I have a fleet of bikes, road, tourer, folders and an excellent lightweight MTB from 2003 (a Cannondale F1000SL from 2003). The MTB has had virtually zero use in the past several years (like literally twice) and the headset has now packed up and due to being a HeadShok parts are not available probably without cannibalising
a second hand one that I can't really be stuffed to do
So bearing in mind my off roading is occasional and generally mild to say the least I am looking at a gravel bike (not really sure of the difference between CX/gravel/adventure) with fattish tyres, disks and gearing to winch me up the side of a mountain. Seems there are a lot of them these days with single front ring, which I assume is fine?
Budget £1000 max at a guess. I am assuming that will give me alloy frame and carbon forks.
Really after some guidance on where to start.
I’ve been down a similar route over the last few weeks. A few of my thoughts, in no particular order:
CX bikes tend to have relatively tight clearances. I *think* that for racing they’re limited to 33mm tyres - but may be wrong. They also tend to have more road than MTB based geometry.
1x (single ring) are fine, but gearing range varies significantly between models. Check chainring / cassette carefully (or be prepared to change to suit your requirements). Obviously nothing wrong with a conventional 2x set up.
Many disc specific frames will take 650b wheels with big tyres or 700c wheels with smaller tyres.
SRAM seems to be the more common groupset provider (maybe because Shimano’s GRX groupset is relatively new?)
There’s a wide range of bikes in this category, varying from what are basically road bikes with slightly bigger tyres that are OK for gentle off road terrain, to road bikes that are almost MTB’s with drop bars.
FWIW I have a fondness for steel frames and ended up buying a Genesis Fugio (heavily discounted 2019 model). It’s literally been delivered today, so probably not fair to give a review based on a 1/2 mile ride up and down the road!
