Is This The Only Road Bike You Need? | Cycling Weekly - video Dailymotion

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What is an all-road bike?

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00:00 Endurance bikes have been a staple of the road bike market

00:02 for about 20 years,

00:04 following the release of the Specialized Roubaix

00:07 back in 2004,

00:08 a bike which is still very much a fan favorite even today.

00:13 This corner of the market is changing though,

00:15 just without the usual great big fanfare

00:18 that the industry likes to create.

00:20 The presence of all road bikes

00:22 is certainly being felt more strongly

00:24 and the term keeps on creeping up,

00:26 but it's left me questioning,

00:28 what is an all road bike?

00:30 What is an all road bike for?

00:32 And what does this mean for the future

00:34 of the beloved endurance bike?

00:36 I think a good place to start is,

00:44 what is an all road bike?

00:46 Well, annoyingly,

00:47 that in itself is a bit of a tough question,

00:50 but you could sum them up as 80% road

00:52 and 20% everything else.

00:54 It's a very hard category to define

00:57 and this lack of a clear definition

00:59 has resulted in a mishmash of wishy-washy bikes

01:02 that are also trying to figure themselves out.

01:06 Brands that do have dedicated all road bikes

01:08 will usually claim that they embody

01:10 a few different characteristics,

01:12 those being a slightly more relaxed geometry

01:14 over and above their endurance counterparts,

01:17 more tire clearance and potentially more mounting points.

01:21 Not forgetting of course,

01:23 more forgiving gear ratios and wider tires.

01:26 Now, while those seem like a set of pretty clear

01:28 and understandable criteria,

01:31 things get slightly more muddled

01:32 when you go a little deeper.

01:34 For example, the Cannondale Synapse LTD

01:37 is offered in an all road build.

01:39 So what we have here is clearly an endurance bike,

01:43 but one which has been decked out with a two by

01:45 GRX groupset and 30 mil wide tires.

01:48 So is an all road bike just a different specification?

01:52 And the answer to that is in some cases, yes.

01:56 Some may define an all road bike

01:58 as just being for terrible roads like gravel,

02:01 or perhaps they're just the perfect winter bike.

02:04 I think one thing is clear,

02:06 this new fangled all road category

02:08 can to some extent be left to the consumer

02:11 to categorize themselves.

02:13 It could be an endurance bike

02:14 with slightly more forgiving gear ratios and tires,

02:17 which take advantage of modern day clearances,

02:19 which when you look at the Synapse

02:21 is up to a claimed 35 millimeters.

02:24 It could also be a dedicated all road build,

02:26 much like this brand new Vitus Venom

02:28 that you can see behind me,

02:30 which does have a slightly altered geometry

02:32 compared to the Zenium,

02:33 which is the brand's endurance offering.

02:36 The key thing with this new Venom

02:38 is that Vitus do offer the bike

02:39 in a couple of different builds.

02:41 We have the road going 105 Di2 build,

02:44 and we also have a one by SRAM Force build.

02:47 Another example is the Ridley Griffin.

02:50 Now the Belgian brand says that the Griffin

02:52 can be used as a road and as a gravel bike

02:55 with the geometry sitting between the road going Fenix

02:58 and the gravel going Kanso Fast.

03:01 When you look at it,

03:02 all that really needs to change is the tires

03:05 to truly optimize how the bike feels on the surfaces

03:08 you want to take it on.

03:09 With something that is so vague and lacking in definitions,

03:18 sometimes it's easier to look at

03:20 what something certainly isn't.

03:22 So in this case,

03:23 an all road bike would likely never have suspension,

03:27 dropper posts or 650B wheels.

03:30 The former is the only one on that list that might change.

03:33 If Specialized ever decided to go into the all road space,

03:36 I'm sure it would incorporate a future shock

03:39 in the same way that the Diverge and the Roubaix does,

03:42 but that is just pure speculation.

03:45 Dropper posts and 650B wheels

03:47 will be reserved for gravel bikes and other off-road bikes.

03:50 Now that's not to say

03:51 that you can't fit them retrospectively,

03:54 it just wouldn't make too much sense to do so.

03:56 So what is an all road bike actually for?

04:06 The obvious answer is that it's for riding,

04:08 but going a little deeper once more,

04:11 it's again clear that we as the consumers

04:13 can dictate what we want the bike for.

04:16 It could be anything from velvet like tarmac

04:19 to fairly loose gravel.

