Hi, I’m looing at getting my first gravel bike (I’ve been purely MTB up until now).  I noticed the GT Grade Carbon models on very big discounts at a few sites including CRC which makes them great value in terms of specs at least.

However, I know very little about gravel bikes and am wondering if there is some glaring problem with these bikes which has lead to them being so heavily reduced?!

Thanks!

Good bikes. My mate has one. 

Are the ones on offer the outgoing model? I know they announced a new one this year.

The looks are a bit challenging IMO, but at the sale prices they look decent value.

I’d look at Vitus on the CRC site as well though, currently 30% off all bikes and they were quiet well priced to begin with.

Yes the looks are odd – perhaps that’s the only reason.  The Vitus bikes looks good, the only snag is I’m using C2W so can’t use CRC.

I think the grade has limited tyre clearance for a gravel bike. Check you’re happy with that before buying.

If you can see past the quirks of the frame appearance and (sensible) external cable routing.. looks like a good deal. I’ve not looked at the geometry..

I put one of the early versions together as a do it all bike for my wife. I had a few rides on it and was very impressed at the comfort and handling. https://flic.kr/p/2oetm2A
Tyres on the first ones were max 36c, sure that got improved on the later versions. Very light Frameset and well finished.

One I just looked at didn’t have a very good spec IMO. 

A gravel bike should be less than 10kg (ideally under 9kg). Otherwise it’s getting awfully close to a MTB xc bike weight.

But if you got one for £1000, I’d put £400-500 aside for a set of lightweight wheels.

Grade Carbon Elite for £1k that’s not looking bad for the asking price, but as didnthurt points out the weight seem a bit ‘off’

My crappy old Al framed London road isn’t an especially tidy build and I’m pretty sure that’s under 10kg. I’m wondering if they’ve made a mistake on the listing.

The other thing to consider is do you actually want a carbon Framed Gravel bike?

YMMV but I’ve dropped mine a few times, scuffed and rubbed the frame with bag straps and other stuff, while I’m content that carbon is pretty repairable, for a shiny now bike it would still be something that made me nervous, obviously that depends on what you’re going to use it for. I’m more naturally drawn to aluminium for a lighter build and steel for a long distance load lugger… Discuss.