Gravel bike vs mountain bike? How to make the right choice

When you watch Marine Cabirou tearing up a World Cup downhill track on her Sender, or follow adventurer Vedangi Kulkarni as she pilots her Grail gravel bike around the world, you could be forgiven for thinking that gravel and mountain biking are very different sports. At those extreme limits, you would be right, but for many riders, the lines are less simple in their everyday riding.  

In modern gravel racing, hardtail mountain bikes are becoming more and more popular, and gravel bikes are becoming more capable off-road. This makes the decision of whether to go for a mountain bike or a dedicated gravel bike harder than ever. This short guide will walk you through the main differences and hopefully help you decide which is the right style of bike for you.

The biggest differences between a gravel bike and a mountain bike are the riding position and the intent of the bike. Gravel bikes tend to have fast-handling geometry and use road bike-style drop bars that give a lower, more stretched-out riding position with a focus on covering ground as fast as possible. They come fitted with fast-rolling tyres to help this. While they are getting more and more capable, the riding position means that if you start heading into rough, challenging trails, then the bike will get out of its depth quite quickly.  

Mountain bikes have a flat bar, more relaxed geometry and a more upright riding position for confidence when tackling rough terrain. All our mountain bikes come with front suspension to increase their off-road capability even more, although this comes with a weight penalty compared to a gravel bike. Out of the box, they are fitted with knobbly tyres to help you find grip on dirt and rock, but this means that they will not cover ground as quickly as a gravel bike.  

When you begin to compare the geometry of a gravel bike and a mountain bike, the differences become more apparent. These numbers describe subtle changes to the attitude of the bike and the relationship between the rider, the bike and the ground. If you are unsure about how to read a geometry chart, we have published short guides to help you decipher them. You can find dedicated explanations in our MTB geometry guide and gravel bike geometry guide for a clearer understanding of each bike type. 

Mountain bikes tend to have significantly slacker head angles than gravel bikes. For example, our Grail gravel bike has a head angle ranging from 69.5 to 71.8 degrees, which would be considered a steep head angle. With gravel bikes, the head angle is considered part of the bike fit. This means that it changes between models to help give a consistent experience between sizes. A steeper head angle makes the handling of the bike faster, which is great for small changes of direction, but will make it more nervous at high speed or on steeper terrain. 

Our Grand Canyon hardtail mountain bike has a 66-degree head angle across all sizes. This would be described as slacker, meaning that on rough terrain, it will hold a line more easily than a steeper head angle. With our mountain bikes, the primary role of the head angle is in the steering dynamics, so the same head angle is used across all sizes to give a similar feeling on the trail. 

For a deeper dive into fit, check out our gravel bike sizing guide and MTB sizing guide to find the right frame size for your riding style and body dimensions. 

Gravel bikes tend to have lower bottom bracket heights than mountain bikes. A lower bottom bracket height will give more stability than a higher one, but on a mountain bike, you begin to risk striking rocks or other obstacles on the trail or other obstacles with the pedals so there is a limit to how low you can safely go. Without the need to worry about obstacles, we could give the Grizl a low 75mm bottom bracket drop, while our Exceed mountain bike is at 58mm. 

Reach and stack are the most important numbers in bike fit after the seattube height. They describe how long the front triangle is and how high the handlebar will be. On a gravel bike, you will have a shorter reach paired with a longer stem and a lower stack than on a mountain bike. For example, a medium Grail has a reach of 411mm and a stack of 591mm, while our Grand Canyon mountain bike has a much longer 450mm reach and a higher stack of 622mm. 

Although the Grand Canyon has the longer reach, the long stem and the 31mm difference in stack means that the much lower riding position of the Grail will feel a lot more stretched out and familiar to road riders.

Wheelbase is the product of several other key numbers - most notably, reach, head angle and chainstay length. It is the combined length of the bike which helps you understand how stable the bike will be. Quite simply, a longer bike will be more stable. This difference is best seen when you compare our Grail and Grizl gravel bikes. The more race-oriented Grail has a 1,055mm wheelbase in medium, while our adventure-oriented Grizl goes up to 1,076mm. This means that the Grizl should be more stable and confidence-inspiring on rough ground, while the Grail should feel a little faster-handling and familiar to road bike riders. 

