[Closed] What gravel/adventure bike for less than a grand?

Much as I love my Arkose, with your user name you'd have to at least consider the Space Chicken from Planet-X.

Think they were on sale last week, but if they aren't anymore give it a few days and they'll surely be again...

(Sorry, no idea how they ride)

Bit over budget and not strictly a gravel bike but I am impressed with my pickenflick. Again recently on sale at Planet x
Rides really well off road, got me round the dirty reiver last year.
Using it as a winter road bike and it is very good with road tyres fitted.
Only downside is lack of mudguards eyes.

There are some Cyclocross races here around - think I understand now what a Cyclocross bike is.

But what's really a Gravel/Adventure bike?

Dang, I’m rather taken by that space chicken. Any idea what price they were reduced to last week?

Lots of choice these days.
I went for a GT Grade, alloy, 105

My old norco cx bike takes 40mm tyres and is a good frame, might be worth seeing what they have at Evans

Calibre dark peak 40mm tyres available in 58cm £549 only mechanical disc though

Got myself a Verenti Substance Apex 1 from Wiggle recently. Really not bad for the money, if a little heavy.

That Space Chicken looks epic, but unfortunately it's in the Can't Justify The Cost bracket.

Nukeproof's Digger is another in that category.

Looked through the Ribble CGR builder last night. Good bit of kit with scope for upgrading. Not much over budget but I really don't want to go above £1000 - and would prefer nearer £750 TBH.

At that price I'd be getting an Arkose. Great reviews as well as lots of real world popularity on this forum, and it's a well thought out, practical and versatile bike. The Diverge looks great but by all accounts is a bit of a nightmare when comes to putting mudguards on etc

I've a Diverge E5 comp. Its great but doesnt have hydro discs and is 50% over budget.
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andreasrhoen - Member
There are some Cyclocross races here around - think I understand now what a Cyclocross bike is.

But what's really a Gravel/Adventure bike?

slacker angled (seat and head tube) geometry with some bottle bosses (not good to have cages when shouldering a bike to run with it) and room for tyres bigger than 33m (the UCI max for CX bikes

For VFM, I'd look at the Boardman Team CX, PX Full Monty (again, were in the sale at <£800 until yesterday) and the Sonder Camino AL.

If you can stretch a bit over the £1000,sure the Pickenflick and Space Chicken will be on offer again in the New Year. I'm looking forward to receiving my Pickenflick in a couple of weeks (£400 off! 😀 )

[quote=slimjim78]Dang, I’m rather taken by that space chicken. Any idea what price they were reduced to last week?

Just looked back through my club whatsapp chat where we were talking about them to see, and it was £1199 for the Rival 1 version. Confess I thought they'd reduced it by more than that, to the point where it would have squeaked into thread budget.

andreasrhoen - Member
There are some Cyclocross races here around - think I understand now what a Cyclocross bike is.

But what's really a Gravel/Adventure bike?

rOcKeTdOg - Member

slacker angled (seat and head tube) geometry with some bottle bosses (not good to have cages when shouldering a bike to run with it) and room for tyres bigger than 33m (the UCI max for CX bikes)

O.k.. Understand.
"slacker angled" sounds more fun to me!
bigger tires make sense as well.

Thanks!!!

it was £1199 for the Rival 1 version.

crickey that’s a steal at £1199!
I’ll be smashing one on my CC if/when it comes down to that price again in my size

Full Monty Sram hydraulic is £800 at DFS. 😉

Charge SS Grinduro £700 at Wiggle.

The Arkose is brill.

I've used mine for the Dirty Driver with 40c Nanos and London-Edinburgh-London in 4 and a bit days on 32c slicks.

The 2018 version will get you 1x10, hydro brakes and 40c tyres (with room for 45c) for £950 iirc

I also like the look the new Pinnacle Pyrolite, designed for 650b x 47 and normal sized road tyres. In budget but Sora and Cable discs.

