2 Gravel Bikes with Suspension

2 Gravel Bikes with Suspension


When my dad bought a Specialized Diverge in 2017, just a year after the brand launched its 20mm-travel Future Shock suspension system, I immediately wrote it off as a total Dad Bike.To get more news about ebike with suspension, you can visit magicyclebike.com official website.

Don’t get me wrong; at 70 years old, my dad is still fast and fit, and I’d agree that the Western Pennsylvania roads he rides, pockmarked as they are by the studded shoes of horses pulling Amish buggies, can be rough on your body’s natural suspension. But it was hard for me to imagine needing extra squish — even a scant 20mm positioned over the head tube — on the roads we ride here in Vermont.

And then, gravel blew up. Vermont has more dirt roads than paved — an absolutely true fact gravel race promoters love to tout — and people started arriving here in droves to participate in various gravel events around the state. For a while, those gravel grinders mostly stuck to picturesque dirt roads, with a few short Class IV sections — that is, roads that are unmaintained — to add variety. And then those Class IV sections started getting longer and spicier in nature, and then suddenly you’d find yourself bombing down miles-worth of actual stream beds with 500 to 1,500 other bug-eyed, mud-spattered riders, all trying to pick the line with the least probability of endo-ing into the mud and getting run over.
And as a result, I realized two things: that I really liked riding a gravel bike on terrain usually reserved for my mountain bike. And that my dad was right: a little bit of suspension can go a long way in making the ride more comfortable — and enjoyable.
Bike brands aren’t oblivious to how much fun it can be to start a ride off on casual dirt roads, then throw in a sporty section of Class IV road or even singletrack. However, that doesn’t mean all of the singletrack-capable gravel bikes out there right now are billed as such. If you’re looking for a bike that’s fun and fast on a dirt-ride ramble but also fully up for a little off-road adventuring, you can achieve that goal with a bit of vertical compliance, trail-friendly geometry, full-on squish, or a combination of all three.
This current era of gravel/trail crossover bikes comes on the heels of a few, earlier attempts. Cannondale was one of the first to add front suspension to a road/gravel bike with its 2015 Cannondale Slate. Fitted with a Lefty Oliver fork with 30mm of suspension — and running now-standard but then absurdly plump 42mm tires on 650B wheels — the bike’s silhouette was hardly subtle. However, it’s worth noting that it took Ted King to victory in the 2016 Unbound (née Dirty Kanza) gravel race, and Alison Tetrick to a victory (and a new course record) the following year. Cannondale discontinued the Slate in 2019 when it debuted the full-suspension Topstone, but it most certainly paved the way for other brands to start exploring the idea of suspension on gravel bikes. If you like the look of this, check out the Diverge.

With the Diverge, Specialized took a different approach to suspension. The Future Shock is built around the idea of axial compliance — that is, it’s a shock system that moves vertically over the fork, instead of fore and aft of your front axle relative to the frame like a typical mountain bike fork. Having your handlebars move up to meet you rather than relying on fore and aft splay would, Specialized engineers argued, make the ride faster without slowing you down. Plus, because the 20mm Future Shock is paired with a stiff rear end — and a low bottom bracket — it climbs without pedal bob and descends with alacrity. That makes it a really fun steed for days when you’re slogging up dirt roads and want to take the fun way home. Just be warned: 20mm of suspension won’t soak up huge (or any, really) hits. So plan to pick your way down the trail with some caution.

One place you will notice your floating handlebars is on paved roads, or when you’re out of the saddle sprinting. It can be off-putting to feel vertical flex when you’re putting the power down, which is a problem (or not, depending on your riding style) that Specialized tackled in 2021 with the Future Shock 2.0, which includes a lock-out feature. Just remember: if the routes you typically ride leave you frequently reaching for the lock-out, you’re simply carrying the extra weight without the added benefit of shock absorption. If you’re mainly a mountain biker who’s looking to switch things up occasionally though, the Diverge might scratch your itch to ride trail and gravel on the same ride.