Aluminium Gravel Bike - Test Ride

[@cb6866]

Thanks Dave..love the stair shots , dude ! My favorite frame material .... Steel , maybe ? I like all of mine , 1 carbon road , a steel gravel and an aluminum MTB thats a monster ...Like you , it's what makes me smile when I am on it !! AND , it's not just bike snobbery that sucks , the general variety is stupid as well !

[@DaveNoakes]

🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@jonathanwithecombe557]

My old Focus CX bike was Ali, as was my Rondo gravel bike... both were amazing off road!

[@DaveNoakes]

👌🏼 so many cx bikes were alu and they were fine off road on much skinnier tyres.

[@stevenfreeman7798]

Nice to hear an honest review a good alloy frame is better than a crap carbon frame. Granted a good carbon frame is a level up.

[@DaveNoakes]

Yup, nothing wrong with a decent alu frame.

[@tonyjennison3199]

Had a Specialized Tri Cross comp for donkeys years. It's built so well it looks new, it's on it's forth set of wheels. It's a cross bike with Columbus aluminium tubing and carbon forks and stays. My posh bikes are titanium, a Spa Cycles Elan and a Ribble Endurance TI. Grew up poor so have impostor syndrome over those. Alu is a great material

[@DaveNoakes]

It sure is! I also used to have a Tricross

[@grootjnr]

Great vid mate! Deffo makes sense

[@DaveNoakes]

Thank you

[@budycelyn]

i bought a ribble gravel AL frame and built that up, it is awesome offroad, very comfortable, soaks up the bumps quite well, not ridden anything carbon so wouldn't know the difference

[@DaveNoakes]

Solid bike

[@stuartdryer1352]

Any bike set up properly could be fine as a gravel bike if you can put on the appropriate tires for what you're trying to do. I'm kind of an aficionado of relatively inexpensive Chinese carbon frames (Yoeleo, ICAN) and then I put nice components on them.

[@DaveNoakes]

👍🏼👍🏼

[@Ballacks101]

Great music today

[@DaveNoakes]

Thank you

[@rickwallace3102]

My current ride is my first non-steel bike, it's a 2017 GT Avalanche that I picked up in 2018 for half price and have been slowly converting it to a more upright comfort bike. All I have left to get is a new set of bars and I'm thinking of getting the "Jones H-Bar SG 2.5 Loop Aluminum" bars (sorry, aluminium😎) to raise the front end a bit. I'm also thinking of a suspension post as well.

[@DaveNoakes]

Sounds ideal!

[@sccxvelo]

For tall or bigger people Alloy or Ti is the way to go. More durable frame for body size over rougher surfaces besides being cheaper. Next frame if the money is there will be Ti gravel bike. Keep the alloy CX bike for CX races and fast/road rides.

[@DaveNoakes]

👍🏼👍🏼

[@bubblesezblonde]

Aluminum is the best choice for me right now. I AM looking at Bamboo though....

[@DaveNoakes]

Ohhh I have always wondered what bamboo rides like.

[@A_AAA232]

looked like a nice ride Dave - that Marin frame really has been versatile. My Al gravel bike is fine, think the carbon fork and 40mm tyres help with the ride feel, and defo not as harsh as my old Al road bike with Al forks and 23mm tyres! - I do love my carbon hardtail on 2.4" at 22psi and dream of a full sus carbon Enduro rig!! Ive got no hate, just big love for all bikes and everyone that rides whatever they have - Carbon frames do ride nice though!

[@DaveNoakes]

Thanks mate, I’m with you on this! Just love all the bikes!

[@michaelfleming4015]

All my bikes are aluminum. My mtb is a great Andante hard tail one by GRX group set with hydraulic disk brakes. My Canondale Topstone (Shimano 105 two by) is currently set with its road wheels (Mavic with 30mm Pirellis). It has WTB gravel wheels with 40 mm M tread Pirellis when needed. My third bike is a Specialized Diverge set with its gravel wheels, 40mm Pirelli M tread. It has a GRX one by group set. All aluminum, all hydraulic disk, all tubeless, all have dropper posts. Tons of capabilities. I can ride mtb trails on all of the bikes but only the hard tail mtb goes on Black Diamond trail. I love riding the gravel bikes on green and blue. Carbon? I’ve seen too many broken ones.

