Which budget gravel bike for commuting

[kambites]

I'm looking to replace my ancient Dawes Galaxy (which I've had for 30 years!) with something a bit more modern to get back into bike commuting and also for riding around with my daughter. The commute is either about 4 miles of fairly hilly terrain, or about 8 miles of flatter ground in each direction, the latter would mostly be on paved roads but might also involve gravel paths and off-roading in the New Forrest, so I'm erring towards a gravel bike rather than a dedicated road bike. I'm sadly not as flexible as I used to be and I have quite long legs and a relatively short torso and arms, so I want something with pretty relaxed geometry. I need a reasonable climbing gear but I'm not overly worried about top speed or ultimate efficiency.

I don't want to spend a stupid amount, but I also want something which is going to last and be servicable in the longish term. These two are current leading contenders:

https://www.evanscycles.com/brand/vitus/substance-...
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/gravel-bike-aluminiu...

Any thoughts on the two bikes in question or suggestions for other similar (or cheaper) bikes?

Edited by kambites on Wednesday 1st April 20:33

[Evanivitch]

Been a while since I looked at them, but the Boardman ADV were good value for money.

[kambites]

Evanivitch said:

Been a while since I looked at them, but the Boardman ADV were good value for money.

Yeah I looked at the ADV, and the 8.9 seems to be another similar sort of bike. But general consensus online seems to be that Boardman's quality has dropped in recent years. It also has a lower-end version of the GRX groupset than the Vitus (2x10 400 vs 2x11 810) for the same money so it doesn't feel quite as good value.

ETA: Also, I know Evans are hardly paragons of customer service but, well, Halfords are Halfords.

Edited by kambites on Wednesday 1st April 20:39

[mattvanders]

https://alpkit.com/products/sonder-camino-al-v3-ap...

Sonder Camino are worth considering, able to spec them around budget/requirements. I’m currently looking at them because of this, seems to be on sale at the moment so may be a new version or colour way coming

[Your Dad]

Not a gravel bike, but Kinesis are knocking out a sensible road bike for under £800 at the moment:

https://kinesisbikes.co.uk/collections/bikes/produ...

[sanguinary]

I can’t comment on the bikes you linked, but I’ve been running a Fuji Jari 2.1 for three years now and I love it. I use it on my 6 mile commute, sometimes by road but sometimes through the fields. It’s light and well geared enough to haul me up a 400 ft climb on the way home, but also allows me to comfortably cruise at top teens and low 20’s.

Running costs over approx £2k miles. One set of tyres and a couple of sets of pads (mainly because of the 400ft descent on the way into work). I’ve also used it for weekends away, covering over 200 miles on a long weekend and it’s more than comfortable to do so.

The link is to the 2.3, which I think is the current version.

https://www.cyclespirit.com/bikes/gravel-bikes/fuj...

[kambites]

sanguinary said:

I can t comment on the bikes you linked, but I ve been running a Fuji Jari 2.1 for three years now and I love it.

How do you find the brakes? Everyone seems to say that mechanical disc brakes would be a mistake; I don't have the experience myself to know!

It certainly opens up some considerably cheaper options.

ETA: The climb/fall on my ride is slightly under half yours, so not particularly extreme in comparison. I grew up on the Cotswold escarpment so certainly used to have no problem with much bigger climbs, but I'm not as fit at 46 as I was at 16!

Edited by kambites on Wednesday 1st April 22:41

[sanguinary]

The brakes are okay. Not as good as the hydraulic set up on my mtb, but good enough that I’ve not bother to modify them over the years. I’ve never had an issue with fade, and in the wet I just apply a little more pressure for a second or so to get some heat into them.

My only issue is I don’t tend to use the drops on the bars, so sometimes my hands are too high up to get a good leverage. I think if I was to buy again I’d probably get a flat set of handle bars, but that’s just my personal preference.

[Barchettaman]

kambites said:

How do you find the brakes? Everyone seems to say that mechanical disc brakes would be a mistake; I don't have the experience myself to know!

It certainly opens up some considerably cheaper options.

Edited by kambites on Wednesday 1st April 22:41

Hydraulic disc brakes are reliable, high performance and pretty foolproof to set up.

Mechanical disc brakes work fine with higher quality cables/outers but are massively dependent on a good set up.

It’s part art/part science. BB7 are easier than BB5 as both pads are adjustable, but I have had good results with bb5 and on occasion sworn loudly and repeatedly at a bb7 that just would not play ball.

Oh, and for some reason mech disc brakes are horrible in the dry. They squeal and have a poor feel compared to a half decent rim brake.

[dreamer75]

mattvanders said:

https://alpkit.com/products/sonder-camino-al-v3-ap...

