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Comment by Steltek | Hacker News Reader

Gravel bikes are good commuters, if you like drop bars. Many commuters prefer flat bars for the more upright riding position, which allows for a better field of view for misbehaving drivers.

You still also have the classic problem that higher end bikes lose all the commuter friendly features. Carbon forks and frames often lose mounting points for fenders+rack. The marketing vision of a gravel bike is someone expecting to get muddy and who isn't trying to stuff a laptop into a saddle bag. Durable, maintenance friendly choices like threaded BBs and easy cable routing go away. You're stuck with heavy bikes with poor gear ranges, super low end components, cable brakes, etc.

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Drop bars can be set as high as you want. There are even off road drop bar bikes built with stems looking like goose necks to put the bar high enough (see example in the link). It is more about the position in which you want to put your hands/wrist that matters.

Gravel bikes are sold in many different kinds, and different materials. Steel, alu, titanium, carbon, you name it. They are also build with different use in mind. Some are "racing" gravel with many lightweight high end components, other are made for bikepacking with provision for fenders, front and rear racks and usually more common standards. Those are commuters friendly.

Link: https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hVZNsMpWmxk/V9rqVdtLBHI/AAAAAAAAQ...

To clarify for some readers, you really only need super tall stems for major downhill sections and drops. Standard gravel bike geometries are just fine for most singletrack, even on gnarly terrain that most riders would balk at. Brake levers that are angled inward and spaced properly matters much more for instant responsiveness and precise turning control on hazardous technical terrain.

I cut my stem long and run my bars high due to a back injury.

It does mean that I essentially had to learn how to build my entire bike from scratch since noone builds a bike that way, but I'm happy I did.

For what its worth there are custom builders that do bikes in any geometry. There are also a number of small bicycles companies that may not have a shop in every city but that provide bikes with various kind of geometries.

Eventually I may do that, but for now keeping the stem long has been a good fit for me.

I agree but there are exceptions. My carbon bike (from GT) has bikepacking mounts on both the frame and the fork. Mounting fenders wasn't a problem either. It also has outside cable routing but not a threaded BB.

I think Canyon is selling bikepacking gravel bike as well (Grizl). There are choices, you just need to look for them. It's true that these days availability is a problem but it's a problem with everything cycling related.

Extra wide dirt drops with the flare are best in my opinion for everything. They are not like the oldschool flared bars where they flare up and then out - they are totally flat at the center (and wide at the center) and then the drops flare outwards (the drops are not purely vertical). You combine this with an extra long stem (for more upright riding) and you get the best of all worlds. You can ride them like flat top bars with multiple hand positions in the center and there is tons of room for mounting lights or a beverage holder. You can install nice big fat shifters with comfy rubber hoods so you can hold via the hood itself or place your hand around the top of the drop and still brake. And then of course you can place your hands deep in the drops or at the very bottom of the drops.

> You're stuck with heavy bikes with poor gear ranges, super low end components, cable brakes, etc.

Hmm, not my experience at all. At least the market here there are no "cheap" gravels. For around $1k-$1.5k (which is the cheapest gravels available here) I've gotten hydraulic breaks, Shimano GRX groupset, an OK weight etc.

Those prices seem low these days if you want any availability. All I'm seeing around me is $2-2.5k minimum for the same specs (higher end = carbon frame).

My steel gravel bike was built with bikepacking in mind, so it's carbon fork was revised after the first year to have those mounts for exactly that reason (Niner RLT Steel).

Modern drop bar shifters have an upright position though?

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