Sort of considering following the recent trend and giving one of these a go - it'd have to replace the hardtail, but i'd keep the full suss for trail centres and such. Thinking it'd be good fun for local stuff, bridleways, canals, mild off road, and maybe building up to coast to coast again.
I'm trying to keep under the £1k mark, and ideally want hydraulic discs, other than that i'm fairly open.
I've been looking at a few bikes:
Boardman CX Team
Pinnacle Arkose 3
Cannondale Caadx
and a couple of the planetx options but they're really out of budget.
Any thoughts or advice?
Alpkit Sonder Camino Alloy is on the way at £650 and £999 but I don't know specs.
Orro Terra Gravel looks good but isn't hydro.
both of those look nice, sadly the ti is way out of my range, but the alloy looks a possibility. I would guess it'll be mech discs though as per the lower spec ti version?
Forgot to mention rack mounts would be a bonus in case we do coast to coast!
In the spirit of recommend what you own...Giant Revolt but it's not necessarily a looker (according to some)
Rides well and is good value tho
Some have separate rack AND mudguard mounts, but definitely get one with mounts. You can fix guards and rack into one mount.
Carbon forks don't have front rack mounts, should you need them.
Also recommending what you own - Orro terra gravel is great. Mechanical discs work well, but are weaker than the Formulas on the fs. Bike is really quick and eager, frame v comfy and looks fab!
Pinnacle arkose, it's the one I have so it must be good :-).
As usual best bet is go and stick your leg over and see which one you like best, it may even be down to colour as spec and performance wise I don't think there is much between the ones that have been listed.
Boardman team cx is hard to ignore when they do 10%off never mind adding a further 10% off for British cycling.
Blant plug.
I am selling my 57cm Charge Plug 5 titanium gravel bike.
If you are interested, drop me an email.
I got an Orro Terra Gravel coming this week too, glad to hear you like it dickyhepburn.
I've not seen many sub 1k gravel bikes with hyrdos.
GT Grade 105 has cable/hydro things, does the Norco search have them?
You can buy my Canyon Inflite frame, fork, rotor ceramic BB and rotor crank for £500 if you want.
Takes discs, 2x bottle mounts. Size large. Should leave you plenty for building. Loads of tyre clearance
+1 for the Pinnacle Arkose... Picked up lasts year 4 model with some 105 and hydraulic discs for under a grand. Very versatile for commuting, canal towpath, and touring
Daft question but what is the difference between a CX/Gravel bike??
A mate of mine is entering the 3 Peaks CX without a CX, and will just buy a cheap one.
Will a gravel bike be just as good as a CX?
Isn't the difference between a cross and gravel bike the same as the difference as between a road race and sportive bike.
ie not very much but a slightly more relaxed, less race oriented ride or to put it another way a more usable for mere mortals who aren't riding a 1 hour flat out criterium or cross race.
In the spirit of recommending what you own, I'd rather have a hardtail with suspension for any kind of off-road biking.
Although for my 2 mile smash along the canal and back-roads to the station and back every day, my CX thing is great.
Arkose 2 here, but converted into a commuter and daily workhorse
Or buy my medium London road with Tiagra and cable disc brakes fit your own wheels for 400.
hmm a lot of peeps wiling to sell of the Grinder.