Back in the day, when I didn't wear rose-tinted spectacles, and when the legs were as strong as the heart was willing and money was short but time was plentiful, one bike pretty much had to do it all: club runs, touring, road racing, TT'ing, 'cross etc. 'Gravel' riding including thrashing around Sutton Park or exploring the Elan Valley.
Removal of rack & 'guards and a change of wheels was all that was needed to transform my (surprisingly robust but highly modified) Viscount Gran Prix from a tourer that took me up Cape Wrath in a murderous hail storm, to some pretty decent race results (all things considered): none of your 753, Mavic SSCs, Campag Super Record and chromed forks/stays that my mates had for me sadly...
Super Champion rims with World Tour or Tracer tyres and 52/42 x14/28 gearing would pretty get me up and over anything, the only changes needed being to clean the thing and to switch to my prized GP4s & tubs and a through-block for racing when required. Nick Sanders and the Cranes took road bikes places that would be scoffed at probably nowadays - here's Nick somewhere in the Egyptian desert: check out that gearing...
I'm sure he wouldn't choose 23mm tyres or 23t bottom sprocket with hindsight were today's kit available then. I'm older too, and my legs with it and time is more scarce than money. The materials and technology advances are amazing and I've accumulated many great bikes over time.
I've got rid of most now. I don't race but I have a decent road bike for fitness. My tourer was never really 'toured' but I find myself using it more or less now for everything else and it has found a new lease of life as my 'gravel' bike. Pretty much any bike can be a gravel bike:
But, really, I've regressed to my youth: a simple steel bike, old-school 26" wheels and just ten minutes to replace racks, guards and change wheels if need be.
Gravel Bike
Trips, adventures, bikes, equipment, etc.
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