It’s a term that’s popping up more and more these days: all-road bikes, all-road kit and all-road riding. But what exactly does ‘all-road’ mean?
Here we drill down to exactly what is meant by all-road, what the emergence of the sub-category means for gravel bikes and how it differs (or doesn’t) to what’s already on offer. What is an all-road bike?
In reality, the term ‘all-road’ isn’t particularly well defined and in many cases it’s easier to say what it isn’t, rather than what it is.
For some, all-road is an extension of the endurance road bike category: comfortable, wide-tyred road bikes that are capable of heading off tarmac onto hardpack and lighter gravel trails, or rather all ‘road’ types.
For others, all-road describes a subcategory of the gravel genre, leaning towards the lighter, faster and smoother end of terrain, rather than the more techy or steeper side of things. Perhaps an overlap with more gravel racing -specific bikes.
Road plus? Gravel lite? Road adjacent? Or just the perfect winter road bike?
Relatively few bikes are currently marketed exclusively as all-road bikes, but that’s changing.The Salsa Warroad was one of the first mainstream bikes marketed as an all-road bike. The brand’s “80% road, 20% whatever” tagline for the model sums up the category quite nicely.Belgian brand Ridley’s bikes are raced at the top level in cyclocross and on the road while its Kanzo range of gravel bikes reflects the discipline’s diversity.For example, the Kanzo Fast is designed for gravel racing and the Kanzo Adventure […]
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