10 of the best titanium gravel and adventure bikes you can buy
[Updated November 8, 2021]
Titanium gravel and adventure bikes are ever-increasing in popularity these days, whether that be for the sleek good looks or compliant ride. We've rounded up all the Ti bikes you can buy for drop-bar off-road forays. Enjoy the premium bike goodness...
- The ultimate guide to frame materials: what's best for bikes?
- The best four-piston disc brakes you can buy for all-mountain, enduro and trail MTBs
- The best titanium mountain bikes you can buy
If you're more interested in pure mountain bikes, then make sure you check out our roundup of all the best titanium mountain bikes on the market too.
10 great titanium gravel bikes
- Kinesis Tripster ATR — £1,980 (frame, fork & headset)
- Ribble CGR Ti Gravel – £3,099
- Reilly Cycleworks Gradient – from £3,349.00
- J.Guillem Atalaya Gravel – ~£3,600
- Van Nicholas Rowtag — from £3,377.00
- Enigma Escape GRX – £4,200
- Enigma Excel GR – £3,685.99 (frame & fork)
- Sonder Camino Ti – from £1,999.00
- Salsa Fargo Ti – £3,000 (frame & fork)
- J.Laverack GRiT — from £4,750.00
Kinesis Tripster ATR — £1,980 (frame, fork & headset)
The Kinesis Tripster ATR is a founding father of the gravel/adventure bike scene. ATR stands for Adventure, Tour, Race; this third iteration of the bike feels like it's come of age in terms of its adventure capability whilst keeping the comfort, road manners and reasonably light weight it's always had for covering distance at speed. It is an excellent frameset, around which you can build any number of different bikes.
The Tripster ATR V3 is, simply, a lovely thing to ride. It has the sort of unhurried calm that translates into distance at a reasonable speed. Mostly I've been riding the Tripster on 36mm Challenge Strada Bianca TLR tyres, which are big enough to cope with proper gravel roads – which we're lucky enough to have a bit of round here – while not giving too much away on the flat. Set up like that, with a Shimano GRX Di2 groupset and a flared bar, the Tripster feels like a bike that's at home on the road, but comfortable well beyond it too.
Ribble CGR Ti Gravel – £3,099
You can have Ribble's versatile CGR in just about any material you like, so here it is in titanium with a Shimano GRX groupset and 650B wheels with WTB's 47mm ByWay tyres for grip, control and cushioning.
Riding the Sport version — which has the same frame but comes with 700C wheels — tester Stu said: "Ribble has exploited the smooth ride quality of titanium alloy tubing. Regardless of how hard or soft you pump the tyres, the CGR smooths out the majority of high-frequency buzz, and has just enough 'give' that even the bigger jolts are reduced.
"Being designed as both a road and gravel/adventure machine, overall stiffness isn't as high a priority as a decent ride feel, and that is what Ribble has focused on. The frame is still plenty tight enough – especially at the front end and the bottom bracket junction – for any out of the saddle shenanigans, but Ribble hasn't overdone it.
"I've been able to explore new routes locally that I've never tried before. One mystery turning led to routes that are technically roads, but even most farmers would think twice about driving a tractor down them, so rough and covered in mud are they.
"This is where the versatility of the CGR highlights itself. One minute I'm bombing along on the smooth asphalt, and the next I'm riding over little more than a gravel track – and constantly switching between the two, with a bit of canal towpath chucked in for good measure.
"The ride quality really comes through on these mixed rides, as does just how good the geometry is. To work on different surfaces, you need to balance handling responses to make it enjoyable and fun on the road without it becoming a handful in the loose."
Reilly Cycleworks Gradient – from £3,349.00
The Reilly Gradient provides a ride that is as lovely as the bike is to look at, with space for wide tyres for heading off into the wilderness or adding dirt and gravel roads to your route, and a high level of refinement, according to tester Dave Athur.
He went one: "The do-anything capabilities of the Gradient are served up by its ability to take tyres up to a 44mm wide, so you have a huge range of options from a fat slick tyre for road duties to one of the growing number of decent gravel tyres for tackling bridleways or a gravel events. There are also rack and mudguard eyelets on the frame and fork so you could transform it into a winter training or daily commuter workhorse, or slap on a rack and go touring for a week.
"The Gradient provides a lovely ride. It's composed and comfortable, the titanium frame providing a sublime balance of stiffness and comfort. The carbon fork and oversized head tube gives the handling a crispness and it changes direction quickly when you want it to.
"Switching from hard to loose surfaces shows the Gradient's handling to be well honed. It's fast and steady on the road, but plenty of fun if you throw it through corners at high speed. The Gradient is right at home negotiating narrow tree-lined singletrack with loose corners and steep climbs and would be a good choice if you're looking for a bike to tackle one of the growing number of gravel events like the Dirty Reiver."
