Originally Posted by
Jburrow
just quickly put: I have a budget of up to $4k. I am looking for a bike to do 60-70% road and 30-40% gravel/trail. I will be doing centuries, charity rides, some gravel events, and club rides on the road mostly.
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so far, I have come across speedvagen, ritte, all-city, salsa, Rodriguez, breadwinner. I want something strong, comfy, light, and able to be ridden with gusto.
where else should I look? I am new to the world of steel bikes, and it is a huge world.
First off, there is no best steel frame maker. There are a ton of incredible custom builders and plenty of great stock manufactured options.
As asked already, is it $4k for a frame or $4k for a full bike? That alone will determine if you go custom or standard manufactured stock.
- Custom will give you a lighter frame since it won't have to pass fatigue testing that stock manufactured frames must pass.
- Stock manufactured will be less expensive.
After you figure if you are going custom or stock manufactured, then you need to find a frame that has the geometry that you like.
Posters can list all sorts of options, but if you like a quick turning bike then a bunch of slower high trail suggestions don't help.
Part of geometry will be tire clearance. It sounds like you will want a 35-42mm tire clearance, but that's a guess.
Norco Search 725
Kona Rove LTD
Ribble CGR 725
Breadwinner
Ritchey Road Logic
Ritchey Swiss Cross
Brother Cycles
Fairlight Secan
Fairlight Strael
All City Zigzag
All City Cosmic Stallion
Jamis Renegade
Mason Resolution
Condor Bivio Gravel
Etc etc.
A stock manufactured gravel steel frame will not be light, even if it's an 853 frame or something similar. It will be overbuilt because it has to be in order to pass fatigue testing.
If I were to go custom, I would start with Breadwinner. I would also then look at local builders in my region. There are a lot, you just need to Google around.
If you go stock manufactured and want road bike clearance the Ritchey Road Logic, All City Zigzag, and Fairlight Strael would be where I would start as all are quality and have different geometries.
If you want stock manufactured gravel tire clearance then Fairlight Secan, Jamis Renegade, and Ritchey Swiss Cross would be four great ones to start with since all are high quality and geometry will vary.