Gravel Grinder/Endurance Bikes are Road Bikes!
We just received a great follow up from Marianne after her first weekend with her new Gunnar gravel grinder bike from Fit Werx. Marianne’s Gunnar Gravel Grinder from Fit Werx will likely explore many New England and New York roads the rest of the season; maybe she will even ride her Gunnar gravel grinder bicycle from Fit Werx in Vermont to Fit Werx in Massachusetts! Either way, we wanted to share her note for a few reasons:
- It shows how much she loves her new bike and that is our goal for everyone!
- She does a nice job describing what we think many of the folks, even those that have worked with us before, may not realize – Fit Werx is about riding your bike and virtually any sort of standard bike is just fine with us. Fit Werx sells a wide variety of bikes beyond standard skinny tire road and tri bikes.
Here is the majority of Marianne’s note:
“OO, am I in LOVE! I’ve been composing an email in my head to you during my inaugural ride on Saturday…here are my thoughts…
I’ve always thought Fit Werx focused on race bikes so it didn’t dawn on me to seek you out for a gravel grinder when I first started thinking about getting one. However, after testing out a few bikes in Burlington, I learned there is no finer bike shop than Fit Werx, so back I came. It was extraordinary that you completely understood what I wanted, got me the specs (based upon a fitting years ago), and all it took were a few emails and a phone call. Everyone in the shop treated me extremely well. There was no discrimination between me and the triathlete with his top of the line tri bike.
Now that I have the Gunnar, it fits like a dream. The gearing for uphill climbs on dirt roads is exactly what I was hoping. Hill? What hill? The ride on pavement is slightly noisy due to the knobby tires, but I don’t notice much additional rolling resistance. I think it’s great to be able to ride where the desire is rather than letting the highway department decide for me. I can’t thank Fit Werx enough for assembling such a fun bike. It’s perfect for Vermont roads.
Spread the word!
All the best,
Marianne”
Thank you for taking the time to write Marianne! Some of the takeaways we hope that others get from your message are:
- Fit Werx was designing and building gravel grinder/endurance type bikes for riding on Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New England, New Jersey dirt roads (wherever they may turn up!) over a decade ago. These bikes made sense then (companies just weren’t building them) and they make sense now for many folks.
- Just to be redundant, Fit Werx Carries, Sells and Has Access to Most Types of Bikes.
- Gravel Grinder and cyclocross bikes are road bikes. In fact, these two categories of bikes are some of the most common bikes people are picking up from us over the past couple years.
- While we specialize in road and tri bikes, we have sold a number of great mountain bikes too. We carry mountain bikes from Felt, Trek, Seven, IF, Moots and others.
- If you are thinking about a new bike, please just ask whether we can help. You will likely be surprised just how many types of bikes Fit Werx offers. If you have worked with Fit Werx before, we have your fit information and can help you find the perfect match. You also still have a fit credit you can apply towards a new bike… If you haven’t been fit by Fit Werx yet, don’t waste time test riding every bike you can. Instead start with a Fit Werx fitting in our Vermont location (under an hour from Burlington) or Fit Werx in Peabody, Massachusetts (only 15-30 miles from Boston, Concord, Arlington, New Hampshire…). This will save you more time and money than you can imagine and it guarantees that you will get a great bike in the end.
- If you buy a bike from us that we recommend for you, we guarantee that you will be happy with it. We remove the risk in ways that a short test ride can never do and this all starts with proper fit and bike set-up.
Ride well and ride often!
Fit Werx, a bike shop with locations in Massachusetts and Vermont!