It's a smooth ride, the titanium frame, despite the oversized tubes, provides a vibration-absorbing feel over any road or gravel surface. Ergo, it's a relaxing ride: it looks after you on longer rides or routes with lots of rough obstacles. There's no twitchiness to the handling at any speed, and that trait comes into its own when you're riding over a loose surface such as dirt or gravel where you want the bike to be predictable. As such it's adept on challenging terrain with lots of ups and downs and testing corners."
J.Guillem Atalaya Gravel – ~£3,600
With exquisite attention to detail, understated looks and a cracking good ride on road, forest paths and gravel tracks, with space for wide tyres on 700C or 650B wheels, the J.Guillem Atalaya Gravel is an enticing choice in the premium titanium gravel bike market.
Tester Dave Arthur wrote: "Shaking down a rough bridleway, tyres scrabbling for grip on the dry dirt, before emerging back onto a country lane, all smiles and giggles, I'm won over by the J.Guillem Atalaya Gravel with its feeling of control and capability on a variety of terrain.
"That's the beauty of riding big tyre drop-bar bikes, of course, but not all gravel bikes are cut from the same cloth. With the Atalaya there's enough compliance to help it deal with everything from poorly surfaced country lanes to bridleways and forest tracks.
"The high-speed stability is very impressive, whether that's on the road or a fast gravel track, but it still turns into corners positively and the WTB Riddler tyres bite throughout the turns. It doesn't have a point-and-shoot responsiveness when you turn up the intensity, but I didn't feel any serious lack of agility when pressed harder.
"The ride quality is highly impressive, as good as any of the best titanium frames I've tested. It's compliant but still transmits a little feel through the contact points, and the steering is light and easy. Ride down a bumpy track and the Atalaya won't jolt and buck you about as if you were riding a wild bronco. It's composed and controlled."
The Van Nicholas Rowtag is a titanium bike that's capable of fast gravel blasts and multi-day adventure rides. It isn't the quickest off the line, but if you want stability, versatility and durability, you really can't go wrong here.
Tester Mat writes: "Van Nicholas bills the Rowtag as a 'crossover gravel racer' and it offers a stable ride whatever the terrain you're tackling. It's one of those bikes that holds its line well over pothole-strewn tracks and fast, bumpy descents, giving you loads of confidence to push the speed.
"It doesn't offer the sharpest acceleration ever in this particular guise – pure gravel racers might outgun it to the first turn – but if you're out for a quick blast on bridleways and forest roads you can wind it up and enjoy the ride with a superb level of comfort and control.
"If you want to load the Rowtag up for an overnight – or longer – adventure, there are plenty of options for mounting racks and bags, and you get mudguard mounts for all-weather riding on the road too. All in all, it's a highly versatile bike, and a lot of fun in a whole load of different scenarios."
Enigma Escape GRX – £4,200
Enigma has a deservedly good reputation for high-quality, UK made titanium frames and the Escape is their do-it-all bike for un-made roads, gravel and off-road. It's a bike that can take on a serious amount of terrain, and miles, either loaded or light.
Tester Dave Arthur writes: "The Escape is a compliant, capable and versatile road, gravel and adventure bike that offers all the magic ride quality and durability titanium is renowned for. It's a good choice in a crowded market.
"If you want to escape into the countryside and ride over everything that comes your way, the Enigma Escape is a grand choice. It offers all the compliant and fluid smoothness that titanium has become highly regarded for over the last couple of decades, and combined with the 38mm wide tyres, it feels planted and calm on any sort of surface, be it rough country lanes or gravel tracks.
"Smoothness is a key attraction of a titanium frame – but steel frames are also silky smooth. There is a difference, though, as I found by riding the Enigma Endeavour steel bike at the same time as the Escape: the Escape feels more flighty than its steel sibling, more agile and responsive.
"The steering is well judged and a delight, neither too fast nor too slow, and the Escape is right at home carving corners, mixing tight switchback turns in the woods with quick corners on the road. When you get on the pedals it shows a proper turn of speed."
Enigma Excel GR – £3,685.99 (frame & fork)
Enigma Bikes added this UK made titanium gravel bike to their lineup last year and the show sample we saw was sporting some bold, blue Hope Tech bling. It's made from super-strong but super-difficult-to-work-with 6Al/4V titanium alloy. The frame can be built up with whatever components you choose.
Sonder Camino Ti – from £1,999.00
The Sonder Camino Ti is the sparkly brother of the regular alloy Sonder Camino, such as this one we tested a year or so ago. The titanium version comes in at several different prices, starting with a SRAM Rival1 equipped bike with mechanical brakes for £1,999 and going up to a bike with Shimano Ultegra for £2,599. All bikes are sold with 700C wheels but can, of course, fit 650B ones too. There are four sizes (Small to XL) and the geometry looks very similar to the alloy Camino, if not identical.
