Much of the off-road terrain around me is mountain bike trails (Ottawa, Canada, near Gatineau, Quebec) that are a bit too mellow for my proper gravity focused mountain bike (Norco Optic Gen 3) but feel a bit too rough for me to comfortably do on my Cervelo Aspero, that does double duty for road and gravel, with 47mm gravel tires.
I come from a gravity mtb background having done that around ski areas for the better part of the last decade growing up, and I’ve only recently (2024) picked up the drop bars more seriously and have really enjoyed gravel. This said, I think a “gravel bike” would be a great way to spice up my local trails that will actually get me to ride them without feeling bored. I say “gravel bike” because I think drop bars and a lack of suspension is the main thing that would make it more exciting.
I’ve tried riding an XC MTB on these trails (New Norco Revolver 130) and still wasn’t super excited by it, while I did enjoy the additional efficiency on the paved/fireroad sections between bits of trail.
I’ve considered options like a Panorama Anticosti (Steel gravel bike), and I’ve thought about doing a drop-bar rigid mtb. I’m pretty torn about what is going to actually be fun. Any help or advice would be great.
I do believe the search key ‘monstercross’ will return what you seek.
In similar pursuits as you mention, I ride a NS RAG+ that I pieced together. Takes 2.1 XC mtb tires and a dropper post, can handle all kinds of dumb nonsense.
If you want something even more purpose designed, take a look at the Evil Chamois Hagar. Yes, people who ride champagne gravel in CO say that it’s a dumb bike, and yes, depending on the beholder it’s ugly as sin, but I can tell you that here in the PNW where it was designed, it’s chef’s kiss perfection for riding root trails, gnarly gravel, and stupid underbiking choices of every flavor.
The only reason I don’t have one is funds.
The other frequent solution round these parts is a hardtail, often single speed, sometimes fully rigid. Seeing as I am that much of an idiot, I can say that a hardtail ssmtb is a winning move. We all have Kona Honzos, but you get your own style.
I’m noticing a lot of bikes in the category of “monster-cross” use boost spacing wheels, and I’m not sure how to feel about it because I have two wheelsets that I’m currently using on my Aspero (1 road and 1 gravel), and I was hoping to keep my carbon gravel wheels to use on whatever bike I’d get.
Should I forego the idea of transferring those wheels over and instead look at selling them and maybe getting a nicer boost set? I know that as wheels and tires get bigger, the boost spacing provides lateral stiffness, but I wonder if that’s really necessary for under-biking. I feel like the extra compliance would help. Or am I just wrong?
I’ve followed the same path as you have, starting my cycling journey from DH and Enduro to lately road and gravel.
I have built myself a steel Aggro-Hardtail 3y ago to go alongside my 150mm enduro bike and found it quite disappointing to be frank. Obviously it was more capable than my gravel bike, but its bandwidth felt much more constrained: it was still lazy and draggy on pavement and tame forest trails but it was quickly out of it’s depth on “proper” singletracks.
Basically, my gravel bike with mtb tires and a dropper post was able to tackle 95% of what my hardtail can do, but to do that I sometimes needed a level of engagement akin to my downhill years and it’s all the fun I’m looking for.
I think a gravel bike with a front suspension, clearance for real MTB tires (minimum 2.2) and a dropper post can really be a hoot to ride and turn any forest trail into a new challenge. Bonus is you still have a bike that is way faster on pavement and thus give you a riding experience that won’t overlap with your Norco.
Santa Cruz, Propain, kona, Salsa, Cotic… There are quite a few options.
If you’re on a budget and you’re technically savvy a 29er XC bike (full or Hardtail) from the pre-boost/pre-long reach era with dropbars could make for a very fun experiment.
I do work as a bike builder in a shop, so I like to think I’m pretty technically savvy. I’ll definitely have to do some looking into older XC hardtails to turn drop-bar.
Glad to get some insight from someone who’s been through the same dilemma I have
Re the boost wheel talk, I want to preface this by saying that I am not a large rider, 160 lbs all kitted, so a lot of the strength/stiffness/compliance/etc selling points don’t resonate w me as much - I do ride hard, but it’s never going to be as much force as a bigger person can put down. I don’t know where you weigh in, obvs.
I find no riding or performance difference whatsoever between boost and non-boost wheelsets.
Maybe I’m just not fussy enough, I don’t know. BUT. For me it all comes down to practicality and ease of parts/replacements in the market. By now all of my mtbs are boost, my gravel bikes are boost, nearly everything is boost, and it’s easier to find new boost wheels than non-boost, esp. in my region where that sort of bike dominates. So at this point that’s what I ride, almost across the board. And if I’m buying or considering wheelsets that are going to be swapped between bikes, it’s almost definitely going to need to be boost for maximim practicality.