Full Monty Sram hydraulic is £800 at DFS.

DFS? I started speccing one out but too many manuf components I've not heard of. Not entirely putting me off though.

crickey that’s a steal at £1199!

That I would go for. Looks mental on all counts.

One of the things I'm struggling with is the line(s?) between CX / gravel/adventure / monstercross. I'm not gonna be racing it, but do want to be fairly rapid on the roads AND somehow hit some of the rougher, eg Surrey Hills, trails with confidence. The Tripster AT seems totally capable of this and and almost leaps into monstercross territory (IMO). But some other MCers are deemed slow and heavy.

Like a lot of things one would like to spend money on, if I could justify adding 50% to my budget I'd probably be sorted. But with Xmas and house stuff I can't. Ggrrh.

In true STW style, recommending what you’ve got; Sonder Camino Al.
I run mine with 650b wheels & WTB Horizon, wife’s has 700c with G One.
Both setups still allow clearance for full mudguards.
It’s not as fast as my ‘proper’ road bike but I can still roll along at a 17mph average on South Downs based 30-40 mike rides.
Have had it racked/panniered up but tend to use soft luggage unless I need lots of stuff.
Probably been my most used bike this year.

I bought an ex-demo NS Rag for just under 1k and it’s a really great bike. I’d highly recommend looking around for one. It’s currently my only bike and is great for most riding. Want to try it with 650b wheels when funds allow

[quote=spacemonkey]One of the things I'm struggling with is the line(s?) between CX / gravel/adventure / monstercross. I'm not gonna be racing it, but do want to be fairly rapid on the roads AND somehow hit some of the rougher, eg Surrey Hills, trails with confidence. The Tripster AT seems totally capable of this and and almost leaps into monstercross territory (IMO). But some other MCers are deemed slow and heavy.

My Arkose is my favourite bike, but it is slower than my Synapse road bike. Both on the stopwatch (about 2 km/h down on average speed on the same roads) and in feel. It isn't as responsive. Which, of course, is another way of saying it's more stable, or less nervous. I don't know if that's all down to geo or also partly due to weight, but I think that stability is what makes it good on bridleways, rocky tracks and multi-day rides. I also like it as a town bike.

I read it though that you'd like something with a bit of a racier feel. Maybe more X5 than Range Rover. Something with more of a road bias. A secondhand GT Grade perhaps?

...or maybe a CX bike that isn't a pure race bike? Like the Boardman CX Team. (I don't know much about them, TBH, but I picture them being between a CX and a gravel bike. Apologies to Boardman owners if I've got that wrong.)

This is why I now think I need to be clear about what I'm going to use it for.

Nothing in my budget is likely to get me particularly close to covering tarmac quickly and handling rooty/rocky trails with relative confidence. And until this morning I think I was heading more towards Monstercross territory but somehow demanding rapidity on the roads too. Moon on a stick methinks.

So today I'm looking at what's most likely to get me out on the bike from home, especially over winter. I don't like riding my CAAD on slicks in wet/shitty conditions on the road. And I don't always want to be on my (now retired Stumpy FSR) or HT out on trails. But an agile/engaging/fairly quick road beast that capable of eating up BWs and light singletrack might be the ticket, especially with semi-knobbly 30s and hydro brakes.

And if I'm buying new then I want to trust in the customer service, so on that basis I'm probably gonna rule out all Planet X options. Too many bad news stories recently. Alpkit - am liking the Camino but if they're based only up north then that mightn't work for me. BTW, mattbee I recently read your recent Camino thread enthusiastically, but - and I'm willing to stand corrected on this - it seems the Camino feels most at home on proper adventures as opposed to 2-3 hr blasts on mixed terrain?

Therefore, going on looks, capability and backup, the favourites are now a mid-range Diverge, a mid-range Arkose (maybe even the X) or a Boardman.

So many options ... grrrgghhh ...

