Need some help being talked into/out of one of the following. I'm also open to suggestions beyond these three:
- Specialized Diverge (Carbon, 64cm): Cargest of the common gravel bikes. My LBS has one (with the 2x GRX mechanical drivetrain, which I'd prefer) but I'm worried about overloading it and/or breaking something expensive. I've never had a carbon bike before.
- I have to move quick-ish on this one; it's at my LBS, but Specialized released the new Diverge and this size is no longer available
- Surly Disc Trucker: (64cm): Biggest bike I can get without going custom. Seems robust. I'd probably buy the frame, get a better groupset than Surly normally supplies and transplant a few accessories from my existing bike.
- Soma Wolverine (66cm): Same as the Surly, as far as I can tell.
Everything else I've looked at it either physically smaller and more or less the same as the above, or it's a custom bike that's a lot more expensive, or it's hard to find here.
Backstory: am in Canada, do longer rides (~100-250km) along roads (both paved and, this being Canada, unpaved) and converted rail trails, so no really gnarly trails. I've got a very good late-90s road bike whose tires are too skinny for the offroadkind of thing, and a 90s hardtail that I've gravel'ed up with drop bars that I just cracked a dropout on. I welded the dropout, but the bike owes me nothing at this point and it would be nice to have modern components and not-26" wheels.
I'm pretty tall (6'9/205cm, 240lbs/110kg) and would normally carry a couple of panniers.
by psvrh