Hi Friends

As mentioned above, I have narrowed my choice down to two bikes.

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXFMSLRIV1/planet-x-full-monty-sl-sram-rival-1-hydraulic-disc-gravel-road-bike

I would pay the extra £150 quid for the fulcrum 700 wheels or £200 for the Fulcrum Racing 600 wheels??

or this

https://www.alpkit.com/sonder/bikes/sonder-camino-al-sram-rival1-hydraulic-V2

Let me know your thoughts and opinions.

thanks

I’d buy the Sonder for ease of spec changes and customer support.

I bought a Ti Camino and Neil was entirely open to spec changes and the price changed accordingly – I didn’t want wheels, saddle or seatpost as I’d already sourced upgrades, so a mostly-built frame arrived and I fitted my trick bits on. The Alpkit wheels aren’t the lightest in the world, so perhaps skip those and buy something better instead? Hunts are very well regarded if you can stretch…

Have you looked at the GT Grade? I have a105 spec version and swapped to lighter wheels and it’s a very comfortable mile muncher.

Thanks, I actually like the look of the GT, but they seem hard to find online.

Take a look at the Genesis fugio… very versatile great spec and very similar to the full monty but without the terrible px customer service.

been riding a trek checkpoint alr for the past two weeks, on road, fireroad, towpath & singletrack I usually ride a trail mtb on. it’s really good fun, I’m a bit amazed how good actually, feels really comfortable and stable off road and goes fast enough on. fitted 700×42 tyres set up tubeless & it’s fab.

My interest has been peaked by the Nukeproof digger

My interest has been peaked by the Nukeproof digger

Good luck finding one. Rarer than rocking horse excrement. I fancied one but went for a Whyte Glencoe instead. Fantastic so far.

If the Glencoe had full hydros it would be perfect for me.

https://road.cc/content/feature/250241-10-hottest-2019-gravel-bikes-cannondale-mason-kinesis-saracen-and-more

If the Glencoe had full hydros it would be perfect for me.

The TRP hybrid things are ridiculously powerful

I’ve trp hy/rd brakes on my Salsa Vaya as above they are ridiculously good and easy maintenance with cable actuation. I’ve changed the pads from the trp offering which makes such a difference

Looking at that link to gravel bikes, I see at least 2 have dropper posts. Does anyone actually want or need a dropper on a gravel bike? I’d have thought the limitations of the bike would expire long before I ever required to drop the saddle

Have a look at the Bergamont bikes.  They are owned by Scott. Westcott cycles have discounted bikes.  I paid £980 for Tiagra with hydros and the bike rides and feels great.

As a long term hy:rd user (back when the only hydros came with di2 or no gears) I would pretty much always find the extra for ‘proper’ hydraulics. There’s nothing wrong with Hy:RDS, mine have been reliable and entirely functional, but full Shimano or SRAM brakes are just much, much better. It’s a much cheaper upgrade as part of a full bike than aftermarket usually too!

. It’s a much cheaper upgrade as part of a full bike than aftermarket usually too

Very much this. I looked at upgrading to hydros from cable and the cost meant it made more sense to wait until the rest of the groupset had worn out and replace entirely. Not that I particularly merit hydrolic brakes on the gravel bike, so over 300 quid couldn’t be justified.

Ended up getting some spyres perfectly adequate, but compared to the brakes on my mtbs distinctly lacking in power. If you just plan to use it for gravel paths I’d probably not bother, but if its going to spend a fair portion of its time off road going down hill I’d be making them a priority

My Fargo came with Juin R1 cable /hydro calipers. Wasn’t that impressed until I started twiddling adjusters and found they could be set up really effectively.

The only problems seem to be howling like banshees in the wet and pad wear.

Both these can be cured by upgrading the pads.

As an ex TRP spyre, TRP HYD user a heartily agree that full hydros are the only way to go

I have the nuke proof digger. It’s my first gravel/ CX bike so I don’t have much to compare it to but it’s a lot of fun and copes well being off road.

This is a 650 b bike with 40mm tyres I’m surprised how much grip they give without being too draggy

for sure it’s no where near as quick as a carbon road bike on tarmac but it’s way quicker than my 29er hardtail. I think being able to get on the drops and out of the wind is the big difference.

Mines got sram hydraulic brakes. They seem pretty good and the 1×11 is simple with a pretty good spread.

Looking at that link to gravel bikes, I see at least 2 have dropper posts. Does anyone actually want or need a dropper on a gravel bike?

I’d like one on mine, i’d be much faster on loose surface downhills if i had clearance to let the bike do its own thing. I’d also take much bigger drops on it than i do at the moment. being on the drops for technical descents (for what is a road bike essentially) makes you want that saddle down and out of the way without the faff of dropping and then raising the saddle but make the trail flow better, almost the same as on an mtb 🙂

kryton could you post a link to the shop / bike.

My quick Google shows Westbrook selling them at 1350 for carbon / tiagra.  looks nice

Interested to hear why full hydros are better than the TRP hybrids. I was blasting down a road at 40 mph last week and they stopped me, a big unit, with ease at the bottom. How/why are full hydros better?

Maybe be for full long alpine descents I could maybe see why but for UK “gravel” riding I can’t see why full hydros would be necessary given the performance I’m getting from the TRP setup.

is it a maintenance thing rather than performance?

I’d say a dropper is well worth it on a gravel bike for anything remotely sketchy at speed.

People who need full hydros and dropper posts are doing some strange gravel riding.

People who need full hydros and dropper posts are doing some strange gravel riding.

proper gravel riding you mean

http://[url=https://postimages.org/]free image uploader[/url]I took mine here at the weekend