If you’re going Arkose, consider the later models - the frame changes in the last couple of years to allow bigger tyre clearances.

I like mine a lot (think it’s a 2014), and it’s very capable.

I've been following the Space Chicken and there's no way it ever went to £1199
It was the 650b version and it was £1499 (went out of stock).
The Bish Bash Bosh Rival 1 was £1199 (now £1299)
Pickenflick was/is £1399

For under £1000, I love my Boardman CT Team. (10% British Cycling discount)
or there's the Pinacle Arkose (less racey than the boardman which I didn't like)
Sonder Camino Al
Planet X Full Monty

But an agile/engaging/fairly quick road beast that capable of eating up BWs and light singletrack might be the ticket, especially with semi-knobbly 30s and hydro brakes.

The Diverge hits these but is out of budget. Mine was £1500 with TRP spyre cables. The cheaper Diverges dont have the suspension.
Whereabouts are you, you would be welcome to take mine for a spin.

I'll say this again... we have Specialized Diverges as our road hire bikes. They're lovely. I'd have bought one at the end of season if I didn't already have my Amazon.

For next year we've splashed out on the suspension/105 model. That's addressed the one fault I could find with it - the lack of clearance for wide tyres.

I might yet buy one for myself....

Jamis Renegade will do exactly what you want it to do.

I have the Renegade Expat and can't fault it to be honest.

https://www.evanscycles.com/search?text=renegade

Kona Rove AL does gravel/adventure well .

also does touring and winter road bike well.

Clearance for 40c nanos UNDER full length Full metal fenders.

Done a good few miles on mine including a 4 week tour of canada on and off road and its held up well , all ive changed are the hubs (dynamo front hub and hope pro 2 evo rear ) and the double to a deore touring triple to cope with the big canadian hills+ 4 panniers

Got a lightly used (M) Vagabond for sale at a bargain price. 2.1 nanos, tho is biased more offroad/bikepacking than roadie

* edit - just saw XL. Strike that.

Whatabout a Niner RLT? One on ebay right now

I've been following the Space Chicken and there's no way it ever went to £1199

I think you're right, it was possibly a Force/Rival/spec mix up.
I'm still keen, I think I'll wait to see what happens with pricing/models on offer in the new year and possibly treat myself for my 40th.

Looking back at the chat you could be right you know. There may have been confusion with the Bish Bash Bosh Rival 1. As I can't find any other evidence to support it let's assume I'm wrong about that Space Chicken price. Sorry for misleading everyone.

no worries! I'll be keeping an eye out for a sub £1500 price either way. Would happily take a lower spec version for £1200!

Camino feels most at home on proper adventures as opposed to 2-3 hr blasts

I think that is a fair assessment. Not to say you couldn't go out for a blast, but it is definitely an all day comfortable sort of approach. Mine works out the box on landie tracks and blue/pale red runs without issue. Its not that fast on road, but nor am I these days 🙁

I'm not fully convinced by the very flared bar, mostly because of the angle of the hoods. I haven't got round to changing it yet though.

You sound like you want something a bit more towards the CX end of the spectrum?

Secondhand carbon cyclocross bike?
Even cheaper - secondhand boardman cx?

Secondhand carbon cyclocross bike?
Even cheaper - secondhand boardman cx?

Nipped angles and crap clearances (compared to the modern stuff) means its a bit like taking your 90s XC bike to the SES comparatively.

2 Degrees different head angle really going to damage your cyclepath experience?

well if your only sticking to cyclepaths then cyclocross bike may be fine for you .... mines does more than that admirably before getting out of its depth.

far more versatile than my cross bike..... which frankly for anything more than about oh say an hour and 20 minutes is horrific.

its not just head angle , its seat angle , its top tube height , its bottle cage bosses , its mounting luggage for adventuring , its the gearing its mud clearance with large tires fitted etc etc.

