Originally Posted by
SpartyinWI
I am in first gravel bike buying mode now and plan to test ride a Kona Rove NRB over Christmas break. At $1,700 though I don't see any difference in components over the $1,200 Expat, except for the 650Bs. Not saying the Rove is a bad buy but it seems the Expat is a great buy.
I'd go ahead and demo every bike in the category you can get your hands on. At this point every bike brand offers one. I'd go with the Jamis for the steel frame alone, but that's just my personal opinion having never ridden the Rove. The only other component on the Rove that's different besides the wheelset is the FSA Adventure crankset. I recently bought the SLK version and really like the wider spaced chainrings. A compact 50/34 is fine for the roads and gravel, but it's nice to have the lower gear if you want to mess around on the trails. The Expat does have additional mounts on the fork though, if you plan on bikepacking/touring. In terms of value, if you plan on making no upgrades, the Jamis is the better deal in my opinion. I'm the type of person though, who buys a bike and continues to make upgrades until I get rid of it.