There's lots of dirt roads in the front range I'd like to ride, yet nearly all the high-end bikes on the market that would be most appropriate for this type of riding were optimized for going around in circles on grass/sand, i.e. the cyclocross phenomena.
Here's what I wanted in a "gravel" bike:
- carbon frame
- supports 38c tire or greater
- fender mounts
- lower bottom bracket (ie not cyclocross specific)
- 50/34 cranks
- tubeless wheelset (supports > 45psi??)
- Under 20lbs
- Hydraulic brakes (Preferably Ultegra build)
- No more than $4K USD
- Internal cable routing
Here are the bikes that more or less matched the above:
- Salsa Warbird
- Jamis Renegade Elite
- Norco Search
- Felt VR (questionable tire clearance)
- Raleigh Roker
- Litespeed T3 (not carbon, omg expensive)
Maybe I'm a snob but I'm going to rule out most of them (Raleigh, Jamis, Norco, and not thrilled about Felt). I don't see a lot of these bikes around; actually almost never. Some were ruled out based on the basis of no fenders, Scott Addict Gravel, and some not being carbon, Niner RLT. And BTW, I really wanted to buy a Niner again, but they can't be serious with an Aluminum frame at the carbon bike price point.
So, I ended up with a Pivot Vault. Yeah, it doesn't have fenders but I was able to get last year's model on sale, while customizing the build, and it ended up costing $1000 less than a Salsa Warbird Ultegra, and w/o a gross red/orange frame.Pivot labels the bike as a great all-arounder. It has a lower BB and shorter wheelbase, but not cyclocross specific. The tire clearance could have been better, only rated at 38c for 2016, but it has all the fundamentals in place.
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