I'm likely to buy a gravel bike in the next year, specifically for bike-packing. I plan to do mostly over-night or 2-3 days trips with a longer ride a few times a year. I'm a 5'1" woman and I have a weird fit, so I want to be able to test ride a bike before I buy it so I know I at least fit. Below is my current list, is there any other bike I should add to try? Budget is $4k-$5k
Also if you have experience with any of these bikes, insights would be greatly appreciated!
|| || |Revel R+ (Rival)| |Lauf Seigla| |Niner Ore| |Orbea Terra (M35)| |Lynsky Zephyr | |Jamis Steel Renegade| |Jamis Carbon Renegade| |Unicorn| |Otso Fenrir Ti|
by little_mer_rider
2 Comments
That’s a collection of fine brands there but I would say that Jamis stands out as the more mass produced and probably cheaper option. If you’re looking at ti options, maybe consider getting your geometry figured out and get a custom welded frame (eg. r/WaltlyTitanium ). I’ve also heard that Revel are great value and sound like a great company.
Hey welcome to the world of bikepacking! I know it’s hard to figure it our without a bike, but consider how would you like to distribute the weight on a bike. Do you want to add a rack, mount stuff on the fork / seatube / seat or perheps more classic: frame, front and rear bag setup? Each of those choices have their advantages and disadvantages. If you have time (seems like you do) spend some on bikeinsights and compare your bike choices there. See which bike would handle the weight up front better, or do a bit more research on the manufacturers websites and check the fork weight capacity etc. A lot of those bikes have dropped seatstays without any mounts on them, so that already limits the way in which you wold mount your gear on them. Research a bit the gear you’d like to purchase also – to roughly figure out how much volume and weight you’d be carrying – that way you’ll know which bags would fit your gear in. [Bikepacking.com](http://Bikepacking.com) has a lot of great reviews and lists of bikepacking gear and I’d suggest that as a starting point – they also have great lists of gravel bikes in general, also worth taking a look at.
Good luck!