I’m a road biker looking at buying my first gravel bike and I live in Colorado. Planning to ride it in events like steamboat and unbound, as well as on some of the usual gravel roads around the mountains here (fire roads, etc). I’m looking at the usual suspects: the Aspero-5, kaius, crux, checkpoint, and potentially the Enve. Does my use case standout for/against any of them in particular? Road manners aren’t super important since I have a road bike for that.
I think the Aspero is the only one that can’t officially clear at least a 44mm tire.
If money is an option I’d take a look at the Giant Revolt…seems like a great bargain compared to the bikes you listed.
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Checkpoint can clear 45mm
Love my Checkpoint, no complaints. Haven’t ridden any of the others. The down tube storage is super useful as well.
If you are going to limit your riding to smooth gravel like fire roads and SBT, AND want the fastest bike consider the Kaius and Factor Ostro. If you want to venture into the chunkier gravel the Colorado Rockies have to offer, you want 47-50mm tires and the Enve is your rig. It rides magnificently.
- Progressive Geometry (fast!)
- Downtube Storage
- Nicely concealed cables (unlike the checkpoint)
- 50mm tire clearance.
No other bike offers this package. The closest is the checkpoint, but the ride is too sedated and the cable integration is not well executed.
Check this thread : Best Adventure Gravel
Thanks! I can add it but it feels like the list is getting very long!
I think a decent number of people have said the Aspero can clear 45mm tires in practice, so that’s why it’s on the list.
It’s definitely on the list for this reason, and it seems like a nice compromise. Just annoying that it doesn’t come prebuilt with a SRAM AXS setup.
Would you say the checkpoint comes closest to this type of package?
I can confirm that I ran Maxxis Rambler 45’s (with inserts) at Big Sugar last year with no issues.
Honestly, I never even thought about clearance issues when I bought and installed them, so never bothered to check clearance, but I also never had any problems.
I do not want to see cables.
Yes. If concealed cables are important. But perhaps the Diverge or the new Stigmata (w/o fork) might be closer. It just depends what aspects are non negotiable for you. For me, exposed cables in 2023 is non negotiable, but the Trek solution doesn’t quite do it for me. Another advantage of the MOG is the UDH if you want to run Transmission. I can confirm it shifts like heaven.
I picked up the 2021 Revolt and so far it’s real nice. Checks all the boxes for me coming from a RaceMax.
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I’m sitting here looking at an Aspero 5 with 38’s on it. If I was going to run 45’s, I’d say the rims would need to be wide, probably >25 inner and my concern would be clearance at the seat tube.
My 42mm tires measure 45mm with a 25id rim, not sure what a 45mm tire would run on a 25id rim
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Yeah, a bit like talking about tire pressures without rider/bike weight data as well… tire width spec is lacking without context of the inner rim width used. Considering people may talking about wheels ranging from 19mm (old stuff) to 25mm (new stuff), that can have a large impact on functional, measured tire width.
For reference, my WTB 40mm tires measure 44mm actual width on my 25mm internal rim width wheels.
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For context, when I put 45mm Ramblers on my Aspero last year, it was on a 23mm internal rim and they measured 45mm.
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Tyres as well… Getaways 45c on a 25IW are 48 measured
What do you all think about the LAUF? It seems well spec’s for the price and would have a similar ride as the Chekpoint.
- Based on what? The geo between these seems rather different to my eyes.
