Brain Vomit #36 Swiss Army Knife

Be realistic about the bike that you want. You want an aero bike and you want it to be light weight also? Then Expect it to be fragile. You wanna race crits but also race gravel on the same bike? Expect some compromise. There is no such thing as a do-it-all bike, at least not one that can do it all well. But also any bike can do it all if you really put your mind to it. The “Do it All” Bike is a terrible bike. Sure it can do a lot of things but it does everything terrible. I guess if you are a beginner cyclist, then sure get that Gravel/Road/Touring/Commuter/MTB bike. You don’t know what you like yet and so far you can’t justify buying a bike for a specific purpose. But if you are not a beginner cyclist you should know what you want. It’s better to have a sharp knife that can cut really well than a swiss army knife that produces mediocre results and is borderline useless. Lightweight and durable are possible but there’s a limit to how light you can go before the bike becomes fragile. Modern Carbon road bikes are almost too fragile for the average cyclist. High End road bikes are race bikes and they are made to win races. These machines are amazing but in order to be able to take advantage of these very small marginal gains the rider has to be in top notch physical shape. The average ride is healthier than the average citizen but the average cyclist is not going to win championships. If that is your goal then great, you should pursue it but get your priorities straight. Your physical fitness will make the most difference, a proper fit will make a difference, proper sleep, proper diet, good tires, properly tuned and maintained equipment will have a bigger venefit to your performance than a new frame. There is no new ground breaking material being used right now that makes carbon fiber bikes drastically better than they were 2 years ago. Don’t fall for the bullshit.