The best gravel and adventure bikes you can buy for under £1000

Gravel grinders packing value for less than a grand

Rachael Gurney

Oct 16 2018

We've done best mountain bikes for under a grand, now we are going to have a look at the best gravel bikes you can get for under £1000. We've picked out gravel grinders from Marin, Specialized, Vitus, Sonder and Calibre and we reckon this lot pack a punch in terms of ride and value.

[Updated 16th October 2018]

Calibre Dark Peak

This bike is just £549 on Go Outdoors at the moment, which is crazy money for a well-equipped bike. The Calibre Dark Peak is an alloy framed bike with a carbon fork and utilises all branded parts. You get a 2x10 Shimano Tiagra drivetrain, Tektro Lyra mechanical disc brakes and Ritchey parts elsewhere. The bike is finished off with WTB ChrisCross i19 rims on Shimano hubs and WTB Nano tyres which are a nice and wide 40c.

Marin Four Corners

Marin's Four Corners might make the most of the current bikepacking and adventure trend to sell itself, but at heart, it's an affordable off-road tourer with planted handling and a versatile steel frame. On the downside, it's heavier than similarly priced rivals and that's something that makes itself known on hills. If you're after something super lively feeling that'll spend most of its time on road, you should look elsewhere first. There are also more focused gravel racers and better pure commuting machines but the Four Corners is a mighty fun jack-of-all-trades - which is exactly what a touring machine should be.

Specialized Diverge E5 Sport

The £1,000 Specialized Diverge E5 Sport brings the US company’s latest adventure and gravel bike design down to an attractive price point and produces a package that works well in a multitude of uses. With the stock tyres it’s a solid and dependable road bike for road riding and commuting, but needs a tyre swap to open it up to more varied terrain, whereupon it’s decently capable for rough stuffing.

Sonder Camino Al Apex 1

The Sonder Camino Al is an adventure bike from outdoor specialists Alpkit. Sonder is their bike brand and, as with the rest of their products, aims to provide great value for money. The Camino proves to be a versatile ride for a variety of conditions whilst being great value. This is a bike that enjoys going off-road but would also be quite happy taking you longer distances on tarmac too. The bias - and the way the bike is specced certainly corroborates this – is towards off-road adventuring. The comfortable position is perfect for gravel excursions or riding long distances loaded with luggage, but for my preferences is just a little too upright for longer (proper) road rides. It’s a do anything bike with a definite off-road flavour, but above all, it’s a bike to have fun with at a price that belies its capabilities.

Vitus Substance Tiagra

Available as the V1 with steel forks and 700c wheels or as the V2 with 650B wheels, fatter tyres and a carbon fork the Vitus Substance Tiagra is just £800, whichever version you choose. The frames are identical though so if later down the line you wanted to change wheel sizes you can, there's plenty of room for either combo. As the name suggests this steel bike is equipped with a Tiagra 2 x 10 drivetrain and TRP Spyre mechanical disc brakes. WTB tyres and Vitus own brand cockpit parts finish the whole build off. Our recent test concluded the Apex version of the bike "wasn't the quickest or the lightest, but a solid bike for far-flung adventures – or just riding to work".

£800
www.vitusbikes.com
Buy a Vitus Substance Tiagra from CRC
Read our review of the Substance Apex here

Marin Gestalt 1

Another all-rounder to make it to the list, we really liked the 2017 version of the bike when we reviewed it last year, saying it was "A cracking bike for anyone wanting a versatile machine that'll do everything from commuting to gravel grinding" This is the cheapest version in the lineup now, costing £950 for a Sora equipped 2x9 drivetrain Tektro Sypre mechanical disc brakes on the alloy frame and fork. There's full internal hose routing and plenty of tyre clearance for 700Cx35c tyres.

Merida Silex

We tested the alloy Merida Silex 700 recently and really liked its mountain bike inspired geometry. Whilst the 700 costs £2,100 there is also a version for bang on 1k. The wallet-friendly 200 has the same geometry at the pricier versions but comes equipped with Shimano Sora and Promax Decode R mechanical disc brakes.

Boardman ADV 8.8

Our mates over at road.cc tested the Boardman ADV 8.8 earlier this year, they said the bike was "well made, well specced and fun to ride, this latest adventure machine covers plenty of bases, from blasting the local gravel byways to year-round commuting. It's a lot of bike for not a lot of money." For £750 you get a carbon fork, Shimano Sora gearing and Tektro mechanical disc brakes.

Raleigh Mustang Sport

Also tested by road.cc is the Raleigh Mustang Sport. They reckon it is a decent all-rounder that will do nicely for the commute and can also take on off-road forays if you're looking to get into gravel/adventure riding. They also said it's not too heavy, looks cool, and while some of the cheaper components might be underwhelming, with its relaxed geometry it's a fairly comfortable and capable bike for the money.

Author block

Rachael is happiest on two wheels, she's been riding bikes for a good few years now after horses got too expensive! Partial to a race or two Rachael also likes getting out into the hills with a big bunch of mates. She's been writing for a long as she's been riding and is equally happy getting stuck into a kit review as she is creating stories.