Hi all, my turn to share my NBD.
Been thinking about this one for months. I'm a "roadie" whose riding plans got surprisingly and happily "ruined" by a second somewhat unexpected pregnancy. With less time on my hands I discovered the pleasure of a more relaxed approach to cycling. I live in Finland with lots of access to woods and gravel paths without going far from my house. Also, my work is 15km away and I have showers, lockers and drying cabinets at work. So I thought I would invest into a bike I can use for virtually anything, from longer adventures, light backpacking, commuting etc. The goal was minimal maintenance and i looked a lot into drive belts but there was really nothing affordable in the market that would work for my purposes. Then I noticed my local Trek shop was carrying quite cheap frames (700E) for the ALR Checkpoint and I started doing the maths… Once i saw a good deal for a Sram Rival AXS 13speed I pulled the trigger and made the order for both. I then completed the rest of the bikes with other deal and stuff I had in my storage. Ultimately, I got 2/300E more an ALR 5 with 13 speed AXS, better saddle and tyres. Can't wait for the last snow to melt.
Happy gravelling to y'all!
by piotor87