Diverge vs. Sequoia

PoolBoyMatt wrote:Which is going to happen more often?

borxes wrote:The difference at speed will be a 5-8 km/h at all on road I think.

A lot of it depends on the fitness that goes on what group rides. I went on a group ride when I was doing some work out of town. It was a mix of 29er hardtails & full sus + a few on fat bikes. I was riding a demo Otso Voytek, very kindly loaned to me by Otso. Towards the end of the 35 mile loop (I had ridden 18 miles to the ride, so most were at 35ish miles, I was wat 53) the dudes started doing, well, dude stuff. I don't think the 4.0 tire was a much of a detriment as many people would have let on - the route was flat. This means not a ton of extra weight to climb with.  The dudes on 29ers couldn't rid themselves of their guest on a fatbike. 

What is the point of this story? Not to brag about myself, but rather to ask you the question that is tough to answer:
Are you going to go slow downhill because you are scared and braking?

Are you going to get dropped on the group rides because you won't push yourself to the point where snot is running down your face and you taste breakfast?

I ask this sincerely, as a reminder, that years ago people did a lot of cool stuff on REALLY REALLY bad bikes. Get a bike and go have a blast with it. Just don't let it be an excuse.

bwepps wrote:I was in the exact same conundrum as you, but I had already purchased my carbon Diverge Exert X1 (over a year ago).  The Diverge really maxes out at 700x33 tires vs. the 700x45 max on a Sequoia.  And YES, the Sequoia is heavier and most of that is in the wheels.  They are made for heavy duty bikepacking, moderate singletrack, etc.  

I have done 14%+ gravel descents and climbs on the Diverge and it's certainly capable, just a bit more bone-rattling than a steel + carbon fork Sequoia rocking 700x42 tires.  I run my Diverge with 700x25c tires for "fast road" rides and love it.  Very quick and snappy and will hang with most bikes unless it's "Sprints Night."  I've also ridden multiple 100K+ Metric Gravel events and really pleased with it's performance.

However - I have the luxury of also getting a Sequoia Expert this JAN as I'm riding the DK200.  The flint gravel in KS is pretty gnarly and I wanted a steel frame for the 200 mile distance as carbon can get a bit harsh for a ride that long.  The Sequoia initially felt quite heavy and the wheels took a bit of horsepower to spin up as well.  I've put more $$ into the bike than I wanted based on it's purchase price, but now after having swapped out the tires for GravelKings and a new wheelset I have dropped about 2lbs of rotating weight and it's a different bike!

Don't know if that helps or hurts you in your search.  :-)