So looking to add a gravel bike to the collection (have a high end road bike and a high end mtb)

Fancy a Titanium bike as Ive not had one before, has to be 1×11 gearing and preferably Sram Force1

So far Ive narrowed it down to the following

Planet X Tempest with force 1 groupset, downsides are cyclescheme vouchers are no longer accepted by planet x, this fits all my requirements apart from not accepting cycle scheme vouchers

https://www.planetx.co.uk/c/q/bikes/gravel-adventure-bikes/tempest

Next is a Sonder Camino Ti with force 1 groupset, downsides are rear axle is qr, would prefer bolt through but it can be bought using cycle scheme vouchers

https://www.alpkit.com/sonder/bikes/sonder-camino-ti-sram-force1

Finally its the Ribble CGR Ti, GRX600 groupset (same level as Shimano 105), bike can be bought with
cycle scheme vouchers, downsides are i have had issues with a Ribble i bought years ago and a lot of wrangling with Ribble over six months with the bike going back for repair multiple times and i had to get the ombudsman involved to finally get the money back so I’m weary of using them again, also the GRX groupset is new to me (I’m well versed in Shimano road groupsets) so a bit unknown but should be ok

https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-cgr-ti-shimano-grx/build/#Overview

So are there any Ti Gravel bikes that i have missed within my budget?

I like this… sure it will work 1x if you must.
https://winstanleysbikes.co.uk/genesis-croix-de-fer-ti-2019-bike?gclid=CjwKCAiA1L_xBRA2EiwAgcLKA64-gmPyg5mdZlBP0uQuyn2xD6YjmeF_3T-ojfQ5C5qEPFcToGiHGBoCJqYQAvD_BwE#genesis-croix-de-fer-ti-2019-bike-large

I`d go Ribble just cause GRX is awesome

I like this… sure it will work 1x if you must.

Cheers but that is a bit too much money (looking at £2300 max)

Plus i would need to change the cassette for 11-42 and get a 1x crank

I`d go Ribble just cause GRX is awesome

The Ribble is very good its just my previous experience with them is putting me off

Ideally id like the Planet Tempest but they don’t accept Cycle scheme vouchers any more

Any others?

Though it doesn’t apply to the 2019 model the 2020 Croix De Fer ti is annoyingly using the same CX fork as the 19 model instead of the nice new gravel carbon fork Genesis have designed (which has cage mounts)!

Can’t help other than to say my workmate has the PX and it looks bloody lovely.

If you catch it in the right sale it’s probably a fair bit cheaper than the others on cyclescheme anyway?

Can’t help other than to say my workmate has the PX and it looks bloody lovely.

If you catch it in the right sale it’s probably a fair bit cheaper than the others on cyclescheme anyway?

This is the problem, it looks spot on for me but they don’t accept cycle scheme vouchers so i cant get it, i can only get a new bike if its on the cycle scheme

Ah so you already have the vouchers?

Sorry my comment was even less useful than I thought.

😀

No vouchers yet but i can only use cycle scheme to get a new bike as a 2k bike will effectively cost me £113 a month out of my wage for 12 months, luck would have it i just got a pay rise of £100 a month so ill only be £13 a month worse off

If only there was Stooge gravel specific bike in the pipeline.

Smokestone Mr Harry…?

Looking at the previous Stooge frames Im not a fan of the look they have

As for the smokestone Harry, a £1600 frame means its out of my 2k budget for the whole bike

I don’t know of any others within budget – there’s the Reilly Gradient (but it’s £3k), the Mason Bokeh Ti (more than £3k) and Laverack do some lush bikes but they’re even more.

But I took the plunge on a Ribble CGR Ti last year and am pretty happy with it. Sizing isn’t amazing (S/M/L means you kinda have to make it fit you), and the customer service was not great.
But the bike itself is a pretty sweet ride, and avoids some of the “made in the shed with my 12 year old son holding the tubes in place while I weld” looks that cheaper Ti bikes can have. I swapped out the wheels and a couple of bits of finishing kit and it rides well; comes in just under 10kg for the large with 105, Hunt wheels and Conti 28c tyres.

