Cyclingnews Awards: Gravel bike grouptest

Will Jones skids a YT Szepter gravel bike around a corner
(Image credit: Josh Croxton)

As one of the two main events for the Cyclingnews Awards, sorting out which are the best gravel bikes wasn't an easy one. I say 'are' rather than 'is' because the more testing we completed as a team on the cohort of bikes, the more we came to the realisation that there isn't a single 'best gravel bike'. 

The genre is so diverse, as diverse as the needs of individual riders and their respective ambitions, that we've decided to not name an overall best. Deciding the best overall between a race-oriented bike that's very good at being a gravel race bike, and a gnarly pseudo-MTB that's incredibly good in that space is like comparing chalk and cheese, and deciding for some reason that cheese is better.

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Will Jones
Tech Writer

Will joined the Cyclingnews team as a reviews writer in 2022, having previously written for Cyclist, BikeRadar and Advntr. There are very few types of cycling he's not dabbled in, and he has a particular affection for older bikes and long lasting components. Road riding was his first love, before graduating to racing CX in Yorkshire. He's been touring on a vintage tandem all the way through to fixed gear gravel riding and MTB too. When he's not out riding one of his many bikes he can usually be found in the garage tinkering with another of them, or getting obsessive about tyres. Also, as he doesn't use Zwift, he's our go-to guy for bad weather testing... bless him.

Rides: Custom Zetland Audax, Bowman Palace:R, Peugeot Grand Tourisme Tandem, Falcon Explorer Tracklocross, Fairlight Secan & Strael