redmartin

Hi gravelschlub, I’m eyeing a new bike too, with practically identical criteria to yours. I even live in the same area (I’m ~15 miles north of A2). In my case, I have a Coop ADV 3.1 from REI, which is heavy with a top end of 38/11 that practically guarantees spinning out at any decent speed. I’ve also never adjusted to the bar end shifters the way I told myself I would.

Aside from weld aesthetics, the 2020 Kona Rove NRB DL looks like an excellent bike, especially for the price. It’s a complete Shimano build kit, even the hubs (105). It has a BSA BB, plus the 2x GRX drivetrain for a nice combination of low end grunt and plenty of top end. There’s a Kona dealer in A2 too. About the only thing wrong with the pre-2020 version of this bike was the too-tall gearing, and Kona fixed that for 2020.

The 2020 Felt Broam 30 looks great too, and the price is fantastic, but no one in the area seems to stock either the Broam or the Breed. I’d lean more toward the relaxed geometry of the Broam personally, though I wonder if it’s much heavier than the Breed. The build kit isn’t quite as nice as the Kona, but pretty close.

The Niners look like nice bikes, but from what I can see the aluminum version is plain PF30 with no Wheels Mfg adapter. The RDO is carbon, which you said you don’t want for gravel (me either), and the Niners are pricey vs Kona and Felt at a given build level.

P.S. Does anyone else think there is something funky going on with Felt after Rossignol bought them and Jim Felt left? My local Felt dealer said they’re having trouble clearing out inventory, they have a ton of road bikes on 50% clearance, and they can’t or won’t get any Broam or Breed bikes in stock.

srode1

I use a PF outboard Wheels Manufacturer bottom bracket onof my Niner RLT9 and haven't had any issues with it, have done 4 DK200s on it, Winter / rain riding and an insane amount of time on a trainer with it.

redmartin

Srode, did your RLT 9 come with the Wheels Mfg BB, or did you add that aftermarket? I ask because our awesome LBS carries Niner and if I can get a deal, the bike is interesting. How do you like the aluminum version? I’d rather not wrench on a brand new bike myself (I’m OK, but not that experienced), of course I could always have the LBS swap out the BB before pickup.

gravelschlub

Thanks, all - I just put in my order for this, with the GRX600 2x11 build. I'd sold myself on a Cosmic Stallion, but then noticed the GR300 comes in at nearly the same price.

srode1

I built the frame up from scratch, but you could certainly have a shop swap out the BB for you if you aren't comfortable doing it. The BB is about $60 online, and it would take a decent mechanic about 20 minutes to swap it out for you, not rushing so it wouldn't be expensive. If you like the bike, I would say just buy it and if it has problems with the BB then swap it out for the Wheels Mfg BB when ready. I think the GRX bikes come with an Easton sub compact crank which is a 30mm shaft. Lots of shops will swap components to sell a bike though so you could have them swap for a 24mm shaft Shimano if you wanted, although the Wheels Mfg BB comes in a 30mm ID option too. I think they use a Sram DUB OB BB on the stock set up.

I very much like the aluminum version of the RLT9, with 40mm tires that I use on gravel it's a pretty smooth ride and even with 25mm road tires it's not bad. I had a few very scary high speed decents on the Dirty Kanza 200 over the last few years, ones that I was quite sure I was in way over my head and I was going to crash and die, but the RLT9 just bounced along and I never crashed. It's very stable and not much of a weight penalty for a really strong and versatile bike.

Right now I'm building up a 2020 RLT9 RDO frameset for this year's DK200 - the Aluminum Version I have is 2014 I think, and it doesn't have the tapped holes on the forks to put gear like bottle holders which is the primary reason for the change - carrying enough water to make it between the checkpoints in the afternoon has been a challenge for me so that change will help. The current Aluminum models have the same tapped holes for bottle holders so not a reason to buy carbon over aluminum now, I just got a smoking deal on the Carbon frameset so thought I would give it a try this time.

hope this helps!