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Gravel Bikes

Gravel bikes are versatile off-road machines, blending features of road and mountain bikes. They're designed for exploring mixed terrain like gravel roads, dirt paths, and rough trails, equipped with drop handlebars, wide tyres, disc brakes, and stable geometry, offering comfort and control on long adventures.

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Orbea Terra Race gravel bike 3/4 shot

What Is a Gravel Bike?

Gravel bikes look like road bikes but are designed for more than just sealed roads. Key features include:

  • Wider tyres for grip, control and comfort on mixed terrain.
  • Robust frames with clearance for mud and accessories.
  • Disc brakes for reliable stopping power in all weather conditions.
  • Accessory frame mounts for bags, mudguards and bottle cages.

Gravel bikes let you ride wherever your curiosity takes you. From sealed roads to unsealed single and double tracks.

A gravel bike is the perfect mix of a road bike, cyclo-cross bike and mountain bike.

And because a gravel bike takes elements of all 3 types of bikes above, its one super-power is versatility.

Because gravel bikes can be used on paved roads, rail trails and light off-road tracks.

Our customers use gravel bikes for general fitness, commuting into work, touring and bike packing.

Giant Revolt Advanced gravel bike head tube profile

Relaxed Riding Position

Compared to cyclocross bikes, the front-end of gravel bikes can be up to +30mm higher.

Your hands being higher means you're not leaning over and you sit more upright.

However, if you have good flexibility, there are several spacers under the stem/handlebar section. Removing these will help riders get lower and more aggressive, if that's your preference.

Speaking of head stems.

Gravel bike stems are shorter to offset the lazier/calmer steering.

Giant Revolt Advanced gravel bike being ridden off-road

Calm handling

Calm handling is critical for gravel bikes.

That's because they are designed to be ridden over unstable surfaces. The calmer steering angle helps you maintain control when surface grip is lacking

So it's not just the wider tyres that help maintain grip. The steering angle is just as important.

Giant Revolt Advanced gravel bike D-Fuse seat post and handlebar profile

Vibrations and Fatigue

A good gravel bike needs to flex but in the right areas - that's the important part.

Giant, Cannondale and Orbea have engineered flex zones into the seat post, rear stays and handlebars.

All these areas are designed to flex and absorb high-frequency vibrations.

These areas are your main contact points. If most of the impacts and vibrations can be cancelled out before they reach your body, you're going to for longer and feel less fatigued.

Giant Revolt Advanced gravel bike being ridden on a dirt road

Gravel vs Road Bikes

Gravel bikes feature a similar drop-bar style to road bikes, but with greater versatility. Compared to a road bike, a gravel bike gives you:

  • Better handling on gravel and dirt.
  • More stable, upright riding posture.
  • All-day comfort for long rides or rough surfaces.
  • Wider gear range for climbing steep terrain or carrying gear.
Orbea Terra Race cockpt setup and wide front tyre

Gravel vs Mountain Bikes

Gravel bikes are a great middle ground between a road and mountain bike:

  • Lighter and faster than most mountain bikes.
  • More efficient for mixed terrain and commuting.
  • Great for riders who don’t need full suspension but still want off-road capability.
Orbea Denna e gravel bike

Electric Gravel Bikes

Looking for longer range or a little extra help on the climbs?

E-gravel bikes combine all-road versatility with electric assist. Ideal for:

  • Long-distance touring
  • Steeper terrain
  • Recovery rides or daily commuting

Consider the new Orbea Denna e-Gravel bike.

Giant Revolt Advanced being ridden in the backroads of Tasmania

Where Can You Ride a Gravel Bike?

Gravel bikes are built for:

  • Roads and sealed bike paths
  • Rail trails and country roads
  • Forestry tracks and light trails
  • Weekend bikepacking and touring

Add some panniers and racks and head out on your next adventure.

Key features of a gravel bike

The most important feature of a gravel is frame geometry. We'll cover more of this next. For now, to summarise:

Compared to a road and cyclo-cross bike, a gravel bike places its rider in a position that's more upright. This position is more forgiving for longer rides.

It also means new riders who are not conditioned to riding can get comfortable on a gravel bike quickly.

Depending on the gravel bike, tyre width varies from 35mm to 45mm wide. Properly designed frames are designed to accommodate slightly wider tyres if you prefer to spend more time off-road.

Like road bikes, gravel bikes use similar drop-bars.

However, unlike road bikes, drop-bars used on gravel bikes are wider. The extra width delivers more stability on unstable surfaces

Frames can also carry more stuff.

Multiple mounts around the frame allow riders to mount mudguards, water bottles, pannier racks and pannier bags.

Gravel bike gear ratios

Gear ratios on gravel bikes have been tuned to handle steep inclines. This wide range ratio allows riders to climb serious gradients easier.

Plus, gravel bikes can come with either a:

  • Single front chainring (called a 1-by or 1x) 
  • Double chainring (called a 2x)

A 1x setup is simpler. There's no front derailleur, gear shifter or cables.

The downside is riders are a little limited in gear selection.

A 2x setup gives the rider more range to accommodate almost any gradient.

As a simple consideration:

If you're spending time riding flatter with undulating paths and want an easier gear to climb with, then we'd suggest the 2x setup.

For riders who are spending more time off-road, the 1x setup makes sense because you don't need to focus on front gear shifts.

Rather, you can be concentrating on your line choice, terrain and body position.

Gravel bike geometry (and handling)

Compared with their road bike cousins, gravel bikes use very different angles. The angles and lengths a frame uses is collectively called bike geometry.

Important: bike geometry determines handling.

And in this case, the handling of gravel bikes has been designed for calm steering, stability at high speed and confidence on unstable surfaces (think loose dirt and gravel).

What is a gravel bike good for?

The purpose of a gravel bike is to open up where you can ride efficiently.

Efficiently, is the keyword here.

Because:

A mountain bike can go anywhere a gravel bike can.

So why not just buy a MTB instead?

Because unless you've got serious sustainable power in your legs, the mountain requires a lot more energy to move.

There's way too much rolling resistance.

A lot of our customers use gravel bikes for commuting and general fitness.

Gravel bikes are also robust.

Not just from a frame design but also the gears.

Shimano and SRAM use tech borrowed from their mountain biking components to improve the durability of gravel bike gearing components.

Can I ride a gravel bike as a road bike?

Let's compare gravel bikes to a road bike.

These are the key differences:

  • Gravel bikes have lazier steering. Sounds bad but it's actually good. On unstable surfaces this is going to help you steer.
  • On road, this same steering make the front end of gravel bikes really stable and predictable; less nervous and twitchy.
  • Gravel bikes are also lower to the ground.
  • Gravel bikes also have a longer rear end.
  • The lower frame and the longer back end deliver superb stability; producing a hug-the-ground, solid feel.

Not all gravel bikes are the same.

Like with most things in life, the devil is in the details.

And so not all gravel bikes are built to handle the same.

Yes, they have the same overall theory of stability and control but it's the nuances.

For example, take these 2 gravel bikes:

The Revolt is going to be little more stable at high speed but compared to the Terra, the front end handling is a touch more reactive.

Orbea's Terra will suit road riders or those transitioning off an aggressive mountain bike.

Because:

The Terra has a shorter back end that delivers power faster. And the front end handling is a slightly more stable on rough surfaces.

It's almost the perfect mix of fun, responsive and stability.

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