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Our Guide to Buying: Adventure Road Bikes
Adventure road is simply a tag to describe a light drop-bar bike for adventure-minded riders, it is a broad
spectrum and covers many different bikes and riding styles but the essentials remain the same; it is about
the freedom and spirit of the ride. Adventure road bikes are created with versatility in mind. These bikes
are the perfect companions for following your every whim and fancy where ever it takes you.
Fit for gravel and woodland paths, but still fast rolling over tarmac, they remove the restrictions of on and
off-road boundaries. Within the Adventure Road category, you are sure to find a bike that suits you.
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What are the differences between adventure road bikes and other road bikes?
Different brands have different takes on what adventure road geometry should be, in general they sit much
closer
to road bikes, but with a more relaxed geometry, a higher stack height for a more heads up riding position
and
sometimes longer chain stays for stability when carrying a load. The tyres will generally be fatter than
road
tyres, but with a semi-slick rubber that won’t hold you back on the road, so you’ll be comfortable switching
between disciplines with ease.
Because Adventure Road bikes aren’t designed for technical, wooded areas and muddy racing, the bottom bracket
stays in a position more akin to that of a road bike, and tyre clearance does not need to be as great. Since
it’s unlikely you will need to hop off the bike, and run over obstacles or up banks, disc brakes are common
place as low weight is less crucial.
What are adventure road bikes good for?
Adventure Road bikes make fantastic steeds for commuting or touring duties – comfortable geometry, shorter
reach and robust wheels and tyres mean they can cope with hefty mileage over rough terrain. Therefore, the
bikes often have racks for panniers, mudguards and drinks bottles, so you can load them up should you need
to.
Adventure Road bikes are super versatile and with one bike you can cover a huge range of riding styles but
there are subtle differences and it is a broad spectrum. Before you start browsing think about what you are
likely to use the bike for and which features will be most key to your buying choice.
What are the key features of adventure road bikes?
Regardless of which end of the adventure road spectrum a bike hails from it will have these three identifying
features; mudguards and rack eyelets, disc brakes and tyre clearance..
Mudguards and rack eyelets.
Whilst bike packing is becoming increasingly popular (using frame and bar mounted soft bags instead of
traditional panniers) a rack is still the most solid and reliable way of carrying large loads. If you want
to tour in comfort, i.e. with a tent instead of a bivi bag and have enough kit to be able to rustle up a hot
meal, then the load bearing of a rack is a must. Eyelets also allow somewhere to secure full-coverage
mud-guards, still the best way to stay warm and dry for regular winter riding and every-day commuting.
Disc Brakes
Disc brakes now appear on a whole host of road bikes in virtually every part of the market, including race
bikes, but on an adventure road bike the presence of disc brakes is an absolute given.
What are the advantages of having disc brakes?
Disc brakes have huge advantages for this type of bike; they have superior stopping power, very useful if you
are carrying a load on your bike and they are not affected by rim damage. If you are riding on rough-roads
or planning to be away for a year and a day, then you are likely to get a minor buckle or ding in your rim
at some point and a disc brake will allow you to continue riding without brake rub.
Why is tyre clearance important?
Adventure Road bikes are designed to allow you to seamlessly switch from tarmac, to bridleway to gravel trail
and back again. To do this in comfort with good grip and control you need a fatter tyre, 28mm is the
starting point for an adventure road bike tyre width. This larger volume will also aid comfort and bike
stability if you are touring with a load on your bike.
To accommodate these fatter tyres, the chain-stays and rear forks are designed with extra clearance for the
wider tyres and on some bikes, designed with more off-road use in mind, will allow enough space for crud so
your wheels keep turning freely.
What types of adventure road bike are there?
Adventure Road captures all bikes designed to cope with both off-road and on-road conditions. It’s a broad
category and within in it are another three key styles of bike, whilst the lines between them frequently
blur there are some identifying features. These three styles are gravel bikes, touring and audax bikes, and
cyclo-cross bikes.
What are Gravel bikes?
Gravel bikes are born from an American style of riding where there is vast network of gravel road, the
perfect place to cycle, away from the fast and heavy traffic found on many American highways. These bikes
are designed to move fast on gravel and hardpack, they normally feature rack and mudguard mounts and are
perfect for versatile touring. The expectation is that a gravel bike will be ridden predominantly away from
Tarmac.
What are the differences between Gravel bikes and other Road bikes?
Gravel bikes take a much fatter tyre than a true cyclo-cross or touring
bike, the starting
width is a
relatively narrow 28mm but go up to a beefy 45mm. Gearing on gravel bikes favours the low end, good for
grinding up hills when fully laden and tackling rough, sometimes steep, terrain. Lighter versions of the
gravel bike range are ideal for the growing trend of gravel races - such as the Dirty Reiver, Mavic Haute
Route Rockies and Adventure Cross series.
What are touring and audax bikes?
Touring is a traditional part of cycling culture, from the moment the bike was invented cyclists were heading
off on long distance adventures. A true touring bike is expected to be ridden on Tarmac for the majority of
the time but those who go cycle touring will always have the tendency to bounce down less than perfect roads
or explore intriguing tracks and an adventure road bike gives you the freedom and confidence to do that.
Touring bikes have slightly wider tyres, more relaxed geometry and the ability to carry loads but not the
much wider clearances or innate off-road capabilities of a gravel bike.
What are cyclo-cross bikes?
A true cycle-cross bike is for racing and is not an adventure road bike. It is lightweight for carry sections
and has high-speed agile handling to whip around tight technical courses and responsiveness needed to
accelerate away from rivals. The geometry whilst more relaxed than a road racing bike does not reach the
comfort of a gravel or touring bike.
When racing the UCI set an upper limit of tyre width as 33mm, so a race bike only needs to accommodate this
width and not much more, so nowhere close to the clearance of a gravel bike. A high-end cross bike will not
feature bottle cages - no one drinks in a cross race or eyelets for mudguard and pannier racks. Some
manufacturers do have cross bikes with these features, that they are still called cross bikes is because
this is the platform they evolved from, however the differentiation between gravel bikes and cyclo-cross
race bikes is becoming more marked.