GRX is awesome

Indeed, night and day compared to Shimano & Sram  road brifters. Properly designed for off road riding. Lever ergonomics are excellent for technical riding on either the drops or the hoods

Just a thought, I know you said you want TI, but it is really restricting your choice. If you opened your spec up to include steel then you will get a whole load more to choose from.

Edit – while your at it you might as well add alloy to the mix. It come a long way and can be very good.

I think I would rather have a nice steel frame than Ti from PX… Have you looked at Fairlight? A lot “nicer” than a budget Ti frame I think.

Cheers guys

Pretty much only want Ti, not interested in carbon, steel or alloy

Think I’ll have to find somewhere local that has a bike fitted with GRX so I can check it out before deciding on the Ribble and then hope nothing goes wrong with them this time around!

I don’t like the look of grx cranks. Its not direct mount, smallest they do is a 40 with a 42 cassette, i can’t see how your going to get up a steep hill, even with a ‘fast’ bike unless your very fit and strong and accept mashing it.

I end up on 32 oval – 42 on a short steep up on a bit of offroad connecting gravel paths on a gravel 29er even somewhere like the new forest.

If your treating yourself, i’d look at a Titanium Singular Gryphon. I also think to get close ratio gears, chainline and full gear range for backpacking when tired and uphill, i think the industry is missing a trick by not speccing Sora3000 triple 9 speed groupsets. You can run an xt derailleur, has great shifters, a mtb triple deore 22, 30,40 chainset and a cheap light 11-34 cassette. Strong durable chain too. High flange deore hubs and kom21 rims is how i’d finish it, maybe with a dynamo front, hope bb and headset. Be roundabout your budget.

Something like a gryphon can take wider tyres for more flexibility of use. You’ve got decent road bikes for tarmac riding.

I don’t like the look of grx cranks. Its not direct mount, smallest they do is a 40 with a 42 cassette, i can’t see how your going to get up a steep hill, even with a ‘fast’ bike unless your very fit and strong and accept mashing it.

Aftermarket chainrings are available down to 36. 40 x 42 is good enough for hilly gravel riding. Only time you want smaller rings is with a loaded bike or if you doing ultra distances.

12x£113 is nigh on £1400.
Put £100 a month in savings and wait for PX to do a deal on the Tempest.

I got my PX Tempest R8000 Ultegra for roughly £1660 (cheaper if I hadn’t swapped a couple of components), so that Force 1×11 will be £1400 sooner or later.

It’s lovely by the way.

PS get the carbon seat post though the stock alloy one isn’t lovely.

smallest they do is a 40 with a 42

i’ve got an 11-46 cassette on mine without any modification

agree with the tempest , a brilliant frame. I use it on trail centre red trails, it fairly spices up the trails, very grin inducing!
as per milfordvet I use an old xtr triple chainset 22 32 42 i think, with a 10 speed 11-34.
it gets up any gradient fully bikepack loaded and still has a good top end gear. there doesn’t seem to be a real life downside to a triple. i have never had an issue with a front mech ever, and the weight penalty is negligible.

700cc 38 tyre. 175 cranks.

22,32,42. 11-34. 99-18 inches

32. 11-42 80-21 inches

40 GRX 11-42. 99-26 inches
40 GRX 11-46. 99-24 inches

50-34 11-32 124-29 inches
50-34 11-36. 124-26 inches

46-30 GRX 11-42 114-19.5 inches

To get up a steep hill loaded, knackered or into the wind off road you need more gears than a road bike. You need gear ratio in inches in the teens.

The double GRX is actually quite close to a 29’er triple 11-34, but if the 46-11 gets used for down hill road, and the 30-42 gets used off road uphill ramps or backpacking spinning, that leaves you somewhat cross chained on either ring when on normal undulating gravel compared to a 3x. Not a deal breaker, mtn doubles were like this, but they weren’t stretching the gearing out further to riding downhill on roads.

