Anything Better Than A Sonder Camino?

Not sure about the alternatives these days, but I ended up with a Camino 2.5 years ago and it’s been great. Local bridleways and lanes from the door, bigger rides in the Lake District, bike packing across Wales, even carrying two toddlers on occasion. Very versatile, lots of fun to ride and decent value.

The only other bike I considered when I got mine was the Cascade. More money and too close to my mountain bikes.

I know a few Camino owners, none of them regret it.

Can't comment on alternatives, but I love my Camino 🙂

Posted by: I_Am_Sparticus

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Looking at gravel bikes on C2W - had a Genesis CdF a few years back and missing the ability to ride from my doorstep on tame BWs etc so looking at getting another. Obviously the Camino gets mentioned a LOT and I wondered what other options there are for similar money? FWIW, I'd be looking at getting whatever option there is for a 1x setup and hydro brakes on the alloy frame... 

Haven't you spent years slagging off gravel bikes and their owners?

Posted by: elshalimo

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Posted by: I_Am_Sparticus

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Looking at gravel bikes on C2W - had a Genesis CdF a few years back and missing the ability to ride from my doorstep on tame BWs etc so looking at getting another. Obviously the Camino gets mentioned a LOT and I wondered what other options there are for similar money? FWIW, I'd be looking at getting whatever option there is for a 1x setup and hydro brakes on the alloy frame... 

 

Haven't you spent years slagging off gravel bikes and their owners?

 

Not that I recall but thanks for the concern.

I have a Camino AL V4, size XL. The only issue I have with it is that head tube is too short. I'm 193 cm tall and have 35 mm of spacers under the stem to get the bar high enough. 

I'd be looking at getting whatever option there is for a 1x setup and hydro brakes on the alloy frame... 

Just on this note, I'd strongly favour Shimano for a gravel bike if poss. 

Posted by: Steve

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I know a few Camino owners, none of them regret it.

My mate sent his back and bought a Secan instead., I think he wanted something more road orientated tbf. I have no idea why really, except the Secan is very pretty, but much more roadie. No issues with the return btw, Alpkit/Sonder ime, very good to deal with. 

Fwiw, I can't see past the Camino - happy owner here - super confident on easy to medium off road stuff, still fine on the road. I think the geometry, slack-ish head angle, long-ish reach, short-ish stem, big tyre clearance is great. The closest thing I can find in terms of that is the latest SC Stigmata at a massively higher price. GRX components work well for me. 

To save a new thread, at 6ftish and used to riding mountain bikes with around 475mm rear would I be suited to a large Camino?

@mlltt - I'd say yes. I am 6ft and have a Sonder Broken Road and Frontier, both in Large.

The Camino is quite a long bike and when I had a test ride on one the Large seemed fine, albeit a very short ride. If you are anywhere near an Alpkit shop I'd recommend trying one for size.

i'm 5ft10.5 and ride a medium, no toe overlap on the front tyre/wheel.

large would be ideal for 6ft.

love mine, on sram axs at present, smooth as butter, that said my previous camino had 11 speed shimano GRX was very good

I'm 5' 10" and have a Large. It was slightly too big, but a shorter stem cured that.

Love mine, both of them... I started with the Al version - it's easily the best bang-for-buck bike I've ever owned. Fun, confident, bombproof. Liked it so much I bought the Ti as well (bit more refined and I think slightly more relaxed geometry, and gives me a bit more confidence on rougher stuff and descents). Sram AXS and Hunt 4 Season wheels - all good. 

Both get a bit of abuse - they spend chunks of their lives in places gravel bikes probably have no right to be (MTB trails in the Tweed Valley, and currently exploring the excellent singletrack on Lanzarote), and I'm also a 90kg+ fat knacker with no skillz. 

I have a Boradman ADV 8.9 in orange. I think it looks great, rides lovely and has a great spec. I paid £1020 in a sale and has full carbon fork,  GRX Groupset etc.

Might be worth looking at one of those?

