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Despite the prices of just about everything going up, you can still get some very capable gravel grinders for less than £2,000. The best gravel bike for you will depend a lot on what type of riding you will do on it, but to help you choose we've put together our top selection including options for all-out speed, through to those that are better for multi-day trips.
For the average UK monthly salary, there's a vast array of options available: spanning both alloy and (a few) carbon-framed machines, and some even with suspension!
For many people, spending between £1,000 and £2,000 will be the sweet spot of performance and price, with good quality components and competitive weights without getting into the price bands where performance gains diminish.
If you've had a look through our recommendations and decided you'd rather spend a bit less then you can check out our best gravel bikes under £1000 buyer's guide. But if you can budget a bit more, here are our top picks...
The Grail AL is, as the name suggests, an aluminium version of the brand's flagship gravel bike. It's designed with both adventure riding and gravel racing in mind, and we found the geometry perfectly suited to this and a lot of fun to ride.
The Grail comes with carbon forks, mudguard mounts and enough mounts to suit the majority of gravel riders; however, if you're looking for more mounts then Canyon's Grizl AL might be a better bet.
Canyon's Grail AL range starts at a modest £1,499 and goes all the way up to £2,199 for a bike specced with Sram Rival eTap AXS. We reckon this 7.0 model is the pick of the bunch though with a price tag of £1,799, an excellent Shimano GRX 810 double groupset (a new addition since our review), solid Dt Swiss gravel LN wheels, 40 mm Continental Terra Trail tyres and Canyon's own brand seatpost and cockpit. This brings the Grail AL 7.0 in at under 10kg, which is competitive for the price.
The ADV 8.9 is a helluva lot of bike for the money, and it seems a misnomer to label this as an entry-level gravel bike given the way it rides and handles. The ADV is capable on both gravel and road sections, is well-specced for the money and is a great entry point into the world of rough stuff.
The theme of good value continues with the componentry. The bike comes specced with an FSA double chainset, which provides plenty of range, and this is paired to a 10-speed Shimano GRX 400 series groupset: at this price it's hard to beat.
With the Boardman, you get plenty of impressive components and features that you'd expect to find on a much more expensive bike (and often don't) such as the 38mm Schwalbe G-One Allround tyres and tubeless-ready ADV wheels.
With space for 45mm tyres (or 42mm with mudguards fitted), hydraulic disc brakes, reliable components, well thought-out geometry and a sub 11kg all-in weight, this is all the gravel bike that most people will ever want or need. It's tremendous value and a bit of a no-brainer!
We don't always recommend women's-specific bikes here at road.cc, and many brands have stopped even producing them, as there's no reason why most bikes can't be unisex; however, the Liv Devote is an excellent exception. The alloy frame and carbon fork caters for riders down to 150cm, and the bikes are well-specced with sensibly-sized bars, cranks and stems throughout the range.
The low bottom bracket gives a feeling of stability on descents and makes it seem as though you're sitting 'in' the bike rather than on it. The frame can fit up to 45mm tyres, which makes this a versatile machine that reviewer Lara found to be no slouch. Like the Boardman featured earlier, the Liv ships with a reliable Shimano GRX 400 groupset and benefits from Giant componentry elsewhere, such as tubeless wheels and finishing gear.
The Devote excels over most terrain, whether that's mile-eating rides over rough ground, slow-speed twisty stuff or even tarmac sections. Lara summed up the bike by concluding that those who favour women-specific designs and want a gravel-focused do-it-all bike "will love the geometry and confidence-inspiring handling of the Devote 1, and it's not bad value for money either."
The Canyon Grizl is a gravel bike designed with adventure in mind. There's an abundance of mounts including fork mounts, top tube mounts and space for three bottles in addition to that. Pair this with space for up to 50mm tyres, and even with full mudguards you've got a bike more than capable of bikepacking or the longest of gravel endurance rides.
Despite the price going up in recent months, you still get a whole lot more bike than from the other big brands... in fact, you can't get a carbon gravel bike from the likes of Trek or Specialized for anywhere near this price!
The Grizl CF SL 6 features the same frame as the more expensive Grizl models such as the CF SL 8. In fact, you'll have to dish out £4,599 before you find anything with a different frame in the Grizl range, meaning that this is a great option for those looking to buy something that is upgradable in the future.
The Cf SL 6 gets a Shimano GRX 400 double groupset and Dt Swiss C 1850 Spline wheels. Neither of these are the lightest out there but the complete bike still comes in at under 10kg, which is impressive.
The Monsal 1 is Forme's top-of-the-range alloy gravel bike with clearance for up to 47c tyres, a carbon fork, a Sram Apex 11-speed groupset, WTB ST i25 wheels and one of the most comfortable rides going.
Stu, who reviewed the Monsal 1, has ridden just about every new mainstream gravel bike to hit the market, so it comes from a reliable source when he says: "There is just something about this bike that makes it feel ‘nailed' on whatever kind of ride you are heading out for. It’s fun and engaging on the fast stuff, while comfortable enough for those longer days in the saddle. It’s a lot of bike for the money too."
Others may come close on price, but the Monsal has one of the best frames in the market when it comes to balancing ride quality, comfort and stiffness. Also, the geometry works great on all kinds of surfaces, and the paint job is proving to be extremely hard-wearing.
