Help, so recently moved house, can commute by bike, typically ride my Genesis Fortitude SS to work, no major climbs on the way,
Work have recently signed up to the Green Commute Initiative and I’m thinking of getting a gravel bike that I can commute on and do some light touring on in the summer with my good lady, she has a Lapierre Crosshill E. I’d also add that I’m 6’4″ and not a racing snake.

I’ve looked at the Croix de Fer, Sonder Ti Camino and the Lapierre Crosshill all around £2,000 to £2,500.

Any experience with these or any input on the current STW gravel bike of choice.

I’m 6’2″ and 16 stone on an xl ti camino and love it. 40mm tyres and it’s very comfy on our potholed roads. Had to wait a while for it but if it got nicked I’d buy another

@grim168, do you ever carry luggage on it?

Lighter bike packing kit yeah. Got a set of bags from alpkit. I’ve got a traditional hewitt 700c tourer and it feels as stiff as that

Thanks.

How much do you plan to be off-road Vs on road?
We’ve done far more on road than I expected. Partly because we live somewhere with fabulous roads to cycle….
With that in mind, our bikes are more weekend tourer/day rides/commute set up. I run slick 37mm tyres and full guards, rack for pannier etc.

In true stw fashion, Recommended what you’ve got

https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-cgr-sl-shimano-105/

Ribble carbon cgr. Works as a road bike or a gravel bike and has mounting points for full mudgaurds and a pannier rack. Takes 50mm tyres or 40mm with mudgaurds.

The ribble gravel bike has the fork with 3 bolts for even more bike packing but that’s more aimed at gravel than the Cgr which is an all rounder.

Standard threaded bottom bracket too

I’m 6ft3 on an XL frame with a 80mm stem

I’ll probably do a fair bit off road, lot’s of tracks and trails round this way, nothing to challenging in Norfolk.

Did look at the Ribbles but I’m not a fan of carbon.

Did look at the Ribbles but I’m not a fan of carbon.

They do it in steel, Ali, ti and carbon.

When I was looking I found very few people with anything good to say about the CdF which was a shame because they look nice.

I’m a touch shorter than you and think my XL Ragley Trig is great. My pal is similar to you and rates his Vitus. If I change any time soon the Sonder is defo on my list.

My daughter has an aluminium Camino and it’s a lovely thing – to look at and to ride. I would expect the Ti version to be equally lovely – I’ve got a Reilly Gradient that I like a lot. Her partner has a CdF and its a heavy old lump – it rides OK but you really notice the weight.

When I was looking I found very few people with anything good to say about the CdF which was a shame because they look nice.

I borrowed one when looking into a gravel/road bike. It just felt lumpen. Heavy. No steel is real springyness, particularly when compared to my old Sanderson. It was wearing chunkier CX tyres too, which I think added to the heavy feeling.

IK, looks like the CdF is out of contention.

Off for a look at the Ribbles.

The Ribble bike look cool but I’m convinced that I could get a rack on there.

Don’t discount a CdF!
I love mine as much as I love my Secan 👍

I had a Cannondale topstone, which was very nice until I shagged the fork and realised cannondale use some disgusting weird headtube standard that no one else makes. Got a Kinesis Tripster AT frame to replace and stuck all the bits on. The cannondale was nice, the kinesis is lovely. Nicer riding position and lots of bosses and stuff if you want to go bikepacking. Ridden on roads, lanes, singletrack and all sorts. Like the versatility. Never ridden a road bike, so can’t compare to that, but feels like you’re flying on the actual road when compared to a 16kg enduro full suss, much better than a hardtail and is way more efficient and pleassant to ride over longer distances than a hybrid.

Obviously recommend what I have. You might just be able to squeeze a Fairlight Faran for that money. Bloody lovely bike and not bad on and off road.

Brother in law has a Camino ti and loves it. As above, Fairlight Faran sneaks into price bracket. I love my Secan.

Fairlight Faran 2.0 Review

The Fairlight looks lovely but when I start specing it up it gets a bit pricey.

I’ll keep looking around.

Current favourites are the Camino and the Tripster AT

Have you looked at the Diverge?
https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Specialized/Diverge-E5-Elite-Disc-Gravel-Bike-2022/VZ93
nice on and off road. I run mine with 40 mm Schwalbe G Ones which are a nice compromise for on and off road. Nice and comfy, good riding position and a fair few bolts for adding bags etc.

Planet X Tempest, Ti loveliness, Had mine nearly a year now and has been faultles

£2600 or less will get you every version they make bar the top of the range one (Red AXS XPLR) from Sram AXS XPLR versions (Force & Rival) to mechanical Sram Force, Rival along with Campag Ekar, no Shimano GRX versions at the momment though

Std Fulcrum 900 wheels are a bit heavy so budget in selling them and buying some better ones

https://www.planetx.co.uk/c/q/bikes/gravel-adventure-bikes/tempest

orderd a Camino Ti today, hope its a s good as all the recomendations.

I’ve just bought a DOLAN GXA (Ally) on C2W – it was £1700 with Shimano 1×11 gearing.

i have ridden about 120 miles on it so far (mostly crappy lanes) and it feels very nice, and not massively slower than my 2013 Giant Defy on the roads.

I like it.

I keep looking at Boardman ADV 8.9 that sells for £1150 these days, there’s some black/white sizes available, no orange at mo.

But then wonder if I’d not regret getting the carbon frame ADV 9.0 that’s £1850 now, gutted there wasn’t any in stock when I needed a new bike in summer ’20.

Very nearly bought one of those clearance On One Free Rangers that were ~£1200 just over a month ago, just a bit wary of 1x for mostly road and an hour trying SRAM “double tap” on a turbo in Halfords five years ago on the Boardman CX felt so alien.

Hey there,

I now have a Nukeproof Digger Comp. Absolutely loving it and it’s flexibility.
The Boardman doesn’t look as nice as the Nukeproof and for an extra £200 I think the paint finish looks better along with the spec being 1×11 GRX.

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/nukeproof-digger-comp-alloy-bike/rp-prod202649

So far I’d ridden just under 100km and find the controls perfect. I’m very long in leg and short body so the medium size fits me perfectly for a 5ft8 size 75kg weight.
I ride rode bikes too these days and I’m finding that the Nukeproof does all my very old Cannondale R300 does but with more flexibility, where I want to switch to rutted trails, which I do frequently.

BR
JeZ

I have Camino Ti and can only confirm what has been said above that it’s great bike.
Compared to Topstone Al it is just better all round bike. Get one if you ride off road.