After a similar question on here I ended up with boardman ADV purely because it was quite a lot cheaper. I'm happy with it although the one thing the reviews miss imo is that there aren't many engagement points on the rear hub, restarting pedalling can be a bit jarring. I also think the camino is prettier but that's not worth money to me.

Me and Mrs BF both have Caminos, 1 Ti and 1 Alu. We love them but the paint on the alu one chips quite easily if that sort of thing bothers you?

Posted by: Blackflag

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the paint on the alu one chips quite easily if that sort of thing bothers you?

Sounds like the perfect reason to go Ti

Ribble also have 30% off a lot of their Gravel and CGR models currently (They do Alu, Steel, Ti and Carbon options) so might be worth a look? I think the Gravel 725 looks very nice and is about £1600 with the sale price?

I had been looking at the ex demo/display stock but unsure if it's worth the saving.

The paint on my alloy one is shocking. Soft. I was putting a bottle cage on, not fitted despite coming with the bike and dropped one of the cheese bolts onto the bottom bracket so maybe 9".Dirty great chip. The bike is covered in them after a year. it's ok but not brilliant. Bit hefty and sluggish but the price was right. Fittings match price but then many of us take stuff off anyway. Maybe over kill if you ride gravel only but for the red trails in the FoD it works well enough. Can't go as fast down the Verderers descent on mine as I can on my On One Dirty Disco though. 

Worth pointing out the ti and alloy Camino’s don’t share identical geometry. The alloy ones have become much more aggressive in the latest iteration but I believe the ti still has same geometry and the previous Camino al 

I’d echo the comments about soft paint, I have chips and gouges all over mine after less than six months, more than my mountain bike accumulated in 8 years. 

Posted by: Stu

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Worth pointing out the ti and alloy Camino’s don’t share identical geometry. The alloy ones have become much more aggressive in the latest iteration but I believe the ti still has same geometry and the previous Camino al 

Doesn’t look to be the case any more comparing geometry numbers. 

Worth pointing out the ti and alloy Camino’s don’t share identical geometry. The alloy ones have become much more aggressive in the latest iteration but I believe the ti still has same geometry and the previous Camino al 

Worth pointing out the ti and alloy Camino’s don’t share identical geometry. The alloy ones have become much more aggressive in the latest iteration but I believe the ti still has same geometry and the previous Camino al 

Hope that's not true! I did a test ride on an alu and bought the Ti (delivery in April).... Do you have a source for that?

It's not true.  Geometry tables are there on Alpkit's website for all to see.  Screen grabs below for both Alu and Ti frames. They are identical!

I spoke to the guys at Sonder HQ early last year about the Camino and, if I remember correctly, they said once you take in to account the upgrades on the Ti compared to the Alu the difference between them is about £400. For some thats a step to far, but for me, this is likely my last ever new bike purchase so it had to be Ti, because .. .. 😊

I had picked up that some Alu frames have suffered paint chips, which Ti solves. Though I have since come across numerous Alu Caminos which barely have a mark on them.

Only issue I had with the Camino is that the stack is quite low. As a result the steerer tube on mine was left uncut. Now I have done some decent mileage on the Camino I am ready to drop the bars by one spacer. Then after a couple of months I'll see if I am ready to drop the bars further, though I'll probably need to shift the 'star nut thingy' as the steerer tube is carbon.

Posted by: blokeuptheroad

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Worth pointing out the ti and alloy Camino’s don’t share identical geometry. The alloy ones have become much more aggressive in the latest iteration but I believe the ti still has same geometry and the previous Camino al 

Hope that's not true! I did a test ride on an alu and bought the Ti (delivery in April).... Do you have a source for that?

It's not true.  Geometry tables are there on Alpkit's website for all to see.  Screen grabs below for both Alu and Ti frames. They are identical!

Ok phew. Now i just need for the thing to be delivered - starting to regret waiting for GRX Di2

I posted 20+ minutes ago and still not showing. Shows in my list of posts but not on this thread 🙄

I have 2 Camino's an Ali version and the Ti version , I think the Ali version is dull to ride, just no feeling to it, but keeping it for bikepacking duties, But the Ti is totally different, great to ride, lots of feeling , just springy offroad and so smooth on the road, defo a keeper .... If you can afford the Ti , go for it

If you go Ti, maybe consider the Ribble Gravel Ti. They have similar geometry. I've really been enjoying mine, and they have just extended the frame and fork warranty to lifetime.

