Hi there
After much deliberation, and the fact my road bike is knackered, I have finally had to succumb to parting with some hard earned cash. I'll be riding mainly road, often short day and evening rides but with the possibility of some longer week or so tours with the ability to ride some rough roads and rail trails/gravel/ canal towpaths. Mudguard mounts are a must as is the possibility to run large tyres on a 700cc rim. Ive checked out the Canyon endurance but no guards. The focus Paralane looked like a great choice but apparently the mudguard mounting system is a death trap, and then I saw the Salsa Warroad which tbh fits the bill perfectly but its just soooooooo expensive. Has the hive mind of Bearbones got any ideas on a cheaper alternative or has anyone got one and can give a bit of feedback? Any help much appreciated.
Cheers.

isnt the war road the road bike equivalent with the Warbird being the CX /Gravel and the Cuthroat the Tour divide/MTB size tyres on drop bar

I have a warbird lovely bike,cannot fault it but spendy as hell- even second and, I am sure there are better bargain options out there but I dont know what they are
What do you mean by large tyres on a 700cc rim?

Depends what size you think is large

the 2021 specialized diverge seems to tick those boxes.
various models at many price points
mine arrives early july, let me know if any questions and will try to answer when i have it

By large tyres, i mean large relative to most standard road bikes, so up to 35-40 mm would be perfect. As regards the other two Salsa bikes mentioned, then yes they fit that bill but I want something more road centric, I'll take a look at the Specialized and see if that fits the bill.
Thanks

Sonder Camino ? Love mine, 40c tyres with guards. Not too speedy.
Or pinnacle arkose?

Pinnacle Arkose? Sonder Camino?

Obviously beaten fair and square by Al

I have a Trek Checkpoint, definitely at the endurance road end of the gravel bike spectrum (no bad thing). New Diverge does look very good though with added clearance.

If you can stomach the price the Warroad is very, very good. It's a blast on tarmac and is happy being bashed down rough Welsh trails.

For something out of the ordinary but more affordable the Surly Midnight Special and Bombtrack Audax are also worth a look.

I was about to suggest a midnight special or a straggler. Some of the All City frames look good too

Depending how big you want the tyres to go up to, the Trek Domane (the 2020) in carbon sounds like it may work

Thompson R9300 if you're not after carbon, it's definitely on the road end of the spectrum and I've made a few mods over time to make it a bit more gravel friendly. But can fit 700x35mm with guards or 700x40mm (just) without. Has mudguard mounts and hydraulic discs.

The UK distributors only appear to be doing the road groupset versions at the moment, but the Belgian website has a GRX group (which i've retrofitted to mine).

I like the look of the Bombtrack. Very versatile too. I’ve got two Suriy frames (Troll and a Karate Monkey) so fancied something different,but thanks for the replies. Lots of great stuff to consider. I’ll definitely be operating about 80% road 20% dirt/rough tarmac so this is a deciding factor and fork cage mounts are a plus. However I can make three hole adapters at work.
More trawling the web.

Some good options in the thread, I'll throw another into the hat as I chose on similar criteria recently.

Orro Terra - Has mudguard mounts, fits up to 42mm tyres and even rack mounts. 'Made' here is the UK.

I picked up a basically new 2nd hand carbon adventure model with compact cassette for 1/2 the new price. Little bit heavy thanks to the 'Innegra' carbon protection but could be worth it if you ending up riding more trails and loose surfaces.

EDIT: Just saw you are mostly road focused, this is probably wrong end of the spectrum.

Alu 105 (£1500) - https://www.orrobikes.com/shop/adventure-bikes/terra/54

Carbon 105 (£2070) - https://www.orrobikes.com/shop/adventur ... terra-c/58

How about a Rondo Ruut, or a Mutt...?

I’m currently drawn to the Orro Terra , possibly the Carbon model if I can get it on a bike to work scheme. I’ll let you know what I decide but It seems (according to the supposed neutral reviews) it’s good for the road. My current road bike is an Audax type, built up by the LBS about 7 years ago which was £700 so I’m sure I’d think anything would be an improvement. That said, I love that bike as seemingly crude as it is so I think the danger is that you can overthink things.

so I think the danger is that you can overthink things.

Very true. Often people describe bikes as 'fast' or 'agile' etc but I can make any bike look slow and awkward no matter how expensive it was

Ribble CGR on bike to work?
The Warroad is a thing of beauty (IMO) and a blast to ride.

Genesis Vapour or Datum?

Have a look at the Fairlight Secan. Not cheap, but really has a superb ride quality and normal and tall geometries for each size. Takes upto 700x x 45 or 650b x 2.1" so very versatile. Loved mine, but had to sell to raise some cash.

wriggles wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2020 9:21 am Have a look at the Fairlight Secan. Not cheap, but really has a superb ride quality and normal and tall geometries for each size. Takes upto 700x x 45 or 650b x 2.1" so very versatile. Loved mine, but had to sell to raise some cash.

In a similar vein, defo look at the Mason Bokeh - Fairlight Secan vs Mason Bokeh - Which gravel bike would you choose?

I love my Cotic Escapade.
It's great on tarmac, I've done London-Edinburgh on mine with 35c Conti's fitted. It's currently running 42c, has mudgard & rack mounts & can be had as a frame only, or with several build options.

voodoo_simon wrote: ↑Sun Jun 07, 2020 9:43 pm Depending how big you want the tyres to go up to, the Trek Domane (the 2020) in carbon sounds like it may work

I use a Domane and I think without guards you go go up to 35mm & 32mm with guards fitted probably more clearance on the Checkpoint both good bikes tbh Diverge looks tasty too. personally theres road bikes then theres mtbs no real inbetweeners