Of course, by the same token if you’re already living with a non-boost bike ecosystem and don’t want to start to transfer over in a meaningful way, then I think your logic is sound….
If you’ll be riding over 70% singletrack and are open to adding a bike to your stable, I would highly consider a full rigid modern XC Bike. Something like a Specialized Chisel, Trek Rosko, Sklar PBJ, Fairlight Holt or Pine Country . The amazing part of these builds is that they often come out lighter than a dropbar equivalent with a similar build spec. You get alot of the benifits of a 29er gravel bike with a ton more wheelbase, stability and capibility while retaining the fun on mellow trails and fire roads.
If you’ll be riding more that 30% gravel and/or want to replace your gravel bike then you’re on the right track with the Panorama Anticosti. Crust Derecho, Soon to be released Sklar Super Something and Pine Frst are also great candidates. I would If you’re open to carbon, I would recommend the Lauf Seigla which have pretty incredible value for their complete builds.
Older pre boost MTB’s can work but you’ll likely need to size down what you would normally run and you end up with a hella long seatpost. Functionally it should work great but will have a bit of a funny aesthetic. If I were on a budget, I’d get a used Chisel frame and Carbon Fork.
I ride or have ridden a broad spectrum of bikes, and feel I could add something, or at least backup some previous replies.
Getting bored of my all mountain bike (remember when that was a thing), I thought I’d love riding rigid MTB again, and it was refreshing, until I got fed up of being beaten up. So I thought I’d stick 3”tyres on it, but that just made it slow except for a particular type of trail, and not that much more comfortable.
I now have a trail hardtail with 130mm fork, and it’s a fantastic balance between capable and keeping things interesting.
Meanwhile, I also ride gravel, and there is a fair bit of route crossover here with MTB trails, so I sorted out a monstercross thinking I’d benefit from something that leant a little more into the MTB side. It was just like the + MTB; great on one type of trail, but slow and boring everywhere else.
I now have a gravel bike on which I run 27.5x2.2/2.4 or 700x45, as that is fast, fun and efficient across majority of surfaces/trails that make up typical gravel routes round here (road, rough fire road, old school single track, moorland double track).
Crucially, I have slightly adjusted my expectation too, meaning I now have a clear understanding of when the gravel bike isn’t appropriate/won’t be fun anymore, for a planned route, and I take the hardtail instead.
I’ve recently been through a very similar search - where I live tends to be a lot of short sections of singletrack and rough gravel mixed in with road and fields to link them up, so it can be rough going on a more road-y gravel bike and a bit uninspiring on a hardtail. Wanted something that would be significantly more capable than my old gravel bike with endurance road geo and 45s, but that I could still get into a roadlike position and push reasonable speeds on tarmac. My findings were that if you’re happy to go boost spacing or suspension corrected forks there’s plenty of stuff out there (Salsa, Cotic, Pipedream for example) but that it was harder to find bikes without those two features. Lauf Seigla and Santa Cruz Stigmata stood out but for one reason or another didn’t fit quite right for me.
Ended up going full custom and getting a Ti frame made to my own specs to get everything I wanted, but it’s loosely based on the Stigmata geometry. Have had it a few weeks now and it’s the best underbike ever! Since I started the process a few new off the shelf bikes have come out that aren’t too dissimilar in vibe - Argon 18 and the new Allied Able being the two most notable candidates, and I’d definitely consider a Stigmata based on how I find my bike with similar geo.
I don’t know how tall you are (I’m around 6 feet) but I’d love to see what numbers you settled on if you’d be open to sharing the geo and other details like if it’s boost or not.
You won’t be underbiking, but I’ve yet to find a bike that makes me smile as much as my 2014 Surly Krampus. There is something downright magical about its 3.0” tires being both lightening quick and able to float over anything. I haven’t ridden the newer versions but I bet they’re close.
6’3 or thereabouts, not boost just regular 100/142mm spacing. Fits 2.4” with some room for guards.
630 stack, 430 reach, 440m chainstay, 80mm BB drop, 70 degree HT and 46mm offset fork to give 82mm trail. Bikegeocalc was a really helpful tool to let me keep the fit I wanted from my old bike whilst moving the geo around to get the handling I was after.
Sorry to bother, but I’m wondering what handlebars those are. They seem shallow and the drops look like they extend farther back than other bars. Maybe it’s an optical illusion?
Killer bike. Might be cool to get a full run down of parts if you have the time and energy. Thanks!
No worries, they’re PNW Coasts in a 44cm. Still early days but I really rate the shape.
Might do a wee post at some point with more details but probably best left to it’s own topic! Wasn’t there some kind of Escape/CT readers rides features once?
. The amazing part of these builds is that they often come out lighter than a dropbar equivalent with a similar build spec. You get alot of the benifits of a 29er gravel bike with a ton more wheelbase, stability and capibility while retaining the fun on mellow trails and fire roads.