>>1528911It's kind of ironic. Roadies actually like gravel/cx bikes explicitly because they're less 'competent' on rough surfaces than mtbs. It's underbiking. It's fun and challenging to ride a bike at its limits.
>>1528831like this pic
and then they also just prefer roadie controls and drop bars for general gravel grinding because there is a sweet spot where such bikes are genuinely specialized for the terrain and the fastest thing you could possibly have.
It's not a 'more comfortable, easier to ride, more versatile, heavier, slower alternative to a road bike', to a roadie, it's a more challenging, more fun, lighter, faster alternative to a mtb for riding gravel.
Whereas casuals come into the game looking to cuck road bikes with a bunch of compromises rather than improve them for their actual use riding gravel or light touring, and then simultaneously get upset when what they end up with is less noob friendly than a mtb
