Looking for some insight from the hive mind. I’m in the market for a new ride and have a slightly unique set of criteria…
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I’m 6’7 190-5 lbs and spend at least 6 months of the year traveling as part of my job. I do a lot of road riding but spending more and more time on trails (SoCal-based). I recently bought an Aspero, which I adore, with the intention of it being a quiver-killer, but for a bunch of reasons I want to keep it setup for road. So I’m looking to get a second ride that is still capable on pavement but handier than the Aspero on rough stuff, can handle light bike packing, and crucially, that I can bring on the road with me when I travel. Key criteria being; size (stack height in the 630+ range), durability (it will spend a lot of time in bike bag on flights, trucks etc), relative lightness, road and off-road capability, budget in the 2-3k range GBP. Oh and I’ll be buying in the UK….
My first thought was Ribble, I love their range, but sadly they don’t go big enough. I’ve looked at the usual suspects, I’m not jazzed about a Topstone, but Canyon seems to be great value in this range, they have a Grizl CF SL8 GRX812 in their UK outlet section at 2600 GBP. The wildcard I found was [this](https://www.balfesbikes.co.uk/bikes/gravel-adventure-bikes/one-off-orro-terra-ti-grx800-rr5-gravel-road-bike-x-large-2023-in-titanium__59451) beauty Orro Terra Ti GRX800. I’m not super familiar with the brand, but it reviews really well. Titanium seems to tick all of the boxes, but I’ve never owned or ridden one so curious to get feedback. Also it’s so pretty I’d be scared for it to get banged up, although I know ti is super durable…
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Anything else I should be considering? UK brands I’m not thinking of?
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by doug1418
1 Comment
You already mentioned not being interested in the topstone. Good. Quality sucks, someone of your size will demolish it in just a few rides.
Have a look at the Orbea Terra, the xxl is enormous and it is a fantastic bike to ride. It looks amazing too in my opinion.