Gravel
Long rides on unpaved roads and easy trails on drop-bar bikes with wide tyres. Somewhere between road cycling and mountain biking — and the reason many riders discover dirt.
Also known as: gravel riding, gravel biking, gravel bike
Key facts
- Bike types
- Gravel and road
- Terrain
- gravel roads, forest tracks, easy trails
- Protection
- Light
- Racing
- Unbound Gravel (since 2006); UCI Gravel World Championships (since 2022)
The bike
It looks like a road bike, but with room for tyres 40–50 mm wide, relaxed geometry, disc brakes and mounts for bags and bottles. Most run tubeless, and wide gear ranges for steep dirt climbs.
How it is ridden
- Long loops that mix tarmac, gravel and forest roads.
- Bikepacking: several days, with everything packed on the bike.
- Racing: from Unbound in Kansas, run since 2006, to the UCI Gravel World Championships, held since 2022.
Where it stops
Rooty singletrack and rocky descents are mountain-bike terrain. A gravel bike can ride them slowly, but that is where cross-country begins.
Related articles
- Tubeless tyres — Tyres that seal directly to the rim with no inner tube, holding liquid sealant that plugs small punctures as you ride. Less weight, fewer flats and more grip at lower pressure.
- Cross-country (XC) — Mountain biking as an endurance sport: as much up as down, on light and efficient bikes, where fitness wins races. The only mountain-bike discipline at the Olympic Games.
- Trail riding — The most common way to ride a mountain bike: loops that climb under your own power and descend the good stuff, on one bike that does a bit of everything.
- Tyre pressure — The cheapest upgrade on any mountain bike. Too much air and the tyre skips and slides; too little and it squirms, burps and hits the rim. The right number depends on you, the tyre and the trail.