MTB Vs Gravel Vs Road: Which Bike Is Fastest For Paris-Roubaix?

Paris-Roubaix isn’t called the ‘Hell of the North’ for no reason. With a significant proportion of the race being run over brutal cobblestone sectors, it’s a tough challenge for both rider and bike. So that made us think, would it actually be faster to ride the route on a gravel or mountain bike instead? We went to France for some experiments to find out!

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What bike would you choose if you were to ride the Paris-Roubaix route? Let us know in the comments below! 💬

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[gcntech]

Which bike would you choose if you were to ride the Paris-Roubaix route?

[frazergoodwin]

It wasn't the Paris-Roubaix sportive, but close enough, I rode "We Ride Flanders" last weekend on my Diverge Gravel bike with 40mm WTB ByWay tires. Flew past loads of other riders on the cobbled sectors (although I did get passed by a Brompton(?!?) on the oude de Kwaremont demonstrating its not the tech but the rider that's the most important!).

[garryhaines]

Have to admit I am MTB through and through……how ever I do enjoy watching GCN, Manon def do more MTB riding…..love watching your segments🤘

[fepatton]

My primary bike is a Specialized Roubaix, and I love its suspended stem and flexy seatpost. I don’t ride on cobbles, but I do ride on California roads, so same thing.

[marcellolorusso]

One more thing to consider, though I think it applies more to amateur riders than to pros, is that this test was a good indication of pure pace performance, accounting very little for fatigue. I'm not sure you're going to be able to push as easily on a road bike after many miles in the legs. Manon herself was on the point of taking a break on the cobbles and I do understand it. In my own expericence, beyond the 200 km mark comfort plays a bigger role than sheer performance in terms of not needing to slow down or stop every once in a while because of sorenesses of some sort. Plus, you enjoy the ride more, so for all of us I think gravel with big chunky tires is the best compromise. Lastly, I had my leg broken because of rough pavement a couple of years ago on a track bike with 25mm tires. Since then I just cannot trust skinny road tires for such surfaces.

[rabidsminions]

I have a hybrid bike with front suspension, I swapped thev38c gravel tyres to 32 road tyres and I use it to exercise. No worries about crap roads can lock the suspension if you want. Great balance between a MTB and a road bike.

[Jean-jkzv]

Note: For the Gravel part, Alex was using a handle bar and seat post with some flex while Manon is using a full rigid cyclocross bike. Which may explains the Manon's surprising results imo...

[sepg]

If the MTB was correctly setup for the type of ride, it would have been faster. MTB "road tires" exist (i use them, 1.75 inch wide), shorter flat bars exist (i run 680mm), 2X MTB drive trains exist (planning to replace my 36t 1X with a 38t-28t 2X). Can even put aero bars on them (some do, i don't).

Only reason i went with MTB instead of gravel is that MTB parts are cheaper to buy and easier to fiddle with. MT200 hydraulic brakes are a steal.

[guilhermeazevedo]

Were you able to manage the power? You didn't mention the average power after the tests.

[eurobubble]

Colbrelli used 32mm tyres on a wide rim last year and by far looked the smoothest over the cobbles, wouldnt be surprised if others go that wide too this year.

[weekenderfam]

Alex was riding a hard tail while Manon has a full suspension, would like to know if Alex also got a full suspension to see the results.

[justgoingoutside]

Speed definitely made a difference (I.e aero more important) but probably your weight differences too as Manon was getting chucked everywhere !

[FoxFox-ic]

Don’t forget the actual speed you ride on the cobbles. If you ride slow, your wheels will drop between the cobbles. If you ride fast your wheels will ride over the tops of the cobbles. I once rode Paris Roubaix and found out that this was true. When the cobbles are rough, you have to ride faster. Take a breath afterwards on the tarmac.
The high speed of the pro’s makes them ride over the tops of the cobbles. Makes it less bumpy, so the roadbike will have a higher advantage for the pro’s

[ballunix]

an interesting comparison and really explains those early Rock Shox road forks being named after P-R. one thing i'm curious about after listening to the cobbles on the hard tails: how much energy/effort could one save with suspension in those sections to later unleash on the tarmac?

[chrisridesbicycles]

That was really interesting. I guess what we can take away is that cobbles are slowing lighter riders like Manon down more than heavier riders, roughly matches with what type of riders have won Roubaix. I think we can also take away that a full suspension XC MTB is much faster than a hardtail. However the estimates for the race time are closer to Roubaix ridden as a TT I guess, drafting was not in the calculation.

[schwarzzelter]

I suppose the difference between your results is due to the difference of the mtbs suspension. The fully makes it much more smoother to ride, while only front suspension doesn't have that big advantage on the driving performance on cobblestones

[cultofcedar]

I’ve spent maybe 2 decades riding bmx and fixed gears. Channel inspired me to buy a gravel bike for geared. Mildly cheating with a nice Orbea Gain but I think it’s the best of both worlds. Also tubeless so rip pinching my tubes. This year I’ll be joining my father in the NYC 5 Boro bike tour since he’s part of founding group that used to tour and ride to Canada. That and he’s always been asking me to join him but sounded like suffering with a single gear!

That cobble makes me want a suspension stem or something but yea barely any cobble out here in NYC so I think I’ll be okay lol

[cxw]

Gearing is a major disadvantage on the MTB. If you had larger gearing the difference would be smaller.

[scottbelongie]

we ride the levee here in SFLA and its Brutal so I upgraded to redshift stem and will see ow it is this weekend suspension definitely helps

[paullubbers]

yes! more Cobble content! will there be more Cobble vids this week?!