[Closed] Spesh AWOL - so why did they drop it?

I wondered this too. If I recall correctly, the AWOL appeared when the crux was discontinued. The Diverge too. Then not long after that the Sequoia came along. I guess there was too much overlap?
I liked the look of the AWOL. Didn't know about the spa either.

The Sequoia got dropped as well. My mate had one and wasn't that impressed with it however.

I can only assume it wasn't a good seller. There's still Surly, Salsa, Genesis and Bombtrack making similar bikes.

A very comfy ride but, ultimately, a bit tanker-like IMHO. I thought the Diverge covered the brief somewhat better. Certainly has wider appeal.

A Disk Trucker "frisky"? I guess so, compared to the AWOL.

I thought the Diverge covered the brief somewhat better.

Only if a different brief? AWOL = steel touring/monstercross/ATB/offroad-inspired heads-up geometry, versatile frameset (swinger dropout) for the back of beyond/around the world

Diverge = Alu/carbon gravel, heads-down, road-inspired.

Agree the Diverge probably had wider appeal in recent trends (sporty vs touring/bikepacking/adventure)

The latest Diverge is no way ‘road inspired’ geometry - the HTA is slacker than my MTB and no overlap with the biggest tyres.

👍🏼^ I guess so. Looks can be deceiving. But I’d still have it pegged as fast road/gravel sporty doitall rather than a full-load long distance touring mule?

I do some times wish I'd bought an AWOL. But my impression from a car park ride is that it was quite off road focused and or loaded riding focused. These aren't bad things.

I bought a Arkose instead. For most things I think I made the correct choice. Particularly rides from my house.

I'm looking at some touring next summer. Maybe the King Alfred way. The AWOL would be perfect for that

But I think the ride from the house on and off road market is huge. I think the AWOL market is a but more niche. So that is probably why I went

But I have been know to look for them on ebay

It wasn’t well designed.

It came with a road triple and a 32 sprocket. That’s not good enough for loaded exhausted climbing offroad. Don’t we all ride 32-40/50 without camping gear? Does that bike need 50-11?

And it didn’t have massive clearance. It only took road knobblies. Max 1.9/2 so you can’t put a normal xc width fast 29 tyres on it and do what you’re supposed to do on it.

Making a bike like a Fargo but not as good as a Fargo is just a waste of effort. In reality they didn’t want to let their brand become too uncool behind salsa/ surly and went for niches, probably were restricted by Shimano on what gearing they were allowed to fit and had a comittee designing different bits of it. I nearly bought one, i liked they high stack on the large, but ultimately the Fargo’s properly thought through.

At best its a poorly geared commuter. American lifestyle marketing isn’t enough.

Hmmm, I can see your point, but respectfully disagree.

The gearing was better than all but a few bikes on sale at the time - 9 speed so a simple change of mech and cassette at the point of sale gives a proper touring range.

We find the tyre clearance more than adequate for rough tracks and the road.
I use 2" or 1.6" Scwalbes on the Disc Trucker and Sue has used Conti 42mm Top Contacts on the AWOL.
Both work well on mixed surface tours and for exploring locally.

As regards to the Fargo comparison, I don't think it's valid.
The Vaya is much more similar to the AWOL and is something we considered - similar weight, similar spec, similar clearance.

The bike excels as a genuine alrounder - a superb tourer that works equally well on rough tracks and the road.
I has parts of sizes and standards than can be found anywhere, weighs the same as the less versatile Sequoia that followed and doesn't seem to attract unwanted attention when left chained up.

A Disk Trucker “frisky”? I guess so, compared to the AWOL.

I know, seems odd, but it has the ability to steer quickly and accurately whilst remaining stable. Much more so than my Trek roadie.
I think the 26" wheels have a lot to do with it. 🙂

Well I'm certainly very glad I got rid of my Vagabond and managed to get hold of a s/h Awol frame to replace it. Agree about the gearing being a bit high but I've got an offset front mech band and 48/36/26 mtb chainset to bring it down a tad, currently used for winter crap road riding 👍

Milfordvet has it imho. Salsa and Surly have every increment between pure road bike to 5" tyred snowdrift basher covered by models with a considerable overlap between one. Fwiw Spesh seemed a johnny come lately dipped their toe, presumably didn't see the sales to justify it and canned it. Added to that Salsa/Surly dealers seem very much into the dirt tourer scene and probably have the rest of the gear and knowledge to go with it. The awol next to an sworks tarmac being sold by someone who doesn't really understand it probably doesn't help either.*

*yes, I aware of my sweeping generalisations! 😀

Overweight and rode "dead" not at all sprightly for a steel frame. But probably the real reason is an alloy frame such as the diverge is cheaper to manufacture

Love my AWOL but will have to agree with the above comments - it is really overbuilt and feels very heavy. I'm at the point where there's not much more I can do to reduce weight - it's mostly in the frame (and the Brooks saddle). It's definitely a purpose built touring bike made for carrying big loads but I doubt many people will actually use it for that all the time. I bought it with touring in mind, and have done some multi-day trips on it, but 99% of my rides are not. Hence there probably also wasn't such a big market for it either. In hindsight, I would have gone for something like a diverge. I would swap but I'm very used to the geometry, especially the more upright position and find it comfortable. Just spent about £450 upgrading the brakes to hydraulic GRX/Hope RX4s, 'hope' I'm not going to regret it!

