Sonder Camino or Sedona?

Ps.

I've got loads of mountain bikes, the most xc of which is a pace rc529, hence me leaning more towards the Sedona as it's a bit more at the road end of gravel 

I know a lot of Camino owners, none have been disappointed, quite a lot are used as road bikes (maybe with a tyre change)

I was looking at both options but I seem to have ordered a Secan instead. I'd probably have gone for the Camino and while I really liked the Idea of a ti frame the Camino is pretty much the same weight as the Secan. I've already got one 853 frame and that's pretty heavy duty but rides really nicely. I think in terms of geometry the Secan is nearer the Sedona but it has bigger tyre clearance than the Camino if needed in the future particularly with 650b. In the end with the interchangeable dropouts and cable routing it seemed a more versatile option.

Camino was a very close second and probably would have been what I got but for the fact the big discounts disappeared the morning I hovered over the order button.

Alpkit did say there would probably be another sale at the end of August or beginning of September but yesterday there was only one desert Secan left in 51T so I just had to hit buy now 😊

Gravel bike likely to be the next to be upgraded and I really fancy a Camino Ti, but the Secan is right up there on the list.

Hmm that secan does also look really really nice

I've no experience of the Sedona, but I love my Ti  Camino 2x which I've had for about 9 months. I use it on the road a fair bit, though I've never been a roadie so can't really compare it to dedicated road bikes. It's comfortable and (from an mtbers perspective) light and nippy. The roads where I ride are all poorly surfaced, gravel strewn, grass up the middle jobbies. It's absolutely perfect for that, but fast-ish on smooth roads too. It's hilly by me, I seldom do a ride with less than 1000m of ascent so the 2x gearing is great for climbing if you're ancient and relatively unfit like me.

I also ride gravel and light singletrack whenever I get the chance and have done a 4 day off-road bikepacking trip on it.  I've never felt under biked, it just does everything well, without complaint.  I was particularly impressed with how it handled steep, rocky descents fully loaded with camping gear and an incompetent pilot, without rattling to bits on my bikepacking trip. It really is a swiss army bike, pretty good at everything I'm likely to do on it.  I'm not a demanding, discerning or massively experience cyclist though.  I'm easily pleased, so take my opinion for what it's worth!  I'm thinking of taking up Audax now, I think it will be well suited to it.

Thanks for the comments all.

I've been rumaging through the geo charts. 

Sedona is out. Too Racy and low at the front. I need a higher stack.

I've looked at the secan though - very nice indeed. I think I'd slightly prefer the geometry of that (58T) with the more road oriented geo.

However- secan steel frame painted - risk of getting scuffed up... vs Camino lovely Ti

For the same base groupset on the camino and the secan I can also get a load of posh bits put on the Camino and still bring it in under £3k C2W budget (dropper, carbon wheels).

This is a bit of a tricky one to decide what to do.

I think I am very slightly preferring the camino but it's a really close call

Tell me I'm wrong/right please. Ta!

I largely rode mtbs before I bought a Camino Ti. My one concern about the Camino was the relatively aggressive (head down) posture compared to the more relaxed mtb geometry I was used to. So I asked for the carbon steerer tube not to be cut when I ordered it last October. For me that was the right decision, though I have since lowered the bars by 5mm and might lower them another 5mm.

I opted for 1x with the 10-51 cassette.

I've really enjoyed the Camino and had a great time riding C2C and Lejog (credit card style) on it.

I did change the tyres to 35mm Gravelking SS prior to C2C and Lejog. However, I felt they weren't really robust enough for the roads, cycle paths and canal towpaths I was riding and ended up with 3 instances of sealant Catherine wheels from the rear tyre 🙄

Posted by: el_boufador

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Having said that I've been to alpkit in Ilkley this morning and had a go on the Camino and it didn't feel particularly slow/cumbersome on the road on the shirt spin I had, and it would give more versatility.

Hmm

Thoughts?

I have a basic Camino Al that. built up myself with GRX and pilfered and spare bits. I chose it mainly for off-road stuff and was expecting it to be a bit of a slug on the road - or perspective i also have an old Lynskey-made Planet X Ti road bike and rode a carbon cross bike on and off road for around a decade. The Camino's actually okay, turns out I quite like the reassuringly stable geometry on the sort of moonscapes that pass for British back roads these days and with fast tyres on, it's fine. I wouldn't choose one specifically for road use, but as you say, it's not horrendous on tarmac and the pay-off is that as gravel bikes go, it's very good off road. 

Haven't ridden a Sedona or a Secan, but it's the geometry that makes the Camino what it is, so I'd start by thinking about whether that's something that's important to you. 

I have a ti Camino with 2x grx and 40t cassette at the back.  At home it's used exclusively for gravel.  But for the last 3 summers its been used on hols as anything from easy xc mountain biking to 100 mile plus road rides with 1000 meters of climbing.  I take two wheelsets one for road on for Gravel and put a fresh chain and cassettes on.   

I'm out in France now and have used it almost exclusively on the road so far this hol just been in Morzine climbing the cols there and it was fine.   I wouldn't want to be in a chaingang on it but for me riding with my wife or by myself,  t's great.   It is so flexible in a way that the Sendona isn't.  This week it will be back on easy MTB / gravel duties as we are now in the Auvergne.

I've got a Camino that gets used for all sorts, and it's good, albeit heavy; however, mine is a few generations older, and the model after mine changed the geometry quite a bit—pushing it more toward aggressive gravel than the all-road bike it used to be. You could have ten people tell you it's the best thing out there, but it’s worth noting that their Camino may be quite different from the one you’d buy today.

The other thing I’d say is that I bought mine when frames were £300, and at that price I was willing to overlook the shortcomings. Personally, I don’t think it’s the best-finished frame—mine had a headset full of paint, a few dodgy-looking welds around the cable bosses, a fork that had to be replaced twice, and even a spelling mistake on the decals. £300 you put up with it, but for £650 it cost today fro the frame I'd have been pretty annoyed. 

Also, customer service was crap both times I needed it.