Best Budget Gravel Bike?

Slowly coming around to realising a gravel bike or whatever the marketing departments are calling them this week might be a good option for doorstep rides. Don’t want to spend too much as I’ll inevitably get fed up with it after 6 months and sell it so looking at sub £1000, ideally less. Open to use options too. There seemed to be some decent deals on CRC for Vitus options and Evans had some Cannondales cheap recently too but I’ve missed the boat on all those. Are there any other good deals around anyone is aware of?

You missed the boat on the Ragley Trigs on CRC too – still mediums available, but the price has gone up a bit.

substance was on my wishlist, Wiggle’s ebay shop has a few ending n next 48 hours 😉 (tri sport resort)

New saracen diverge is out too, i had an older model and was pretty happy with it, might push the budget if not on sale however

Just keep an eye on ebay for a CX bike that’ll take ~40mm tyres.

My Caad-x takes 45c comfortably in the fork, the backs a bit tighter, a 42 rubs sometimes, 38 was perfect.

Only cost me £400 with full Sram Rival 2×11 groupset and hydraulic brakes. It’s just starting to show it’s age against some modern bikes now so I might start looking for a replacement. 1x, sloping top tube, more relaxed geometry, 45-50c clearance are all nice to have’s individually, but are now fairly normal compared to when I bought it 5 years ago. Still more than capable of big bikepacking trips, just a bit less confident when things get gnarly.

You can have a Sonder Camino for a touch over 1k.

They let you test ride too, or at least they do at the Ilkley shop.

https://www.evanscycles.com/brand/cannondale/topstone-4-2022-gravel-bike-916923

Planet X London road

Wow there are a lot of £1000 pound Claris bikes about. I know that Claris is fine and inflation means things get more expensive but it’s still a shock.

I paid for £720 for Tiagra 5 years ago

Second hand Boardman ADV 8.9.  They’ve got hydraulic brakes/levers and decent GRX kit. These are and expensive future upgrade you’re unlikely to get on a new £1k bike.

Pinnacle arkose 2. I was lucky when I bought mine. An extra £200 managers discount brought it down to £760. Only upgrades so far have been narrower 40c tyres and taking a ball bearing out of each side of the wheel races!
Nice bike for cruising the canal tow paths and disused railway lines. Seems ok on some rougher off road trails as well.

Dave, I’ve got a medium Whyte saxon cross I need to sell. I’ve had it since new but these days I tend to use my fatbike for gravel dutys. The saxon cross was sold as a CX but had longer geometry and a slacker headangle.

Second hand Boardman ADV 8.9.

+1

I did a thread on the one I bought and fixed up here…

Help me spec my budget gravel bike

Really good frameset, doesn’t feel “budget” at all.

Buy mine listed in the classifieds 😉

Vitus Substance VR Gravel Bike (2019 model) – hydraulic disk brakes and two wheelsets (650b+700c)

Saw that but it’ll be too big I think – need a medium/54cm.

Ribble CGR AL (Sport/Tiagra) is £999 https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-cgr-al/
Happy with mine (Enthusiast / 105), it probably sits more on the roadie side than off but happy to jump down the odd bridleway and canal path,

Just keep an eye on ebay for a CX bike that’ll take ~40mm tyres.

This used to be my advice but I think people have caught up a bit with CX = do it all bike = gravel. At least, that’s my only explanation as to why the CX bike I bought used for £460 3 years ago just sold for £710 (both on eBay)

Buy mine listed in the classifieds 😉

How tall are you? Trying to get an idea of sizing from the photos

Used on ebay but watch the prices !

How tall are you? I have a really nice Raleigh Roker Pro to suit 5.9 to 5.11 ( I’m 5.11.5 and is is a tat short for me). Not ridden since start of Covid. Prefer my 29er HT

5’8″ so probably on the big side for me welshfarmer.

@IHN – I’m 6ft 1in / 187cm

I would say it would suit someone 5ft 10in to 6ft 1in.

I can get the tape measure out later and add some measurements to the ad. The stem is flipped in the photo FYI.

i bought a value gravel bike once. Slow on road and crap off road. I’m sure if it was lighter at least the road part would be better but that would cost lots. Prefer my hardtail.

Thats kinda my fear (again – I’ve done this before). I’m wondering whether an old skool XC hardtail with some fast rolling rubber might actually be a more useful tool for me…

That’s why I’m selling mine to be honest. Rigid hardtail with fast rolling xc tyres suits me and my riding a bit better than a gravel bike with drop bars.

The gravel was definitely better in some ways (faster, more efficient, more aero into a headwind). But I’m happy to compromise on those things for the benefits of a rigid MTB (more control, better on rough stuff, good for urban commuting, less fragile tyres etc).

If I did more road miles or longer gravel rides I might end up keeping it, but I’m just not using it much these days.

I went through the comparing budget gravel bikes. Compared Boardman, Vitus, Merlin malt etc.

Bought a Vitus Substance 2 from CRC (£549). Second place in my deliberations – Merlin Malt G2 Claris (£599).

Im happy with it, but for a road bike/occasional off road/smooth gravel bike.

Find the Hardtail much more comfortable on rougher gravel and much more control at speed going down rough gravel descents compared with the drop bars.
Willing to compromise on the flat road top speed, for more comfort and better descending (for me).

Conversely – I bought a gravel bike and now don’t ride my XC hardtail at all.
It really depends on the terrain you ride.

I bought a Rondo Bogan which runs 2.1″ fast rolling tyres so is not too bad on the road and pretty good off.

