must respect thir opinion. Main reason I'd go for a gravel is the off road capabilities. Everything else is disputable. For road bikepacking, a disc road bike with 32mm tyres is good enough.
Best regards,
Thank you.
Gearing and strength means it's my Claude Butler tourer every time for camping trips here in Scotland.
Once you load up your bike with all your kit the difference in weight between carbon and steel is meaningless because you need to think in terms of system weight ie rider, bike and gear weight added together. 1kg might represent just 1% difference. It needs to be said though that today's sophisticated steels may not be easily welded by an African village blacksmith.
My bike is an Idworx All Rohler. 5,5 cm tires. It takes me everwhere, offroad, gravel, tarmac.
I use my gravel bike for bikepacking and love it due to the versatility, lighter weight and speed. Some day I'll get my hands on a touring bike when I'm ready for that cross country trip but for now, I'll stick to my gravel bike.
Which brompton bike belongs to?
My Gravel Bike has fixed paniers at the back (and fenders/lights/dynamo hub) plus mounting points for a low rider front panier set.