We’re testing a very budget-minded gravel bike right now, the State Bicycle Co. All-Road 4130 (we’ll be reviewing this pleasant surprise in the coming weeks, but for $900, this is a wicked fun bike). It’s, despite the low price, a pretty standard drop bar gravel rig. We already love the Specialized Diverge with drops (though you can get that one with flat bars now) and had no real reason to wonder if flat bars made for better choices on a gravel bike.
But then we got our hands on the excellent Hudski Doggler. Next, we spun a few dozen miles on the Marin DSX2another super fun flat bar bike meant for long days on the dirt.
Now we’re sorta conflicted. The multiple hand positions made possible by drop bars are great, but when the going gets pointed steeply downhill, the body positioning and stability of flat bars are appreciated over being hunched down into the drops.
Obviously, there’s not a right answer here. But we wanna know:
Just picked up a Doggler recently and don’t mind the flat bars at all. The sweep offers a narrow area for a hand hold closer to the stem, too. Only issue for me is that 180mm is way too wide – hack saw coming soon.
a flat-bar gravel bike is just a rigid mountain bike….
A drop bar gravel bike is just a rigid mountain bike with drop bars.
Too old for drop bars flat gives more more comfort and control.
Flat bars, short travel suspension forks, constantly increasing tire clearance – as bikesnob said, gravel bikes seem to just be the industry slowly reinventing the XC mountain bike.
Been on the All-Road 4130 for a couple of months now and love it. Good enough for local singletrack and paved mountain passes alike. Drop bars work well for me on both and since most of my miles are on roads (paved and gravel) I prefer the hand position variety afforded by drop bars.
Jones bars for me
You pretty much answered the question. Do you most often ride 3+ hours on fire roads? Probably go for the drop bar gravel rig. Are you an urban rider, riding to the trail head, or do you ride less than half day on stuff that might include single track? Perhaps go for the flatbar rigid, or XC bike. I gave up on a dedicated gravel bike and now have only an all-day road bike with 25mm that can go on gravely stretches, and an XC bikes with 110 travel from and rear and full-lock out. Keep it simple with n<=2.
And the gravel roads in a lot of places are often just longer, wider, mountain trails.
If the going is so steep you need/want flat bars then you’re no longer ‘gravel riding’, you’re ‘mountain biking’, so ride a mountain bike..
Drops were never meant for technical riding..
I think Tomac would disagree
Most people who comment here probably have zero clue who Tomac is. I don’t know how he was any good at all anyway riding a Raleigh. I mean, you aren’t good unless you are on some cool, hip brand right?
Thank you. Finally a fresh thought. What a bunch of snobs.
Just because Tomac rode with drops doesn’t mean drops were meant for, or are optimum for, tougher terrain.
Third answer: It can be either.
The fun of riding a drop bar “gravel bike” or racing cyclocross is doing dumb stuff on a bike that is outrageously wrong for the terrain. Everyone seems to keep missing this point.
What he said
As I’ve always said it doesn’t matter what you ride as long as you ride.
If you are riding twisty up and down single track, grab your flat bar full suspension mountain bike. If you are riding distances which include gravelly shoulders, forest roads, etc. grab your drop bar gravel bike. I agree with Adam. And my gravel has a typically wide spread on the drops. My road bike hasnt come out of the garage for a while!
My road bike has drop bars and my gravel bike Tumbleweed flat bars for reasons painfully obvious to me.
Not interested in the dumb stuff on a bike ill equipped for the terrain. Paraphrasing from a previous comment.
I looked in my garage and – surprise! – I have both. A 2005 Titus Racer X with flat bars and a 2011 Cannondale Super X with drop bars. The Titus was the top cross country racer at the time and the Cannnodale the was the top cyclocross racer when it came out. Running 38mm gravel tires on the Super X and whatever works for the conditions on the Racer X.
Seems like I remember seeing a bikepacker or Tour Divide rider with a hybrid bar with both. No opinion here. I have a mountain bike and a road bike.
Whichever is more comfortable.
BMX bars for me! I’m a tall rider (around 7′) so flat bars make it difficult to ride, and drop bars don’t belong on mountain bikes. The extra several inches’ rise of a good BMX handlebar can mean the difference between a series of great rides and one ride with a week of disabling lower-back pain the next day.
The industry is very interesting and at the same time kind of sad. Yeah, it’s cool you have can have a quiver of sixteen different bikes to choose from for every possible specific type of riding you want to do, it is also kind of sad you can have a quiver of sixteen different bikes to choose from for every possible specific type of riding you want to do. I’ll date myself some but back in the day, it was so cool and “punk rock” to do the midnight bandit races on MTBs and use a ‘cross bike. Man, that was so alternative :). The sport doesn’t have the same feel. Oh, and to answer your question, flat is just a MTB with odd geometry and odd wheel sizes. Maybe it has come full circle???
Currently have flat, but that’s because it was a bikepacking bike first, and gravel bike second. The next bike will be drops and a gravel bike first, and bikepacking bike second
2020 Devinci Hatchet drop bar with Sram rival/apex group 11s 11-42.
One of my mt biking friends mentioned one day on a ride that he wanted to get a gravel bike. I was on my custom built (by me) carbon 29er hardtail with 100mm travel fork, 1×11 drive, and 15degree carbon riser bars and I said, “I already have one and I’m riding it now”. Living in north eastern MD none of the gravel/dirt roads are that long or steep that I feel the need to have a specific bike just for that. Perhaps in the west where I’ve done really looong climbs on a mt bike a significantly lighter gravel bike would be appreciated.
My opinion is that gravel is defined as non paved road riding. If you want a flat bar bike go with a hybrid. If you want something more stable go with a mtb. Having a gravel model with geo changes to accommodate a flat bar is just overkill of a niche- imho
^This^
The whole N+1 idea of how many bikes (or skis, or tents, or backpacks, or whatever) you should have is funny, but also just a sneaky win for marketing. For years my only bike (only vehicle!) was a singlespeed Schwinn roadie. Now, having two bikes–a used do-it-all roadie (Surly Crosscheck) and a used hardtail mtb (Trek X-Caliber) feels positively decadent.
What about an thru-bred XC race bike? Pretty fast on gravel as well.
Well well realizing this is about drop or flat the gravel bike is not an mtb tires are totally where it’s at. Now for the drop bars what great training for mtb riding. The drop on single track or plain gravel with ruts makes for a challenging environment making your senses keener on all other type of riding mainly on mtb. Reaction times increase, balance increases, speed and agility are honed after riding a drop bar gravel bike. Ride a gravel bike with drops like you stole it, it’s an AWSOME experience. I am 65 never had such fun on a bike before. Don’t get me wrong MTB is totally fine just like the precise mind set it creates.