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Having a super hard time picking a gravel bike.

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Having a super hard time picking a gravel bike.

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flag Ael75
Posted: Apr 29, 2020 at 12:50 Quote
I am about to buy my first gravel bike and can’t decide what I should buy. Some I have been able to test ride others I haven’t. My choices have been narrowed down to the following: GT Grade Carbon Expert, Giant revolt advanced 2, Cervelo Aspero, Scott addict gravel 30 or addict se. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
flag rahrider
Posted: May 1, 2020 at 21:55 Quote
I recently took out a SantaCruz Stigmata. Have to say I was a bit disappointed. The head angle was pretty "traditional." A ton of wheel/foot overlap. When the terrain got a bit more gnarly, the front wheel dug in live a shovel but not in a good way. I get why you want so much weight on the front wheel on a traditional road bike but on terrain, I feel like 68 - 70 would be a better option. On smooth gravel, the stigmata was fine but as a mountain biker the gnar calls to me.

Can't give too much advice as I have limited experience on this style of bike. I have ridden a Surley Karate monkey for years as a commuter with a drop bar (including gravel roads) and it has a 70 deg HTA. I have to say, I've never noticed any problems on the roads with the slacker HTA. Wondering what others think of the influence of modern MTB geo on gravel bikes? Where do the MTB advantages lose out to the road geo advantages? Based on my experience so far, I'd go for the scott - 70 deg HTA seems like the ticket and the bike looks hot.
flag stevenEK9
Posted: May 3, 2020 at 6:03 Quote
Gravel and cx riding is a whole other kettle of fish to mtb

On my mtb (hightower lt), i do like to load up the front end and steer from the rear, but on my cx bike (trek crockett) you really do need to keep things centred

Once you get used to it, it’s a hoot! The crockett absolutely rips, it’s a 72 deg h/a which is same as the Stigmata, any slacker and i think you would lose the nimble feeling of it - worth noting that the h/a on the trek checkpoint, which is marketed as their gravel bike, shares the same head angle too

As you say, mtb geo is getting longer and slacker, which makes the transition between the bikes even more severe
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