I think that basically a whyte saxon cross from a geo perspective. Could do with better clearance when used with a 650b wheel and bigger mtb tyre. Also needing mudguard (and ideally pannier) eyelets.
Open U.P. Looks good, but it’s way above budget.

Basically, after something with more mountain bike like handing, that can be flexible with wheel / tyre size combo and take mudguards for commuting duties.

Inbred 29er with drop bars?

Norco Threshold SL

The Sonder (Alpkit) Camino looks pretty good for that sort of thing, or a Salsa Vaya maybe.

Salsa Fargo?

just bought a kona rove al which ticks all those boxes imo.

Rove looks good. AWOL is worth a look as well.

Giant Anyroad looks like an interesting option. Quirky looks though.

Ritchey Ascent, but it has 445mm chainstays.

Sonder Camino looks good.

There’s a more wallet friendly aluminium version on the way too.

Genesis Vagabond??

Light Blue Robinson! 420mm chainstays IIRC

I think options will be quite limited but something like the Salsa Fargo should suit. The OPEN U.P looks great too but pricey as you say.

From the ones (many) that I looked at, gravel bikes tend to have slightly less clearance than CX bikes but CX don’t tend to have mud guard mounts (and almost never have rack mounts).

I am pretty sure a few of the above bikes either don’t have the mounts or don’t have the clearance.

Being a Ritchey Fanboi, I have to say that the Ritchey Ascent is a dull looking bike. Is disappoint 🙁

Niner RLT has 435mm chainstays and the capacity to run a skinny 2″ 29er tyre.

Another Kona Rove AL here, with mudguards and 40c Smart Sams, gets me everywhere I’ve tried so far.

http://theradavist.com/2016/02/throwing-touring-tradition-out-the-window-with-the-kona-sutra-ltd-morgan-taylor/#1 interesting reading. Velo orange do a monster cross frame too.

425mm stays on an Arcose Frame, takes 40mm tyres, can run guards + rack.

Not sure if the norco can take a mudguards.

Appkit bike frame os 430mm stays (getting long) and other wise looks great except the forks won’t take a mudguard.

The new Singular Kite ticks most of those boxes.

Shand Stoater too. Not quite Open U.P. money…

Short chainstays

Salsa Vaya

nope. I love my vaya but 450 chainstays.

Yeah, I forgot the short chainstay requirement, neither of my suggestions are particularly short!

The Genesis Datum makes a big deal out of having short chainstays and has reasonable tyre clearance,not sure what width of 650b you’d get in there though…

If you don’t need rack mounts then the Norco Search takes a mudguard (don’t think the Threshold does…) and ha a 425 ‘rear centre’ length (BB centre to axle by the looks of it).

Wheel size is probably an issue though. Think 40c is absolute max.

Genesis Vagabond. Not the shortest chainstays, but will run a proper 29er 2.1 tyre and mudguards.

Also look at the Cotic Escapade/Roadrat

We have done a few things like this for customers in titanium with PACT (a sort of custom ti odd project I have going on).

AWOL is worth a look as well.

455mm chain stays

I think clearance for 650b MTB tyres would need testing as your adding quite alot of width. Also 650b isn’t that well covered in thinner tyres

Well that was my conclusions

just looked up the rove al – it has a 435mm stay.

Sonder Camino AL

Genesis Vagabond

Specialized Awol

Singular Peregrine (NLA 🙁 )

Will all take a big tyre 700x50c?

Mango Point AR frameset worth a look but probably won’t take a 50 tyre.

How about this Penhale Gypsy, will take 29×2.0″

http://www.penhalebicycleco.com/shop/gypsy-frameset

There seems to be nowt with really short chain stays though.

Go direct and get a waltly titanium or XACD from China? Lots have dealt this way and got great bikes £450-600.

Or order a custom AL frame from Bike Mielec in Poland, around £200.

I asked kona if the rove would take tyre bigger than a 40 and it won’t. Sutra has more room to take a bigger tyre.

