Originally Posted by
3speed
$4400? I think it goes for the low price of $3700.
That does look like a pretty sweet cross bike. Kinda lame that they're calling it an "adventure" bike, but I guess they found out there's marketing to be done with the term "adventure bike" or whatever. They might want to try getting some eyelets for fenders, racks, etc, if they want to try to sell it as an adventure bike, though. But what do I know - I'm sure their marketing guys looked into it plenty before it went on the market.
That said, I too am glad that there is a growing market for actual "adventure" bikes. I wish some would come out in aluminum. I would like the lighter frame weight compared to steel, but won't be riding a land-fill filling carbon/plastic bike.
The bike can be bought in steel with a range of components with the least expensive around $900.
I think it's marketed to people who want to ride on the road and then do some "gravel grinding", it's relaxed geometry differentiates it from a CX bike. To fit those big tires the bike has to have long chain stays so I think I'd rather stick to a more conventional endurance bike with a slightly shorter wheel base as I mostly ride on roads and the off road I tackle is usually fire trails......which is exactly what my Cervelo RS was designed for.
Most customers for the bike won't worry about the lack of eyelets on the CF bikes and for those tourers that don't need eyelets it looks like a nice bike for lightweight touring. The bottom two versions in steel look to have eyelets front and back. One thing that does worry me is the trend to complication, like hydraulic disc brakes rather than simple calipers. Does the better stopping power justify them?