I'm looking for a new bike, that will be used as commuter + weekly longer ride. But I want the bike to be tough so that I can drop off gutters, and last a long time (10 years hopefully). /
I've been looking at gravel/cyclocross because I seem to think that there will be tougher.
Are road specific bikes weaker than their gravel counterparts?
I'm looking at aluminium (prices are AUD)
by Stingray002
17 Comments
They are typically designed with a little more material, yes. Road bikes are plenty tough though, and will easily last longer than ten years – there’s nothing fragile about them.
The Endurace is an endurance road bike, not a gravel bike. It has enough tire clearance to run a light-gravel setup, but won’t quite match the Mares in that department.
Non issue as far as frame strength is concerned. I take my aluminum road bike off gutters, jumps, and off road all the time. It’s fine. Wheels and tires are a different discussion. Road tires are easier to pinch flat on sharp corners and objects because they are a smaller cross section.
Get a gravel bike. Wider tires, more forgiving ride & will handle your described use case better. A road bike is capable, but the gravel bike is *more* capable.
I have that exact Canyon Endurance (color and all). Fantastic bike! However a brand new Endurarace from Canyon is $1,800, that FB price is a joke, unless I’m missing something.
Depends on what you do to it probably
Do gravel. Couldn’t tell you how often I have to change routes in the city because I don’t trust my bike to ha due the state of the roads. And it’s worse in the countryside
The Canyon is a 56 and the Focus is a 54. If you need a 56 to fit you properly don’t buy a 54 because of a perception of greater durability.
Just FYI those are two different sizes bikes… Choose wisely as a bad fitting bike is no fun.
Often, yes.
Look up the ASTM classes for the bikes you are looking at. Here’s them listed in general terms from DT Swiss: [https://www.dtswiss.com/en/support/astm-classification](https://www.dtswiss.com/en/support/astm-classification)
Most road bikes are Condition 1 (road use only) but some (but not all) gravel bikes are Condition 2. This is literally the manufacturer saying the bike is capable of rougher things.
If you don’t know exactly why you’d want a road bike over the gravel bike then a gravel bike is probably the one you want. Depending on the tires and the specific bike it probably won’t even be all that slower than a proper road bike.
Based on your comment it’s all about the size tires you can put on it. I have 35s on my endurance bike and it’s fairly cushy, Was on a rough trail this week and it was fine. Going over tree roots, some medium stones etc. but I don’t know I’d jump off curbs on it. If I were you I’d probably get gravel bike, you can always put smaller tires on it.
Fun fact – in the US, the import duty rate doubles when tire clearance is beyond a certain width (4.1 cm csd). Many companies are privy to this and specifically design frames to stay under that clearance.
Typically anything that can safely run a 38mm tire from the factory will have an 11% duty rate, while under that is 5.5%
Road vs Gravel is more about tyre clearance, drivetrain, handlebar setup, and geometry than fragility.
They serve their purpose in their main focused area. I’d rather get on my road bike, but I can go more places on my gravel and take roads I would normally avoid because of uneven surfaces, so it’s my main right now.
not really tougher, just lets you ride with wider wheels.
Get a steel gravel bike, it will last you generations.
Do you need a rear rack since you’re commuting? I landed on a Grizl AL since it has rack mounts.