Gravel/Adventure Bike - £1k

-westy- · 11 Sep 2019 at 07:45

Hi All,

I'm in the market for a gravel/"adventure" bike, with a budget of around £1k (through Cyclescheme at work). I currently have a Kuota K-Factor Carbon road bike, however it's getting on a bit now and the frame is a touch small for me. I'm looking to upgrade - the reason for looking for a gravel bike rather than just a road bike is that I'd like to use a few easy trails as well, having 25c tyres is a bit tough going! So the larger tyres would help with that.

I took a look at the Whyte Glencoe at the weekend and loved it, but I was hoping to look at some alternatives before taking the plunge.

Any recommendations?

-westy- · 11 Sep 2019 at 15:17

SoliD said:
Pinnacle Arkose whatever you can afford for 1k, maybe top it up to get one with Tiagra all round, great bikes, still like my 2015 version and goes great as a winter bike now it's no longer needed for CX duties. Did a whole season and a half of CX without any issues.

Thanks - something like this?

-westy- · 11 Sep 2019 at 18:52

Thanks all - probably going to head out on Friday afternoon to check some bikes out in person. Any places to recommend/avoid? I haven’t bought a bike in years (my current one was second hand..), so I’m a little out of touch!

I’m based in St Albans

-westy- · 23 Sep 2019 at 13:41

Currently taking a look at the Cannondale Topstone Sora - any thoughts/opinions?

-westy- · 4 Oct 2019 at 18:08

After SoliD’s recommendation and a test ride, I’ve ordered a Pinnacle Arkose D2 from Evans. I actually rode the D3 with Shimano 105 all round, which was great - incredibly comfortable - just need to get used to the 42mm tyres in contrast to the 25mm on my current bike! Being 5’11” I was sort of in between frame sizes, but went for the large in the end, it seems like the best fit.

Annoyingly, apparently you can no longer “top up” Cyclescheme certificates, so the £1k was a hard limit. However as the bike was £1025, I agreed to buy an “overpriced accessory”

. Should have it towards the end of next week.

-westy- · 4 Oct 2019 at 19:19

jonneymendoza said:
Looks nice. @-westy- does yours come with this groupset?

Nope, Tiagra.

-westy- · 4 Oct 2019 at 20:22

SoliD said:
Can't use bike to work at Decathlon though can you?

Yeah, you can.

I’ll admit that I did overlook the Decathalon bike, but from reading the review it seems to have some compromises - whilst the groupset is better, it sacrifices full hydraulic brakes and a frame that can accept more than a 36mm tyre. The Arkose can take up to a 52mm IIRC. In the future I can see my riding moving more towards gravel rather than road being the majority, so I wanted an element of future proofing in that regard. That said, I might go and take a look at one, if I can find it..

-westy- · 23 Apr 2020 at 22:37

Update on this:

After picking up the bike in October I managed to get out a bit, but bad weather put pay to more extensive rides. Better weather = more rides. I swapped out the 45mm tyres for 32mm Road tyres for the summer, come the winter I'll switch them back. Using for almost entirely road riding at the moment so in some respects I wish I'd bought a more focussed machine, however when it comes to commuting tasks it's more than capable - slightly relaxed geometry makes it a joy to chuck around. So overall, happy