Are high-end gravel bikes really worth the price tag? In this ultimate showdown, we compare a budget-friendly $1,200 gravel bike with a top-tier $12,000 gravel machine to find out where your money actually goes. From components and frame materials to ride quality and performance, we break down everything you need to know before upgrading.
Bikes Featured:
Boardman ADV 8.9 – https://www.boardmanbikes.com/gb_en/products/2403-adv-8.9.html
Wilier Rave SL GRX – https://www.wilier.com/en/bikes/gravel/rave-sl
Cannondale SuperX 2 – https://www.cannondale.com/en-gb/bikes/road/gravel/superx/superx-2
Enve Mog Custom – https://www.sigmasports.com/item/ENVE/Mog-Custom-Gravel-Bike/13SR7
00:00 Intro
00:27 Boardman ADV
04:28 Wilier Rave
11:40 Cannondale SuperX
16:18 Enve Mog
19:56 The Best Gravel Bike Is
#cycling #bike #gravel #gravelbike #tech #bikelife #bikelover #biker #bikeradar #bicycle #budgetgear #roadcycling #roadbike
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38 Comments
“Blind” test ride each bike!!! Wear a visor below the eyes so you can’t see the bike and wear gloves so you can’t feel the bars… Then explain the experience without knowing which bike you’re on!! I DARE YOU🤣🤣😵💫
The real difference? $100+ per month in depreciation.
I want a rim brake steel/aluminum frame bike. No funny business.
I only want discs on my X country MTB. Never plastic/carbon framed anything.
Thank you.
looks like tires are the difference, then carbon wheels
Giant Revolt at any price point would win at any level. £5k for the top spec.
Nice review. The only issue I have, and it affects most reviews from any channel, is that lower priced is described at being for new cyclists. It fosters an assumption that to be experienced you need a more expensive bike. Alomst encouraging you to want to buy a new bike after a while. I can see that a new rider might not want to spend too much at first. I bought my first bike second hand. But the lower priced bike might be exactly what a person needs. A big jump in price from the Boardman though to the next bike.
I think, that since you're comparing the bikes, you could use same set of tires for all of them. Tires makes a huge difference in ride feel.
With regards to ride quality, the majority of carbon forks today are overbuilt for safety, making the front end very stiff. People think a bigger tire will make up the difference, but a tire is not the same type of spring as the fork. A better designed fork or a steel fork would greatly improve front end feel and traction. It will still be lighter than a suspension fork too.
I replaced my carbon fork with a custom steel fork and the ride quality improved 100 percent. A huge factor for me is that I still use rim brakes, which limits my tire width but allows a more compliant fork design.
Probably an unpopular opinion, but personally I ride for the exercise and the downside to a lighter bike is that it requires less effort and thus gives less of a workout. Maybe if I started getting into amateur racing or something, but I'm more keen on the cheaper, heavier bike. Anyone know of a brand that's as good as Boardman at producing some of the best bang for buck bikes that's available in the US?
This was interesting, but I think you should have added in a bike between the Boardman and Willier on pricing. As I feel the £2000-3000 sort of range is probably the most common for what the average consumer actually spends on a gravel bike, and you do get a bike that’s a fair step up from the entry level boardman for this money.
Also in this age of bigger tyre clearance I think manufactures really need to move on from selling these bikes with 40mm tyres fitted. 45mm is what most people expect to come fitted as standard on a new gravel bike these days. I think they are only fitting 40mm to help them achieve their headline weights to help sell the bike. The Cannondale on 45mm supple tyres would likely offer similar ride quality to the Enve.
How much of the difference is wheels and tyres? Could you test with a standard set?
Bought a Cdale super6evo X, with FFWD rims and AXS Eagle shifting. It's mind bending how fast and comfy it is
I really don't like being negative but there is no scientific rigour here, its just 'content'. If you had the same tyres on at the same pressure and the bikes were all set up with the same saddle, handlebar tape and riding position then the test would be so much more relevant in terms of feedback from the trail. Supple tyres make a huge difference to ride quality, so do pressures. Ride the same trails on you own bike and vary the pressures and see what you notice. Testing the Boardman ADV 8.9 or 9.0 would have been far more realistic as it is a carbon frame and £2k for the ADV 9.0 represents a months salary in the UK for an average person and is attainable.