These kind of bikes really suit a mountain triple to be able to range from road riding to uphill loaded mountain biking. It needs more range than most singles, and having closely spaced gears and optimum chainline from a triple I think really helps if you're riding all day.

I think the trouble is SRAM never made a modern mountain triple with drops gears, so alot of the American Fargo's came with a front double. If it's geared for road and uphill offroad, the middle is for riding along on flat offroad and you're crosschained on the cassette limits. That was the unspoken achilles heal of a typical Fargo, plus they're spendy in thr UK.

The ideal set up is 9spd Sora shifters with a (fully) compatible cheap 9 speed cassette, long cage MTB rear mech and a Shimano mountan 29er triple 40/30/22. Couple this with Hope BB that fits Shimano chainsets and you're fully covered for long distance riding. It means cable brakes though.

The maximum 40/11 or 10 is fine, you're not going to be beasting yourself downhill riding all day and the cycling subset these bikes sell to are older, fatter, less fit than a roadie type of person.

If your going with a 40 front chainring there is space to bring the chainstays out and there's no reason you can't have a 2.4 29 er tyre if you want for comfort/ grip whenever it takes you beside the better mud clearance of statndard 2.2 XC rubber. Given the preference for longer chainstays on a bike that needs to 'just run straight' and not be flighty and nervous, the longer chainstays that help make that happen and climb better also gives you more tyre room.

I'm pretty sure the manufacturers get told what Shimano will supply to make sure it all works, and a hybrid gearing road/ mtb that's best I don't think they will supply, so you have to build up a frameset and do it yourself.

I don't think there was anything wrong with the frameset, it will be stiff to avoid it resonating if it's used with front and rear panniers. I remember the AWOL was advertised with front only panniers/ rack which was a bit different and the longer ETT/ shorter stem I don't know how that affected steering feel good or bad. My girlfriends (bomb pot blue edition) small Fargo does have toe overlap and she hit her foot 10 yards out round the first bend, so that's not perfect either. She'd be better off 27.5 I'm sure at that size.

It wasn't a bad bike at all just if you sort the gearing, but you're still looking at restricted tyre width. It's a shame Gryphon's aren't still available as they were supposed to be 'not stiff' for drop bar 'unloaded' riding. I think they're titaniium special order only at the minute. Fargo framesets have got jolly expensive at £1000 or so now. A steel frameset/ fork with the same geometry and tyre capacity as a Fargo would surely be possible at £3-500, I guess like the gryphons were really. PX have never aced a monstercrosser either.

Specialised dropped that ball, but Kona picked it up and ran with it.

rOcKeTdOg

Overweight and rode “dead” not at all sprightly for a steel frame.

officerfriendly

Love my AWOL but will have to agree with the above comments – it is really overbuilt and feels very heavy.

Oh I agree, totally. Not a light bike!

Depends on where you're coming from, everything is a compromise.
For us, stable heavy load carrying was a must.
You just aren't going to get that on a much lighter bike.

Just for comparison, the frame weights of the Disc Trucker, Croix De Fer and AWOL are very similar.

Gravel bikes have evolved massively over the past few years and if you're not going to be carrying heavy loads they are a great choice for most people.

milfordvet

I remember the AWOL was advertised with front only panniers/ rack which was a bit different and the longer ETT/ shorter stem I don’t know how that affected steering feel good or bad. 

The AWOL handles heavy loads very well.
You CAN feel a bit of a difference when you really pile the weight on the back, whereas you genuinely can't with the Disc Trucker.

I think the AWOL handles much more like a long MTB than the Surly - slower steering, but more relaxing to ride.

I bought the Disc Trucker before the AWOL was available and tried most of the loaded tourers out at the time.
Only the Spa Tourer matched it for lack of overlap, versatility, quality and fun.
The greater carrying capacity, wider tyres and discs swung it in favour of the DT.

I still prefer it over the AWOL, but if the AWOL is closer to the garage door I'm happy to grab that instead. 🙂

Fargo framesets have got jolly expensive at £1000 or so now. A steel frameset/ fork with the same geometry and tyre capacity as a Fargo would surely be possible at £3-500

Not to derail the thread too much, but I will never understand what has happened to Salsa (and Surly) pricing in the UK in recent years. It’s absolutely ridiculous. Who is going to be paying silly money for a standard cromoly steel frame set? Surely they’d make more money from lower margins and higher volume? And also not completely rip-off their customers in the process.

but I will never understand what has happened to Salsa (and Surly) pricing in the UK in recent years. It’s absolutely ridiculous.

All the QBP brands seem to be jumping in price, everywhere. There is a rather nice looking All-City fork - steel, lugged, nothing special $300 US. The parts I could buy for about $60 US. Just need to learn how to braze.