Stealth Ad – Anyone fancy buying a size large Orbea Alma alloy XC bike?

I’ve had nice 29er hardtails in recent years and my gravel bike does quite a different job for me.

On the hardtails, I’d focus on riding technical bits, enjoying singletrack etc. but on a gravel bike it’s just going for a ride, covering mixed terrain, exploring and enjoying the outdoors and the feel of just the air in my tyres between me and the ground.

I realise you can do that on a rigid HT, but for me the drop bars increase the speed potential so much, it’s an easy choice.

P.S. Something like the Boardman almost certainly wouldn’t be too heavy to enjoy.

Planet X London road

Wow there are a lot of £1000 pound Claris bikes about. I know that Claris is fine and inflation means things get more expensive but it’s still a shock.

I paid for £720 for Tiagra 5 years ago

I’m still riding my Wizards sleeve edition London Road from 2015, it’s been through various parts in that time (including Sora/Tiagra/Deore 9 and 10 speed stuff) and gone from Mechanical to Hydraulic discs.
Currently I find myself caught in the self-inflicted trap of kind of fancying a new Gravel bike to replace this old one so I can get aligned on all the current standards and have a nice new matching groupset that works flawlessly Vs the cheaper option of just maintaining the servicable 7 year old bike I already have…
The trouble is there’s not much about I’d really want for ~£1k at present, I keep mulling the idea of abusing C2W for a Sonder Camino with GRX 1x, but it just feels a bit wrong to do that without splashing a bit on some parts and some posh tyres too and the speculative budget keeps edging closer and closer to £2k…

On the flipside I ended up building up a cheap bike specifically for CX racing with an old Norco Threshold frame off eBay: 1×9 (Tiagra), cable discs, other bits from the spares bin to make a “no frills” light-ish bike, the geometry/layout is actually very similar to my Gravel bike to keep things consistent. It only really cost me a couple of hundred quid to assemble, the biggest spend was ‘technically’ on wheels and tyres (which I’d previously built and used for a couple of races on the Gravel bike before).
So if I wanted that to be a Gravel bike it could easily take some chunkier tyres and a bottle cage, and be more than adequate for local loops and/or some light bike-packing… You really don’t need a Gravel specific Groupset especially if it’s only for doorstep riding, but now Gravel bikes have been a ‘thing’ for a while there are some better used option about and £1k (plus a bit of spannering) could go much further 2nd hand…

A year on and still not bought a gravel bike but still thinking about it especially as we get into winter and a quick 90 minutes from the doorstep on some local bridleways should help my fitness stay at a reasonable level.

Anyone seen any 2024 bargains? Been looking at a Vitus Substance VR for £650 which seems like decent vfm but having had cable brakes before on a cross bike, I’m loathed to get them again but that seems to apply to every gravel bike under a grand: Vitus | Substance VR Gravel Bike | Green | Chain Reaction Cycles

There are cable brakes and cable brakes.
The single sided Tektro’s of my old bike and sons bike = average to poor.
The TRP Spyres on my new bike, brilliant bits of kit. Made even better with some nice aftermarket pads.
And the calipers can be very cheap upgrade:
https://www.newleccycles.com/components/brakes/trp–spyre-caliper__7361?currency=GBP&chosenAttribute=TRP-S-ADJ-PAD&gad

^ Thats worth knowing! Cheers…

Ahem, ignore my first link…Calipers are £60 each…

…but there are few and Avid BB ones on ebay for £20-60 a pair.

My Arkose was £1k new and has Tiagra hydros, worth seeking one out second hand. It’s fine for moderate off road, touring, and the odd road century.

Recommend what you have? Why yes, yes I will…

https://www.damianharriscycles.co.uk/Cube-Nuroad/c/Deep-teal,-black/17805

https://winstanleysbikes.co.uk/cube-nuroad-fe-2023-bike#187=4593

I have the 2018 Tiagra / TRP Spyre equipped model and it’s been a great bike for road, singletrack, gravel and mellow MTB trails.

You often see some great deals on them used too.

Otherwise the Boardman would be a decent option.

there are few and Avid BB ones on ebay for £20-60 a pair.

I’ve not used the road ones, but the MTB BB7 is great imo, just as much power as a hydraulic but not quite as nice a lever feel or modulation wise. I think it’d be fine on a road/gravel bike though where I don’t often use the brakes anyway.

For ~£1k I think it’s hard to find a better deal than this, if you’re happy to build the bike: https://www.merlincycles.com/felt-breed-30-grx-gravel-bike-boxed-bike-316151.html

That’s a cracking discount.

I still have a 53cm Merlin Malt G2P for sale, there’s an ad buried in the classifieds somewhere:

https://www.merlincycles.com/merlin-malt-g2p-tiagra-gravel-bike-2024-197427.html

Spec very similar to that, but with different brifters.

*edit* Found the ad : https://singletrackworld.com/advert/fs-merlin-malt-g2p-gravel-bike-53cm-price-drop/

Recommend what you have? Why yes, yes I will…

Likewise, in true STW style. I have a Surly Cross Check – clears 45c tyres with full fenders, does single speed or geared, flat bars or drops. That said, if you’re set on discs then a Straggler is the more modern bike, but I’m cool with cantis.

Merlin have had some great deals on Felt bikes for a while and that Breed gravel bike does look hard to beat.

Ribble have a couple of options (although I’ve no idea what they’re like); one either side of the £1000 price point.

https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-cgr-al/