First bike in a while – going gravel

Going for a gravel bike, max budget $2500

I’ll be using it for roads (bad roads often) and trails/offroad etc, maybe 70/30 and really only have room for one more bike. I have a cheap road bike for my casual small rides, so I thought gravel would be a good bet for.

I’m between the cannondale capstone 1 from rei
https://www.rei.com/product/184501/cannondale-topstone-1-alloy-bike

And Canyon Grail CF SL 7 which is currently discounted.
https://www.canyon.com/en-us/gravel-bikes/performance/grail/cf-sl/grail-cf-sl-7/3095.html

I like both colors, prefer geometry a bit more upright so the cannondale looks good, but the specs are much stronger on the grail. Not really keen on the Grizl as I’m likely more road than anything else, not bike packing anytime soon or anything like that (though Id love to one day and I can try make it work with the grail with some tinkering it seems)

Any advice? Tips? Any other bikes I’m missing? I’ve never spent this much on a bike, only ever a road bike for like $800 8 years ago.

I’m very close to pulling the grail trigger and trying it out due to the return policy.

Thanks!

by slightlydamptho