Thanks ampthill.
If not clear from the first post, I’m looking for a budget Tripster-a-like, so would switch out the bars for drops… I want a road bike to chuck about, commute on (with guards for winter), be comfortable on pave, and that I can sling on big tyres and bounce around off road (pretending it’s a rigid 29er). It seems a full on CX bike might be a bit of a handful for century rides etc and I’m not likely to actually race any CX (certainly not competitively). I liked the idea of decent clearances. Kind of Moon-on-a-stick territory unless I buy into the quiver killer gravel bike niche!
If going the Pinnacle route, I’d look at the Arkose, or maybe the Cotic Escapade for steel, but was hoping that the ACE frame was similar enough to the ATR frame, and I could move on all the bits I didn’t want. I’m happy to build a bike up from spare bits, so F&F is fine.
I was going to bodge my Inbred into some kind of cross bike until it got nicked…