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Gravel cycling and gravel bikes are booming in popularity but are they worth the hype and is gravel cycling really better than road cycling? In this video we take 2 Cube gravel bikes, one carbon gravel bike and one aluminium gravel bikes to go on a gravel cycling adventure to explain why we think that gravel bikes are best!
This video contains paid promotion on behalf of Oneway.
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0:00
Gravel riding is so good. Isn't it good? I'm knackered now and I've only travelled about two metres
0:09
This is a gravel bike and this is a gravel bike and they vary quite a lot in price but today
0:16
I don't think that matters one bit because today we're going to tell you why we like gravel bikes
0:22
and why I think you might like gravel bikes too. You join us under the 1966 Seven Bridge
0:29
doesn't get as much traffic as the new one anymore but even the new bridge that opened in 1996
0:35
still far outdates gravel cycling as we know it. It's easy to see then why some sceptics call it
0:42
a passing trend or just a phase whilst we realise that mountain bikes are better but actually I
0:48
think that the popularity of gravel bikes has been driven by consumer demand and not brands
0:54
trying to just push more product onto us. So today we're going to go through eight reasons
0:59
why we think gravel bikes are great and one reason why we think they're less great. The good thing
1:05
about gravel bikes is that they're great for adventure and so today I've devised us a challenge
1:11
and by us I mean me and cameraman Ed. I've got your bike. Thank you very much, it looks lovely
1:16
It's a cappuccino coloured by Fiat 500. Great. And what we're going to be doing on these bikes today
1:23
is trying to find the most easterly point of Wales. Is that not here
1:29
This could be a very short video. No, no, contrary to popular belief, it is not here
1:35
I've heard that it's off-road and therefore we're going to need some gravel bikes
1:39
So today's video, I suppose you could call it Why Gravel Bikes Are Good
1:46
We're riding up the Wyve River. oh ed i've got your present what a coincidence i've got your presents i've got you two presents
1:57
have you yep get a load of those they're actually sick they match i've no i don't think i've ever
2:03
seen matching bottle cages especially not when they've got a funky paint job like this well i've
2:08
got you i got your bigger present now i know you like these all right what are they pianos
2:15
oh yes yeah luggage solutions acid make all sorts of bags uh that should fit on the bike
2:24
very nicely am i actually going to need these how long are we actually going for i have no idea to
2:30
be honest uh i have no idea where the most easterly point of wales is it might just be down the road
2:35
okay well hopefully i can accumulate some stuff to actually put in them on the way yes exactly
2:40
i'm very impressed ed i honestly didn't know that you had any fashion sense i mean if i do
2:48
then i'm not displaying it right now look at these oh those sorry i thought you were
2:52
complimenting my uh my five-year-old cycling tights hang on get off my nose why do i have to
3:00
I look lame over the body mount. Now, one of my issues with road riding
3:09
is that the roads without traffic on during most of the year
3:13
only look a bit like this. And when they're like this, you probably want to be on a gravel bike anyway
3:22
Hello. Off-road. Actual off-road. The gravel is cleaner than the road, apparently
3:29
Uh-oh. we've got a fluorescent dog hi there thank you so point number one why I think gravel bikes are good
3:40
is that gravel bike rides are generally quite sociable like we can ride next to each other here
3:47
we can have a chat we're in no one's way and generally just having a nice time like this is what cycling is about most of the time isn't it
3:58
I know you can legally ride tour breasts on the road. Yeah
4:04
I never liked doing it. It's not bad to be honest. You do sometimes feel a bit of pressure, especially if it's busy
4:11
You feel the pressure behind you. And I go cycling to try and relax
4:15
Yeah. Not to try and anger various people. Point number two of why I like gravel cycling
4:22
It's just there is so much variety. on the roads I know around me I've ridden them all countless times if anything changes then I
4:31
don't want it to change because it's normally that there's a massive pothole that's going to
4:35
catch me by surprise or something whereas gravel it obviously changes with the seasons
4:39
there's generally some different stuff to see and around me at least around here in Wales
4:46
there is so much it would take you absolutely years to tick off all the gravel routes Right look there a little track that goes up there into those woods There some really technical stuff There some not very technical stuff And of course there all the road to join it up as well
5:05
Oh no, I think we've hit a hiccup. That's the bat tunnel
5:10
This was all old railway line. And yeah, during the summer you can ride through
5:16
And then yeah, it's closed at night time and also during the winter
5:20
For the bats. Do you want to look through? Here you go
5:35
Alright, he's bloody attacked me now. Oh, well, that was quite a climb
5:42
I can see why they put a tunnel there. I'm actually quite warm. I'm starting to wish that I'd worn shorts
5:46
It is really warm, actually. That can be a point. Point number three
5:51
gravel cycling is always warm maybe not always warm but it is warmer than road cycling because
5:58
you generally your speed's a bit lower sometimes you're in woods and like in a bit of shelter as
6:03
