[Closed] Steel Gravel Bike Ideas Appreciated

Fearless Warlock (I have a Vulture, which is a brilliant bike, Warlock is a slightly beefier thru-axle bike). Well priced, great bikes, lovely company to deal with.

Fairlight Faran/Secan - Faran more adventure/touring with 631 tubes, steel fork, Secan pricier, 853 tubes, more gravel with carbon fork. Faran a bit more than the Warlock, Secan a bit more expensive again.

+1 for the warlock. Absolutely love mine

Just about fits some 27.5x2.2 Maxxis ikons in it too which is brilliant.

I have a Niner RLT9 Steel (purchased the frameset and built it up). And I absolutely blooming love it. Its just brilliant. Very capable. More mounting points than I know what to do with. Super comfortable. Little bit niche and keeps turning heads at the local cycling cafes. In fact p20 is getting a little bored of me telling him how much I love it.

Ribble CGR series worth a look for value too, they have a steel option

Are you 100% sure you want a gravel bike? It's all the marketing rage but a rigid 29er might actually be more use for loaded bikepacking

Warlock
https://ukgravelco.com/fearless-warlock-frameset-review/
https://flic.kr/p/2m52cHp
Sour
https://ukgravelco.com/2020/02/16/sour-bikes-purple-haze/
https://flic.kr/p/2meQ9gL

I love my Sour Purple Haze. Frame and fork are about a grand and they'll do custom colours and even matching metal fenders. It's got clearance for 2.2" tyres.

Sour make stunning bikes, but man, their website is murder

I've an engine11 dirty which I love, but they are out of stock world wide... If I were buying now I'd get something from https://nordestcycles.com/en but the geo is prob not what your after looking at the bikes you've singled out.

Meteor Works Aesir?

https://www.meteorworks.co.uk/production-bikes

I had a gravel bike and it was nice. I now have a kona unit rigid mtb and I find it much more fun.

Pipedream ALICE is worth a look, still the most versatile bike I’ve owned to date.

salsa fargo with 2'' tyres
the ultimate gravel bike.

or treat yourself to the Ti version like i did.

I'd second Ton's Fargo recommendation, although I'm not sure the Fargo is strictly a 'gravel bike', maybe more of a drop bar MTB (in terms of front end geometry). Not that the label matters, just the geo.

They're superb though, and really capable, even when fully loaded.

I have a Ragley Trig and think it's ace so worth a look. Not daft money either.

I was also looking at the Nordest bikes, check them out.

I’ve got a Kona Sutra LTD running 2.25 WTB nine lines on it. It’s a right laugh on slightly rowdy trails. Not really a gravel bike in the true sense of the word but I’d not change it for anything else.

Surprised the Genesis Fugio hasn’t been mentioned yet (unless I missed it). Even seem to be a few in stock.

Depends a lot on tyre size. If 40mm ish is your target then the Ribble cgr725 is my current favourite. Cheaper than the Croix de fer with TA, full 725, including seat and chainstays, carbon fork. The Kona Rove in steel. Nordest Albarda? I think it's called. Spa Cycles Elan, your choice of steel or carbon fork and a bargain, compared to other small makers like Sour and Fairlight. The Light Blue Darwin, you can spec a front fork that will take a mtb tyre. Marin Four Corners. Sonder Santiago, although less clearance, Temple adventure, Fuji Kari, Masi had a cxgr line, I think it's been renamed.
If you are looking for one that'll take a larger 29er tyre your options are more limited.

Brother Mehteh

Bombtrack bikes

All City bikes

Spa Cycles Elan 725 or Ti

Virus Substance steel

Rondo steel

Have a Faran and it's an awesome bike but I would say slightly more on the road focussed end of the scale. Although yet to try with 650 wheels which a lot of the reviewers raved about.
If I didnt have a Faran is probably have tossed up between a Warlock or the steel Ribble CGR, with the Ribble being probably the best value of them all.

Shand Stoater or Bahookie..? Better tyre clearance than many in each category and if you decide you really want new and boutique after all, you can have custom geometry. In stock form, these are superb frames for adventure riding; the Stoater is more at the gravel end of the spectrum and the Bahookie is focussed on off road with big tyre clearance.
In general though, being clear on what terrain you will actually ride may dictate the bike; Touring and local bimbling with 50/50 off road, then perhaps a 40mm tyred gravel bike will be fine. On the other hand, if you are thinking more adventure riding with plenty of off-road and some tech, maybe a frame that can accept 2.4" would be wiser.

@rocketdog how do the Warlock and the Purple Haze compare... geometry looks very similar... at the moment I’m leaning towards a Warlock as it has a cool name!

Hallett 650 Adventure Hallett
Temple Adventure 1 disc Temple
(Yes, I’ve been watching GCN+)
And my absolute favourite, Sven Pathfinder Sven

Anything by Squid if only because of their paint

There's meant to be a new [url= https://www.singularcycles.com/our-products/peregrine/ ]Singular Peregrine[/url] coming soon.

However new Singular frames have been a long time coming. They were hoping to take pre-orders in June for a September drop for the new Peregrine, but that doesn't seem to have happened, so I don't know when they're now due.

Those Squid bikes 😍😍

They even build in Aluminium!

Have just emailed to ask if they'll do rim brakes on a Squid Cross. I think I already know the answer though 🙄

Fugio 30?

https://www.cyclist.co.uk/genesis/9449/genesis-fugio-30-review

There’s a large on fleabay at the minute

A friend sent me a link to Singlebe

https://www.singlebe.com/en/

Beautiful, and reasonably priced for what they are.

