The stratospheric rise of gravel bikes over the last couple of years has been phenomenal to behold. From a virtual standing start, the category has gone through the roof in terms of popularity, and now every mountain biker and road cyclist I know either has a good-looking gravel bike in their garage, or is eyeing one up. Their ascendency has taken place in parallel with that of the best electric bikes, and some gravel bikes now come in battery-assisted versions.
Such is the buoyancy of the category, however, that real deals are relatively hard to come by on the very best gravel bikes, which is why this chance to save over £500 on the excellent 2023 Cannondale Topstone Apex 1 caught our eye.
Aimed at riders who like to embrace technical trails as well as exploring gravel tracks and lost lanes, the highly capable Cannondale Topstone Apex 1 (one of T3’s top Gravel Bike choices) has a dropper seatpost, so you can take on the kind of terrain that most other dropbar bikes would struggle on. The 40mm tyres enhance the steed’s off-road performance even further, and there’s more clearance on the fork go bigger if you want to.
The nimble Topstone has an aluminium frame, with a carbon fibre fork up front. The geometry is relaxed, to keep riders comfortable over long distances (during multiday bikepacking adventures, for example) and to inspire confidence on lumpy, bumpy trails.
In the frame game with Kinesis
If the Cannondale doesn’t do it for you, another excellent deal we’ve spotted is this stunning offer to bag a Tripster AT Gravel Bike Frameset from brilliant British bike brand Kinesis, together with a set of Columbus Forks, for more than £600 less than the usual asking price (a saving of 56%).
The Tripster AT’s aluminium frame is specced for adventure, with through-axles front and rear, clearance for 700c x 45mm or 650B x 52mm tyres, and with cable routing to compatible with any kind of group set.
However, arguably it’s the innovative Columbus Futura Cross fork that gets people most excited about this rig, because it features a ‘flip-chip’, which enables you to switch the rake (offset) of the fork from 47mm and 52mm. For general gravel riding, rolling around on a mixture of road, lanes and trails, go for the 47mm option. But when you want to load up your steed and go bikepacking, you can change to the 52mm setting. Genius.
