I don’t think we’re really arguing that much.
Yup.
The poster sounds like a gravel beginner. I think the Roubaix occupies the gravel spectrum. It’s a capable gravel bike for a huge amount of what constitutes gravel, and could be all someone ever needs. Most people I know who do gravel seldom do much more than “fire road” gravel. I’m just staking out a place for the road side of gravel.
Maybe?
More than anything, it probably depends where you live. Up here in the PNW, you are going to run out of bike pretty quickly with that bike, especially when it gets wet. Which is, like, now until May. When the rain starts, “Fits 30’s” turns into “well, sorta fits 28, but you’re going to have to stop and pull the mud out with a stick every 1/2 hour or so…”
Over where Slowman lives in SoCal, you’re going to flat all the damn time with that bike, and/or probably break some rims (which is what I did).
Honestly - and here’s where I think we really do agree - you can ride one heck of a lot of “gravel” stuff on a road bike. The essential design elements of a classic road bike predate the advent of paved roads, afterall. Something like BWR is, fundamentally, a road bike ride; well within the spectrum of what a traditional road bike can and should be able to do. If this is where one finds themself interested in riding on the “gravel” spectrum, then heck yeah; a road bike is going to be pretty great.
It all just depends, eh?