TheBlackPumpkin

Back in 2016 I started biking at a little over 500lbs. I got down to 420. Last year got back to 450 after some major life changes, and lost 100lbs between April of last year and now. I'm down to 350 and currently ride a specialized roll 2020 that I had custom wheels made for to support the weight when I was 450. I'm making the push to get down to 300 before the end of the year and am looking to drop between 2-3k on a gravel bike when I get there.

I have a hard budget cutoff of $3500 USD.

I've been doing a lot of research. So far as far as I've found the contenders are;
Trek Checkpoint 5
Giant revolt advanced 2.0
Canyon Grail or Grizl

Anyone have any thoughts / recommendations? I'd love to buy local due to being able to get a proper test ride and such in. But the value for money of direct to consumer Canyons is very attractive.

I plan to mostly ride a mix of dirt trails, paved trails and gravel trails. I have a one bike mentality. Also am looking forward to be able to put my 650b rims on if I want to (currently use them for paved).
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Anyway I'm rambling now. Any recommendations are welcome. Additionally as far as canyon bikes, there are a lot of models in my price range. Curious what I'm actually getting if I spend higher and if you guys think it's worth it for having front suspension for instance over rigid.

Eric F 

IMO, you can't really go wrong with any of those choices (my personal choice would be the Trek, but they are subjective reasons that might not be applicable to anyone else). A higher price point will get you better quality components and wheels, and will be lighter weight. However, I would guess that durability is going to be a more important factor for you than shaving off a couple lbs of bike weight.

TheBlackPumpkin

That's kind of my thinking as well. Carbon parts aren't really attractive to me because they tend to have lower weight ratings. On the flip side though cracked carbon can often be repaired whereas alloy is just done for.
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​As someone that's not extremely well versed in bike mechanics it's difficult to tell if im paying for meaningfully higher performing components or weight reductions.

Eric F 

With the budget and brands you're talking about, they're all going to be good bikes, and perform pretty similarly. A more important consideration might be which one is going to come with the best local support if you have an issue, or help get the bike set up to suit your specific needs (sizing adjustments, etc.).