I’m looking for my first real gravel bike and I’ve narrowed it down to 2 different bikes I can get at my local shop.
Giant Revolt 2 - Aluminum with a Shimano Sora 2x9 - ~1700 CAD
Scott Speedster Gravel 20 - Aluminum with a much better Shimano GRX RX810/600 Disc 22 Speed - ~2000 CAD.
At first glance I am leaning strongly towards the Scott because I think the components are just a huge step up. But my major concern is if I’m limiting myself in terms of riding styles with a much smaller clearance. The Giant Revolt can do up to 53mm while the Scott only accepts up to 45mm.
Since it’s my first and only real bike I’m looking for something with a really wide range of capabilities. Even though single track super technical stuff would be kinda rare for me to ride I’m a bit conflicted. If I go for the Scott will I miss the extra tire clearance significantly?
Also I’m a larger rider, anywhere between 190lb - 215lb depending if I’m on a bulk or cut.
That’s why I would go with the Revolt and upgrade components if you want to later. Plus, the Revolt is ~300 CAD cheaper, so you already have some budget to do so right away if you want.
The Scott will limit you forever. (I am a Revolt owner, but had similar thinking when I was deciding)
Yeah I really like the look of the Scott and I think the components are definitely more than $300 more expensive, but I can’t change the frame clearance I guess!
I’d avoid Sora and in the worst case save up some more to get at least an 11-speed drivetrain. The Scott Speedster fits the bill.
But I would not make purchasing decisions based on specs alone, test ride both bikes and see how you like them. Frame geometry makes a huge difference, and (assuming you are riding the correct size) a bike that looks good on paper may be the wrong choice for you.
When I got my first serious road bike (I come from MTBing), I got an amazing offer on an endurance road bike in the right size. It had a mix of Ultegra and 105 components, an entry-level carbon frame and I thought its more relaxed geometry was the right choice for me as I came from a mountain bike which had an even more upright position. Turns out, I was wrong. Despite bike fits, I kept on having saddle issues despite purchasing a fancy saddle with a cutout. And the bike felt sluggish, it just didn’t want to carve corners. Test riding more aggressive bikes quickly told me that it was the geometry’s fault. I since replaced it with an aggressive aero road bike. I got a good entry-level saddle from the same company without a cutout, and never had any pain in the nether region. I love the sportier feel and my new bike (a 3T Strada) wants to corner.
So my advice: test ride a lot of bikes, including bikes you haven’t considered yet. E. g. a lot of endurance road bikes offer up to 40ish mm tire clearance, and are safe to be used on gravel after a change of tires. See if you like that geometry better than those of “proper” gravel bikes.
What kind of terrain do you expect / hope to ride on? The extra clearance will help most in rough, chunky gravel. If you don’t think you’ll ride much or any of that, 45mm will be sufficient. If you think you’ll be riding a lot of rough stuff, 53mm better.
If you can, test ride both bikes on a section of the roughest stuff you expect to ride (with tire pressure appropriately adjusted for the different size tires).
And as @OreoCookie recommends, also pay attention to all the other characteristics about the bike - specs, geometry, etc.
ETA: I took a quick look at the Revolt 2. Does that have mechanical disc brakes? That may be something to pay attention to during your test rides - how hard do you have to pull the levers to stop?
Yeah I test rode both bikes and got opinions from the stores fitter, came out as XL for the Giant and L for the Scott. Both of them felt comfortable and rideable for sure, but I preferred the slightly more aggressive position of the Scott.
My concern about tire clearance is more just that I don’t want to feel limited on if I ever want to do more technical chunkier stuff. The spec difference is more just in my brain a “value for money” type of argument, I’m hoping to have this bike long term so I’m more concerned about the range of the frame because components can be upgraded. That’s why my question was specific about tire clearance because I think it’s the biggest limiting factor for me in deciding between these frames.
Honestly, if it gets chunkier than a 45mm tyre can handle, it likely warrants at least a suspension fork too, ie, a mountain bike.