Sonder Camino are worth considering, able to spec them around budget/requirements. I m currently looking at them because of this, seems to be on sale at the moment so may be a new version or colour way coming

I was about to say Sonder Camino. I bought one just after Christmas and love it. I also have long legs and a shorter body, add to that a creaky back and knees, and it's comfortable. Only done a handful of rides unfortunately but it's good. I might swap the bars to flat bars at some point just because I never use drops anyway, and and arthritis in my thumb is painful on the bomber bars. But otherwise the bomber bars work well.

[Bill]

I've had a Virus Substance for a bit over 3 years and can't fault it. Set up tubeless and with mudguards.

I wouldn't consider cable discs. They can be ok but need adjusting and feel and stopping isn't as good. Hydraulics just work well all the time.

[benny.c]

Is used an option? I recently picked up this Sonder Santiago with 11 spd Rival for £250. It only needed discs, pads and a wheel bearing which came to £50.

[Pablo16v]

That Decathlon one looks to be a decent spec for the money, and at a similar price point a pal just took delivery of a Cube Nuroad from Tredz https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Cube-Nuroad-Pro-2026-Grav...

Shimano Cues groupset is good and this has a wider range cassette than Sram Apex offering a lower climbing gear if that's a consideration.

[WPA]

Barchettaman said:

kambites said:

How do you find the brakes? Everyone seems to say that mechanical disc brakes would be a mistake; I don't have the experience myself to know!

It certainly opens up some considerably cheaper options.

Edited by kambites on Wednesday 1st April 22:41

Hydraulic disc brakes are reliable, high performance and pretty foolproof to set up.

Mechanical disc brakes work fine with higher quality cables/outers but are massively dependent on a good set up.

It s part art/part science. BB7 are easier than BB5 as both pads are adjustable, but I have had good results with bb5 and on occasion sworn loudly and repeatedly at a bb7 that just would not play ball.

Oh, and for some reason mech disc brakes are horrible in the dry. They squeal and have a poor feel compared to a half decent rim brake.

Avid BB5's and BB7's are quite simply the worst disc brakes I have ever used, they work on bending the disc as is the norm with cheap calipers, complete faff to set up and always drop out of adjustment.

TRP Spyre's are leagues ahead as they move both pistons when braking, very easy to set plus use Shimano pads so a lot cheaper for replacements pads.

[kambites]

benny.c said:

Is used an option? I recently picked up this Sonder Santiago with 11 spd Rival for £250. It only needed discs, pads and a wheel bearing which came to £50.

Used is certainly an option. The problem is I'm not particularly knowledgeable about bikes, which makes the used market a bit of a minefield since models seem to change continuously. What's the best place to look for used bikes (ideally without too much risk of stumbling over something stolen)?

[DaveyBoyWonder]

I'd definitely look at a Sonder Camino - I love mine. Went for the cheapest spec that got me hydro brakes and a 1x setup and not regretted it for a second. Aim is to do some much longer rides on it this year and some bike packing. I've had a few CX/gravel bikes in the past with cable disc brakes or cable actuated hydros and they've been awful/borderline dangerous so having hydros that actually work was a must-have.

Seem to be plenty on eBay at the minute if you want a used one.

[kambites]

There's various websites claiming that the Vitus Substance and Sonder Camino use the same frame. Anyone know for sure if that's true or not?

ETA: Actually looking at them it's clearly not true of the current models!

[gmackay2]

I am sure that sonder and vitus do not us the same frames, even though they are likely manufactured in China.

I would go for the Vitus Substance over the Sonder. I have the carbon substance that I have had since 2019 and covered nearly 10k miles with it. I have raced it, done long audaxes on it, used it as a winter do it all bike and to do long gravel rides on. They are really good bikes.

The Vitus carbon frames are open mould, therefore the Planet X Free Ranger is almost identical with the only real difference being that the seat posts are a different diameter.



Also, if you plan to use the bike for commuting 2x is a lot more useful and the 1x. The alu Vitus at that price is a good deal.

[kambites]

Any thoughts on CUES vs GRX vs Apex, in their various guises? The main options with hydraulic brakes I can see at this sort of price point seem to be:

GRX 810 2x11
CUES U6030 2x10 or 1x11
Apex 1x12

This will be 80ish% road use with more focus on efficiency than speed (so I'm not too particularly worried about having small gear gaps, I can just ride a bit slower to get the cadence I want).

I don't have enough experience of the shift mechanisms to have developed a preference yet, so I guess primarily focused on the reliability of the shift and the feel and power of the brakes.

Edited by kambites on Thursday 2nd April 11:43

[gmackay2]

Shimano brakes have a much nicer feel compared to Sram, plus Shimano use mineral oil compared DOT5.1 with Sram. Although, I believe some of the newer Sram groupsets have also switched to mineral now.

Shifting with Shimano either Cues or GRX is slick, whereas Sram can be a bit clunky, albeit precise in action.