I need help choosing my first road/gravel bike!

Gain a bunch of weight and coast down hills.  You'll be fast and rested.

Looks like the Topstone comes with a 40T.  40x11 is still plenty fast.  50x11 would only be useful sprinting downhill but that's not really my style.  Maybe look at the Revolt in aluminum?

now that you mention it, I do quite like the idea of the Revolt 2. It would easily be a contender but it’s out of stock online and out of stock in local shops 🙁 Thank you for your input on the other bikes!!

I'm kinda surprised the other options are available.  I didn't think potential buyers could afford to be picky or wait and consider this year.

As Volsung mentioned, the Revolt is a better option in the Giant line.  A friend of mine has the Apex1 model and loves it.  What is your budget?  At this point, good bikes are going to be hard to come by until the 2022's come out, unless you are looking at the higher end models.

My budget is about $1300 which doesn’t leave me with many options really. unfortunate that the market has so few bikes left as I’m really hoping to get a new one this month

I don't understand your logic, the wide tires on your mountain bike, would be great for riding gravel. Plus, you must either be a really fit rider, or live in an area that is flat. Because you are already thinking about spinning out. When you look a gravel, are you looking at rail trails types of gravel with crushed limestone. Or looking at riding dirt roads in the mountains. I've seen some entry level Trek Domone's at some shop's. They can fit up to a 38 mm tire. Salsa has the journeyman. I've seen a bunch of these used, as folks are upgrading to more suitable gravel bikes with GRX components. Lower gearing IS a popular upgrade in gravel riding. Look on the pros closet website also

willd412 wrote:My budget is about $1300 which doesn’t leave me with many options really. unfortunate that the market has so few bikes left as I’m really hoping to get a new one this month

I know it's hard to wait, but my recommendation would be to save more money and get a better bike when the 2022's come out.  I see so many people regret their initial purchase of a cheaper bike to "get started" and then hassle with selling it to buy a new one 4-6 months later when they realize it doesn't meet their needs.  Stick with 1x11.  It's plenty of gearing for gravel and even road riding.  Yes, you will spin out on long descents, but unless you are racing, that doesn't really matter.  If you can get something with an XD driver wheelset, you can get a 10-42 cassette for that little bit extra top end.

hippymtnbkr wrote:I don't understand your logic, the wide tires on your mountain bike, would be great for riding gravel. Plus, you must either be a really fit rider, or live in an area that is flat. Because you are already thinking about spinning out. When you look a gravel, are you looking at rail trails types of gravel with crushed limestone. Or looking at riding dirt roads in the mountains. I've seen some entry level Trek Domone's at some shop's. They can fit up to a 38 mm tire. Salsa has the journeyman. I've seen a bunch of these used, as folks are upgrading to more suitable gravel bikes with GRX components. Lower gearing IS a popular upgrade in gravel riding. Look on the pros closet website also

My mountain bike is kinda overkill for stuff like that though. I rode a 50 mile gravel stretch with it this month, it was a nice ride but that bike isn’t really ideal for that kind of stuff in my opinion

I used to ride everything on my moutain bike - I just changed to efficient slicks for road work. 
These days I ride everything on my Gravel Bike - but I still change between road slicks and bigger treadier tires for the dirt. 

I'm always curious what spinning out means.  I do 40mph on a fixed gear bike before I spin out, but I'm kinda wierd.  ;-)   Yesterday i was riding with a guy on a mountain bike at 18mph, and he was in his top gear - he wasn't going much faster on that bike.  Personally, a 46x11 doesn't really spin out for me, and I'd probably be (mostly) fine with a 40t chain ring.

So, what does spinning out look like for you?


I'll say for me - 85% of the time on gravel, its probably a toss up between the gravel bike and the mountain bike.  The gravel bike has the advantage of being aero, having a much higher top end gearing, and being better at climbing (because it is a lot lighter).

May I suggest the Merida Silex 300? Is within your price range, I think... I have one, model of 2020, and it's great. It has a 1X11 (44T X 11-42), that I think it's more than enouth, for road or gravel..

I was in a similar position 2 years ago.  Check this out https://www.outsideonline.com/2419231/how-much-spend-gravel-bike

I disagree with the author 's assertion that sub-$2000 you have to settle for inferior components choosing the more expensive Jamis Renegade S2  because I bought the S3  https://www.jamisbikes.com/bikes/adventure-gravel/allroad-adventure/renegade/
after trying several likely suspects. It has 2x 10 speed GRX shifters, brakes and derailleurs with an FSA 46/30 crank with similar or the same gearing as the GRX 2X crank.  10 speed is more durable than 11, and 2 X has more gearing options than 1X 11-spd.  I'm far from racing shape, but even carrying a heavy load when I'm trying to get home before dark or keep up with lighter riders who climb better, it doesn't take that much of a downhill and/or tailwind on pavement or hard pack to use a 46-11 gear combo above 75 RPM--that's a far lower gear than a 50-11 standard road bike compact big gear and  .  On rolling hills on pavement, I want to bomb the downhill to carry momentum for the uphill and spread the effort out.  In those settings, I regularly hit 90+ rpm. If I was on a 1x, I would both carry less speed into the upslope and have a bigger low gear, so climbs would be far harder.  I replaced the cassette with a Sunrace 11-40 and added a Wolftooth Goatlink to the RD, and by upgrading the original KMC chain to Ultegra, it shifts even better.  I'm 275, and have ridden many road bikes that even in my younger, lighter days got wobbly under my weight & power combo.  The Jamis fork seems to be the same one used on their carbon bikes and I really like it.  I just saw this comparison  https://gravelbikes.cc/tests/4-forks-comparison-which-is-the-most-compliant-one/

   At the time, Salsa Journeyman (a) had quick release gravel wheels--no other legit bike had them and upgrading wheels is often the best way to improve an entry level bike, but there are no QR upgrade gravel wheels, and (b) the bottle mounts were apparently riveted in, and many reviews complained of these cracking and losing the cage screw and bottle mid-ride.  I love the concept of Giant D-Fuse, and hate the thought of having my seat post and stem choices limited to OEM, especially during a supply chain crunch.  You have to get your right setback from them, and if you want to upgrade to seat post with a shock or a dropper post, a cheaper carbon post from Whiskey, etc. it seemed like a pain. What do you do if you crack a carbon D-fuse on a vacation trip away from big cities?

 I wish Jamis would change the frame geometry a little by adding 1 cm of frame reach, maybe 1 spacer worth of stack, and drop the BB a cm or slope the TT more to add standover. On a gravel bike you might need to stop on a sideslip--and you might slip.  I'd rather have a bit more standover. On any frame where the words "dropper post" come into play, I don't think you want a road length stem or too low a stack without a dropper post for going down loose bumpy hills.  I tend to be at the extreme of short reach to high stack on men's road bikes, and the OEM stem feels just a touch short--but this seems to be a common gravel geo issue from reading other posts. 

willd412 wrote:now that you mention it, I do quite like the idea of the Revolt 2. It would easily be a contender but it’s out of stock online and out of stock in local shops 🙁 Thank you for your input on the other bikes!!

I was super impressed with the Revolt Advanced 2 I tried and still see some in Madison, WI area. Friends who have really nice high end bikes chose them as their road and more bikes.

On gears, that's easy to change compared to a frame. With 11 speed 1x experience, I can say I'd rather be spun out at top speed than not have a deep enough gear for climbing. 

On the bikepacking comment, now I can say first hand that a true tourer with carry capacity isn't going to be same as good for road bike too, and the OP's MTB might be a backpacking rig too.