What Sonder for a new commuter

I just want the comfiest rather than the quickest....

Would a Camino be a bit of overkill ?

You can fit bigger (big - 700x50) tyres in the Camino. Bigger = comfier (and safer, for commuting). Go with that. Its a very versatile bike.

I guess, for comfort, it depends on how bumpy the canal is. I rode up from Bollington to Marple on the Macclesfield canal last week on my Transmitter with 2.8" plus tyres fitted and it was exponentially more pleasant than the same stretch on my knackered cross bikes on 40/35mm tyres. The latter are fine on, say, the Peak Forest canal, which is quite a lot smoother. 

Personally I'd go for the Camino so you can run bigger volume tyres and just in case you suddenly get some sort of gravel-riding epiphany and decide you want to try riding it for amusement too. You can always test ride Sonders and they do a no quibble refund within the first 28 days - my mate returned a Camino, which he otherwise liked, because the thought the rims were leaking air and because he'd developed a crush on a Fairlight Secan.

I've been commuting on a camino for the last 6 years and they're brilliant.

I ride a mixture of bridleway, track and road - it's very versatile, as quick or slow as you want it to be. Just put some G-ones or similar on and it happily copes with everything and doesn't drag on smooth surfaces.

I've now got the new model and my old one is a permanent commuter setup with mudguards etc.

I love my Camino.
Very versatile.

I have quite a sharp handling road bike, so when you first get on the Camino it feels like a tank. But on back to back rides it is not a great deal slower and would be even faster with some quicker rolling tyres. It's pretty comfy though on 45s.

My mate has a Camino with Redshift stem & seatpost. That takes it to another level of comfort!

I think a Camino would be absolutely fine. Unless you specifically want steel. My brother in law has a Camino Ti and loves it. He's riding more of the stuff that you describe than at the burlier end of gravel riding.

I had a cross bike that I commuted on with 35c.

Replaced with a mountain bike with ridgid forks and 50c tyres.

It's a road and pavement commute with the option to go home on some bumpy bridleway with a tiny bit of boggy single-track. There is a quick down hill bridle way that horses use in the mud which bakes hard in summer. It was horrible on 35c and much less horrible on 50c

The fatter tyres make a lot more difference to than anything else for comfort.

If it's just comfort, why not go for a MTB and put some massive almost slicks on?

https://alpkit.com/products/sonder-frontier-deore-rigid

This with some 2.3 tires?

Just ordered a Camino for that purpose. Buy before end of month and 10% off.

Don’t forget to sign up to alpkit rewards before you buy - I got a tidy wedge of vouchers when I bought my Colibri 

Don’t forget to sign up to alpkit rewards before you buy – I got a tidy wedge of vouchers when I bought my Colibri

Nice tip, was looking to purchase on in a few months so have made an account in advance.

My 2021 Camino is my winter road bike at the moment. Full SKS mudguards, 32mm tyres. Brilliant. Doing 50 mile club rides without problem. As @stumpy01 noted, when you go from full on road bike to this, it feels slow, mainly due to the 71 degree headtube angle I'd say. But I'm doing 16-17mph avg on it quite happily.

Considering through summer it's my most used bike (dreaming of fast, dry trails 😎) - this thing has been fanastic value, and a great bike!

Who needs to spend big to have fun.

Can I throw in the Frontier, just to point things in the even wider tyre direction?  Sonder will spec it up as a drop bar build if you asked them.

Cheers guys. Ordered the Camino in the end.

mattsccm
Just ordered a Camino for that purpose. Buy before end of month and 10% off.

Does this apply to frames do you know?