When Is A Gravel Bike Not A Gravel Bike?

Gravel bikes have opened the doors for us road cyclists to have more adventures beyond the pavement, but the common question always comes up: why not just get a mountain bike instead of a gravel bike? This got us thinking that it’s time we put both bike disciplines to the test to show that gravel bikes can do everything that mountain bikes can do ...or can they?

00:00 Can Gravel Bikes Do Everything MTB’s Can Do?
00:39 Special Guest: Blake Samson
01:25 Our Bikes!
03:04 First Challenge: 1km Time trial
05:17 First Test Results
06:20 Second Challenge: 350m Long Climb
08:24 Second Test Results
08:46 Third Challenge: Double Black Diamond Downhill Trail
11:28 Third Test Results
12:44 Conclusions!

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Which bike would you opt in for? Blake's Orbea or Hank's Canyon? 🔥

Let us know in the comments below! 💬

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[gcn]

Which bike would you opt in for? Blake's Orbea or Hank's Canyon? 🔥

[benneth]

I want a Part 2 where Hank and Blake swap bikes :)

[StratoJohn]

Hank and Blake back on the screen together again 🥳

[shepshape]

I love specialty bikes. I have 26 different bikes, because I believe all the hype and don't need to plan for my retirement. I have 8 different road bikes. Some built for hills and smooth pavement, some built for flat roads and rough pavement. A few built for flat roads with small hills but dry conditions, then others that are built for lots of climbing on wet roads but only at dusk. Then come the mountain bikes. I have 14 of these. Some are meant for riding at night in humidity less than 40% on downhill trails. A few that are built for early morning riding on trails where the gravel is never more than .05" in diameter and the wildlife will kill you if you fall. Then there's my top of the line mountain bike, made of vibranium and powered by the tesseract. On this bike I can ride in any dimension and it's also pretty good on actual dirt. Now then, about my gravel bikes...

[Bukoe]

Well I live in a majority flat area with tons of pavment ant gravel paths .. And 90% of my riding is local training rides for 1-2 hours after work So I ride a Gravel bike.. For me its the perfect mix of Road and gravel gives me the freedom to ride where ever I feel like on the day. And if i join my friends on a 100mile road ride I have a set of Rims with Road tyes ready..

[eddyfusely]

Very ballsy of Hank going down that trail in his gravel bike. Great skill

[sherab]

Honestly, I don't want gravel bikes to be as good in terrain as mountain bikes. If they would be, what for the distinction? What I love about gravel bikes (and I tend to lump them together with allroad and some endurance bikes) is the versatility they provide. They still have that roady DNA and can be really fast on tarmac, but allow us to explore comfortably also gravel and hardpack roads or even some single tracks. For me, this is great, because in cycling I seek mostly the compromise between speed/efficiency and If I can avoid heavy traffic this is also brilliant. But when it comes to really technical trails and challenging terrain or gravity-oriented sports this is not what I'm looking for and I believe this should stay an MTB's territory. Said all this, I think an XC MTB could fulfil the role I'm interested in reasonably well, apart from speed on the tarmac, perhaps.

[guidodezwaan]

Love these combo videos with both Hank and Blake, they are both so fun to watch and filled with energy.

[ChrisGuarraia]

With Blake and Hank together on screen again, I’m surprised that my iPad didn’t implode due to the amount of energy from those two. Love watching these guys have a blast!

[hrm]

flat bar + gravel bike = mtb
drop bar + mtb = gravel bike

Ouroboros Cycle...

[ishmaell]

I am 100% sure these 2 are brothers. Always love seeing them both together in a video.

[Metal-Possum]

Blank make a great duo, similar levels of energy.

[DavidMartin-tkfs]

Blake's head unit is making me anxious 🫣

[varrol]

For me a Gravel Bike is something that can be either a Road Bike, a Mountain Bike and a Touring Bike - it is just a matter of the owner to customise it into one of those. I've mounted Richey Kyote on my Gravel because it gives me much more comfort and control than a drop bar - but I come from MTB world - I guess someone from Road Bike world will keep a drop bar.

[peterstim]

I own a gravel bike because - I leave my house and ride the road for 10 miles, hit 8 miles of single track and ride home. The gravel bike allows me to have fun on single track and take longer rides on the road. I have two sets of wheels, one with 35mm road tires and the other with 42mm off road tires. Yes I'm not as fast off road or on road as a dedicated bike but I'm 60 and just ride for fun and exercise. If I did buy a MTB again it would be steel frame hard tail with 120mm fork.

[gordonl]

Canyon. Of course… coming from owner of a Cannondale Slate with 30mm travel lefty and dropper. That’s my monster gravel for SF Bay Area roads and fire roads. It’s a blast to ride at any speed with 46/30 11-40. Yes, it does work.
It’s not a pure road bike nor a mountain bike. It’s a little bit of both. It suits the terrain and my style of riding.

[Muddyfox]

great vid guys - would like to see the same dude trying both bikes, you're both different levels of fitness / skill :)

[markkabuto]

Not fair, cos I own a Canyon Grizl, but Hank's got my vote.
The drop bar seemed to make most of the difference on the downhill if you ask me.
For me, not having a driver's license, I'll pretty much always start my ride some distance away from any off-road terrain. I live like 10km away from the closest interesting off-road trails, so it's great to go there and back again on a gravel bike instead of a full on MTB. If I ever go on a proper multi-day off-road trip I can always fit some wider tires and indeed maybe even a dropper.

[JohnFarnhill]

Forget the old school MTB or gravel bike gubbins...the boys are back in town!!! When these two are together, it's impossible not to chuckle..maybe they're the new chuckle brothers!!!

[christopherharmon]

I love the gearing on my old hardtail-a 44-32-22 triple. The triple makes the bike extremely versatile. I suspect gravel bikes with suspension will eventually have 80-100mm forks. If you're going to have a suspension fork, you should have 2-3" of travel, in my opinion. Think about this-an XC mountain bike frame, with a 38-28 or 36/26 crank coupled to an 11-42 cassette. The Deore 10s rear derailleur has this capacity. There is a Deore 36/26 crank for 148mm frames. If only there were drop bar shifters which could work with mountain derailleurs. Use a drop bar and bar end shifters? I'm seriously considering installing a 2x, Deore 10s on my Fuji Bighorn hardtail. The Fuji has a 68 degree head tube angle-much more XC than trail. It also has four ports in the downtube for cable routing. Rear brake, rear derailleur, dropper tube and possibly front derailleur. Even with a flat bar and bar ends this may be the best "gravel bike" for my personal needs here in Colorado.