Published October 15, 2026 10:00AM
What does the future of gravel bikes look like? That’s the question we’re exploring in Velo’s 2027 Gravel Bike Field Test.
From aero bikes with extra tire clearance to what can only be classified as a mountain bike with drop bars, there are more approaches than ever to gravel bikes. We’ve curated a selection of six examples of modern gravel bikes, each progressive in its own way, and put them head to head in Squamish, B.C. to see where exactly gravel is headed.
Last week in episode 1, we took our six test bikes on a first impressions loop that featured a little bit of everything: champagne gravel, loamy dirt trails, and slightly technical, rocky single track—with climbing and descending for all of the above.
Now Levy, Josh, and Logan are back for episode 2, where it’s time to put each bike through a series of challenges designed to push the bikes (and, frankly, the test riders) to their limits to see how well they perform under the wide range of different conditions that can all be called gravel riding.
The 3 Challenges
Climbing
Logan drew the short straw this time around, picking the climbing challenge—but he doesn’t seem too bummed about it. Can somebody please stop making him call it interval training? How does each bike handle an off-road climb sprinkled with a few challenging elements like rocks and roots? We timed each run to find out.
Descending
Next up, it’s Levy’s turn, and he’s drawing on his 20+ years of mountain biking experience in the descending challenge. This technical singletrack is definitely on the outer limits of where you’d want to take a gravel bike, but that’s the point of the challenge—pushing these bikes to their limits.
Efficiency
No one on the Velo tech team likes to ride long distances quite like Josh, who’s known to do at least one century ride every week, so naturally he’s taken on our efficiency test. We had him ride every bike on a washboard gravel road while holding a steady 200 watts to see which of our six bikes comes out on top.
The 6 bikes on test
Giant Revolt Advanced SL
The all-rounder: race it or go adventuring.
Specification: Giant Revolt Advanced SL 0, SRAM Red XPLR
Tire clearance, claimed: 53mm
Weight (tested size): 7.85kg/17.3lbs (ML)
Factor Sarana
The ultra endurance machine.
Specification: Factor Sarana, SRAM Force XPLR
Tire clearance, claimed: 56mm
Weight (tested size): 9.58kg/21.12lbs (Medium)
Argon 18 Anti Matter
The aero approach to gravel.
Specification: Argon 18 Anti Matter + SRAM RED XPLR
Tire clearance, claimed: 55mm
Weight (tested size): 8.5kg/18.74lbs (Medium)
Obed GVR
The progressive race bike.
Specification: Obed GVR, SRAM Red XPLR
Tire clearance, claimed: 56mm
Weight (tested size): 9.12kg/20.1lbs (Medium)
Pivot Les SL Drop Bar
The drop-bar mountain bike.
Specification: Pivot Les SL Drop Bar, SRAM GX Eagle Transmission 12-Speed
Tire clearance, claimed: 29 x 2.4″
Weight (tested size): 9.78kg/21.56lbs (Medium)
Salsa Fargo 32 Ti
The 32er. How much difference do big wheels make?
Specification: Salsa Fargo 32 Ti, SRAM GX Eagle Transmission
Tire clearance, claimed: 60mm
Weight (tested size): 9.48kg/20.9lbs (Medium)
The test riders
To settle the debate about the future of gravel once and for all (or perhaps muddy it more than ever), we’ve assembled three test riders who, like the bikes, couldn’t be more different.
Reformed mountain biker turned drop-bar obsessive Mike Levy leads the charge, bringing a technical, rowdy background and a preference for chunkier roads and adventuring far off the beaten path—on Earth and beyond.
He’s joined by Velo’s in-house team of tech editors. Josh Ross likes to ride long distances as efficiently as possible—catch him pedaling all day and night across the gravel roads of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. He’s all about pushing his personal boundaries, and finding the equipment that will help him go the extra mile (or extra 200 miles).
Having once finished 18th overall at the Unbound 200, Logan Jones-Wilkins can’t stop thinking about going fast and squeezing every drop of performance from gravel gear. But when he’s not mixing it up in the pointy end of races, he likes his gravel bike to be a medium for adventuring into the unknown.
That’s three different approaches to gravel, and, naturally, their takes are as varied as the riders themselves. Can they settle their differences and agree on anything? We may have to resort to some good ol’ fashioned tactics to resolve things—which may or may not mean go-kart racing.
Squamish: The ultimate testing grounds
To put these bikes to the ultimate test (and the riders too), we’ve taken everyone to the outdoor playground that is Squamish, British Columbia. Finding out the future of gravel means pushing bikes to their limits, so we’ve found a mix of terrain from single track to washboard fire roads to do just that.
We’re stress testing the bikes to get the most possible out of them. In this first episode, we’ve put together a test loop that takes our riders on a smattering of every kind of terrain one might consider gravel, from champagne roads, to loamy dirt trails, to slightly technical, rocky single track, and we’ve got climbing and descending for all of the above.
To keep our testing focused on the bikes themselves, we’ve brought in control tires, 50mm Schwalbe G-One RX tires run at the same tire pressure, mounted to Easton EC90 ALX wheels.
Poll: Which bike is the future of gravel?
Thank you to our sponsors!
Velo Field Test wouldn’t happen without the support of these sponsors. A big thank you to Endura for providing kits and helmets, Schwalbe for tires, and Easton for wheels!
The team that made Velo Field Test possible
A special thank you to the crew who made this Velo Field Test a reality!
- Video team: Logan Patrick Nelson, Max Barron, Stefan Licko
- Video editor: Stefan Licko
- Bike shop support: Bici
- Lunch wranglin’, Kei truck driving and chauffeuring: Will Tracy, Brian Park
- Testers: Josh Ross, Logan Jones-Wilkins
- Host: Mike Levy
Enjoy the video and stay tuned for episode 3, where we’re taking the bikes on a big ride around Squamish to figure out the future of gravel bikes.