To cover offroad steep uphill to downhill road, you can only cover that, and get cheap cassettes, optimum chainline and close ratio gears more important for faster ‘gravel’ riding than normal offroad, with an mtb triple. Shimano still make a solid deore one, and the 9 Spd road and mtb stuff works together mix and match.

Gearing is individual though, not preaching, just saying, for the average weekend warrior holding down a job in services sat in seat all day, making good money with some disposable income to buy these bikes, probably 40+ and a bit over weight, the industry would do better to send bikes out with better gearing. Also back packers need the spinning gears.

Those Sora R3000 9 Spd shifters (they’re £102 pair mail order from bike parts with discount code) are slipping under the radar for a mountain bikers gravel back packing bike with bits in the shed…they’re nicely finished and have internal routing, they re designed a few years ago and Shimano gave them they’re previous top end technology I think.

Cheers for the replies guys

Im happy to run the GRX 1×11 set up, i don’t want/need or even like a double or triple up front, i live in the Southdowns not Wales/Scotland or the Peak district

Im happy to grind up the occasional hill, been doing it on my 1992 Colnago Master Olympic road bike with a 53-39 crank and an 8 speed 13-23 cassette for a good few years now so it should be fine on a Gravel bike

12x£113 is nigh on £1400.
Put £100 a month in savings and wait for PX to do a deal on the Tempest.

If i did that id have to wait a year before getting the bike so that’s not gonna happen

Unless anyone else can come up with a Ti gravel bike with a 1x groupset with thru axles for under £2300 which can be bought on the cycle scheme then I’m going to go for the Ribble

How about an interest free credit card? You might even get a deal for 18 or 24 months?

Unless anyone else can come up with a Ti gravel bike with a 1x groupset with thru axles for under £2300 which can be bought on the cycle scheme then I’m going to go for the Ribble

Think you’ve your answer….

How about an interest free credit card? You might even get a deal for 18 or 24 months?

Cycle scheme only, no savings to be made using a credit card and i only use them for emergency situations

Think you’ve your answer….

Yep looks like its the Ribble for me, lets hope the customer service is better this time around!

One thing to be aware of with a through axle front fork on a gravel bike, is if you want a dynamo front hub set up later, the SP dynamos cost twice as much for 12/15mm (£150) over QR (£75). Rigid, with a DT QR RWS 9mm axle in a QR fork you get most of the stiffness and can still use QR road, mtb or dynamo hubs.

Critiquing the Ribble, 72 degree head angle? I reckon things will go slacker, 1900g wheelset? Not really that light, and the low spoke count makes them not particularly rebuildable on 17mm inner rims, when even DT are going 22/23 for gravel rims now. So its a great deal and great bike I’m sure, just it’s got a bit of room for improvement.

Agree with some of the others that 40/42 is fine for hills. My Litespeed is 42/40 and it’s not difficult on the hills. The only time I need smaller is when towing the little one in the trailer up the hills?

M

Am looking at something similar and really want 1X…Can someone confirm, does a GRX setup work fine when paired with an 11spd Sram 10-42 Cassette? I have some nice wheels off a 29er with XD driver, cant see much reason why they wouldn’t work.  That ’10’ gives a useful extra range. I do like big climbs in the mountains though and am thinking a 38 up front may be necessary….30-45 minute road climbs with 20% sections on my doorstep.

If only there was Stooge gravel specific bike in the pipeline

there is already the dirt tracker for slinky stuff and the gravel B**tard for gravel hooligans. the new adventure frame will be a big beasty for multi-day stuff and there is special titanium thing just getting signed off for an attention whore

2020 Beam Gravel

£1700 frame and fork, dropper routing etc. Probably over budget once you’ve actually built it up though.

If I ever change the frame on my space chicken it’ll be for one of these.

That Kingdom looks lovely. Really like the look of their bikes in general.

Something else to think about is the Sonder Camino Ti. There is a new version due to come out with thru axles and a better fork any time soon. Have a look at the detail on the Colibri Ti as suspect will be similar.

The warranty on the Tempest is 2 years, on the CGR 3 years. On the Camino Ti its 10 years. CGR and Tempest would be out due to the short warranty if was my decision.