First 'Gravel' bike - advice needed

RoverAl wrote:Some lighter weight tubeless tires will be a noticeable difference and small weight reduction at a low cost. Those wheels are TL friendly.

Nubster wrote:I spoke to GT a couple months ago and they said no changes this coming year. 

Hi Nubster.

I'm from the UK too and bought a Grade Alloy 105 from Evans.
At the time, there didn't seem to be many other options, but there has been a bit of an explosion of gravel type bikes since!
I must say the 35mm tyre limit is a bit of a drawback - but from my point of view - mainly because there seem to be less decent tyres available in this size. You have loads of CX tyres at 32/33mm and then most of the gravel tyres are 38 /40mm. I'm running Gravel King SK 32mm at the moment and they are great - but I'd be looking at the 35mm when they eventually become available here. I rarely feel the need for 40mm, but wish there was more about at 35. I ran Schwalbe Landcruisers in Snowdonia in 35mm. They were bombproof, rolled smoothly on road & gripped well on and off, but they are just too heavy & thick for most riding.
Other than that (and the poorly built stock wheels), I've no complaints. It's a great bike to ride, feeling comfy & fast enough and the handling is superb.
I kind of wish I'd paid more and bought the Carbon 105 now as I like it so much, but at the time I wasn't sure how much I'd use it. (I was only riding MTBs at the time of purchase. My last road biking was about 20 years ago!)