Just a 90's Mountain Bike?

Yes it’s basically a 90’s mountain bike, but why is that a bad thing?

Ask the people of Twitter what a gravel bike is and you’ll likely get an angry rant about the bike industry reinventing MTBs from the 90’s in a cynical scheme to sell more things. And there is a grain of truth in that. The geometries are close, people run the same width tyres as we did 30 years ago and they’re being ridden on the same sorts of tracks and trails as people did back then. So why do we need gravel bikes then?

Gravel is this strange, hard to define thing in the UK. People like to gatekeep it even if they can’t tell you what it really is. At one extreme it’s a few well-surfaced tracks on a road ride to link up quiet lanes or escape the traffic. At the other end of the spectrum, it’s throwing yourself down the side of rock-strewn sheep tracks that are more fun on a “downcountry” full sus MTB. Two completely different types of riding, with plenty of shades of grey in between.

So why is the prevailing opinion that a gravel bike should fit in a neat little box with drop bars, road inspired geometry and rely on tyres as the only form of suspension?

The Boardman ADV range fits right in that gravel box, and they are great all rounders on a reasonably smooth surface. But there comes a point where trails become less groomed, distances creep up, and a gravel bike with road DNA becomes less appealing.

Enter the Boardman TRVL prototype

It's a Gravel bike, but with suspension travel. See what we did there? Gravel with Travel… TRVL… never mind. Oh yes, it’s flat bar too. But fear not, there’s a drop bar version for those who love having all the hand positions. We're working on production versions of these bikes, expect to see them landing later in the year.

(The mini tri-bars are on there for one of our Product Managers to ride the Dirty Reiver gravel sportive, they won't be on production bikes!)

With a long front centre, a 70 degree head angle and 30mm of fork travel, this bike is more stable, with better front end grip and comfort than our ADV range. OK, it’s not as fast with a 700mm wide bar and more upright riding position, but if you’re spending all day on the bike and you want your gravel to feel a bit calmer, this is the one for you. By the way, it descends loose fireroads like a demon if you’re feeling less zen. Nicely balanced weight distribution and that cheeky suspension fork keep the front tyre in contact with the ground. That’s fairly important if you want to go round corners.

So, yes it does sound a lot like a 90’s MTB, but isn’t UK gravel just people rediscovering that old school XC is super fun on a bike that’s not a mega slack trail slayer? Modern hardtails are great, but mile-long reach and tonnes of wheel flop from the rad head angle is a bit of a drag when they aren’t pointed downhill on twisty singletrack. Which whilst we can’t say 100% for certain what gravel really is, it’s not that!

In any case, we’ll take disc brakes which actually work, tubeless tyres which don’t pinch tubes and a dropper post over your 90’s museum piece any day. We might just steal the colourway though, that’s timeless!