For a while I've had a "one bike" philosophy: rather than have a bunch of specialized bikes, I just want one really nice bike that's OK at everything. I don't mountain bike and I don't do any speed-focused road cycling, so it fits well for my use case. This takes up less space in my garage (which is full of the rest of my family's bikes), lets me go high-end on one bike rather than low- to mid-end on several, and makes for less to keep track of maintaining.
Currently my "one bike" (aside from a cargo bike, but let's not split hairs…) is a gravel bike with 2" Marathon Mondial tires, NX Eagle drivetrain, and Redshift suspension seatpost/stem. It's reasonably fast on the road, and capable on gravel (like the rail trails and forest service mains I've bikepacked on so far). But I'd like to delve into some rougher service roads, some light singletrack etc, and I feel like I'm not taking advantage of the speediness of my gravel bike much anyway, so I've been considering switching from a gravel frame to more of an all-terrain touring bike like the Panorama Boreal.
My concern however is that while it'll be better for bikepacking (which I do a handful of times a year), it might end up less enjoyable for taking on rides in the city (which I do much more often).
Does anyone have a bike on a similar end of the spectrum that they use a lot outside of bikepacking trips, and if so what do you do to make it work? I was considering getting a 2nd wheelset so that I could have a set of smooth-rolling tires for the city (likely with puncture-resistant Schwalbe tires and tubes), and a knobby large-volume tubeless set for off-road. But I'm not sure if at that point I'm just being silly and would be better off having multiple bikes.
by Polendri
14 Comments
IMHO, most mtb and gravel hardtails would fit your description. Then you balance speed, comfort and off-road capabilities playing with fork (suspension/rigid), tires (width, knobs), bar (dropbar, flat/riser or hybrids) and drivetrain ratios.
I would not say that Boreal is drastically better than your current gravel on 2.0 tires.
What’s limiting your off-road rides? If it’s handling on the rough terrain, think of wider bar (maybe even mtb flat bar, to make reach shorter and position more vertical, but that will require to switch controls) and suspension fork option (good forks are expensive, but cheaper than another bike).
I personally don’t like drop bars and not a fan of suspension for the stated goals, so I am building flat-bar full rigid mtb on 2.4 tires that I hope will cover very similar needs
27km each way commute typically once a week, mostly asphalt some cobblestone parts. Many speed bumps. Gravel ride frequently. First bike packing trip last week in the German Eifel area. I use 40mm Schwalbe G-One Overland Pro RaceGuard ADDIX SpeedGrip TLR. Works very well for me.
I have a titus silk road I bought at clearance a few years back with similar thoughts of a do everything 29er. But it’s too nice for me to be comfortable locking up around town for errands and going out. It’s mainly my alt/winter MTB and I take it on car camping trips for some forest service road explorations or occasional town rides to local singletrack. I’ve thought about making it a bit more stealth for urban uses(metal fork, spray paint the fork and frame) but the tire dilemma of pavement vs singletrack combined with owning an excellent old miyata bike already for around town riding is stopping me. Now, I just built a light AliExpress carbon wheel set for it(weight chasing purposes, it’s my only bike under 30lbs) so I could do nice wheels/knobby tires and cheap wheels/surly ETs, but past experiences of swapping wheel sets showed me you still need to make minor brake adjustments and that’s just annoying. Also I have come to terms with owning multiple bikes since tinkering with them is my main consumerist hobby anyways.
If you don’t need drop bars, I’ll throw out Surly Ogre as a versatile option. I bought mine back in 2015 when it still came stock with the moloko bars. I have two wheelsets, 700×42 and 29×2.5, both 148mm boost rear hub. I’ve done everything from rigid MTB singletrack to ~100mi day road rides. Currently set up as a dadmobile/kid hauler with a burley trailer and a rear toddler seat. The only thing I can’t figure out with this bike is a kickstand set-up that I like.
I dont have a bike like that but Im running conti racekings protection for years now on my bikes and found them fast enough for any city/pavement.
Dont know what they call them now.
>Currently my “one bike” (aside from a cargo bike, but let’s not split hairs…) is a gravel bike with 2″ Marathon Mondial tires, NX Eagle drivetrain, and Redshift suspension seatpost/stem. It’s reasonably fast on the road, and capable on gravel (like the rail trails and forest service mains I’ve bikepacked on so far).
This almost matches my “everything” bike, so what you’re describing sounds pretty spot on for what you want to do with it. What exactly are you missing? Control, comfort? Going to a flat bar is a valid choice of course but imo your current setup seems good already. Especially if you ride more in the city. For the few times the terrain really is so rough that proper tires + seat and stem suspension don’t cut it you can go slower or do a little hike & bike.
I’ve commuted on my Ritchey Ascent, which I built up mainly for bikepacking. A drop bar setup with 700c/29” and 50mm tires would be fine for both commuting, bikepacking, and light singletrack.
I commute daily on my 2022 Kona Rove DL and I love it, no suspension but I have nice fenders, a pannier rack and panniers. It’s great
My Panorama Taiga EXP is my everything bike. Threw on an OMM Divide rack and panniers and it’s good to go! I bought the pannier insert and it seems silly, but it’s been quite useful.
I use a curve gmx for commuting. Drop bars big tires, geo that is very flexible for anything (it feels fast when it’s smooth, is a monster truck when it’s not). Its not my first choice for technical trails because it just likes to go fast in a straight line but for getting from A to B, loaded it’s great.
I have a Surly Bridge Club and it’s designed as an all road touring bike. I use it more from general riding and road touring but it would work well as a bikepacking rig if I put on wider tires.
I have a steel rigid bike that I built for bikepacking. I’ve ended up putting like 1500 city miles on it because I just love pedalling it around
I also had this philosophy with bikes when I bought a specialized diverge, the Comp E5. I used it for everything, but when I was bikepacking, while it was capable, the chunkier more technical terrain was challenging. I also felt a lot of frame wobble when loaded and the mounting points aren’t as suited for bikepacking.
I bought a Kona unit last year and this thing is a tank. Super capable of carrying gear, really nice ride feel from the frame, and the 29×2.6” tires are great with technical terrain. I use this bike in the city, when I ride to the beach, ripping around forest trails, and for bikepacking. I also coincidently put velo orange crazy bars on mine and love the swept back bars with the alternate hand position.
Get a Jones. One bike to rule them all 🧙♂️