Looking to upgrade my Giant Escape Hybrid to an all purpose/gravel bike. I'll use it for daily workouts in all weather (17 degrees this morning), group rides, hopefully a gran Fondo and a few New England gravel races like D2R2. I'm considering a Cannondale CAADX and GT Grade alloy. Any recommendations on these two and any other ideas a may want to consider?
Check out the Trek CrossRip Elite and Comp models. That or the Specialized AWOL. If you fancy Kona they have an Aluminum Rove as well! Hope this put some bikes on your radar.. Cheers!
I still love my trusty Surly Cross-Check. It's not the lightest bike in the world but that thing will go forever. I've tried several other steel and aluminum cross/gravel bikes but I keep coming back to the CC.
i just build up a straggler for gravel and i love it. i am about to build my wife a cross check and will keep the budget around 1200 and with good eBay finds i can build a nice bike, FWIW surly has a "superfan coupon" right now thats 150 off of a complete bike so that would bring the cross check down to 1,100. pretty good price for a very reliable bike!
I have a Caadx 105 and really like it. It's a size 58 and iwas 22 lbs 1 oz on the bike shop scale without pedals or bottle cages when I bought it. It had the best ride of any of aluminum frame bikes I rode. I think the design of the seat stays really smooth out the ride. My previous bike was a cross check, which was nice, but I like the geometry of the Caadx better. \n
A Trek Boone that was nice, but out of my price range. The carbon frame felt different and was smooth riding, but I wouldn't say it was any smoother of a ride than the Caadx. A Salsa Warbird which was awesome on single track, but there was too much toe lap for me. The Salsa had Surly Knards on it and they were excellent on the single track. Also rode a Fuji 1.3 and I did not feel it was anywhere near as smooth of a ride as the other bikes. \n\nAt the end of the day I felt the Caadx fit me best and was the best bang for the buck. Normally I would have changed out the seatpost and stem to get a good fit, but the stock C'dale stuff fit me well. Even the saddle is comfortable for me. I'm 6'2" with a 34.5" inseam and the 58 fit me very well. \n\n
I'm in the same boat as Walt, same budget. I will be relocating to Kansas City very soon. I want to take advantage of the great trail system in Kansas, as well as the Katy. In addition, I am going to enter some gravel events. As of now, I'm honing in on the GT Grade Alloy 105. Has anyone ridden one? Does anyone have a better recommendation?
Hey hooter, regarding the Caadx, how much tire do you think you can put under it? I like 40mm or more, being of larger stock
Also I was wondering about the geometry? Is it a little more stretched than the typical cross bike? My cross bike is a bit squirrelly on the loose stuff, and while I like the snappy steering for single track, I'd give some of that up for a bit more stability on gravel. Does this sound like the caadx?
I'm still running the stock 35's on it, but they are wearing out fast. It looks like there is room for 40's, but not much more. Their website says 40's will fit. I was gong to order some 40's to give it a try. I can report back, but it will be a couple of weeks before I get them.\n\nI ride a 60 Caad 10 and the 58 Caadx feels about the same size. It feels plenty stable on gravel to me and it handle well on single track, but it doesn't have that snappy steering like a cross bike. The Salsa Warbird I tried had that nice snappy quick steering on single track, the Caadx has slower steering. As far as being stretched out, I would say the Caadx is some where in between the cross check I had and a traditional cross bike. I was too stretched out on the cross check and too compacted on the Salsa and Fuji. \n\nFWIW, I'm 54 and not too flexible, so I like the long head tube on the Caadx.\n\n\n
A negative I can add about the Caadx is the paint. It looks great when it's new and the quality was flawless, but I can see that it will not hold up to rough use. It's paint, not powder coat, and I could see the start of cable rub after one ride. We did a 30 mile gravel ride in the rain and the paint wore badly in one spot where I had a bag strap attached. To keep the paint in good condition you would need to make sure you have protective tape on any area where there will be bags attached or cable rub.\n
Thanks for the reply -- I'm 50, about your size, and extremely inflexible (ouch), so it sounds like we're in the same fitting boat. I'm going to seek out the caadx as something to compare to the Willard/Tamland; I appreciate the details!
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