The best gravel and adventure bikes you can buy for under £2,000
Updated with video of the 8 best 2020 bikes
If you're after a super-versatile drop-bar bike priced between £1,000 and £2,000, we might have the answer in our roundup of all the best gravel bikes we have tested in this price bracket. We've tried and tested all of these bikes, from the capable adventure steeds to the all-rounders, and these are our top-rated.
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[Updated 24th July 2020]
The best gravel bikes under £2000
Hit the links below to jump to that bike or scroll for more, bikes listed in no particular order.
- Ribble CGR SRAM Apex 1x 650b
- Ragley Trig Gravel complete build
- Giant Revolt 1
- Giant Revolt 0
- Ribble CGR AL Shimano 105
- Canyon Grail AL 7.0
- Marin Gestalt X11
- Rondo RUUT AL
Ribble CGR SRAM Apex 1x 650b
£1549
Ribble's CGR 725 SRAM Apex 1x 650b is a hugely versatile bike that offers incredible value to boot. The combination of steel frame and plump but fast-rolling 47mm tyres deliver a comfortable ride on dirt while still being plenty quick on road, with sorted handling that's a happy medium between stability and steering agility; it's quite possibly all the drop bar bike you need for gravel, road or commuting.
Ragley Trig Gravel complete build
£1199
Updated from last year's debut model, the 2020 Ragley Trig is a steel-framed, carbon-forked gravel bike with confident geometry, a 2x Shimano drivetrain and broad 700c wheels. While tyre clearance could be better and the cable disc brakes are underwhelming, the Trig is well-specced for the price, host to plenty of thoughtful details, and extremely versatile.
Giant Revolt 1
£1,149
The Giant Revolt 1 is a decent gravel and adventure bike at a respectable price. If you can cope with the odd looks and adequate performance of Giant's unique Conduct braking system, you’re rewarded with a quality alloy frame, a carbon fork, and plenty of scope for adventures. The Revolt 1 nails its brief as a versatile bike: it has the ability to be a speedy commuter, a bag-laden gravel machine or a good time on the singletrack – just take your pick come the weekend. At £300 less than the Revolt 0 and only just over a £1000, it's also a good-value entry point to gravel biking, touring or fast commuting that's easily upgradeable should you really catch the bug.
Giant Revolt 0
£1,499
For £1,499 the Giant Revolt 0 gravel bike offers very impressive performance on the road and in the woods, with an easy agility that makes it fun to carve through the corners. The fast-rolling tyres aren't for the committed off-roader, and the alloy frame can be a little harsh despite its carbon fork, but the Revolt 0 is a fine all-rounder – and there's nothing to hold you back on your commute or weekend road ride either.
Ribble CGR AL Shimano 105
£1,399
Ribble's CGR AL Shimano 105 is a hugely versatile and superb value bike for everything from gravel bashing to cyclocross and road commuting, offering a a full Shimano 105 group with hydraulic brakes for £1,399. The aluminium frame isn't overly compliant and the kit needs a few tweaks if you intend to mostly stick to dirt, but that's easy enough to custom spec it to your heart's content when you order thanks to Ribble's custom specification option.
Canyon Grail AL 7.0
£1,350
Canyon’s new aluminium Grail adventure and gravel bike is a huge amount of fun on twisty trails and is able to provide good speed on a wide variety of surfaces, from road to gravel tracks. It’s also great value, as you’d expect from Canyon and is well specced, though I’d prefer to see a sub-compact chainset for tackling steep off-road climbs or laden with bikepacking equipment.
Marin Gestalt X11
£2,000
If you want a gravel bike that doesn’t shy away from challenging and technical terrain but is right at home on the daily commute and long adventure ride, the new Gestalt X11 is a really solid choice. A gravel bike for mountain bikers, the handling and stability is a highlight and the dropper post, activated by the redundant SRAM left-hand shifter, is a bonus on steep terrain.
The Gestalt X11 blurs the line between road and mountain bikes more than most (short of the new Bombtrack Hook ADV anyway or fitting drop bars to a mountain bike) and in doing so creates a bike that is highly capable on and off-road, super fun and backed up with plenty of versatility to cover all sorts of riding requirements.
Rondo RUUT AL
£1,700
The Rondo RUUT AL is a really a very good gravel and adventure machine for storming the byways and bridleways and a fabulous commuter to boot. I’m not sure that it makes a lot of sense to flip the Twintip back and forth on a regular basis, you’re bound to have your favourite. But if you are looking for one bike to do most of your riding, having a sneaky second bike available for weekend trips at the flip of that Twintip is a bonus.
Added to that there's the ability to fit 27.5x 2.1" mountain bike wheels and you actually have two more choices to play with, so overall it's a beautiful, geometry morphing, do anything adventure bike and is highly recommended.
We have more similar bikes coming up for review soon, in the meantime though, is there anything in this price bracket you think we have missed or is there a bike you'd like us to review? Comment below and we will do our best to test it!
1 comments
Cotic Escapade??