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Looking for a gravel bike, +/- 3K

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Cyclocross and Gravelbiking (Recreational) This has to be the most physically intense sport ever invented. It's high speed bicycle racing on a short off road course or riding the off pavement rides on gravel like : "Unbound Gravel". We also have a dedicated Racing forum for the Cyclocross Hard Core Racers.

Looking for a gravel bike, +/- 3K

Old 10-21-22, 03:54 PM
  #1  
Shadco 
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Looking for a gravel bike, +/- 3K

What should I be looking for, groupset wheels etc. mostly groomed trails with some road. 70 yo, 5’10” 175 lbs. Experienced but mostly road.

Not planning on long trips but day rides.

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Old 10-21-22, 04:47 PM
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Save Up to 60% Off Disc Brake CycloCross Cross CX Bikes - Gravity Zilla GRX Carbon Shimano GRX600 Powerful HYDRAULIC Disc Brake CycloCross Cross CX Bikes
For the riding you described, you could switch in some Soma Supple Vitesse EX 48mm.
Spend a bit more on saddle to suit. Carbon bar perhaps.

I'd even consider building up a BlackMtnCycles Monstercross rim-brake frameset to suit.
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Old 10-21-22, 05:58 PM
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Originally Posted by tangerineowl
Save Up to 60% Off Disc Brake CycloCross Cross CX Bikes - Gravity Zilla GRX Carbon Shimano GRX600 Powerful HYDRAULIC Disc Brake CycloCross Cross CX Bikes
For the riding you described, you could switch in some Soma Supple Vitesse EX 48mm.
Spend a bit more on saddle to suit. Carbon bar perhaps.

I'd even consider building up a BlackMtnCycles Monstercross rim-brake frameset to suit.
I get an aliexpress vibe from that link and it doesn’t give me a warm and fuzzy.


.
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Old 10-21-22, 10:55 PM
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I am a big fan of Orbea, they are the second oldest bike manufacturer in the world. I currently have a 2022 Orca and a 2017 Avant, both are incredibly fun to ride. Their new Aluminum frame Terra is not to terribly priced, it might fit the bill for you.
The following link is for their second lowest Terra in the range, they go up from there with better groupsets as you up in the range.
TERRA H30 1X — Orbea
I have not personally ridden one of the Terra's but if it rides as nice as the road range, it should be great!

as well as my Orbea road bikes, I have a 2019 Trek Checkpoint,. The thing is a beast. It is not a fast bike by any means, but it will go anywhere, and has taken quite a bit of abuse. It is also the bike I have had the most problems with.
Mainly creaky bottom bracket (several times), and a defective rear hub, fixed through warranty. I am fairly sure the way I ride this one is potentially what caused the issues.
Checkpoint ALR 5 | Trek Bikes
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Old 10-27-22, 12:02 AM
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Bikesdirect is real, but their website is not very good.

You have a Gunnar roadie, they have a gravel bike, I'd suggest starting with them.
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Old 10-27-22, 12:11 AM
  #6  
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at +/- $3K. you're looking at aluminum+GRX810 (ish), or carbon+GRX400 or SRAM 1x

Canyon Grail comes to mind: https://www.canyon.com/en-us/gravel-...nfarbe=YE%2FBK

I love my Obed GVR; they also have the Boundary: https://obedbikes.com/products/boundary-grx-810
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Old 10-27-22, 03:11 AM
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Originally Posted by Shadco
What should I be looking for, groupset wheels etc. mostly groomed trails with some road. 70 yo, 5’10” 175 lbs. Experienced but mostly road.
Not planning on long trips but day rides.
I guess the big question is what are you after?
- A: comfort?
- B: light weight?
- C: remote reliability?

if A: look for steel or Ti Frame set
if B: look for Carbon or Ti Frame set
if C: look for all mechanical (hydrau brake but cable operated)

either way, I would look for large clearance frame; large tyres provide comfort and there is a large choice of tyres from fast slick to super knobbly to suit the type of terrain you ride on. The only downsides are the lack of aero and added weight.
Personally, I like 1x with wide range cassette and depending of ascent, I swap the chainring. That said, I know roadies prefer 2x which allows the use of closer ratio cassette to achieve similar range; this provides smoother smaller gear changes.
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Old 10-27-22, 07:58 AM
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Paved roads and groomed trails? To me that just means some sort of 'allroad' bike, which will be great fun.

