Agree. I’m calling it conventional wisdom just because to me that means “what a lot of people believe, but turns out not to be true”.
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It’s getting obvious now as they get further and further away from each other (and gravel gets closer to XC MTB territory), but it wasn’t so obvious only ~5 years ago. My first “gravel” race bike was a Trek Domane that could fit ~40’s. Clearly an endurance road bike by today’s standards. And Trek actually marketed that bike as their gravel bike for a year or 2 before releasing the first Checkpoint. And that gen1 Checkpoint was available when I choose the Domane. Coming from a road background (and racing gravel on my FS XC MTB at the time), I naturally gravitated to road bike attributes over the Checkpoint. I thought I just wanted a version of my Trek Madone aero race bike that would fit bigger tires (seems dumb now, but that’s where my head was). So, some of the confusion over road vs. gravel was based on bike companies being evolutionary (rather than revolutionary), but some was probably been based on buying habits of people coming to gravel (ie - me wanting a road bike with bigger tires). It didn’t take me long to realize that the domane was great on smooth gravel, I was longing for my FS XC bike in many situations (and often the selective spots). One test ride around the Unbound course on that Domane had me buying a Gen2 Checkpoint and realizing that being fast in a gravel race was much more than being low and aero. And now, the Seigla will have me another step closer to where I started with that FS XC bike. Seriously considered just doing the drop bar MTB thing, but didn’t think I could live with the 38 chainring limitation on some courses.
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Just wrapped up a bike fit yesterday with the folks at Cyclologic and narrowed my choices down to the Crux and Breed. After doing some more research on my goals (endurance events and n=1 setup) I landed on the Felt Breed 820. Comes setup with 2x already which was a big driver, but also has extra mounts for a bento box and 4 full bottles which will be great for long days. It has clearance for 2.1 thunderburts, aero design influence, some compliance in the seatpost, suspension fork compatible, and carbon wheels out of the box. All for a hair over $3000 is tough to beat. Super excited to get this out for a ride!
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Maybe a little too late, but Felt is owned by Pierer Mobility, who is in severe financial straits. Their annual report was due last week and they postponed reporting them. Expected loss is 1.2 billion euros.
I would expect Felt to either be wound down or best case, spun off in the near future. Either way, I would operate as if you bought a bike without a warranty.
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Stumbled across this titanium manufacturer in a facebook post today. They’re out of Portugal. Price doesn’t seem that out of line, rated clearance for 2.2’s and all the other bells and whistles I’d find amongst their competitors. Solid geometry stack/reach as well.
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Well there goes the new bike day excitement!
Just kidding, in all seriousness, it doesn’t bother me much. I don’t keep my bikes more than a year or two and haven’t ever ran into warranty issues (knock on wood). Worst case scenario, something goes wrong on the frameset and its an excuse to buy a crux frameset…if they ever update it!
That brand actually has a pretty interesting background. They were operating originally in Russia, where they’ve been making frames for a long time. After the invasion of Ukraine and with the questionable direction of the country they decided to leave and moved their operation to Portugal. I’ve seen their work at Eurobike and it looks really good
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I’d build it and ride it hard ASAP, make sure everything is in order. Worst case, you can maybe get the shop to get a different frameset at cost if there’s any issues.
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Looks to check nearly every box I can think of. They ship to the US as well.
Just listened to a long podcast interview with Gerard Vroomen and Andy Kessler from Open Cycles (it’s in German language, though). Gerard is still expressing his opinion, that Gravelbikes are just road bikes and that’s the way it should be anyways. And yes, roadbikes (and gravelbikes) come in a variety of geometries. He acknowledges that. And I second him in both opinions.
Just select the geo which you like most. I constantly checking geos of gravel bikes and I see a big variety. Sure - not vastly different. But different enough and funnily you find diametric opposite geo features for the same marketing blurb brands use to hype their newest models. For one brand it’s the short chain stays and the (a little bit steeper than average) head tube angle and the slightly higher bb drop and for the other it’s the longer chain stays and the (a little bit slacker than average) head tube angle and the slightly lower bb drop but both at times tout the same ride qualities… 
(Do certain tire size ranges need careful tuning of ht angle, trail and rake? Absolutely - but what we see in the geos of current gravel bikes and road bikes is all over the place nevertheless).
I have a nice new bike, and the Dark Matter looks pretty sweet. Trying to figure out if there’s a box it doesn’t check? Geometry maybe? Doesn’t look all that different than my MOG with the exception of being a little longer on both ends.
I rolled in this morning from a weekend race in Kansas and fedex dropped this off about an hour later. To get it built quickly, I’m stealing the transmission RD off my XC bike and Rival shifters/brakes off my Checkpoint. I’ll buy the new Force shifters once they are released. I’m still waiting on new “wide” crank arms/spindle to arrive for my Quarg spider and still debating the seat post. I’m been on isospeed so long that I’m kind of spoiled with rear compliance, so thinking I might order a Ergon post.
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I’ve only got good things to say about the Voicevelo Deep V seatpost. Designed for XC so strong. Lots lighter than the ergon / canyon
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Would love to see “in-progress” build pics - vicarious new bike day!
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I have this as well, just did Traka 200 with it. Nothing bad to say, definitely makes a difference to rear-end compliance.
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Interesting! I wonder how it compares with the suspension and Ergon-style options.
Pretty much done, just waiting on a socket to properly torque the BB before I do a real ride. Also, I probably need the zero offset version of that Ergon seatpost. A teammate had an offset version he was getting rid of and it works, but the seat is pushed way forward. Fit is set up just like my Checkpoint. Weight is almost identical to my checkpoint at just under 23lbs with pedals and cages. Happy with that given the suspension up front. Got lucky that I can share a fleet of chains with my XC MTB, same chain sizing for 42/44 ring on the Lauf as I have with a 38 on my Epic. I’ll miss the downtube storage on the checkpoint, so will need to figure that out. My biggest goals were getting proper tire clearance and more compliance and those boxes are certainly checked.
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This looks very interesting! Just wonder: how do you tighten the front screw when using a saddle w/o cut-out? That must be mighty fiddly?
I’m curious how this rides compared to your Checkpoint with the slacker seat tube and headtube angles. Maybe the zero offset seatpost might balance it out.
I did a ~30 mile demo ride on gravel before buying it, so have a pretty good feel. Super stable on fast/chuky downhill, which was my big concern with the higher bottom bracket. Steering not as quick as the checkpoint, but I honestly don’t understand why people seem to desire that attribute in a gravel race bike. The seat tube angle is technically almost the same as the checkpoint, but is slacker in practical terms with the way they did it. Since the seat tube joins the bottom bracket “ahead” of the BB centerline, the effective STA gets slacker as you raise the saddle. Makes the math tricky when figuring out what seat post you need. I kind wish they had just stated the actual angle of the seat tube and then noted how far forward of the BB it starts, but I get why they did it. I measure the actual seat tube angle at about 70.5 (vs. the stated 72.4). While it creates some confusion when comparing bikes and getting the fit right, the design has some clear advantages. Great tire clearance even with short 425mm chainstays. And you basically get the added compliance of a 70.5 degree seat post, but with the fore/aft placement of a 72.x (depending on seat height). Their stock bikes actually ship with zero offset posts, which sounds crazy with a 70.5 seat tube. Here’s a pic that shows the weird seat tube geometry and why the stated angle isn’t the real angle.
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