You can ride chunky stuff on small tyres, but you have to be more careful and be slower. If you ride on your own, that’s rarely a problem. It’s more when you’re with others, and they bomb through rough stuff that your bike cam’t handle, that it becomes an issue.
10 years ago, i would not by a gravel bike that couldnt handle 45s, today i wont buy a gravel bike that cant handle 2.2s. I live in Appalachia with fast, and sometimes eroded, gravel. Igger tires a handy.
If you live somewhere flatish or has champagne gravel, and only plan to ride that, then id be fine with 45s, if youre gonna ride in the mountains with less than perfect gravel, id get a bike that has more clearance
Don’t FOMO your purchase. IMHO it makes sense to get a gravel bike that is quite different from a mountain bike. If you regularly ride very chunky terrain, get a mountain bike. Or enjoy being underbiked a little, i. e. trails that’d be trivial with a mountain bike feel challenging with a gravel bike.
Moreover, one characteristic of gravel bikes is that tire choice has a profound influence on what feels like the most “natural” terrain for your bike. E. g. you can get 42 mm Vittoria Corse Control Pros, which are literally wide road bike tires or you can get narrow MTB tires. There are also goldi locks tires, I love my Continental Terra Hardpack (which have been recommended to me on this forum): they are very fast, have been durable so far and are really cheap (I paid 25–30 € per tire!).
Keep in mind that tire clearance doesn’t come for free. A bike’s geometry must be developed for a specific tire size, and if you deviate too much for it, you get sub-par handling. That’s the reason why many gravel bikes limit clearance to 42–45 mm tires, they have been developed for 35–45 mm tires. This is still a reasonable tire width for simple gravel and a mix of gravel and pavement.
No matter what bike I’d get, I’d look into upgrading the tires immediately. They have the biggest impact on what you can and want to ride, grip and safety.
Then that’s your decision right there! I’m glad to hear you got a bike fit and test rides. It isn’t uncommon to get different bikes in different sizes, especially if the bike’s geometry is quite different.
If it were me, I’d go for whatever bike came with hydraulic brakes. As far as I know Shimano does not make a Sora-pull hydro shifter so if you wanted hydros down the line you would have to shell out way more than $300 to make that happen. I think hydros are the way to go for any size of rider–typically smaller riders don’t have the hand strength to lock up a cable-pull disc brake and while larger riders may have the hands to lock them up, the stopping power is not that great, even on a well setup brake. Often times they are speccing the Sora builds with a Promax or another generic brake. While the tire clearance on the Giant is greater, I think the parts on the Scott are way better. I also personally wouldn’t worry about 5mm of clearance as depending on the tire or rim combo you may be able to still run a larger tire in the Scott.
Also looks like the Revolt specs a square taper BB and base level crank where you get a full Shimano crank with a better bottom bracket on the Scott. Have seen some of the FSA Vero cranks and I would be worried about flexing the crank or the chainrings under load.
you mentioned you’ve narrowed it down to 2 bikes at your LBS, but it looks like what you really want is a better specced Revolt. Honestly, if it were me, I’d look around to find that, which would seem to be the bike you’d really be happy with for a long term.
I am a big fan of more tire clearance, and I just bought a new bike because my previous was limited officially to 45s. But the revolt you’re looking at really isn’t specced well.
It’s easy spending other people’s money, but I think either way your going to feel limited between these 2. A GRX revolt would be a great bike.
It depends on the tire. Some 45mm tires are 45mm tires, some are 43mm. Same with 50c tires. Practically, I don’t think you’d ever be in a situation where you’re on a 45c tire thinking “I need a 50c tire”; you would be thinking “I really need a 2.2mtb tire (54mm)” Going to 50c over 45c doesn’t open up that many more tires for you. There are some 47 and 48mm options.
Otherwise, the Giant has a shorter seatpost, so it should ride (much) better. The Giant has mechanical disc brakes, but these are nice ones.