Canyon Aluminum Grail 7 with GRX 2x11 for $2199- for https://www.canyon.com/en-us/gravel-...nfarbe=YE%2FBK 42mm tire clearance
Trek Aluminum Domane with 105 2x11 for $2099- https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/b...ode=grey_black 35mm tire clearance
Trek Carbon Domane with 105 2x11 for $3299- https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/b...olorCode=black 38mm tire clearance
Canyon Aluminum Endurace 8 with 105 2x11 for $1199- https://www.canyon.com/en-us/road-bi...nfarbe=BK%2FBK 35mm tire clearance
Canyon Carbon Endurace 7 with 105 2x11 for $2599- https://www.canyon.com/en-us/road-bi...nfarbe=YE%2FBK 35mm tire clearance
Trek Aluminum Checkpoint 5 with GRX 2x11 for $2499- https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/b...de=white_black 45mm tire clearance
Canyon Carbon Grizl 7 with GRX 2x11 for $2999- https://www.canyon.com/en-us/gravel-...rahmenfarbe=YE 50mm tire clearance

These are just options for 2 brands and I provided links for both brand's gravel and endurance road bikes. A 35mm tire will be plenty when I think of 'groomed trails', especially when you plan to road ride a lot too. With that said, there is little to no harm in going wider on the tire, assuming you choose fast rolling wider tires, so the gravel models may suit you better.
All links I provided are 2x11 drivetrains, but 1x drivetrains are obviously also available. The 2x11 have a wider gear range and smaller jumps which, to me, is good for both gravel and paved roads.
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Old 10-27-22, 01:08 PM
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Originally Posted by superdex
I love my Obed GVR; they also have the Boundary: https://obedbikes.com/products/boundary-grx-810
I bought an Obed Baseline a few months ago...so far I love it. I mostly do a 70/30 mix of road/gravel. I sold off the Shimano wheelset and currently run DT Swiss ER1600's with 32mm GravelKing slicks on the road and Easton EA70AX w/ 38mm GK SS for gravel.

Obed Baseline All-Road Bike | Shimano 105 Mechanical - Obed Bikes

I notice, however, they failed to post my 4-star review on the product page critical of their build and customer service

When I received mine (I ordered it to be shipped boxed to do final assembly myself, it arrived fully assembled via box truck) the tapered ring had been left out of the headset. When I sat on it to adjust the seatpost height, I noticed an excessive amount of play in the headset (and resulting gouging of the paint on the frame around the headtube from the dust cover). I contacted them and they sent a replacement headset via FedEx, and I also ordered a tapered ring via Nashbar on the same day. I assumed that since it was a screw-up on their part (the build sheet showed three sperate people had signed off on an inspection/test ride) they would have shipped the part via Overnight so I could ride my new bike. I'm a 2.5 hour drive from their shop, and 2500 miles from Nashbar's...it took two days to receive the ring from Nashbar and a week to get it from Obed. They also ignored the gouged frame paint, requiring me to pay another $32 to order touch-up paint from them.




I also noticed that there is blue paint showing where some of the orange rubbed off...not sure if my frame was initially painted blue (it matches one of their color options) or if they use a blue primer basecoat.





The bike? Love it.
Their service? Meh...



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Old 10-29-22, 07:10 AM
  #10  
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Originally Posted by kwb377
I bought an Obed Baseline a few months ago...so far I love it. I mostly do a 70/30 mix of road/gravel. I sold off the Shimano wheelset and currently run DT Swiss ER1600's with 32mm GravelKing slicks on the road and Easton EA70AX w/ 38mm GK SS for gravel.

Obed Baseline All-Road Bike | Shimano 105 Mechanical - Obed Bikes

I notice, however, they failed to post my 4-star review on the product page critical of their build and customer service

When I received mine (I ordered it to be shipped boxed to do final assembly myself, it arrived fully assembled via box truck) the tapered ring had been left out of the headset. When I sat on it to adjust the seatpost height, I noticed an excessive amount of play in the headset (and resulting gouging of the paint on the frame around the headtube from the dust cover). I contacted them and they sent a replacement headset via FedEx, and I also ordered a tapered ring via Nashbar on the same day. I assumed that since it was a screw-up on their part (the build sheet showed three sperate people had signed off on an inspection/test ride) they would have shipped the part via Overnight so I could ride my new bike. I'm a 2.5 hour drive from their shop, and 2500 miles from Nashbar's...it took two days to receive the ring from Nashbar and a week to get it from Obed. They also ignored the gouged frame paint, requiring me to pay another $32 to order touch-up paint from them.