Not sure which Canyon gravel bike is right for you? In this guide, we compare the Grail and the Grizl to help you find the perfect fit for your riding style and adventure goals.

How a tyre performs is a combination of its width, weight and tread pattern. These three factors determine how fast it will roll, how much grip it offers and how much comfort it can provide. On gravel bikes, where most people prefer not to run suspension, tyres are the main source of comfort. Gravel riders have been pushing tyre sizes over the past few years, because over the long distances that are popular in gravel racing, small comfort gains can make a big difference.  

If you are not sure which sort of tyre will suit you, the first question is how aggressive a tread pattern do you need? Gravel tyres can range from almost slick tyres to full-blown mountain bike tyres with big crampons for biting into the dirt. Finally, there is the weight to consider too, because the more rubber you use to make a tyre, the heavier it will be, and that can have a big impact on your speed.

Today, most gravel bikes run tyres that measure between 35 and 50mm in width; in fact, 50mm is very common in elite racing these days. Mountain bikes tend to start with 2.25” (57.2mm) tyres for simple hardtails like the Grand Canyon and cross-country bikes like the Exceed, and go even wider for more demanding styles of riding.  

This is why our fast gravel bike, the Grail, has room for 42mm tyres; we think this is a good compromise between speed, weight and comfort. On the more adventure-focused Grizl, we opted for more comfortable 50mm tyres. That said, the Grand Canyon hardtail comes with 57.2mm tyres as standard. This is a significant step larger, and therefore more comfortable, than you could ever run on a gravel bike - but this does also come with a weight penalty. This leads to a very personal calculation of whether you prefer to have lighter, narrower tyres that will weigh less and give you an advantage on less-demanding terrain or wider, heavier tyres that will offer more comfort. 

More than anything else, the tread pattern on a tyre determines how it will work. If you take a road bike like the Ultimate and compare its tyres to our downhill mountain bike, the Sender, you can clearly see the difference in tread patterns. The Ultimate’s tyres are almost completely slick for maximum speed, while the Sender’s have big, thick rubber teeth for maximum traction on dirt. As bikes that exist somewhere in the grey zone between mountain bikes and road bikes, gravel bikes and hardtail mountain bikes have tyres that balance the needs for both rolling speed and grip.  

We would advise against using a full slick tyre off-road as it will offer almost no grip away from the tarmac, but after that, you need to ask yourself: where do I ride? What do I enjoy riding? If your riding is on road for significant sections and you are only tackling light off-road sections, then you may want to look for a minimal tread. If you find your fun in the technical sections, then maybe a tyre with a more pronounced tread pattern will suit you best.  

The question will always be: where do you want to compromise? Generally, we would recommend choosing your tyres for the most demanding part of your riding, or the part you enjoy most. For example, if you love to ride rocky, challenging corners, then we would recommend an aggressive tread pattern every time, because even if the rest of your ride is on the road, you will have the right tyre for the best bit.  

In the past, wheelsize was a big debate amongst gravel and mountain bikers. Today, things are much more settled, which should make buying a bike much easier. The first thing you need to understand is that what road cyclists call 700c or 28-inch wheels are exactly the same diameter as what mountain bikers call 29-inch wheels. Mountain bike wheels may look larger because fatter tyres have a larger overall diameter, but the diameter of the rim itself is the same.  

Both mountain bikers and gravel bikers experimented with smaller 27.5-inch or 650B wheels. This is because larger wheels roll faster, but take more effort to turn, so the idea was to try a slightly smaller wheel that would handle more easily. For the most part, riders have settled on the benefits of the larger wheel over ease of handling, as rolling speed is always very important, especially in racing. The one exception to that in our range is the XS-sized Grand Canyon. As this bike is focused on fun rather than speed, we think the smaller wheels will make it much easier to live with for smaller riders.  

It is important to think about the riding you plan to do before you purchase a bike. If you are deciding between a mountain bike and a gravel bike, then where you plan to ride it might be the easiest way to make the decision. 

