Sam Leach

Hi,

I was originally going to buy a Surly Long Haul Trucker along with a full set of panniers. After trying a full set of panniers out for a few weekend trips I have decided that a lighter weight bike packing setup would be more comfortable and fun for me. I will only travel in warm countries such as South East Asia and Central America so don't need as much gear as I originally planned.

I now am looking at what bike to buy. I came across gravel or adventure bikes recently. Sorry for my naivety but they seem to fit my needs.

My budget is around £1000. I could push it to £2000 if people think it's worth the extra money. The extra £1000 would be cut from my travelling budget so would shorten my trip, however.

I plan to take light weight gear in a full set of bikepacking bags.

I have looked at the Specialized Diverge. I like how they have different builds available at different price points. E5 Elite?

Or Salsa Journeyman?

I plan on travelling on roads and gravel but basically want a good all-rounder bike that can go off-road.

I am not worried about going fast but do want a light load so cycling in the heat is easier and more enjoyable. My aim is to travel rather than to cycle, if that makes sense. My trips will be months at a time.

Although I might take remote routes, I am ok to take alternative transportation to the nearest bike shop to get repairs.

Thanks in advance.

gus6464

Bikepacking = Salsa Cutthroat all day every day.

tclong03

Look at fuji jari steel. Nice bikes

Sam Leach

The Salsa Cutthroat is way out of my budget. Can you say why it's worth its price tag?

Sam Leach

Thanks. They look good. Why exactly do you recommend them?

Lazyass

Assuming you're in Europe, check out the Raleigh Mustangs.

https://road.cc/content/tech-news/22...ture-bike-2018

https://www.raleigh.co.uk/bikes/adventure

gus6464

Ohh I thought you said your budget was between 1-2k.

As for why there has to be a reason why half the people in the continental divide race use it.

Bosses and mounts everywhere
Clearance for some really big tires.
I also like that you use MTB cranks on it which makes life easier if you want to run 1x.

Witterings

I've been researching gravel bikes quite a bit recently and we don't seem to have so much availability as across the pond with some of the manufacturers like Salsa.

A couple of the others I'm interested in over here are the Pinnacle Arkose with 4 variants to choose from and can go up to reasonable tyre sizes, I was also interested in the Giant Toughroad SLR GX series but they weren't in stock over here for ages, came in and went on sale almost immediately just as I went away and they pretty much sold out although there are a limited number of GX2's around still I believe.

Boardman ADV is another you might want to look at.

Personally I pretty much narrowed it down to the Pinnacle Arkose 3 in terms of spec for a keeper although I'm not that keen on this year's colour but some may love it.