2020 Field Test: Best gravel bike under $2,000

Even as the cost gap between affordable bikes and top-tier bikes widens, the performance gap is closing. Affordable bikes are better than they’ve ever been.

This is particularly true with gravel bikes. A good $1,500 gravel bike gets you almost all the key attributes that come with a $5,000 gravel bike, or a $10,000 gravel bike. You get hydraulic disc brakes, lots of tire clearance, and solid geometry. You get a reasonably light frame and parts that, in general, are just as functional as those that are far more expensive. Ride quality doesn’t have to suffer as price drops, because ride quality on gravel bikes is overwhelmingly influenced by tires, which are relatively cheap.

The law of diminishing returns is in full effect, and, in our opinion, the performance/dollar curve really starts to bend somewhere around $2,000.

We tested a wide array of bikes in our 2020 Gravel Field Test, ranging from $1,000 up to nearly $7,000.

Riding all these bikes back-to-back allowed us to compare the three cheaper bikes to each other, as well as to vastly more expensive bikes. This made it easier to parse attributes that provided real value from those that simply added cost. In other words, we determined where you get the most bang for your buck.

Here’s what we learned.

https://cyclingtips.com/2020/04/how-to-buy-the-best-gravel-bike-under-us2000

See the whole CyclingTips Field Test: https://cyclingtips.com/tag/2020-cyclingtips-gravel-bike-field-test/