You could probably run 650b and a 2″ tyre on lots of these bikes, but best to measure up the frame if you are planning to do this.

I’m also looking for a similar thing:
Discs
Drop bar geo without toe overlap
650b x 2.1″ tyres for offroad
700×33 for cx
650b x 40 rando tyres for touring
short chainstays
tall headtube to get the bars high

Basically a 650b MTB frame with classic looks. Drop bar geo, and non-suspension corrected aesthetics (hate the gap between tyre and fork crown), close to horizontal top tube, tall head tube, preferably oromo-steel but AL would be OK with straight profile tubes.

The Penhale and Peregrine come closest for me, but Peregrine is NLA and Penhale might be pricey to get here, both are designed around 700 wheels- i’d prefer 650b to keep the chain stay length in check.

What is the shorter stay aspect trying to achieve? Most CX bikes are 425-435, short as most MTBs. For hop+pop sort of handling there’s a lot more in an average drop bar bike you’d need to change. Bars being a big part of that.

Short stays and longer FCs feel odd on a drop bar bike. I know this goes against Whyte’s CX bike and they do cool stuff with bike geometry but ime if you want MTB-like handling with a more rearward weight bias for hops and steep stuff there’s little point in a bike with drops. If you do want drops on it you get wierd cornering if your weight is too far back and drop bars don’t feel good when trying to corner in the way you do on an MTB.

It’s an interesting area, I’ve spent too much time on frame samples that try to close the road-off road handling gaps but it really is where one aspect is continually fighting the other so where the compromises are made is the real decider in it all. One of the most fun samples I had made has a huge wheelbase, long stays, was a lot of fun off-road on drops. Even more so on MTB bars though. Hairpins on tarmac were rubbish though and that’s where a bike like that should work well, otherwise why bother with drops?

Kona, Private Jake.

420mm chainstays 😀

No mudguard mounts 😥

I like.

The one know one has mentioned is the Giant Revolt. Which i believe will take full 29 er tyres

I think that what you want would be very hard to make. It hard to achieve width without length at the back, because of the constraints of the chain rings

As a tall rider i think chain stays are often too short

The old Specialized Tricross would have fitted your requirements but you’d have to look 2nd hand as the stopped making them.

I do second Jameso’s comments on handing.

Jamis Renegade,not sure about the chainstays. Mudguard eyelets and clearance for 40mm tyres.

I’ve got a 2015 Renegade Elite, I’m liking it.

As mentioned, the Giant Revolt, do it all geo, brilliant dropbar, good carbon seatpost, the rest not so, get the best hydraulic braking you can buy, a good group (ie Ultegra pref. Di2) add:

1. wheelset with the lightest (and wide! min. 25 mm inner) 29er mtb rims possible, go tubeless, go for supple and (very) light 2.0 (back) to 2.2 (front) tires – do road, gravel and mtb. I usually start of with an hour of on road on 2.0 bar, do gravel at 1.7 bar and offroad/single trail on 1.4 bar. 3 times fun in one trip, 3 stops though.

2. same wheelset but mount Compass Barlow Pass 38 mm and you have a racebike of some sorts (but indeed, as mentioned, be very careful in those fast hairpins) add mudguards for commuting.

3. get 27.5″ wheelset and mount 2.25″ mtb tires – do technical mtb and single track like it’s the 1980s all over – maybe my next project.

The Revolt is an older design, so do use thru bolts, esp. with lots of offroad, but proper thru axle would be nicer.

The real problem is getting your cockpit right for road and single trail and everything in between, plus you might need a dropperpost with many tiny 2 mm drops and ups to make it all work. 🙂

natch – sounds perfect.

Short stays and big tyre clearances – can you really have it both ways? You could go custom with a bridge-less chainstay but TBH I’d rather have the stability of having the weight centred for longer days in the saddle and wouldn’t want a too-slack HTA otherwise you get that horrible floppy front wheel handling. Been thinking of something similar for those long summer days when the trails are firm and fast or riding something like the Tuscan Trail.