In 1999, Audi unveiled a new estate car with a difference. The Audi Allroad Quattro sported plastic cladding over its wheel arches and rugged looking black bumpers. It was all-wheel drive, rode on height-adjustable air-suspension and promised greater versatility than its estate car counterpart. But it wasn’t a true off-roader; it was an SUV for people who don’t like SUVs. Why am I talking about cars?
That Audi could be seen as a bellwether for cycling fashion, taking a road car off the beaten track in much the same way gravel bikes tempt roadies to explore a world beyond the tarmac, but without forcing them to adopt a new tribe.
The car maker’s marketing department played a blinder with the naming. The ‘Allroad’ moniker may be trademarked for the purposes of motorised vehicles, but it has become a catch-all term for bikes that further blur the very blurry line between road and gravel. So when Colnago