Thanks all - Camino Al should be here this week hopefully. I have a bit of a history with raw alloy frames so if it gets chipped to buggery I'll at some point just strip it 🙂

but for me, this is likely my last ever new bike purchase so it had to be Ti

Serious question, why?

I can recommend On One's Free Ranger, use mine for everything from road (with spare wheels/slicks) thru gravel to bikepacking although I've a Cascade coming for the heavier off-road & bikepacking use.

Serious question, why?

Last new bike: I'm getting on a bit so the things I want to do are changing, C2C, Lejog, Marcher Castles Way, KAW, cycling to Italy, GR20, SW Coastal Path, etc.. .. and my existing mtbs cover the other bases, FL, Whistler. Squamish, etc, ..

Ti: I've had several steel (Genesis) bikes, Alu (Orange FS) and Carbon (YT Tues and Capra) so I thought spend as bit more now and try Ti, with its springing, toughness, etc.. ..whilst I can get my moneys worth out of it.

Is the Camino Ti the best bike ever gravel bike? Probably not as there are lots of other v good bikes out there, some will cost more and some less.

Most importantly, I'm really enjoying the Camino Ti and steadily building up the miles  😊

Last new bike: I'm getting on a bit

I've just turned 60 and have a new bike coming (Cotic Cascade to add to other bikes) and hope to be riding well into my 70's so really don't see this as anywhere near my "last new bike".

Some versions are on sale...

 the only thing better that a sonder camino is a Ti sonder camino 😎 

Posted by: mrchrispy

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 the only thing better that a sonder camino is a Ti sonder camino 😎 

when is GRX 1x Di2 12spd due for release?

when is GRX 1x Di2 12spd due for release?

with 10-51t cassette option 🤔

Might ne worth checking out the offerings from Enigma - I bought the Etape which is a road bike with "light gravel" as an option - the best riding quality bike I have owned

Ti Camino'istas, Pole Bank, Long Mynd

Great bikes, great day out 😊

Ti Camino'istas, Pole Bank, Long Mynd

Great bikes, great day out 😊

Great to meet you Nic and Simon, a most enjoyable day on the bikes. 

Really enjoying my AL Camino, Shimano GRX 1x12, 5'10 riding a large. Replaced a Salsa Fargo which I have had a lot of fun on over the last 10 years but has old groupset/cable brakes etc and weighs a bit. It's faster on smooth stuff and while a bit more of a handful on stepper rough stuff the brakes make up for that.

Haven't found the paint particularly weak to be honest, but in my experience all painted bikes get chipped and scratched eventually, get them invisiframed if that matters.

Bike arrived today - first impressions... great looking thing and the brakes actually work like you'd expect brakes to do vs the cable/cable actuated hydros I've used before on drop bar bikes. Hopefully get out for a spin on Sunday afternoon on it to work off a pub lunch!

I'm now also looking at possibly getting a Camino Al for local rides so time to thread hijack 🙂 Can't decide on a build spec though, it's looking between either the Tiagra Hydraulic or Apex 1 Hydraulic. I'm not sure if I would really need a double up front as it's pretty flat around here but I did occasionally use the granny ring on my road bike. Also are the standard Nova wheels any good? Others I'm looking at are the Boardman 8.9 (GRX400) or for a little more the Ribble Gravel Al with SRAM XPLR.

What's the sizing like? I'm 5'7" so kinda in-between sizes, would you size up or down? Always ridden 54cm road bikes but needed to put a 90mm stem on them.

It's a great bike for lycra clad middle age men with £100,000+ salaries - if you fit that profile?

(directed at OP looking on c2w)

or a not very good 60+ mtber 😳

Posted by: Nathaniel Rosa

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It's a great bike for lycra clad middle age men with £100,000+ salaries - if you fit that profile?

 

(directed at OP looking on c2w)

perfecto