My 2022 Framed Gravier

Yes, it’s New Bike Day again! This one’s a 2022 Framed Gravier and it will replace my other bikes for gravel grinders, recreation trails, and urban rides. And I do a lot of those. I’m very fond of mixed surface rides around West Bend, combining paved streets and trails, gravel trails, turf trails, boardwalks, and even short sections of dirt singletrack. The new bike will handle it all with ease. This is the new workhorse.

My 2013 BMC granfondo GF02 will continue to be my road bike. Let’s see if we can extend its life a bit by not asking it to do more than you would normally expect of a road bike. My 2017 Trek Boone will continue to be my cyclocross bike, but it also will serve as my indoor trainer bike. I have two wheelsets for the Boone. One will stay set up for cyclocross; the other will stay set up for indoor training.

I briefly considered buying a used bike to devote exclusively to the trainer, but anything decent was going to cost at least a few hundred. To me, it made more sense to get a new bike that is better suited to the roles in which I was trying to make my other bikes fit. (It should go without saying that my 2021 Giant Anthem mountain bike will continue to be only a mountain bike!) If you’re thinking that maybe I shouldn’t have sold one or two of the bikes I thought I no longer needed, then you may be right. My Diamondback Steilacoom, for example, would still be fine for gravel, rec trails, and indoor training. But there’s no going back, and the new bike is another step toward an all disc brakes future.

Framed is a small company from Minnesota and a great option for the value-conscious cyclist. I was drawn to the Gravier for its carbon frame and fork, and for its efficient simplicity: the drivetrain is a reliable 1x11 SRAM Apex/Rival mix, and the disc brakes are mechanical, not hydraulic. Yes, hydraulic brakes are stronger, but they come with a lot more fuss and bother. And at the Gravier’s price point—only $1,600 for the complete bike—you accept a few compromises. Try to get a similar setup from a big company like Giant or Trek. They wouldn’t sell you a comparable frame by itself for $1,600. The Gravier came tubeless-ready but not tubeless, so that’s a future project. And I may replace that beefy aluminum seatpost with a carbon fiber one to cut weight and to improve ride quality.

I don’t know whether this bike will ever see competition—hopefully there are gravel grinders in its future and not cyclocross races in relief of a broken Boone—but it will get a lot of use in training. I had a fun time with this evening’s 32-mile shakedown ride on the Eisenbahn State Trail. We’re off to a good start.