well but because your speed's low you have less wind chill yeah and you're still often trying as
6:08
hard yeah because it's a constant ups down ups down yeah so you're trying just as hard
6:13
but you're traveling slower yeah equals more heat We're going this way Ed
6:25
Yeah. Right, we're going to find the river now. I'm going to get a head start. All right
6:29
Duck. We started in Beachley
6:44
We're now here. If anything, we've got further west, which is not good
6:49
There must be somewhere further east. Look, there you go. That bit there
6:53
You can always tell because of the names. Because, like, Kehlan. That's got to be Welsh, surely
6:59
Clear well. English. 1876 this bridge was made. For trains. And gravel bikes
7:05
And gravel bikes. Yeah, they were probably thinking of gravel bikes in 1876
7:08
I reckon so. Penny farthings. Oh, with a gravel bike tyre on a penny farthing
7:21
right i forgot that we hadn't actually talked you through our bike so this is the bike that
7:28
i've been riding it's been excellent it is the cube new road ex and what that means is that i've
7:33
got a nice carbon fiber frame i've got a nice carbon fiber fork the handlebars they're also
7:38
carbon fiber the wheels they're also carbon in fact most things are carbon on this bike they're
7:43
from newman and on them i've got some continental terror trail tires they're 45 mil but the frame
7:50
itself just like ed's has space for 50 mil tires as for the group set well that is all shimano grx
7:58
di2 so electronic shifting and it's got a 1x chain ring on the front and 12 at the back but this is
8:05
1152 i think i'm gonna have to check and then under here this is a really nice touch it's got
8:13
a big plasticky rubber smash guard so that when you're bombing it down a gravel descent it's not
8:19
going to smash into your carbon frame and then as you can see i've got kitted out with some acid bags
8:27
so little saddle bag there um what have i got in this one i've got my put my gloves in that one i
8:32
thought that was a good place to put gloves and then up top what have i got in here i've got
8:38
my my power bank for if my phone goes dead um and that's also powering the uh powering the light
8:46
and then I've also got my airpods for if Ed gets really boring I can just nod along and pretend
8:55
when he goes on about ah storage solutions I love storage solutions oh do you remember that one time
9:01
that I was bikepacking across Italy I put three bags on my bike
9:06
oh no progress has slowed down is this sustainable This is literally a marsh
9:19
Yes, this is not exactly fast progress, is it? Oh, I found a solid bit
9:24
Oh, well done. And it's over. The good thing is, though, you get back from a gravel bike ride and you always have a story
9:34
Yeah, that's true. It's just always a story, like, oh, yeah, I rode through a marsh, or I ended up in a river, or I got chased by a bull
9:44
Well, so once you're covered in mud, you're covered in mud, it doesn really get much worse than that You can get any muddier I feel like once you are covered in mud that when the fun really starts hopefully that the end of that uh no another field not a field
10:01
i think you can push or pull these single track now huh i think you can push or pull the gates
10:10
oh no a whole new challenge oh good muddy single track with nowhere else to go
10:15
Aha, Ed's gone for that out the saddle technique. It's working quite well
10:20
If you're lacking rear traction, get out the saddle. Oh, f***. Er, no
10:28
Come on. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh no
10:38
That's what I mean. Gravel cycling. Just little micro challenges. it's like can you do it can you not do it who knows oh god serious wheel spin
10:49
all right so my bike for the day has been the cube new road race it has got a aluminium frame
11:08
it's got Newman alloy wheels 2x12 GRX group set so you don't want for any more gears it's been
11:15
absolutely fine today plenty of mounting points which is a good one you've got mounts on the forks
11:19
you've got a mount under here which is currently holding a pump you've got three bottle cages at
11:24
the bottom you've got a sort of tool storage you've got mud guard mounts as well which well
11:28
kind of wishing that we'd actually made use of and also my gift which is this bar bag on the front
11:33
which was crowned full of stuff but I've eaten all the food and I've had to put all my layers on
11:37
because it is starting to get quite cold. Are you enjoying yourself, Ed
11:42
Oh, yeah. Do you like gravel? Love it. This isn't gravel. Everything's gravel
11:48
Not this. So that bike, Ed, £1,500 or £1,499
12:00
I don't really, for gravel for this sort of riding star, I don't really see why I'd feel the need to spend more than that
12:06
Is that another point? I think it might be another point. Point number five
12:11
Don't think you have to spend as much on a gravel bike as you might feel inclined to on a road bike
12:18
We've got a ditch. I might have to stop you there. Hang on. Go on
12:23
Go on. Go on. Go on. Pedal. Pedal. Pedal. Pedal. So close
12:28
Right. What bit looks good? That bit looks good. Oh. Yeah. Well done
12:35
Done it. What will we say? I've completely forgotten. Gravel bikes, I don't think you have to spend as much money on them as you might want to with a road bike
12:45
You don't need to spend a lot to have a good time, do you, on gravel? There's some really capable, not that expensive bikes
12:54
We would not be having a better time on more expensive bikes. No, once you've got the tyre clearance, you're basically there
13:00
Yeah, that one's got 50mm. Well, this one's got 50mm as well. yeah whereas in the road I know you don't need to spend a lot but it sometimes does become a bit
13:09