Obed Baseline 1 - YouTube

Obed Baseline 2 - YouTube


I also noticed that there is blue paint showing where some of the orange rubbed off...not sure if my frame was initially painted blue (it matches one of their color options) or if they use a blue primer basecoat.





The bike? Love it.
Their service? Meh...

Looks interesting but maybe I’ve been spoiled by decent lbs’s.

Not sure how fitting from direct to consumers works since steerer, bar, stem components seem much more proprietary than the last time I bought.

Giant Revolt adv 2 is kind of grabbing my eye. The only thing that seems cheap on that one is the wheel set.

.
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Old 10-29-22, 12:19 PM
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I have a Lynskey GR300 I purchased this spring. If you can go a little above $3000 and the off-the shelf geometry fits, you would get an excellent, made in USA titanium frame. I'm 40 and about an inch shorter than you. I think their ML frame might be a good fit but of course you'll check the geometry yourself. I bought mine with SRAM Rival AXS but you can get it in Shimano GRX600 at a bit above the $3000 mark if you're good with 1x11. Came with Kenda 700x42, relatively slick tires. I went with a second wheelset in 650bx47mm tires for chunky stuff and put slick 32s on for road and crushed limestone rail trails.

Personally getting a traditional threaded bottom bracket was important to me, so that ruled out many carbon frames. My old cyclocross bike in BB30 sort of turned me off press fit stuff. Specialized went to a threaded bottom bracket in the Diverge a couple years ago so that was a bike I kicked around, but ultimately decided to go with the Lynskey for a bike that would also be good for occasional bikepacking.

There are lots of good options out there these days, and supply seems less constrained than it had, though local shops by me seem to be having trouble getting Shimano GRX 800 stuff in, as of this summer. Maybe it's better now. Good luck.
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Old 10-29-22, 05:44 PM
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check out Lauf - True Grit - can be had for $3k-ish
https://www.laufcycling.com/product/lauf-true-grit
very, very nice riding bike, great on any gravel and also quite quick/nice on-road.
I've had some time both on-road and very mtb-ish terrain, and it was superb.
tends to ride 'big' - I usually ride a 56 cm road, but the 54 was a perfect fit ... I'm 5' 9" looong legs and arms, 144 lbs, 73, mostly performance riding, 30 to 50 miles, lotsa cimbing, and starting to again do longer rides...
If I was to go Carbon up-scale for 'Gravel', it would be with the Lauf... The suspension fork is awesome, and no downside for road riding.
Ride On
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Old 10-29-22, 06:31 PM
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Steve B.
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Also look at the Cannondale Topstone Aluminum 1. Lists at $2400 or so, mostly GRX 600. I've a '19, its a very nice riding bike. For $3000 you could upgrade to some very nice wheels.
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Old 10-31-22, 07:52 PM
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I've been very happy with my 2022 Trek Checkpoint ALR5, which was mentioned in a few previous replies. Besides the component level and versatility, I like the fact that it is very serviceable: threaded bottom bracket (that was a change for 2022), round seatpost (not proprietary), and no cables running through the headtube/steerer. I have about 600 miles on mine with no issues. Its been ridden about 70/30 paved/unpaved. Unpaved being mostly hardpack and gravel. It comes set up tubeless. With the 40mm tires at 40-45 psi I don't notice "road buzz". I would buy it again.
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Old 10-31-22, 09:22 PM
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If you are experienced with road bikes I’d probably gravitate toward the brands you have experience with or that you prefer. I had been away from cycling for years and just went through this search. For me it was most important to be able to try them even though the standard test drive isn’t the best. I ended up with the JAMIS renegade C2 because of all the bikes I tried, I liked it most. A lot of the bikes I thought I was going to love, I really didn’t. The Renegade isn’t the sexiest but it was by far the most comfortable, best handling, smoothest riding, and best value on top of all of that. Good luck and enjoy.
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Old 11-01-22, 09:24 AM
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Clearance sale 2021 Checkpoint SL5

I suggest get out and demo ride.

My daughter got a Trek Boone 7 on clearance $3K. SRAM Force 1x mounted 700x35mm Pirelli Cinturato Gravel H extra $165.

September I got a 2021 Trek Checkpoint SL5 on clearance $2.5K Shimano GRX 2x mounted 700x45mm Gravel H $165 extra.

The most comfortable stable bike that you demo ride with room for 700x40mm or wider tire may work.

My family also has flatbar Trek FX Sport GRX 1x.
Trek Domane 2x with 700x40mm Gravel H.
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