As for spending the money, I am in no way affiliated with them but a 2025 Giant Revolt Advanced 0 has carbon wheels, 50mm tyre clearance, compliance designed seat post, mounts everywhere and Shimano GRX so you can ride it everywhere around the world and shops will have parts and mechanics can fix it. All that for £3 800 or £5 500 if you have to have Sram AXS… use the £7k saved on the Enve to fund a dream ride around Europe / USA etc. for a couple of months.
Stupid . To compare the bikes change to one tyre or its pointless…
Test them all again with the same tires, hey Maxxis send him some new 45s gravel tires plz! Lets make this video happen! #Maxxis
You’ll need to run the same tires or wheel set for a different approach on these models. The All road should not be in this category since it’s not s true gravel bike. The MOG pricing is simply ridiculous and I’d love to know how many they sell in a year.
I just bought an aluminum Cannondale Topstone w/SORA. I found many GRX 10-speed drivetrain components on sale. I also purchased a pair of DT Swiss HG1800 wheels. I want to optimize durability, and I"m higher up on the food chain, aka carrying a bit more mass! For the money, I think I will have a very nice bike, equipped how I want. Bikes are one of best examples to demonstrate marginal gains. In my opinion, $2000-$3000 USD will get you a REALLY nice bike. "Better" costs significantly more, for little improvement.
£££££££ not $$$$$$$$
FFS
I definitely would upgrade to a good wheel set and some good tires and SRAM force .
1X GRX DI2? Thought it's not available?
Great video. I wonder if you can retest (ish) where you solve for the wheels/tires. Use one set for all four bikes. Alternately, given how bog the Cannondale line is, start with their alloy Topstone 4 and compare up the line to the SuperX Lab71?
A fair test would put the same tyres on all bikes.
I think my 7grand custom build worlds lightest trek checkpoint dura ace is pretty unbeatable even with unlimited budget
I would spend a monthly salary if you ride 3k+ km a year.
having gone from kinda "higher end" with my carbon SC Stigmata ($2600 frame fork) to the absolute cheapest carbon gravel bike money can buy Carbonda 696 ($625 frame fork when I got it) and back I cant feel a bit of difference other than a tiny geometry shift and slight riding position change. LOL I actually prefer the 696 because I can fit any tire I want on it call the way up to some 2.1 XC tires (around 45-47mm is my current favorite width for gravel) . Tires make a MASSIVELY MOSTER sized change in feel, even a 1/2 a PSI makes a bigger difference in feel than the going between the two frames/forks made. I think most of what people feel think they feel is placebo effect and like this video its usually more of a tire test than a bike test. You get used to geo differences pretty quickly. *!*!*! and lets not forget the same exact model bike is a completely different bike depending on size… a "reviewers" 54c is not going to feel anything like my 60cm size and vice versa… fork angle, STA, tube lengths are all different, effectively they would be a totally different bike. When it comes to carbon gravel bike frames I think I am a direct from manufacturer customer (they all get spit out of the same asian factories) so they keep the fancy head tube badge and down tube stickers and I keep the extra $5-$8k 🙂
Those POV shots are rubisb…
Why so many contradiction in one video?
Una bici no debería valer más de 1500 dólares. Honda Yamaha hasta hay autos que valen la mitad que esas bicis, es patético
difference is in your wallet!! All emotioal in your own mind!! did it make a real difference!!?
Bought a Redwood from Poseidon 50mm clearance and upgraded to GRX and hunt wheels
Less than $1500 total! Don’t pay $$$$$$ for a bike
this really is some high-grade bike industry BS
This channel just ignore the existence of flat handle bar bikes. Only feature drop handle bar.
Should've started at 600$…
My local Halfords uses pounds instead of dollars
I think you missed the Bianchi Impulso RC… I think that is the best Gravelbike on the market right now…
So if you're experienced you automatically have more money for a so called better bike ?
I like bike radar as they give great basic cycling info but i get sick of hearing from them and others how much better a bike is cos it has a carbon frame or the higher spec GRX. Give me a break.
That boardman looks way too big for you. Maybe because it's not carbon 🤣
In Australia a Merida is the best bang for buck. It' a fair bit cheaper on sale ( that's always) than Giant or Canyon and on par or better for quality imo.
Thay Enve got shit groupset how can u put grx on 12k bike lol 😂😂
For this price it at least has to have sram force or red xplr. Good bike – crap groupset!