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    Gravel Cycling

    Ti or Carbon gravel bike?

    I’m torn 😩

    Originally my heart set on a Canyon Grizl AL

    All was right in the world…but then my budget went up to about £2.5k

    Now I’m seeing sales on:
    1. Canyon Grizl CF
    OR
    2. Sonder, Ribble & Planet X titanium gravel bikes

    Both setups with SRAM apex1 AXS XPLR 12s or do you think Shimano GRX820 1×12 would be a better choice?

    Send help as I really can’t decide! 😩

    by AdamEvansOutdoors

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    View 18 Comments

    18 Comments

    2. as588008 on

      I would prefer metal. I really don’t care for the ride of my carbon bike compared to my metal bikes. You get the added boost of durability as well. You won’t notice any weight difference

    3. tbisaacs on

      I went from a carbon road bike to a Ribble CRG Ti and am over the moon with the Ribble. In fact I’m selling my carbon bike.

    5. Own-Hawk8548 on

      I recently got a Ti all road bike for riding a mix of paved and lighter gravel and it’s been great. Very smooth ride and figured it’d be more durable against things like rocks hitting the frame. As for 1x vs 2x, I’d tend to lean to 2x if you are using it heavily on the road as you might spin out of gears on a 1x and have some big jumps between gears which can make it harder to get a comfortable cadence; that said, the simplicity of 1x is nice – I do have it on my cx bike which I will use on more technical gravel.

    6. deviant324 on

      I have Carbon right now and am about to order my Ti bike to replace it. There’s a couple features I’m missing on the carbon that the dream bike will come with but I also don’t really want another carbon if I can help it (mind that I only need one bike, my ride types are all very similar). Carbon can just start knocking and creaking and as someone who can’t do a lot of maintenance myself without at least taking it to my dad’s place it’s driving me insane.

      It can be quite hard to locate where it’s actually coming from because your frame transports the noise very well. My first creaking was actually the rear wheel just needing to be loosened and tightened again, probably some dust or other dirt in there, sounded like it came from my BB though. Recent noise is somewhere in the headset/steertube which I have to take apart and greese again one of these days if I want to get rid of it.

      Since the Ti is basically the premium rebuild of the Carbon bike I’ll also be looking to sell it as soon as I get the new bike. Sadly frame will take ~10 weeks to manufacture so I won’t get it before december

    7. AffectionateOil5517 on

      I wonder at what price point a ti frame will surpass a carbon frame in quality since it’s more expensive in general. I’d be ti all day if money was not as issue but is a cheap ti frame worth it?

    9. xXAlexJonesXx on

      I like doing maintenance to my own bike so the titanium frame without cable routing through the headset would be the one for me.
      Sram’s DOT brake fluid is also kind of a pain in the ass from what I’ve read.

    11. mbrennwa on

      If you can’t have steel, titanium is acceptable 😉

      But no matter of the frame material, first thing you should consider is frame geometry. If the frame is too short or too long or too tall or too small, you’ll never be happy no matter if it’s made from plastic or gold.

      I am not a fan of the 1x faff. Just get a good old 2x drivetrain, which has been around for a long time, and works perfectly fine. A 1x will either not have enough range, or too large jumps between gears, or most likely both.

    14. docshay on

      I’ve used carbon bike for gravel races before converting it to all road and am building a Ti gravel bike now, so I’m almost ready to answer your question better.

      But my perceived difference is that carbon could provide more acceleration or agility, but the top end speeds of both would be pretty similar and Ti would win out on smoothening out the road and being more comfortable.

    16. Camazon1 on

      I bought a Ribble CGR Ti 2 years back and it’s great. Only ever ridden steel and aluminium bikes so can’t comment on carbon but I love how durable and light titanium is.

    17. Star4870 on

      I was told Ti is not for life and tend to crack after time and stress, especially bb area, no matter who makes the frame. Watched recently Ti bike compare with Carbon one and the reviewer was saying is more stiff and you will feel all road imperfection more then on Carbon frame. Personally I would buy carbon bike from canyon. My two cents. 😀

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