When people compare two things that really don’t warrant comparison because they’re inherently different, we call this “apples and oranges.” But why? They’re both fruits, they’re both handy snacks, and you may very well find yourself contemplating the crisper drawer or your local fruit boy trying to decide between the two:
[I’m not sure he’s got any oranges in there but whatever.]
So it’s perfectly reasonable to compare the relative merits of apples versus oranges. It’s not like you’re comparing apples with engine oil filters or feline de-worming medications. Hey, when reaching for a piece of fruit, why not make an informed choice?
Oranges excel in Vitamin C, folate, and hydration, while apples offer more fiber (especially in the skin), Vitamin K, and slightly more calories/sugar per serving, though both are healthy, low-fat choices rich in antioxidants, potassium, and minerals, with oranges generally lower in calories and carbs. Choose oranges for immune support and hydration; choose apples for digestive health and satiety.
Thanks, popular search engine!
I also found myself comparing apples and oranges this past weekend. Here’s the apple:
And here’s the orange:
In my ongoing quest for the Spirit of Gravel I find myself asking two questions over and over again, and they are:
- What is gravel?
- Why do we need a special bike for it?
Fortunately the answer to the first question is easy:
And so is the answer to the second question:
We dont.
Still, all of this raises a third question:
- So if we don’t need special bikes for gravel, then what’s the best non-gravel bike for gravel?
This of course is highly suggestive, so I can only answer it in the context of my own vast velocipedal holdings, which until the PRJCT GRVL bike came along did not include an actual gravel bike. And while I have multiple bicycles that are very much at home on the wide variety of terrain you’ll encounter in between the road and the mountain bike trail, the one I keep coming back to when making comparisons with the PRJCT GRVL bike is the Jones. I suppose this is because the Jones has all the modern features you’ll find on most gravel bikes, such as disc brakes and thru-axles and a single-ring drivetrain with wide range gearing and lots of places to attach bottles and bags for the overnight adventures I’ll never undertake, yet at the same time it defies all the tedious gravel sub-categories–or really any category–and is meant to do pretty much everything.
Also, they’re both black.
Last week I’d taken the PRJCT GRVL bike on a ride that included both road and “gravel” segments, as well as a detour through the forbidding Trails Behind The Mall, and so I figured I’d do the same thing on the Jones. Here’s how they compare:
On The Road
When I moved to upstate New York City in 2012 and was able to ride to mountain bike trails instead of driving to them, my offroad rides grew longer and longer. I soon realized I needed a mountain bike handlebar with more hand positions, which eventually led me to the Jones bar, and so taken was I with with it and plus-sized tires and all the rest of it that I committed to riding nothing but a Jones bar-equipped bike for an entire year…and failed. (This was before I had an actual Jones and was riding a Jones-ified Marin Pine Mountain.)
Then came the Rivendae and with them a deep appreciation for the comfort of swept-back bars, and I wondered if maybe it was time for me to renounce drop bars entirely:
However, in retrospect this was the zeal of the converted. I still love both the Jones bar and the swept bar on the Platypus as much as I always did. But if if I’m riding entirely on paved roads over longer distances I still prefer a drop bar–ideally attached to a road bike, which could be anything from the chubby-tired Roadini to a skinny-tired race bike depending on my mood.
The PRJCT GRVL bike is not a road bike replacement. Slick tires would make it a little more roadish, but even then it only accepts a single 40-tooth chainring. So for a road-only ride I wouldn’t choose it over a road bike…though I would choose it over the Jones, mainly since it has the drop bars. I realize there are people who dislike drop bars even on the road, and as someone who has come to embrace other forms of bars I certainly. I doubt the PRJCT GRVL bike is inherently faster than the Jones on the road, and if you’re a non-drop bar person then the Jones could very well be the better road bike for you. (Plus, unlike the PRJCT GRVL bike you can even set the Jones up with a double crank.) Yet clearly I am fundamentally a drop bar person (a “droppie,” which I think should replace the term “roadie” going forward) so for road riding I have to give it to PRJCT GRVL, sorry.
On The Garvel
This one’s more complicated. See we all know what the road is. But what is gravel?
Oh, right, I keep forgetting.
Anyway, for the purposes of our discussion, let’s say “gravel” is anything from this…
…to this:
While drop bars are more or less a requirement for me on the road, I don’t really miss them on so-called “gravel,” and the closer said gravel gets to the second picture the less I miss them. The biggest difference here is that the Jones can roll smoothly at high speed over the terrain in that second photo, while the PRJCT GRVL bike cannot–at least not without fatter tires and a suspension fork, and you know how I feel about that:
Of course the PRJCT GRVL bike is designed with garvel racing in mind. Is it a faster garvel racing bike than the Jones? I freely admit I’m in no way qualified to answer, just as I’m not qualified to say which one would be better for bikepacking. (Sure, I’d assume it would be the Jones, but I haven’t slept in anything other than a bed in like 35 years.) Certainly the PRJCT GRVL bike is much lighter. Yes, you could also put together a Jones that’s quite a bit lighter than the one I’m riding, but it would be a fairly expensive proposition involving crabon bars and rims and a titanium frame, whereas the PRJCT GRVL bike is pretty light even in its current budget-friendly state. But is anything faster than being able to float over pretty much everything on a pair of 3-inch tires? I DON’T KNOW. And I don’t really care, either. All I’ll say is that for an unloaded non-racing day rider like me the Jones is at least as good a gravel bike as the PRJCT GRVL bike. Yes, I’d rather carry the PRJCT GRVL bike up a flight of stairs than the Jones, but I suspect the steel Jones would fare better than the PRJCT GRVL bike if I threw them both back down down it.
As for whether or not any of this translates directly to Jesus carrying, I’m not a bikepacker and I’m not religious, so I’m doubly underqualified to pass judgment there:
On The Mountain Bike Trail
There’s really no comparison here. You can certainly ride the PRJCT GRVL bike on a mountain bike trail, but the Jones wants to be on the mountain bike trail. While my intention was to ride the same route on both bikes, once I got to the forbidding Trails Behind The Mall on the Jones I could not resist going deeper into the woods, and turned into them without event thinking about it:
Of all the cycling communities that have rejected me–and pretty much all of them have–I don’t think any have done so more emphatically than the mountain bikers:
They have reminded me time and time again that I am not a real mountain biker, and I suppose they’re right, because by modern standards this is no longer mountain biking:
By the way, this tire is almost seven years old, and it refuses to wear out:
Clearly the sidewall is going to go long before the tread will:
Anyway, I was all ready to declare the Jones the overall winner, but the next day I got back on the PRJCT GRVL bike as the snow began to fall and it couldn’t have been better:
Apples? Oranges? I guess I just like fruit salad.