The Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Perfect Gravel Bike

Gravel biking is mega popular, and has exploded over recent years, offering an exciting blend of road and mountain biking. If you're a seasoned cyclist looking to diversify your rides or a beginner seeking adventure, choosing the perfect gravel bike can be challenging. Choosing the right Frame Material, Geometry, Fit, Gearing, and wheel size all matter! This is a non-exhaustive list, but here’s our top 5 things to consider when looking at the perfect Gravel bike.

Gravel Bike Frame Material

The frame is the backbone of your gravel bike. It’s the chassis and ultimately influences how your bike rides. Invest as much as you can in the frame because you can always upgrade parts later. The material it’s made from will significantly impact your ride. Common materials include:

• Aluminium: Lightweight and affordable, aluminium frames provide a good option for beginners.

• Carbon Fiber: Known for its strength and weight-saving properties, carbon fiber offers a smoother ride but, in some cases, it can come at a higher price point.

• Steel: Offers a comfortable, forgiving ride thanks to its natural flex, although it is heavier than other materials.

• Titanium: Combines the comfort of steel with the lightness and durability of aluminium, but it is the most expensive option.

Vielo’s Choice: We chose to design the V+1 Gravel bike from carbon fiber because it’s a material we have a lot of experience with. It’s also a material that allows us to shape and form the frame into tubes and profiles that give it the ride characteristics we desire. Oval down tubes and flat curved seat stays for comfort, but retaining stiffness where you need it most. It’s also known for being incredibly strong and lightweight.

Gravel Bike Geometry and Fit

Gravel bikes typically feature a more relaxed geometry compared to road bikes, providing stability and comfort over long distances and varied terrain. Gravel bikes as a spectrum extend from Fast, lightweight, racy machines all the way to Comfort focused, adventure and bike packing machines. What’s right for you? Some aspects to consider include:

• Stack and Reach: Ensure these measurements align with your body type and riding style.

• Wheelbase: A longer wheelbase adds stability, crucial for off-road handling but can make the bike lazy on the road.

• How you’ll be using it: Are you looking for fast, light and sprightly? Or a bike that will take you and all your camping equipment on a 10 day exploration? The style of gravel riding you’re planning will influence the geometry of the bike you’re looking for.

Vielo’s Choice: The Vielo V+1 has been praised for its balanced geometry, offering a perfect mix of comfort and responsiveness. We fit on the light, fast and comfortable end of the gravel spectrum. The V+1 will still do multi day adventure packing with a Tailfin rear rack and bags too.

Gravel Bike Wheel Size and Tire Clearance

Gravel bikes typically come with either 700c or 650b wheels.

• 700c Wheels: Larger diameter wheels that roll faster on smoother surfaces.

• 650b Wheels: Smaller diameter but wider, providing more comfort and better traction on rough terrain.

Tire clearance is also vital; wider tires offer more grip and comfort.

Vielo’s Choice: Vielo’s V+1 frame supports both 700c and 650b wheels and has enough clearance for a 50mm tyre on both! Want something fast and comfy on the road? Try a 32mm road tyre. Want something chunky for muddy wet conditions? We like the Continental Race kings. Want a big tyre for go anywhere gravel? We fit the 50mm Continental terra hardpack as standard. And all without the need for a dropped chain stay frame design.

Gravel Bike Drivetrain and Gearing

Gravel bikes use either 1x or 2x drivetrains.

• 1x Drivetrains: Simpler, lighter, and less prone to mechanical issues, ideal for varied terrain.

• 2x Drivetrains: Provide a broader range of gears, useful for mixed road and off-road riding.

Vielo’s Choice: We’ve designed all our bikes exclusively for 1x. Without the front derailleur and second chain ring we’ve more freedom in design and engineering. You can read more about that on our 1x dedicated page. 

Gravel Bike Comfort and Accessories

If you’re going to be out on your gravel bike for many hours in the saddle, comfort is going to be king. Some gravel bike features to look for include:

• Suspension: Some gravel bikes offer front or rear suspension, enhancing comfort on rough terrain. This does come with a weight penalty.

• Mounts: Ensure the bike has mounts for water bottles, racks, and bags if you plan on bikepacking.

• Handlebars: Flared drop bars are common in gravel bikes, providing better control and comfort.

Vielo’s Choice: The Vielo V+1's design includes multiple mounts for water bottles, tool kegs and even top tube mounts for a storage box. You’ve also got a choice of handlebars from a two-piece design or our combo bar. Want a bit more comfort? We’re a big fan of the Redshift suspension stem if you wanted a bit more comfort.

Conclusion
Choosing the perfect gravel bike involves balancing performance, comfort, and versatility. The V+1 is designed around lightweight, comfortable and performance gravel. Investing time in this process of finding your next bike will pay off in countless enjoyable rides on your ideal gravel bike.

The best thing you can do is talk to us! If you’ve a question unanswered or want something that’s not currently on our spec list, just pick up the phone and give us a call. You can even use the chat button to speak to one of us (a real person!) directly.