Originally Posted by uncle hammy

I had to jump in on this (I stumbled on this thread looking for something else relating to this bike). I bought one of these a couple years ago, intending to use it for commuting and gravel racing. My first race on it was Barry Roubaix in its stock configuration (with studded tires, because it was icy that year). I have slowly modified it with a Ritchey carbon fork (that's you're single biggest weight trimming right there...by almost 3 lbs...the stock steel fork is an absolute beast), flipped the drive train to SRAM Force (mostly because I just prefer SRAM to Shimano) and TRP CX 8.4 V's. During these upgrades, this bike has performed wonderfully in multiple Barry Roubaixs, Lowell 50s, Dirty Kanzas, and a bunch of other long distance gravel races.

Then last year at Dirty Kanza, it (not me) got run over by a truck. The frame was barely even scratched (steel is real), but since I had to buy new wheels and a front fork, I had a local frame builder convert it to disc wheels for me. In it's current incarnation, it's the stock frame, SRAM Force drive train, 50/34 Sram Rival cranks, TRP HyRd hydraulic disc brakes, Stan's Grail ZTR wheels, Ergon C3 carbon seat post and Salsa Cowbell bars. It gets nothing but rave reviews for its throwback looks. I think this bike, with a few modifications (obviously, I went a bit crazy) is one of the best deals out there...I just wish Nashbar would update it to disc brakes, stock. Despite having MUCH higher end bikes in my "stable", this is still me go to for everyday riding...it's just such a pleasure to ride.