Looking for something new and wanted to get some suggestions. Bike will be used for gravel and bikepacking (day trips), nothing overly loaded.
What I'm looking for is a flat bar setup. There are some technical, rocky areas and downhills where I ride where a dropbar just doesn't work (for me at least). Also, I already have a drop bar road bike for pavement.
The 'multiple hand position advantage' also isn't a big consideration to me. I use flat bars with a 30deg sweep and Togs. I don't get pain on 50 mile rides. I take breaks when needed, so my hand aren't 'locked' on to the flatbars.
What I'm using now is a Salsa Vaya with flat bars with a 110mm stem to compensate for the bars. It works, but I would like to get a lighter bike, with geometry built for flat bars. The Journeyman looks like it would work, but I would prefer steel or maybe titanium (my road bike is Ti, it's my ideal material).
The geo on the Kona Dew and Marin Muirwoods look good also.
I had the same requirements, built up a Lynskey with flat bars. Running Syntace 12 degree bars, might try the Sweet 16 bars next. Without water bottle and bags, weighs in at 18.3 currently.
CC wrote:Looking for something new and wanted to get some suggestions. Bike will be used for gravel and bikepacking (day trips), nothing overly loaded.
What I'm looking for is a flat bar setup. There are some technical, rocky areas and downhills where I ride where a dropbar just doesn't work (for me at least). Also, I already have a drop bar road bike for pavement.
The 'multiple hand position advantage' also isn't a big consideration to me. I use flat bars with a 30deg sweep and Togs. I don't get pain on 50 mile rides. I take breaks when needed, so my hand aren't 'locked' on to the flatbars.
What I'm using now is a Salsa Vaya with flat bars with a 110mm stem to compensate for the bars. It works, but I would like to get a lighter bike, with geometry built for flat bars. The Journeyman looks like it would work, but I would prefer steel or maybe titanium (my road bike is Ti, it's my ideal material).
The geo on the Kona Dew and Marin Muirwoods look good also.
owly wrote:Would an old 853 steel or ti mtb frame like a Mariachi built up with a rigid fork work?
I've been toying around with this idea as well. I think I'd prefer to get a new frame. However I checked out the specs of the Mariachi the other day, and my search ended up taking me to a bunch Surlys (too heavy for light backpacking), the El Mar, and the Niner Sir 9.
If I go the custom route, I may end up with one that's based on the geo of a Mariachi or Sir 9. 😃
Check out the Jamis Sequel. It's pretty much a flat bar steel Renegade with 650b road+ tires. The price is nice too at around $1,000 msrp. This is definitely a flat bar road bike and not a mountain bike but so are the other mentioned by the OP.
I have a Journeyman Sora build that I ride on gravel and lite single track. I highly recommend it because of the geometry and great feel. Salsa did this right. Going tubeless is important and it comes with tubeless ready WTB wheels included --for approx $1100. Carbon fork and aluminum frame and I added Redshift stem shock. Hard to beat this bike whether flat or drop bars no matter what it is compared to.
