Reply To: Mountain bike to Gravel bike?

#476942

This is a great discussion. I’ve been riding a lightweight hardtail MTB (2015 Specialized Crave SL) on gravel. It’s fully rigid, singlespeed and set up with Stan’s Grail gravel wheels and tires. I’ve done a few races and a bunch of rides and it feels plenty fast, albeit the SS doesn’t allow me to stay at the front end of the pack during races.

I’m about to buy a new FS Epic for XC racing, but I’m guessing it will be far superior for gravel, too. It’s light enough (21-22 lbs) that there’s not a big weight penalty compared to a gravel bike and with the Brain technology, the suspension is locked out until/unless you hit rough stuff. It remains to be seen whether the MTB gearing is enough to keep up with dedicated gravel races, but I’m betting it will be.