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)