Yes, I know how the bike industry is always inventing new and better ways of getting us to shell out more money for bikes and equipment we don't need. The appearance of what are sometimes called gravel bikes, however, as ignited a yearning in me - and I think my reasoning about why I need a gravel bike are perfectly sound (at least for an old cyclist dude.)
So I am a 66 year old cyclist who raced in the late 60's and 70's before returning to my home state in 1972 where I found my awesome hand-built Rickert road bike with tubular tires was useless. Mountain bikes had not been invented, and I lived 4 miles from the nearest paved road. I abandoned cycling in favor or running and x-country ski racing.
Fast forward to 2008. I sprung for a perfectly lovely Specialized Rockhopper 29er Comp. I had owned a Fisher MTB back in the 80's, but not until the 29er come along did I feel really comfortable on a MTB. I've enjoyed it thoroughly but soon found that trail riding was a bit much for my advancing age, what with the trees and endos etc.
In late 2012 I had quadruple bypass surgery. Not fun, but in my recovery lost a good deal of weight and started realizing those big hills around Duluth, where I now live, would be a lot easier on a road bike. I bought a Novara Strada - an entry level Shimano 105 equipped REI brand bike. It's a sweet bike, about 21 pounds and I upgraded the wheels and saddle and have put on a couple of thousand miles on it.
The problem is the roads and bike paths I love to ride are either not in very good shape of include long stretches of gravel. Last year, I rode half my miles on my old Rockhopper. I don't like the MTB bars for rides longer than an hour and just generally am more comfortable on a drop-bar bike. My Rockhopper also weight 31 pounds. Enter the gravel bike: the offspring of my road bike mated with my mountain bike. I love the disc brakes on my MTB and most of the gravel bikes are now equipped with discs. The main thing is the wider fork clearance allowing for a 38 or even 40mm tire.
The big question is how much I'm willing to spend. Both of my current bikes came in around $1,000, but I see this as my "retirement" bike (even though I've yet to actually retire) and I would be willing to go up to around $2,500. That opens up a lot of possibilities. One bike new for 2015 is the Jamis Renegade - a carbon framed model with Shimano 105 eleven speed:
The Raleigh Tamland is a nice steel framed model:
raleighusa.combikes road gravel tamland tamland 2Open ↗
I like the Litespeed T5, titanium too, but that might bust the bank:
There are others like the Niner RLT, but I am interested in your comments about this bicycle concept and feelings about steel, aluminum, titanium or carbon.
At this point, the Jamis is the one that makes my heart thump!