Just trying to figure out potential issues with a carbon fibre seat tube in an 853 frame, sounds like potential for creaks at a later date? Lovely idea though

The 2022 Sutra has been announced too, basically it’s the ULTD from this year which is no bad thing apparently, slacker and with a dropper post plus endless frame mounts.

Depending what the OP’s budget is I’d definitely have it on my shortlist.

https://bikepacking.com/news/2022-kona-sutra-ltd/

Pretty sure the Squids are build by Ventano and the Squidcross is definitely aluminium. Lovely bikes.

I'd recommend my Jamis Renegade but they were Evans only and I haven't seen any on there in a while.

If you're happy with secondhand, the On-One Pompino is very capable offroad. 40mm tyres.

Should be cheap as chips too.

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stooge rambler is all sorts of awesome fun. will take a million bags and thingies strapped to it, cover miles every day without missing a beat, and still a hoot in berms and over tabletops when not covered in bags and dangly mugs.

Some good suggestions here...

I love the fact that even though the OP has asked about a steel gravel bike there is always someone who pitches in that what they really want is a hardtail / rigid mtb.

Every damn time these threads appear.

Another happy Fargo owner here, though from it's earlier incarnations. For a bike that covers a few n+1 options, I'd want to keep the option of front derailleur, especially for loaded touring, mine is 3x10 but that's a bit niche now.

Another happy Fargo owner here,

Me too mine is 3 x 9

back about a week from a 1000 mile 12 trip through England and Wales.

Its got a higher bottom bracket than is fashionable but that works out well on rutted bridleways.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, a lot have been added to my list for consideration. To address the rigid mtb way of thinking, I already have a (1 month old) nukeproof reactor that I use for all my current riding. It's obviously a bit heavy for xc but most of my riding is trail centres/bikeparks/North Wales wild routes so it's ideal for that.

I can only fit 2 bikes at home and my girlfriend and some mates does more road riding so I want to be able to fit some slick 30 odd mm tyres and do some of that, besides that it'll be used for gravel tracks and paths through forests. So mostly a mix of gravel/road use, anything more technical and I have my trail bike. Also really enjoy road riding with proper bars not flats.

Bikepacking is more of a rare treat than monthly occurrence, next year we're planning on doing this route ( https://bikepacking.com/routes/bikepacking-slovenia/?fbclid=IwAR0cr7AMLeEd7xgcmFfccwexB2-7braVj0mNQ-3LqIIQMATFtYfweyAesQQ) which looks to be more technical so wide tyres would be great, I did just manage 5 days of Snowdonia gravel on 28mm however so know it won't stop me giving it a go. Not sure on the 650b vs 29er argument as much for gravel as mtb, it wouldn't stop me buying a frame either way I don't think.

Cheers!

Fugio 30?

Not overly impressed with mine. Its fine for what I paid for it, but it's not worth anything like RRP.

On the + side - handles nicely enough, descends pretty well and is pretty comfy.

Minuses
The ride is nothing to write home about - none of the zing of a really nice steel frame - just a bit heavy/inert. Reminds me a bit of an old 531 Peugeot I had, but not a patch on my mk1 Soul or the Condor or Enigma frames I've owned.

Very limited tyre clearance for 700C wheels. I borrowed some with 40C tyres on and the rear wouldn't clear the CS bridge, so its 650b only.

Rear mech hanger/dropout is a pretty nasty design. 2 parts sandwiching the frame, but held together very inaccurately/loosely by a single tiny bolt. I've not yet managed to just insert the rear axle and have it screw up - there's always frigging and wiggling and faffing to get the threads to align.

Brazeons are a mess. Seat tube bottle mount is a long way up the frame, so a bottle gets in the way of a frame pack. (I've made an adaptor to be able to drop the mount as low as possible for mine)

They spec a dropper, put a hole in the seat tube for the cable - but that's it. No further mounts, so it comes from the factory with the cable ziptied to the brake hose up the DT. Just a bit rubbish IMO

Rear mech cable has an upward facing cable stop at the bottom of the DT and a loop of outer under the BB. It gets continuously sprayed with crud from the front wheel, which then gets ingested into the outer and gums it up. I'm averaged a cable a month at the mo to keep the shifting working. This is properly shit for a UK company.

It feels like it would be OK for a £1500-£2k bike from On-one or similar, but I expect much better detailing for a £3k RRP.

The OP did mention he was thinking of a couple of surly models, so I’ll chip in and say my surly karate monkey is beautifully made/finished and not too heavy for what it is. (Although, admittedly, it’s certainly not a gravel bike)
I have a couple of mates with different models of surly, they all look good.

got to agree with @martymac my surly disc trucker is very capable of anything and possibly more than any fancy 1 x fashionista bike.............. ;o)

@sheck

@rocketdog how do the Warlock and the Purple Haze compare… geometry looks very similar… at the moment I’m leaning towards a Warlock as it has a cool name!

Warlock geom is much more off road biased I'd say than the sour but is very capable on the road. If I had a choice between the two I'd go warlock for it's versatility but it'd be very close

For all you guys with a Fargo, what are they like unloaded on the road e.g. a 30mile local loop on mixed surfaces? They look really nice but probably overkill for most of my local riding but I'd imagine they'd be great for overnighters in Kielder or mid-Wales

On road, comfortable. My gearing is 48/36/26,11-36. Tyres Vittoria Randonneur 37s. You can kid yourself it's doubling as a roadie, until you ride along with a mate on a roadie and can't keep up. I bought a cheap Ribble from the classifieds for the rare occasions I ride with real roadies, it's a lot faster. I'll still pick the Fargo if I'm riding the same route on my own though.

I've got a Camino but I want to get a nice steel gravel/hybrid/tourer for all non-MTB rides.

I'd have bought a Secan by now if I could find one to sit on to test the size but alas the search continues.