Originally Posted by
good4u
Your new bike should have component quality equal to or better than your existing bikes or you will be disappointed
Nah, not really. I have CF and titanium with Sram Red and Force. My "good" gravel bike is a Lynskey titanium with Sram AXS Force. My "traveling" gravel bike which i keep with our RV in another state, is the cheap-ish ($1K) Salsa Journeyer I mentioned above with aluminum frame and fork, cheap wheels, bottom tier Microshift Advent 9. And I have plenty of fun with it for it's purpose: casual rides on mixed surfaces. Frankly, I don't miss my higher end bikes at all when I'm on the road with the Salsa.