of an arms race of if you spend more you go faster and also you've got the other issue
13:15
if you spend 1500 quid on a road bike which you can do but you can't then ride it anywhere else
13:23
you have to ride it on the road whereas spend 1500 quid on a gravel bike you can ride that
13:30
to work you can ride on the gravel rides at the weekend if you are taking on a road ride
13:35
you can ride on roads it just doesn't work the other way around well that's another thing like
13:42
you can spend you know up to 10 grand on the gravel bike are you really going to be wanting
13:49
to be sending that down rocky descents and whatnot like are you really going to like let
13:54
yourself loose and have the same amount of fun on it as you could do if you got a cheaper one
13:58
because you're just going to be paranoid the whole time that you're going to, you know, break it
14:02
Also, and this might sound a bit counterintuitive, even though we're on a ride and I've almost fallen off like four times
14:12
and by the end of the ride, I might have fallen off, I still think it's safer than road riding
14:19
I think it's certainly a softer landing. Yeah, in most cases. Jesus, I think we're going up against the stream
14:26
Because, keep going, non-stop. I'm a subject to soft landing. So, stop
14:32
I think the consequences of falling off are just so much less. Back brake, not front brake. Okay
14:40
Ah! All right. Yeah almost slid out and ended up in the river I lost Ed again Another thing with grab all the posts for the road it not as embarrassing if you have to get off and push
14:54
I mean, it is, but I'll let you off. Yeah, but we couldn't have ridden up this
15:00
Whereas if you're getting tied up a climb. Come on, we've got an easterly point to find Ed. Yeah
15:07
Having a good time? Yeah, always when gravel riding. My head sounds pained
15:14
oh he's going for the overtake hello he's had his cheese ploughman's and now look at him
15:24
you've got a bell i have got a bell where's the bell on the way
15:35
oh i forgot you just double double tap the screen you're one of them look at that one of one of what one of those bell people
15:44
Ah, you got my face muddy. Stop with the bell. Right, we must be getting close now
15:56
I'm feeling that I'm very far east. Well, we're making good progress now that we're out of the marshland
16:03
Yeah, since Monmouth it's been easy going. Much better. This is more what I think of when I think of gravel for gravel riding
16:10
rather than sludging through water. But is that not the great thing you can do either
16:18
To be fair, we did get through it. Exactly. And now we've got a story and a video
16:24
Yeah. And we can go to work next week and we can say to everyone
16:29
ha, we rode through a bog. What did they do? I rode around my usual 30k loop
16:36
It took me one hour and ten minutes. And yesterday it only took me one hour and nine minutes
16:44
That was my impression of a road cyclist. It was good. Right, well, we're leaving the River Wye behind us
16:51
and I reckon just up here is our target, the easternmost point of Wales
16:57
Let's go and see if we can find it. I quite like the lean that you're doing actually
17:16
I don't know if that works out, I'm just going to stand like this. Well, this is a massive anti-climax really
17:24
Just there, that's Wales. just here this is england fish and chips cost about four times the price over this side of the
17:34
line um yeah i was expecting a rock or something at least yeah border patrol yeah nothing yeah
17:40
yeah i didn't even have to get my passport out anyway i guess it's more about the journey than
17:44
the than the destination however i did say at the start of the video that there was one thing
17:50
that I don't like about gravel cycling and I think it's a pertinent one. I think it's a
17:57
one that is only going to become more important and that is that people talk about the spirit of
18:02
gravel all the time and over the summer I did a few events. I did a World Series gravel event
18:11
and I also did the British National Gravel Champs both of which put me off gravel cycling
18:20
Not as a whole, just off of that type of gravel cycling, because there was no spirit of gravel
18:25
I always wondered what people were on about when they were going on about this spirit of gravel
18:29
And I think today we have encompassed that spirit. We have walked, we've taken in the views and stuff like that
18:37
There, of course, is now gravel racing. I've done gravel racing. I've enjoyed gravel racing in small doses
18:44
but i think it's important that not everyone thinks gravel racing is for them it's not for
18:51
everyone it's going to be for the nichest of fit aero clad whoever's just like road racing is just
19:01
for world tour pros well yeah and as soon as you start introducing the kind of technology that comes
19:06
with racing you're losing they're just getting out and having fun and getting muddy and not carrying
19:12
out speeds that's kind of gone again because you're obsessing over like sort of marginal things
19:17
and spending money on it and whatnot and yeah so if there is a spirit of gravel it's that it doesn't
19:23
require caring about like any of those things exactly well i hope that you've liked this i
19:28
hope that you've liked this and i hope we've managed to show you what is good about gravel
19:31
what we think is good anyway if you have liked the look for these bikes then you can check them
19:36
out on the cube website we'll pop a link down in the description below and if you like this type
19:40
with content then please give it a like, subscribe to the channel for lots more bike stuff, and
19:44
we'll see you next time
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