I feel like they had a typo and flipped the best vs best buy.
The Ridley is the heaviest bike and limited to 42 tires seems like a deal breaker but the price is low. The lower price makes sense why it has heavier components.
This reviews excluded other bikes that were part of the original issue. Weird.
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So…NBD Crux Expert
This bike is really amazing and so much fun to ride. It is fast, light and compliant. It is basically in another league than my Domane on both the gravel (expected) and on the road (not expected).
I frankly don’t know what wizardry Specialized employed with the carbon layup but it is both stiffer and more compliant than the Domane with a similar setup on the road and makes isoSpeed a non-factor. This bike just ate up broken pavement and crappy chip seal.
This setup in the picture is 56 at 8.6kg (will have a lighter daily training version with 303FC and 32 Vitorria Next). This is stock wheels, tubless setup and bottle cages. I swapped out the Rival crank set for Red AXS Powermenter ($800 on BTD with sale and points) which works great and allows me now to move on from my PowerTap P1s, which were real boat anchors at 450g. Pedals are the wide Shimano Ultegra SPD, great pedals and a much needed improvement over my PowerTap P1s.
This is my first electronic shifting group set and all I can say is I am not ever going back to mechanical. The 1x 40/10-44 is perfect for my daily riding. So much better than 2x.
Swapped out the Rival chain for a Force.
Roval Terra C wheels are surprisingly good. They punch way above their price point and I would have no problem racing them. I was going to sell them, but they will be my non-race gravel wheels.
I am not a fan of the stock handle bars and will be swapping them out for Enve Gravel bars, pending a bike fit next week.
My only regret is not buying an Sworks version. 
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It’s a great bike, but those cables…
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They don’t bother me except the shop that put it together (or Spec) made the left brake cable too long so it rubs on the front 
I put some protective tape there until I can take it in and have them fix it.
I did get my “road” setup complete; with 303 FC/32 Corsa Next and weight comes in at 7.8kg.
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Dang dude…all black bikes don’t usually do much for me but that one looks 
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Yeah, it has a pretty cool sheen to it in person. And unlike another famous brand, the branding doesn’t cover the whole down tube and hide the paint job. 
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What tires were you running?
Gravel kings semi slick with inserts 38mm measure to 40. Im 200lbs i ran 35f 38 rear
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Did you make the purchase?
Not yet. 
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Beautiful! Go for it 
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Keegan seems to ride the new Stigmata again at Crusher. Keegan Swenson on Instagram: "The @tusharcrusher machine 😮💨 #santacruzbikes #sramroad #srammtb #maxxisbike #reservewheels #tannusarmour #garmincycling #monsterenergy || 📸: @devonbaletmedia"
It looks like to have a good tire clearance, a stash box and UDH 
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Apparently already removed…
Do you think the frame is set up to take a 100mm fork in the front? Judging from the pics we‘ve seen from Unbound the toptube is really small compared to the crown height and clearance of the fork. Looked like a Salsa Cutthroat but racier. Would be good to have competition in this subsubsubcategory of gravelbikes. The meme „gravelbikes are just 90s mountainbikes“ remains true…
Keegan rides with a quite small frame, but I assume that the fork itself is long to maximise the tire clearance and therefore the head tube is short. It’s the same philosophy as with Lauf Seigla frame. But when will this be released? I am waiting Santa Cruz to release this and Canyon to do the same for their new gravel bike
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Here’s the tire clearance of that Stigmata with 33c (!) tires. Pictures are by @devonbaletmedia on IG.
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Any thoughts on best gravel seat posts. Been picking away at my alloy Search that I use for commuting, gravel and CX racing/riding. Recently got the new Gravelier saddle and Easton ALX bars (38cm). Next steps will be a carbon seatpost to add some compliance and drop some weight and probably the TranzX antishock stem. Gonna do a fit (with the new bars and saddle) later this month once I get back from vacation to decide on seat post (set back or not) and stem length.
Was kind of leaning toward the Roval Terra seat post (194g) or the Ergon CF Allroad seatpost (220g). Also see the Pro Discoverer carbon, Easton EC90 SL and the Enve seatpost.
Any thoughts on these? Will be to replace the stock Norco branded alloy post. Not sure if the Ergon will be too flexy or cause issues when it gets dirty. Sounds like the Roval has some decent compliance (maybe better than the Pro, Easton or Enve).
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