Any "gravel bike" experts in - need a new daily hack

[numtumfutunch]

My commuter and general dogsbody bike is just about to die
Its survived 12 years so Im happy with this

What I absolutely need are the ability to run 32+mm tyres as the local roads are awful, proper mudguards and a rack
An added bonus would be to use it on winter club runs without being left for dead

The limiting factor is that I must buy it from Wheelies but I happily have 2k to spend

Choices with obvious cons are as follows:

GT Grade - looks sweet but mudguard fitment on the carbon version seems Heath Robinson at best, especially the front, and a rack seems difficult or impossible too. Have done most of my research on this bike, the elastic band mount for rear mudguard surprisingly seems adequate its the fork which appears oddball leading to a fitment which appears easy to foul and is also the same fork fitted to the alloy next model down - my favourite choice before I spotted the mudguard issue

Spesh Diverge - again looks great but the plug and play mudguards would get me shot if I went out with the lads on a wet day on the road

Spesh AWOL - interesting but possibly too slow for the club run

Genesis Datum - very interesting but I cant find much written about them, also concern about putting a rack on it as its carbon

Genesis CdF - too heavy

Cannondale Tourer - too heavy

Does anyone have any of my top 4 choices?

I have 'best' road bike and a crosser neither of which take mudguards or a rack, the new machine is strictly for getting to work, occasional touring and club runs in foul weather

It is possible Im expecting too much, although Id be happy to compromise on some speed as a number of my winter riding partners run Kaffenbacks so are bloody slow anyway

Cheers

[wobert]

No expert here I'm afraid, but if you want more info on the Datum, take a look here.....

http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/blog/28/06/15/un-gra...

It doesn't look like it will take a rear rack, it's been designed with the use of bike-packing luggage in mind.

I'm considering an alternative to my Genesis Volant and a Datum 20 pretty much ticks every box for what I would use it for.

[frisbee]

I didn't have any problem fitting guards (45mm SKS jobbies) to a GT grade with a carbon fork. Standard tyres but still reasonable clearance if I wanted to go bigger. All I had to do was space out the stays with a few washers.

Lovely bike, I'll probably look for excuses to use it over my summer bike! Frame material doesn't really matter on larger tyres, and the larger tyres themselves seem to have no disadvantage, the bike rolls really well.

I don't need a rack though, not sure there are any carbon ones that take racks and not even that many aluminium.

[benny.c]

I've had my Diverge for just over a year now and I'm still really enjoying it. My initial thoughts are on page two of this thread:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

I run it on 28c Conti 4 Seasons all year round now, on and off road. Why would the plug and play mudguards be no good as a matter of interest?

Edited by benny.c on Saturday 2nd April 22:47

[BadgerBenji]

I wouldn't worry about the weight, you want something reliable. As for ordering up on the club run, I manage it on an alfine equipped genesis day one, with full guards, unfortunately most don't run guards which in my opinion is a disgrace.

[numtumfutunch]

benny.c said:

I've had my Diverge for just over a year now and I'm still really enjoying it. My initial thoughts are on page two of this thread:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

I run it on 28c Conti 4 Seasons all year round now, on and off road. Why would the plug and play mudguards be no good as a matter of interest?

Edited by benny.c on Saturday 2nd April 22:47

Thanks for the post
I remember reading the thread but had completely forgotten about it

The beef I have with the plug and play system - which itself is excellent if flawed to me - is that coverage is a little on the short side
One of my group has a Roubaix with them and even with a flap on the front and back protection and more importantly spray isnt as well controlled with as other mudguards

In my group if you dont have full guards you are Billy no mates in the winter - and quite right too

Cheers

[benny.c]

Ah, I see. They work OK but I'd have preferred regular mounts to give a wider range of mudguards TBH.