[@DaveNoakes]

My mtb is also alu, rides really well and I’ve raced on so many alu road frames and always enjoyed them. I wouldn’t be nervous about riding Carbon…a decent carbon frame is dead tough. I’ve abused the crap out of mine.

[@zeez4178]

Aluminium magnesium composite is Modem Quality material 👌Durian rider was comparing Magnesium and carbon wheels today

[@DaveNoakes]

I’d like to try some magnesium wheels

[@tmayberry7559]

Steel frame paired with a carbon fork. For example The Ritchey Road Logic😊

[@DaveNoakes]

Perfect

[@tomrachellesfirstdance7843]

I don't ride gravel so I cannot say how good aluminium is on gravel but my commuter is a caad 8 that's aluminium but because of tight clearences with the mudguards I can only ride 23mm tyres and I think that bike is still very comfortable even on our wonderful British roads. I have no hesitation recommending aluminium frames at all.

[@DaveNoakes]

The caad frames are amazing!

[@woduk]

Did a long ride yesterday so know how you feel was on my mtb wide tyres 2.3 inch. aluminium I’ve just stuck with due to cost mainly

[@DaveNoakes]

But you got out for a ride which is the most important part

[@BikeLife154]

I own a CaadX from 2018 which is aluminium and I've turned it into a 1x gravel bike with 45mm tyres. I also own a Giant Revolt Advanced 1 from 2022 and the difference in comfort between the two materials is minimal to the point it's hard to discern. Aluminium is also a far better material for gravel just from a durability viewpoint.

[@DaveNoakes]

Sounds like an awesome build!

[@matthewward5892]

Sunshine please send some North

[@DaveNoakes]

Hope you get some soon

[@goldenmath4091]

I use a voodoo ally gravel bike, changed the forks and almost everything else runs alloy 32mm rims with 43mm gravel tyres, I love it, prob my fav all round bike Prob stands me in £500 But I am more. MTB than roadie, but I do run sportives on the road Without all the BS just enjoy it ; )

[@DaveNoakes]

👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👌🏼

[@charliecook6909]

Just build a winter bike out of a dawes clubman i got from ebay , put a nice groupset and wheels on it and full mudguards shes a beautiful thing to ride so nice its pretty much the only bike i have riden this year🤣only cost me 800 👌

[@DaveNoakes]

Perfection

[@gkrefft]

I always stick to aluminium frames, I'm not willing to pay the premium. So I don't have any experience with carbon frames and can live peacefully with AL for the rest of my life. I bought a very good AL Gravel bike recently for about 2.5k€. The premium for the Carbon version would've been 1.2k, so I basically got my commuter bike from last year for free.

[@DaveNoakes]

Perfect

[@malcontent_1]

As I've commented here before, modern aluminum bikes are more than capable, especially w/ wider tires. They get a bad rap due to the legacy of early framesets.

[@malcontent_1]

... and good aluminum and titanium are _not_ all _that_ different. See recent-ish videos by "The Bike Sauce" on the *_Blackheart_*_ AL_ "allroad" & gravel frames.

[@DaveNoakes]

I check that out thank you 🙏🏽

[@thegefster1988]

Hi .... tire type and size please?! thanks!

[@DaveNoakes]

Wtb senduro 650x47

[@SeanMatson]

Why do you sound exactly like Another youtube cyclist from England?

[@DaveNoakes]

Probably from the same area…you talking about Thomas?

[@Charlieturnerv]

The bloke in the bike shop is @gcprefomance . He sells high end specialized bikes so he will always say buy a new bike . And jesse is a bit of a bike snob he only likes road bikes and road racing.

[@DaveNoakes]

Very true, I get why a bike is great for racing but people that race are in the minority. I think that’s why this bike was voted bike of the year…definitely appeals to a wider market.