ding ding ding... horses for courses.
Everything is a tradeoff, so the only way to know if you want a 'rigid XC bike with faster tires' or something like Mike's Vault With Silly Wide Handlebars is to do your own analysis of what you need.
For me, sure, I could do a lot of the same things on an XC bike that I do on my gravel bike, but its going to be demonstrably harder and slower for most of the time. Yes, that means its not as good when the going gets rough, but that's the tradeoff.
June 8, 2022, 11:16 a.m. - Cooper Quinn
ding ding ding... horses for courses. Everything is a tradeoff, so the only way to know if you want a 'rigid XC bike with faster tires' or something like Mike's Vault With Silly Wide Handlebars is to do your own analysis of what you need. For me, sure, I could do a lot of the same things on an XC bike that I do on my gravel bike, but its going to be demonstrably harder and slower for most of the time. Yes, that means its not as good when the going gets rough, but that's the tradeoff.