• Smooth pavements: If a lot of your riding is on smooth pavements, then a gravel bike will probably be the better choice for you. Not only is the road-inspired riding position more effective on the road, but our race-focused gravel bike, the Grail, includes aero features in the frame, which will make it more efficient on the road than a mountain bike. 
• Gravel roads: If you are looking to cover a lot of ground on gravel roads, a gravel bike might have the advantage because of its lighter weight. As a rule, gravel bikes tend to be a little lighter than mountain bikes, which will help the miles fly by a little more easily. 
• Forest trails: As the terrain gets more technical, the extra comfort and control of a mountain bike becomes more important. This is still fun terrain for a gravel bike, but the balance is definitely starting to swing more towards the mountain bike. 
• Technical singletrack: This is where most people will want a mountain bike. You may be surprised how far you can push the handling of a gravel bike to tackle challenging trails, but for most people, a mountain bike is going to be the best bet. 

Until recently, one of the big differences between gravel and mountain bikes were the storage mounts on the frame. Most mountain bikes did not include them, so if you wanted to add on paniers, racks and the like, then you needed to buy a gravel bike. As we have seen more and more riders choose a mountain bike for this kind of riding, we made sure to include plenty of hard storage points on the latest versions of both the Grand Canyon and Exceed hardtails. 

This is a very complex question for gravel riding, one that the sport’s elites are constantly grappling with as they search for both comfort and speed on long-distance rides. If you are at the sharp end of the sport, we probably don’t need to tell you much about this debate. However, if you are just starting out, we think the biggest questions are: how much does comfort matter to you, and can you live with the extra weight and maintenance of suspension? 

We offer several models of suspension with our mountain bikes, but with our gravel bikes, we exclusively offer the DT Swiss F132 fork, which we developed in partnership with DT Swiss. With 40mm of travel, full adjustability and a remote lockout, we think it is the best gravel fork out there. 

As good as the F132 may be, it does still add nearly a kilo of weight to the frame and, as with all suspension forks, it will need maintaining at least once a year. For the right rider, we think those are a low price for a great fork. That said, we also know that for many people, those are a big deal, and this is why most of our gravel bikes come with simple, rigid forks that require zero attention.  

With 40mm travel, the F132 only offers 1/3 of the travel of the 120mm Rockshox SID that comes specced on hardtail mountain bikes like the Exceed. This means that if you really want maximum comfort, a mountain bike is going to be a much better option for you, but the weight penalty for a mountain bike fork is even higher (Want to learn more about full-suspension MTBs? Discover what's available.) 

No. Where you ride, how often you wash your bike and how well you keep it lubricated are the important factors here. In fact, many gravel and mountain bikes use the same drivetrain components, like the chain and the cassette, so you will not see a difference in durability.  

Yes. For general gravel riding, either bike would be great. The differences start to show most on the extreme ends of the spectrum. A drop bar gravel bike will tend to be nicer to ride on the road, while a mountain bike opens up much more technical terrain than would be possible on a gravel bike. If you are considering riding long distances on a mountain bike, it will probably be worth buying some fast-rolling tyres, as this will make a huge difference. Beyond that, some will want frame storage and an extended riding position, but you should be able to head out on gravel rides without needing to change the bike too much.  

If you are still struggling to decide whether a gravel bike or a hardtail mountain bike might be right for you, we think it helps to break them down by the terrain you will ride them on. 

Many elite gravel racers are riding modified mountain bikes for long-distance, high-level competition, so there is no question that a mountain bike can make a great gravel bike. The question comes down to what works best for you? If comfort is a high priority, maybe the wider tyres, suspension fork, and slightly more upright position of a mountain bike will be ideal for you.  

If outright speed is your thing, we reckon a gravel bike with aerodynamic features like the Grail is pretty hard to beat. A helpful exercise might be to sit down and think about ten rides you would like to do in the next year and work out whether a gravel bike or a mountain bike would be the best bike for each ride, because the best bike is always the one that suits your riding. 

If you are still struggling with your decision, you could visit one of our Experience Centres. The teams there will be happy to talk you through both our gravel and mountain bike ranges, explaining the strengths, weaknesses and their preferences for the area. You will be able to book test rides to compare both types of bike from the saddle. 

If you would like more information on this topic, you can explore and purchase Canyon's range of bicycles, check out our gravel bike buying guide, mountain bike buying guide and our series of mountain biking for beginners guides. 

And that’s a wrap - whether you go gravel or MTB, you’re one step closer to your perfect Canyon ride. Enjoy the journey!