Now, the bike I thought I was going to include in this section was the carbon Ribble CGR 725... until I realised on closer inspection that the price has recently gone up, and the 650b wheel "upgrade" now brings it to £2,049, hence ruling it out of this buyer's guide! However, I then realised that the aluminium version is just as acclaimed, quite a bit cheaper and very capable too, so here it is.
Ribble's CGR AL is a hugely versatile and superb value bike for everything from gravel bashing to cyclocross and road commuting, in fact, the CGR bit of the name stands for Cyclocross, Gravel and Road.
It's available in a variety of builds, but for pure gravel, our pick would be the Sram Apex 1x setup with Mavic Allroad 650b wheelset, which comes in at £1,649.
With these 650b wheels fitted, the CGR AL will happily take up to 50mm tyres (45mm on 700c wheels) which is welcome on some of Britain's less-than-perfect 'gravel'.
Versatility is the main appeal of the CGR, and if you plan to mix a bit of gravel or a cyclocross race in alongside regular commuting, then this build is superb. You can of course also benefit from Ribble's extensive customisation options to fine-tune the components to taste and riding terrain. If you're after a drop bar bike that can take on pretty much anything you care to throw at it, the CGR AL comes highly recommended.
Mason says the Bokeh "was there at the start of the gravel riding and bike packing scene and in its latest version remains one of the most popular bicycles on gravel-race start lines and ultra-endurance adventures." We couldn't agree more, and thanks to clearance for up to 45mm tyres (50mm on 650b wheels) and an abundance of rack and guard mounts - including routing for a dynamo light - this is one extremely capable frameset.
The Bokeh uses custom-formed, triple-butted Dedacciai Aluminium which is made in Italy, and a Mason Parallax full carbon thru-axle fork. So, the function is there, what about the form? Well, Mason create some of the nicest finished bikes about, and the Bokeh didn't fail to impress us with tidy welding and excellent paint quality.
This bike has been a regular in our road.cc Recommends section and end-of-year awards. At one point we said: "It is fair to say that all aluminium frames are not created equal. The Bokeh slips in at the sublime end of the spectrum. If this bike is on your wish list then don’t hesitate."
That's something we still stand by in 2022.
A gravel bike allows you to leave the tarmac behind you and head off onto traffic-free tracks, fire roads and bridleways. Because of this, they will have larger tyre clearances (typically around 45mm) than even the best endurance road bikes (typically around 34mm) and more relaxed geometry. You can find out more of the differences in our endurance bike vs gravel bike video.
Because gravel bikes are often used for multiday adventures and bikepacking, they will usually feature many mounts such as on the fork legs, top tube and downtube to help carry luggage and extra fluids. Gravel bikes also usually feature a wide range of gears to help get you up steep technical climbs.
Of course, a gravel bike can also be used on the road, but they do give up a little efficiency compared to an all-out road bike. The geometry is tuned to keep you stable on gravel descents, so they are sometimes less agile than their road counterparts and more compliant/less stiff to soak up some of the additional bumps.
Now, this question is a bit like how long is a piece of string... obviously, it depends a lot on the type of gravel you will be riding.
A larger tyre will increase grip, control and comfort, but at the expense of rolling resistance. It's important to have some idea of what kind of tyres will suit your riding best before purchasing a new gravel bike, as it will help to determine the clearance needed.
For riders who have many road sections and will only be tackling 'light', fast gravel such as fire roads, then we'd recommend using around a 38mm tyre.
For the majority of gravel riders who want to do a bit of everything and take on 'chunky gravel' (In my mind this is around 1" diameter) then around a 45mm tyre will be best. This is the maximum that many of the latest gravel bikes will take, and will allow you to float over larger pieces of gravel without giving up too much in terms of speed.
Riders who want to take on rocky descents and benefit from maximum comfort should consider using something even wider, in the region of 50mm; but we've seen gravel tyres up to around 2.25" especially on bikes with 650b wheels.
You can see our top picks of the best gravel bike tyres in our buyer's guide section.
Again, there is no one right answer here!
Carbon has many benefits, especially for gravel: lighter weights, impressive stiffness and excellent compliance are some of the main benefits when compared to an alloy bike.
Due to the way that a carbon bike is made, the layup can be fine-tuned in each area to offer stiffness where it's needed; around the bottom bracket, for example. Compliance and comfort can then be built into other areas, such as the top tube and seat stays.
Although carbon is great, there is still definitely a place for alloy gravel bikes. They're often cheaper (just take the picks in this buyer's guide as an example) and there aren't many carbon gravel bikes that have managed to impress us for under £2,000.
A further benefit of using metal as a frame material is impact strength. This is why we still see many ultra-endurance athletes and bikepackers using aluminium, steel and even titanium bikes.
As the price of gravel bikes goes up, the weight very often comes down. The lightest mass-market gravel bikes can weigh as little as 8kg; however, gravel bikes for less than £2,000 typically range between 10 and 11kg.
Usually, the most effective way of reducing the weight of a gravel bike is by replacing the stock wheels with some of the best gravel bike wheels, which can very often save in the region of 400g. If you're looking for more inspiration on the best gravel bike upgrades, check out our Youtube video featuring top six ways to improve your ride.
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Jamie has been riding bikes since a tender age but really caught the bug for racing and reviewing whilst studying towards a master's in Mechanical engineering at Swansea University. Having graduated, he decided he really quite liked working with bikes and is now a full-time addition to the road.cc team. When not writing about tech news or working on the Youtube channel, you can still find him racing local crits trying to cling on to his cat 2 licence...and missing every break going...
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