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Another one!
I'm looking to upgrade my 2015(ish) carbon Fuji Altamira CX 1.3 clone which has recently suffered some serious frame damage. The bike has a mix of 11spd Ultegra and old Dura Ace running gear and hydraulic discs. I run a 11-34 on the rear with a compact setup (52-36 I think) on the front which works well for my use, although it means getting off to push on serious off road climbs with bike-packing bags attached (rare). The bike is sub 9kg even with the heavy wheels I currently run. Have so far managed happily without rack/mudguard mounts.
I normally ride a mix of Kent/Surrey/East Sussex lanes and bridleways out the door, with the occasional but increasing road only outings. I've two sets of QR wheels (road/off road) and find my tubeless 40mm G-One All Roads plenty capable of dealing with the offroad conditions I mostly encounter. I'm out all year round and tend to ride day rides the most, solo or with one or two friends for anything between 50-60km mainly off road to 90+km on road. For anything rougher or dedicated single track I've a decent XC bike, and I've an ancient bulletproof hybrid I use for shops/commuting/touring.
So I've a few options, one of which is repair (being priced this week) but I'm also thinking it may be time to jump to Thru axle and actually get my first ever new bike as I can access the C2W scheme which brings significant savings.. I cycle commute 2-3 times a week and have secure bike parking at work.
A friend has a carbon Canyon Grail I like the look of (funky bars excepted), I'm not fussed about electronic shifting but do want a light responsive CF bike which is actually available in the next months in my size (5'11 with a longish body, currently ride medium/54cm), with C2W budget is up to £4k, which as I type sounds outrageous given I've never paid more than £1.5k for a S/H bike to date.... My work support the C2W scheme but has no commitment to a particular provider and are relying on me to set everything up so I'm assuming there isn't a price cap.
Suggestions welcome. TIA 🙂
It's hard to look past an on-one free ranger tbh, you'd have change for a spare set of carbon wheels. They do an AXS version for £2.5k.
Are you happy going 1x on the drivetrain? There not many 2x gravel bikes tbh.
Worth looking at the Orro Terra series which gets good reviews. East Sussex based. Some reductions on site
And then I guess Mason is worth a look as well, tho not CF
Thanks both, will have a look.
Did consider 1x vs 2x, I have 12 speed Sram XO/Eagle on my Scott Scale where it is great, I'm not sure having it on a road focussed gravel bike will work as well in roadie trim, guess I'm just used to 2x on what I've got...
https://www.merlincycles.com/orro-terra-c-105-hydro-gravel-bike-270221.html South Downs chalk flavour
n0b0dy0ftheg0at
Free Memb https://www.merlincycles.com/orro-terra-c-105-hydro-gravel-bike-270221.html /blockquote>why are companies still putting road groupsets on gravel bikes! massively over geared for off road riding
Shop local - Enigma or Reilly
Enigma are lovely but out of budget, Reilly a bit above budget - hadn't considered a Ti bike, never ridden one.
The Orro Terra looks interesting and in 105 flavour would appear to fit my brief...
Any love for the big brands and their substantial R&D budgets?
Off to compare geometry....
Thanks.
Can't seem to edit original post - having now checked, front chainrings are 48-36 FWIW...
I'm very happy with my Dolan GXA i bought on C2W last summer.
I went 1x11 and have the alloy framed version but you could go 2x11 and get the carbon version within your budget.
Really nice bikes and Dolan were a dream to deal with.
My On One Free Ranger copes perfectly with that style of riding. Great value as well.
If road focused perhaps stick with 2x, but 1x will reduce the amount of mud your chain scrapes off the rear tyre and the typical 38 or 40x42 is quite a bit lower than your current 36x34 and is capable of getting you up the steep side of the South Downs with some bikepacking gear 🙂
Kinesis might be with looking at, as like Orro they are also local. My wife looked at one of the Orro's and it was very nice but lacking some tyre clearance (not sure which model but it was gravel). She bought a Whyte Friston in the end and after the first muddy ride we would have instantly regretted getting the Orro!
You can get an Orbea Terra (not to be confused with the Orro Terra) with a double chainset in carbon.
Almost bought the alu version myself recently, but went for a Camino instead.
Steel transition rapture?
Not even slightly stealth ad!
Coctic rocket? Did you buy that from ann summers?
My Canyon Grizl is my bike for what you do. They have the s, M & L in stock now for £3200 in the e-tap version.
https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/gravel-bikes/bike-packing/grizl/cf-sl/grizl-cf-sl-7-etap/3474.html?
I looked at the Grail but couldn't get past the weird bars. I also considered the Endurace All-Road.
Thanks all.
Got a price to fix the frame, awaiting LBS appraisal of rest of bike early next week.
Reviewing the C2W process, having contacted Merlin and more or less decided on the Orbea Terra C 105 with an additional Fulcrum Wind 40D carbon wheelset for a ludicrous 42% discount, I've started disappearing down the niche brand rabbit hole rather than tackle the admin.. feel I also need to work on my beard and quirky sock collection..
Some further musing..
Don't think I want steel or Ti, mainly as I've no experience with either (Raleigh Grifter doesn't count)... irrational..
Like the responsiveness and chuckability of a light stiff frame and tubeless wheels which appears less expensive to achieve with carbon.
Carbon would also appear to be repairable despite being in a car crash - remains to be proven in this instance... I also like that Orro Terra have some resilience to frame strikes, it does sound wrong when stones flick up against the down tube..
Don't think I need huge tyre clearance, if it's sloppy, too rocky, techy and/or crazy steep climby out I'll take the Scott Scale. 40mm has so far been fine on the currently broken bike, I slow down when it gets a bit too rattly/ vision blurs...
Do need to keep up with roadie mates on the one ride in five which is all tarmac.
Will commute on it 1 hour each way on London roads on dry days and I'm not carting the laptop about.
My fantasy multiday bikepacking trips are limited to either the odd weekend warrior overnight in the SE or loading the kitchen sink with the family and sticking to tarmac and a bit of gentle off road.
That said, I do find the appearance of the Orro Terra C a bit underwhelming on the screen and am a bit circumspect about the cable routing as I like to fettle my own bikes. It is also not much of a departure from what I have currently...
On the plus side, I'm not in a huge rush.. which is good as it feels there is a lot of YouTube research to be done 🙂
Update:
After much going around in circles, too much Googling and YouTube watching, I popped into my local store, arranged a test ride to confirm sizing and a Giant Revolt Advanced 0 has been ordered, C2W sorted, pick up in next weeks 🙂
Thanks all.