@Fartymarty, I do think your suggestion makes sense if you're doing a ride that is more trail intensive.
However, on a ride where you're grinding out miles, I'd definitely not enjoy a XC bike as much. There are also circumstances where an XC bike would just not be an option. For example, a few years ago I was doing a night ride gravel series with a group of riders where we would do 40-60 mile rides (75%+ gravel/dirt road) in a 2 person wide paceline. In a situation like that, XC flat bars wouldn't work well. Some of those rides got very fast, so it was helpful to have chainring clearance for greater than a 36-38t chainring, which is the limit that is common on an a rigid xc bike
June 8, 2022, 10:37 a.m. - Chad K
@Fartymarty, I do think your suggestion makes sense if you're doing a ride that is more trail intensive. However, on a ride where you're grinding out miles, I'd definitely not enjoy a XC bike as much. There are also circumstances where an XC bike would just not be an option. For example, a few years ago I was doing a night ride gravel series with a group of riders where we would do 40-60 mile rides (75%+ gravel/dirt road) in a 2 person wide paceline. In a situation like that, XC flat bars wouldn't work well. Some of those rides got very fast, so it was helpful to have chainring clearance for greater than a 36-38t chainring, which is the limit that is common on an a rigid xc bike