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    Which bike is right for me

    Help picking a commuter bike!

    Hi everyone!

    Bike noob here looking to get an entry level gravel bike for commuting to work (6.5km one way), and light gravel riding. Ideally, I’m looking for something with hydraulic disc brakes (lots of rain in my city), good shifters and the ability to mount a rack to carry pannier bags.

    I found a few listings on my local marketplace and would love to get you guys’ thoughts on them. Prices are in Canadian dollars (1 CAD = 0.65 Euro = 0.7 USD).

    1. Norco Valence $600- Norco is a Canadian company. This bike is likely a 2019 model, aluminum frame with carbon fork, shimano 105, mechanical disc brakes.

    2. Kona Esatto DDL $900- 2016 model. Aluminum frame with carbon fork, Mix of 105 and ultegra, hydraulic disc brakes.

    3. Salsa La Cruz $1,000- 2010s bike, steel frame, Shimano ultegra, mechanical disc brakes. Comes with fenders and rack.

    4. Ridley X-trail $1,000- 2019 model (?), Aluminum frame with carbon fork, Shimano 105, mechanical disc brakes.

    5. Giant Contend SL $1,100- 2019 model. Aluminum frame with carbon fork. Shimano Tiagra, hydraulic disc brakes.

    6. Giant TCX SLR 2 $1,300- 2015s bike, seller is the second owner. Mix of ultegra and 105 group set, mechanical disc brakes. Comes with Cateye Velo 9 Computer.

    7. Scott Speedster $1,400- 2018 model. Aluminum frame with carbon fork, owner upgraded to 105 group set, mechanical disc brakes

    8. Giant TCX Advanced SX $1,450- 2016-17 model, carbon frame(?), SRAM apex group set, hydraulic disc brakes(?). Seller wrote almost nothing in the description.

    9. Breezer Doppler Team+ $1,600- 2024 bike, chromoly steel frame/fork, Microshift Centos, not sure if brakes are hydraulic disc

    by mojo11jojo

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    5 Comments

    2. plainsfiddle on

      none of those bikes are terrible. If you have a lot of rain, fenders would be nice. Some of those bikes would be more compatible with fenders than others. the kona seems nice. personally, I like carrying stuff on my back in a bag rather than on a rack.

      it would be cool to find a bike that had fenders, rack mounts, and hydraulic brakes. I’m not sure any of these check all those boxes.

    3. kbrosnan on

      The Breezer is the most modern gravel bike in the set that meets your requirements. The Scott is worth a look. About the only negative I see about the Breezer is what looks like cable pull hydraulic brakes.

      The Orange Giant TCX does not have rack mounts. I would pass on the Norco (slightly neglected), Ridley (looks smaller than the rest), Giant Contend (no rack mounts), White and Black TCX (old, post mount brakes). The Salsa is a good bike but it is more of a road tourer than a gravel bike. I want to like the Kona but it looks like it has been ridden hard.

    4. dharma_van on

      You should narrow down your choices based on size first. There looks to be a wide range of sizes here.

    5. Nothing-Busy on

      I would go with the salsa. The mechanical disc brakes will still work fine in the rain, and what you lose in mechanical advantage you make up for in ease of maintenance.

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