Salsa Fargo Ti – £3,000 (frame & fork)
The Salsa Fargo Ti, a bike that treads that narrowing line between road and mountain bikes, it appeared back in the brand's range in 2017. It is pitched firmly into the growing adventure and bikepacking market but with a mountain bike DNA, there is a lot to like if you're coming from a mountain bike background.
First introduced in 2009 the Fargo was ahead of its time, a mountain bike with drop handlebars built around 29in wheels. Since then the whole gravel and adventure category has exploded, and the rise in popularity of bikepacking leading to many bikes capable of tackling all sorts of terrain, from smooth to wild. Tyres are getting wider and there's a growing interest in 650b (27.5in) wheels to allow even more voluminous tyres.
J.Laverack GRiT — from £4,750.00
Here is another new gravel and adventure bike to add to your wishlist. British titanium specialist J.Laverack has added a gravel bike to its range called the GRiT which can take up to 700x48 or 650x52 wheels and tyres and costs £2,500 for the frame, with complete bikes priced from £4,455. The GRiT builds on the popularity of its original J.ACK allroad bike with bigger tyre clearance and a few geometry changes to ensure it can tackle challenging off-road terrain. The new fork has an increased rake and the chainstays are longer to provide a more stable ride on loose and rough trails at high speed.
What have we missed? There must be other Ti gravel bikes out there that have been missed by even our eagle eyes! Let us know in the comments.
9 comments
I really love my Alchemy Ronin Ti. They recently moved from Denver to Golden Colorado. I have not had the opportunity to take it on any real gravel. I mostly just use to to take a spin on bicycle paths or taking my six year old to the state park and I follow him around. We stop whenever he sees a stick that looks like a sword and he protects the wife and I from monsters (trees).
Lynskey is a fantastic bike, I bought the lowest price one they had back in 2013 called the Peloton, and it's the best bike I've ever ridden in the last 45 years that I've been riding bikes. Lynskey makes a lot of bikes these days, more than any other titanium maker, and they have very few problems percentage wise vs other manufactures. I bought mine on a closeout sale through Adrenalin Bike and I made a couple of changes before I took possession of the bike so that all I had to pay for was the difference in the cost between the original equipment put on by Lynskey and the upgraded equipment put on by Adrenalin, I upgraded the fork from a Lynskey fork of an unknown manufacture to a Enve 2.0, the rear 105 derailleur to Ultegra, and the low-end FSA head set to Cane Creek 110. I probably would have been happy with any TI bike because they ride so smooth, but I couldn't find one close for what the Lynskey cost me.
Planet X have the Tempest. Great bike.
Laverack have their own issues too. Ordered mine in May and was told 22 weeks delivery. Come delivery date I emailed and was told that it could be another five months. So when exactly were they going to tell me this? No further communication since then.
That was 100% not my experience with a frameset ordered from Reilly between Aug and Nov 2020. Standard frame and Headset but upgraded fork with AnyCage mounts. Was warned Covid was causing delivery uncertainly and was given a delivery date window of Nov-Dec. Had a couple of back and forths on email and phone to confirm sizing including asking if I was certain as I tend to ride small. Contacts when frame arrived in-country, confirmation of size and decals again. Then request for payment as the frame was being finished. Email out of the blue warning one of the their workers was self-isolating so they had to change the delivery date by 2-3 days. Followed 2 days later by confirmed the original delivery date as they solved their isolation issue. Frame arrived on 28th Nov with a couple of free bottle cages and a t-shirt thrown in for good measure.
A friend of mine also sent his Gradient back to have Bento box mounts fitted (early frame) and had a similar experience.
100% satisfied and would give them my business again.
Don't forget about Rondo Ruut Ti https://rondo.cc/ruut-ti,460,pl
Be careful buying Reilly. I ordered and paid deposit on a custom Ti gravel frame set, the build was delayed a number of times with the timeframe doubling without delivery. The scheduled completion date came and went with zero communication. Inquiring emails were unanswered. As a last ditch - phone calls were made only to be given 'we have been busy' excuses. Numerous build extensions poorly reset. Finally, with an international move creating a shipping deadline I pressed for a date, only for them to blow up and simply say 'I'm not going to give you a date I'm cancelling your build. Deposit refunded.
Many months later I get an email - 'hey we finished that frame did you want it ( at a discount) but I had already moved on.
these are nice looking bikes, but the build process and customer service were appalling. Their off the rack might be better service but my experience was absolute frustration.
Lynskey??
Mason Bokeh Ti?