Apparently 1800EUR which seems a bargain for such a properly set up bike.

Sauce – https://bikerumor.com/2021/01/13/focus-all-new-atlas-aluminum-gravel-bike-wants-you-to-get-lost-maybe-even-to-lose/

Of course, the down side is they’re releasing it when no one could use it for commuting. Or touring. OK, maybe a little gravel is allowed…

why can’t you use it for commuting?

That is great…

https://www.focus-bikes.com/gb_en/1030135-atlas-6-7-eqp?color_combo=94055

Well, I meant that the number of people commuting to work by bike these days is rather reduced!

Thanks for the link, Matt. £1649 is an absolute bargain on a C2W!

Nice, will go well with your tartan slippers and Scotty dog, Flash.

The New Focus Atlas Gravel Bike

Thought they’d chucked the U.K. in the bin now. They don’t want your foreign Sterling no more!

What a great video too.

Lovely.

Made me feel very happy!

The banner picture on the website is up at the top end of the Blackwater. Nice.

What is all that hideous crap they’ve bolted all over it though??! The kickstand is fair enough but mudguards, of all things.

Very CTC not for me prefer my flat bared Trek crockett and drop bared checkpoint.

Road boost! 12×110. About time for a new standard.

Forgive my lack of knowledge of such things but why does such a simple piece of machinery cost so much?

It looks a very tidy bus indeed and the promotional video is slick.

My Camino is arriving soon which means I wander off into the sunset and camp next to mountain lochs with ease 😉

Seriously is there a bad bike these days

Forgive my lack of knowledge of such things but why does such a simple piece of machinery cost so much?

it isn’t the 1960’s anymore grandpa

Looks like a Raleigh Mustang with a better paint job It has dropped seatstays, does that give any mechanical advantage?

What a great video too.

Lovely.

Made me feel very happy!

Agreed. Seems a long way off just now, but something to hope and plan for …

it isn’t the 1960’s anymore grandpa

Hilarious. Considering I was born sometime after that decade, you’re missing the point. It’s not a complicated bit of kit and you can get better for less. But if you want to buy into the marketing then more fool you.

What is all that hideous crap they’ve bolted all over it though??! The kickstand is fair enough but mudguards, of all things.

Errr what? You sound like one of those elitist roadies for whom following some arcane set of outdated rules means more than owning a bike that actually works for you. 🙄

It’s not a complicated bit of kit and you can get better for less.

Care to make some suggestions?

Does seem a lot for a bike that would have cost £1000-£1200 a few years ago, but prices are always rising…

Ribble for a start. I mean I know prices are high all round but it’s an entry level groupset really and an alloy frame on that Focus. They make good bikes, don’t get me wrong there, but it’s not a lot of top quality kit for not a small amount of money. Do the maths on the components if you don’t believe me.

Planet X space chicken, less money better spec !!!

I guess there’s 2 ways to look at it? As a complete bike, it’s ticking a hell of a lot of boxes. None of them are things you can’t generally add to a bike, which obviously has the advantage of choosing exactly what you want. But if you want an out-the-box bike it looks fairly awesome to me. And if you want to spec out your own parts then the version without all the bolt-ons probably makes sense since they say you can order the racks etc separately. (though I don’t see how- maybe that’s to follow?)

I’m not the target market- I like fiddling with bikes- but it seems pretty obvious that there is one. Most people don’t even like fitting mudguards.

There’s definitely a target market allright, one that’s largely been created to generate profit. Why else would there be the slick promotional content? I mean you can get an alloy mountain bike with a Pike fork and dropper for less. All of which are far more complicated bits of kit = less profit margin.

There’s nothing wrong with it though. If people are happy buying it and, more importantly, happy riding it, then that’s all that matters.

Painey
Full Member

There’s definitely a target market allright, one that’s largely been created to generate profit. Why else would there be the slick promotional content? I mean you can get an alloy mountain bike with a Pike fork and dropper for less. All of which are far more complicated bits of kit = less profit margin.

But also all mass-market, mass produced, full of economies of scale etc. Carbon forks with rackmounts? Not so much.

Slick promotional content is how you advertise pretty much any expensive bike, doesn’t mean they’ve “created” a target market. That’s actually very difficult to do, unless you’re a dominant player in an industry. I don’t think that’s what this is- I reckon this is a genuine existing and underserved market. Whether it’s big enough to be worth all this, obviously they reckon it is, so we’ll see.

