GRX vs. Ultegra
I'm in the beginning stages of planning the next gravel bike. It will be used for multi-surface rides and eventually bikepacking, but I also have a dedicated road bike for regular road duty. Been looking at building up a bike from scratch, and need some help deciding between a GRX groupset and a 105/Ultegra mix. I would like a clutch rear derailleur, so that will be either Ultegra or GRX. The big question is whether GRX would be worth it (suspecting it will cost more than a 105/Ultegra mix) or if I can save a few bucks and skip GRX.
So far I speced out a Niner RLT 9 steel with a GRX groupset (46/30 crankset, and 11-36T cassette) which came out to 3k. Also found Excel sports has a Niner RLT 9 RDO already built with Ultegra for 3K. Haven't really decided on a budget for this bike yet, but some input would be appreciated on whether to go with GRX or 105/Ultegra. Maybe some other frames to look at would be helpful (also saw the Jamis Renegade which might work but is a similar price to the Niner RLT 9 steel frame).
Dave