Given the huge selection of fire rds & paths up here in Moray I’m sorely tempted to get a cyclecross or gravel bike but I don’t really know what I’m looking at.

It’d need to be at the cheap end of the market so I was quite interested in the new offering from Planet X, the On One Boot zipper.

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBOOBZ650AP1/on-one-bootzipper-650b-sram-apex-1-cross-monster-bike

Any advice/opinions on this? Would a 29er be better than a 650b?

Let’s start with cyclOcross…

And in the spirit of recommending what you have, any Pinnacle Arkrose that meets your budget

You don’t need to overthink things with a gravel type bike – just pick the colour and price you like.
That on-one would not be for me just for aesthetic reasons but I’m sure it would be absolutely fine to do what you want and the price is appealing. Go for it if you like how it looks. Drop bars on a MTB style frame look like anus IMHO, but they also restrict you to very poor brakes at this price point (hydraulic STI shifters are more expensive and put it up a level or two in price). A flat barred bike has a more versatility here with a decent set of MTB brakes.

Cheers, I’ll go have a look at that.

Is there much difference between Gravel bike & a CX bike? Or just a slight redranding?

One is meant for short but intense rides, max 33mm tyre clearance, short wheelbase / nimble steering and the other for longer rides on 40mm+ tyres; so ‘specific’ bikes will be very different in feel.

You can obviously use for either, but will be compromised in one way or another.

Sounds like you have ‘gravel’ rather than CX riding in mind, so I’d suggest looking for a bike that might be comfier for longer rides, takes bigger tyres, has bottle mounts etc

Is there much difference between Gravel bike & a CX bike?

Not massively. The CX bike will have a higher BB and a shorter wheelbase. The 33 max tyre is a UCI ruling for races rather than a frame limitation as most cross bikes with take 40+ tyres.
I prefer the more nimble feeling of a cross bike (i only do 2 hour rides), most people prefer the more relaxed feeling of a gravel bike (they probably do all day rides)

Agree with Kerley that there’s not a great deal in it. Cross is a bit unusual in the sense that the race position is not very polarised to one extreme or the other – it’s actually quite neutral and upright (steer with the hips). You could get on Mathieu van der Poel’s bike and it would prob feel quite comfy, whereas if you got on a race DH or XC bike then comfy wouldn’t be the first word you’d think of – clearly precision instruments with quite extreme geometries. So for this reason people have been happily riding cross bikes up hill and down dale across the UK for 50 years.

The bolloxology of gravel is a good thing, though – these bikes are just perfect for so much of our landscape, so more choice (frames, wider rims, better tyre selection, different handlebar designs etc) is great.

Trek Checkpoint?
There’s a reasonable difference in geometry between a Cyclocross race bike and a gravel bike; bb drop, head and seat angles.
If there was one recommendation I could make it would be to go for something with mudguard mounts and full hydraulic brakes.
Ok so that’s two.
A compact chain set is also probably over-geared for off road use; a change of outer ring to a 44/46 would be a good move.

I’d go for a gravel bike unless you were racing. But I wouldn’t get hung up on it too much as there can be as much variation between gravel bikes from different brands as there is between a cx and gravel bike from the same one.

Gravel is more relaxed, bigger tyres, gears suited for longer rides.

CX is focused on racing. More aggressive geometry, UCI limits 33mm tyres so no need for massive clearance (although there often is for mud), gears for racing.

I race, so I’ve always had race CX bikes. They’ve been fine for gravel rides – I’ve done plenty of 150+ milers. 35mm tyres are ok. Keep in mind that gravel riding as a marketing term is new but as an activity is not. People have been riding the three peaks for over 50 years which is far harder and more technical than most people would attempt on a modern gravel bike.

Having just looked I’d recommend some of the following

Alpkit
Cube (CX bike??
Wiggle Vitus (I got the Energie)
Ribble
Merlin
Boardman

I went single ring for CX (mud!) but for long rides have always wanted a double. I don’t live in Kansas so long rides involve tarmac and I want a big, almost road gear.

I’ll add Canyon and Rose to that list. But not the Grail with those god awful bars.

Cheers guys. Gravel definitely sounds more along the lines of what I’m looking at. Fire roads, old railway lines, wee back roads.

Just to add more, some mate and I rode probably the sort of situations you are talking about on Sunday.
I was on my spare cx race bike a Trek Crockett 2020 with 38c Compass Barlow Pass, mudguards (a real reason for me choosing the 2020 Crockett as a second frameset as I can use it for Audax and rough stuff), another was on a Canyon Grail CF SLX with no guards, and 40c semi knobby tyres and the hover bars (which he was moaning about) and the last on a CF Canyon Inflite with the gopping top/seat tune and he was on knobby 35c tyres.
The 50 mile route was a mix of mud, grass, pristine tarmac gravel, fire roads, unclassified roads and bridleways. All bikes performed fine. I had the driest gooch.
So pretty much any of the above would work 😄

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Did some gnarcore #gravgrav riding today. Mostly new routes to me. Much #fog #industrialheritage #wales #valleys #roughstuff

A post shared by Thom (@thomthebike) on Dec 29, 2019 at 6:49am PST

Excellent lads thanks very much. Might see if I can wing something on the bike to work scheme. If I but another bike outright the wife’s threatening to divorce me.