People seem to think cross=gravel and while there are similarities and the for most purposes the bikes will do the same jobs in a pinch its alot more comfortable and even faster over the long haul than trying to make a cross bike into something its not.

People seem to think cross=gravel

I'm not sure 'gravel' is a particularly useful term for the UK. In the US it's used for bike racing on gravel roads. But because they took fatter tyres, lots of people used it for adventuring.
Now pretty much everybody has their own take on what these bikes should be like.

tl:dr Massive variance even within each category imo.

Plenty of insight from you guys - all appreciated.

I think the shortlist is now down to secondhand Arkose, Diverge, Boardman or Jake the Snake. This is mainly based on what I've found across multiple sites right now re spec/size/colour (and I'm v fussy about the latter). A sweet £1500 or so 2015-16 model for <£1000 and it's happy days.

Apparently our C2W scheme is limited to certain times of the year, and that means not for 4 months.

The Arkose is winning but the JtS used to get a lot of love in these parts.

18 Bikes where selling their stock Cotic Escapade in Medium for £800 vs £1000 list. Soho bikes already sold theirs to Austria. Cotic have gone direct only so shops selling down stock.

Also there is an STWer with a nice looking lightly used bike for £800 in Cambridge, was on classifieds a few weeks ago. I have his email address.

for an 'adventure' bike what about the Marin Four Corners? Seems like it has been well thought out for 'adventure' bikepacking and commuting

its not just head angle , its seat angle , its top tube height , its bottle cage bosses , its mounting luggage for adventuring , its the gearing its mud clearance with large tires fitted etc etc.

The flip side to that, the Arkose is actually steeper than most CX bikes, more like a road bike with big clearances, closer to what the Americans thought of when they invented 'gravel bikes' for racing on unsealed roads.

As opposed to the british take which seems more 'monster cross', off-(the fire)-road with bigger tyres and slacker angles. Probably because we don't have a similar network of unsealed roads to ride on, so inevitably turn to bridleways.

Marin Four Corners

Really don't like the look of those. Don't actually like many Marins TBH for that reason actually (all IMSO of course).

Also there is an STWer with a nice looking lightly used bike for £800 in Cambridge

Cool. Is it L/XL? I'll have a sniff around the classifieds later.

I've looked into this a lot this year

Loads of things if you're going secondhand, some obvious ones:

Genesis CDF, Kona Rove, Pinnacle Arkose, Specialised Sequoia...

and some (slightly) less obvious:

Surly Straggler, Cotic Escapade, Jamis Renagade

The Marin Gestalt 3 isn't so bad either...

The flip side to that, the Arkose is actually steeper than most CX bikes, more like a road bike with big clearances,

I’m selling my Spesh AWOL Comp (L) which is a great bike if you’re at the more gravel - mtb lite end of the gravel spectrum. Did the dirty reiver on it last year with s-works renegades and it was fast enough for me and really comfy but also did the middle 60 miles of the Jenn Ride route on it one day as well but fitted with 2.0in ground controls for a bit more grip on the gnarlier stuff where it turned out to be surprisingly capable.

I’m not sure spesh really knew how to sell the AWOL and they had a few totally different build options but the 1x11 gravel version is a fantastic bike. I like mine so much I don’t particularly want to sell it even though I’ve had a ti replica custom made to scratch the ti itch.

OP - even a car park test of the Arkose, Boardman and maybe a true CX bike (maybe a cannondale from Evans while you're testing the Arkose) will give you a rough impression of what type of ride you're looking for.
Don't make a blind decision, as they really do vary a lot.

i suspect many folk have not ridden a true CX race bike .....

which is akin to a road bike angles with some 30s/32s on....

being as they evolved for what the every man could do in winter with his road bike i guess.

neverbeentomoab - Member
Calibre dark peak 40mm tyres available in 58cm £549 only mechanical disc though

Had a quick look at this online - looks decent value.
Cheaper than the Boardman - but which has the better kit?