04:21 My recommendation would be that these bikes

04:23 are reserved for either longer days in the saddle,

04:26 roads of a poor quality,

04:27 or for riders who genuinely love to mix it up

04:30 and do a little bit of everything, including some gravel,

04:34 with the severity of what you can tackle

04:36 being dependent on the tires that you're running.

04:39 You also cannot ignore that an all road bike

04:41 would make for a pretty wicked winter bike,

04:44 with big, comfy, confidence-inspiring tires,

04:47 big gear ratios for the ultimate zone two rides,

04:51 and mounting points galore for all the mudguards and racks

04:54 that you could ever want.

04:55 They really are very well suited

04:57 to taking on a pretty harsh winter.

05:00 From everything I've said so far,

05:02 the term jack of all trades comes to mind,

05:04 but as the full saying goes,

05:06 a jack of all trades is a master of none,

05:08 but often better than a master of one.

05:11 So if you're after pure versatility,

05:14 then a bike which does attach itself

05:16 to the all road category may be what you're after.

05:19 If a bike like this allows you to consolidate

05:21 and run just a one bike garage,

05:23 then maybe that would enable you

05:25 to get something with a higher specification,

05:27 and also create a little space at the same time.

05:31 What does this mean for the longstanding

05:38 trusty endurance bike though?

05:40 Well, I believe that we'll see brands

05:42 go a number of different ways.

05:45 First being that they continue to make endurance bikes

05:47 with more claims about compliance

05:49 and reductions on rider fatigue.

05:51 We could see pure endurance bikes

05:53 continue to open up tire clearances,

05:55 although I don't think it'll get

05:57 much wider than 35 millimeters.

05:59 There's also a very strong possibility

06:02 that endurance bikes will now start to come

06:04 in more all road build specifications,

06:06 much like the LTD version of the Synapse.

06:10 When I look at Pinarello,

06:11 that recently released its X series range of bikes,

06:14 it was very quick to say that the new range

06:16 is certainly not an all road bike,

06:19 and that it is a performance endurance bike.

06:22 So it's likely that some brands will continue to stay true

06:26 to what an endurance bike is at its very core

06:28 without any dilution.

06:30 Secondly, I think we could see some bikes

06:33 which have historically been endurance bikes

06:35 morph into all road bikes,

06:37 leaving exclusively paved surfaces behind them.

06:41 All road bikes are here to stay,

06:43 and that is no bad thing.

06:45 They offer incredible versatility,

06:47 and given how many bikes seemingly fall into the category

06:50 and the breadth of ability they cover,

06:53 with some more tailored for the road

06:54 and others for off it,

06:56 there really will be something for everyone.

06:59 As a consumer, when looking to purchase a bike

07:01 in this space, we just have to consider

07:03 what terrain we want to ride on.

07:06 And from there, you'll be able to find a bike

07:08 that fits your requirements.

07:10 Since an all road bike can just be

07:12 a change of an endurance bike specification,

07:15 they really aren't a world apart from what we already have.

07:19 You may even already own an all road bike

07:21 in the form of a modern day endurance bike,

07:23 which is just waiting for a change of tires and gear ratios.

07:27 Perhaps in this modern day world of cycling,

07:29 we no longer have hard boundaries

07:31 on what category a bike really falls into.

07:34 Maybe we need to think about drop bar bikes as a spectrum

07:38 rather than three or four hard categories.

07:41 At one end, you'd have aero bikes

07:43 followed by do it all race bikes,

07:45 followed by climbing bikes, then endurance bikes,

07:47 then all road bikes, then racy gravel bikes,

07:50 and then adventure gravel bikes,

07:52 which is probably when you'd then move towards hybrids

07:54 and other straight bar bikes.

07:57 The nice thing is that no matter what type of cycling

08:00 you enjoy doing most, in theory,

08:02 it means there will be a bike out there

08:04 which exactly fits your requirements.

08:06 The flip side to that though,

08:08 is that it may take some time to track it down

08:10 given the vast selection of options.

08:13 What are your thoughts on all road bikes?

08:15 If you have any questions about them,

08:17 then please do drop them down below.

08:19 If you enjoyed the video, then please do drop it a like,

08:21 subscribe to the channel for more content,

08:23 and I will see you again very soon.

08:25 (whooshing)

08:27 (whooshing)

Is This The Only Road Bike You Need? | Cycling Weekly

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