>>1616150Think of it as a a spectrum:
Racing Road - Endurance Road - Cyclocross - gravel - Rigid MTB - XC MTB - Trail MTB - Enduro MTB - Downhill MTB
This is just some shit I made up, but its kind of how I think about it
This doesn't necessarily capture the nuance you can get by changing parts of a bicycle.
A gravel bike for some is literally just a road bike with wider tires, and now-a-days a lot of road bikes have clearance for 32-38mm. So if you had an endurance road bike with 35mm tires is it actually a gravel bike?
Similarly you have monster-cross type bikes which advertise as gravel bikes but have 2 inch MTB tires and tall, flared drops. So would you call it a gravel bike, or just a retarded rigid MTB?
So think of it as a spectrum, but also the parts matter too.
If you ask me, I think a gravel bike should be a road bike first, MTB second. Picrel is an example of a meme gravel bike that should just be a mountain bike.
A cool way to get a gravel bike I've found is to get a decent old 27 & 1/4 tire road bike, then buy a cheap set of 700c wheels. You can probably move the break pads to fit the smaller rim, and now you can fit 33mm minimum, 38mm if you are lucky.