The short ‘playfull’ chainstays (WTF?) stop it using 29 XC tyres. The rack doesn’t triangulate to the seat tube properly and it’s missing the inner ring from triple gearing: it won’t go steep uphill offroad with a load into the wind at the end of a long day if someone is a typical middle aged person is out trying to get fitter.

The aluminium frame won’t be compliant unlike a steel one. Funny road hub standard – who knows how long that one will last.

The perfect commuter/ gravel road bike looks a bit different. Certainly less fashionable.

Forgive my lack of knowledge of such things but why does such a simple piece of machinery cost so much?

Quite. That’s Shand Leveret money, in fact it’s more than that once you add duty. You could probably build a Pipedream ALICE for the same money as well which will take 29″ tyres or a Kona Sutra and have money left over for the dynamo wheel.

My ‘perfect commuter’ will be covered in salt and grime for half the year, not doing that to a £2k bike!

I am admittedly quite tight when buying myself things but that does seem like a high price for what it is but guess that is what has happened to bike prices and I am out of touch.

Once you are out riding it it will be just the same as the many other gravel bike options out there, people tend to overthink the minor differences and their impact between bikes.

What a great video too.

Lovely.

Made me feel very happy!

My mate shot that, happy for him as it’s been a bloody tough year in his line of work.

Pipedream Alice, now that’s where my money would be going if I was after something like this.

The promo film is indeed very nice work. I work in the creative industry so I know all about how tough it’s been over the last year.

Got to see the promo, good work. Does the whole thing without coming off as pretentious.

Made to lose though, not great for a 2 grand commuter bike. 😂

Dont get me wrong, I’m not hating the bike, it does look good but certainly not anything stand out and definitely a very weird idea of a bargain.

Aye, I don’t really see any extra over my 340 quid calibre, nice bike though.

Euugh – aluminium.

You can get a Surly Disc Trucker for less.

For the ultimate bike you’d want a Rohloff too.

Interesting set of whinges above.

At £1649 (Focus website) it’s actually 300 quid cheaper than a Leveret, I don’t think there’s duty on that and the leveret only has 8 gears, no rack, dynamo, lights, etc. Not doubting the Shand might be more desirable but as an outright value proposition? Debatable.

The rack isn’t triangulated properly? It’s got a 20kg rating and 3kg each side of the forks. How much more do you want?

A Surly Disc Trucker costs less? Not a full build, and I betbthis is lighter.

I’m not particularly invested in this bike, and the video had fairly toe-curling narration but some of the sniping seems a bit desperate, if not just simply unfounded.

It’s not really sniping, it’s just folks pointing stuff out that either doesn’t suit them or is available better elsewhere, no bike is gonna unite everyone is it?.

Rannoch, Ossian, Trieg… lovely.
Nice wee vid.
Sorry, was there a new bike in there as well?

I think that the bike itself gives away a bit to the Decathlon Adventure 920, in a couple of areas: perhaps a bit short; quite limited tyre clearance, tubeless ready from the box, lacking some mounting options, price.
Still looks a lovely bit of kit though and 2x from the outset is a fair selling point, although I’m not convinced that the gear range is actually much wider at the critical low end.. Being designed around shorter stems make sense too. To me, the Focus is a good gravel bike that you can travel on. The Decathlon is a pure adventure bike that you can also use as a gravel bike. Am I making any sense?

I like this. Yeah, you could buy parts and build your own, but you always can do that can’t you? Why sell complete bikes at all?

A big plus in my eyes is the super-clean rack that appears to use the rear guard as the rack stay. That looks great. Racks are always a right faff to fit nicely, and this is OEM designed goodness. Also 700x47c – that’s brilliant, enough rubber for what I’d need. And a GRX groupset with lower gears. If that’d been available when I was shopping I might’ve gone for that instead of my Salsa.

Why sell complete bikes at all?

Because most people don’t want to put one together or have the ability or tools I suppose. But for those that do this bike doesn’t appear to be a ‘bargain’

Classic STW:

‘here’s a complete bike that looks good’

‘but I don’t want a complete bike, so it’s rubbish’