I’m looking at [Cannondale Topstone 1](https://www.cannondale.com/en/bikes/road/gravel/topstone-alloy/topstone-1-c15602u) and [Kona Rove LTD](https://www.konaworld.com/en-eu/products/rove-ltd). Both fit nicely enough and I like both colors.
I currently have an endurance road bike with rim brakes that accepts 28×622 tyres and a hardtail 29er eMTB that I use to ride local rooty/rocky trails and basically all my riding during the snowy season. Outside of riding trails and running errands I don’t really want to use the eMTB, because it feels kind of pointless when I can ride faster and without having to worry about battery on the road bike. The road bike, however, handles very poorly on any type of gravel to my liking.
So I’m looking to sell the road bike and get an all-road / mixed terrain bike. The reality is that in order to be able to ride any significant gravel, I have to ride on tarmac quite a bit. The bike I’ll buy doesn’t have to particularly shine on trails, because I have the eMTB for that stuff, but should still be capable enough to handle some stretches of trail commonly connecting gravel roads around here.
I usually ride anything between 30-70 km and think of myself as more of an adventurer than racer. I’m turning 40 next month and am ever so slightly overweight, so there’s no fear me becoming a racer, either, but can hit a 30km/h average speed on a solo ride on a good day. I’m 190 cm / 105 kg (6’3” / 230 lbs).
I’m more or less settled on it being one of these bikes. They are available for about the same price and seem to be similarly specced in most ways except that the Rove LTD is a steel frame and comes with 650b wheels (with one tooth bigger chainrings to compensate the smaller wheel diameter) whereas the Topstone 1 is an aluminum frame and comes with 700c wheels.
In my use case, which would you choose and why? Thanks in advance!
by Procrastinator_P800
1 Comment
Feel like you’d be happier with the Cannondale. You do sound like you value going fast, and the Topstone should be a bit more aggressive, lighter and have the fatter rolling wheels. Unless you’re riding really crazy gravel roads, 37mm tires also seem appropriate to me.