the start of this story starts back when gravel bikes were just a twinkle in someone’s eye. Actually around 10 years ago when I bought a Cotic X cyclo cross bike. I didn’t want a cyclo cross bike but what i did want was a road capable bike with a compact frame and the Cotic had a radically sloping top tube (for the time). it also had disc brakes, a fairly relaxed geometry , again for a cross bike and it fitted me like a glove.
I did lots of miles commuting to work and using it as a winter bike with the usual mudguards etc but with slick tyres which made it efficient enough on tarmac but pretty useless off road, but then i had an MTB for that.
Then i started to see bikes called “gravel bikes” on the internet and races like the dirty Kanza and I though yes! i have a bike i can do that on easily. I was going to drop the road groupset with it’s double chainring, make it 1 x, add hydraulic brakes and shifters instead of the frankly useless mechanical disc brakes i’d run for the last 5 years or so and all would be great. cheap Grav Grav! However, this bike was designed around the UCi’s rules for cyclo cross and like the baddie in a cowboy movie or the wicked witch in a fairy tale the UCi rules usually ruin everyone’s fun. It was just so in the this case. at the time (and now iirc, how progressive UCi) the max tyre clearance for cyclo cross bikes was 33mm. 33mm is frankly useless for UK gravel riding. it maybe fine for Californian dust (looking at your 38mm clearance Diverge Mr Specialized) but add some traditional UK mud and grit and at best you have no traction, at worst the rocks dragged through your frame destroy the paint and the stays. Sooo long story short the Cotic had to go!
I’m not the best at making a decision, just ask everyone about my shed, nearly 12 months on in construction 😦 so it took nearly twelve months of research, of writing geometry comparison charts, agonizing over frame size and this was even before i’d considered groupsets and wheels.
Then, as happens in these situations a bike comes along at the last minute, one that i’d not heard of before, from a place I’d never even thought produced bikes and fitted the bill perfectly in seemingly every way!
Enter stage left Sour bikes a company from Dresden in Germany and their Purple Haze gravel bike.
The purple Haze (no it’s not purple) has almost to the mm the exact same geometry as the Cotic that I got on so well with but this one will take 650 x 2.1mm or 29 (700c) x 2.0 in the frame and 29 x 2.2 in the carbon fork. the flat mount disc brakes, external cable routing, external bottom bracket, sloping top tune and the fact it was of steel construction was just the icing on the cake! it also came in a choice of colours.
The Ride
I added the frankly brilliant Shimano GRX groupset and some DT rims on hope hubs I’d built myself and from the first ride after the traditional moving of saddle height, bar height, bar roll, saddle pitch etc etc…then inevitably doing that quite a few times the bike felt like an old friend, but then as i said it was almost identical to my old bike. The addition of 42mm tyres and it’s off road manners makes the purple haze a very comfortable off roader. The feel of steel that lots of people bang on about can actually be felt, there’s definitely some sort of compliance going on vertically compared to the aluminium gravel bikes I’ve ridden.
Step on the pedals though and it’ll go forward nicely, it’s never going to compete with a carbon frame in the weight stakes but it bowls along nicely and after lengthy off road stints you don’t feel fatigued as much by the terrain as on other bikes i’ve ridden. but the extra weight certain helps on rough tracks. it doesn’t get pinged all over the place and it’s got me out of trouble a few times, especially down “MTB” trails. this thing is fun!
Conclusion
if you are looking for the lightest weight gravel bike money can buy or a full on race geometry this is not the bike for you. If you like to look at the scenery, explore unknown tracks where there’s a chance of getting out of your depth, want to load your bike up with bags and disappear into the wilderness safe in the knowledge that you don’t have to worry about the bike letting you down, if you are more about fun than staring at the backside of the rider in front then this is the bike for you.
I’ll also add the back up from the guys at Sour bikes was second to none, I asked lots of questions and despite me asking in english the replies were always quick and knowledgable. The website lets you choose the colour of the frame, whether you have a carbon or steel fork, even the colour of the head badge. the added bonus is that you can now buy a complete bike removing the agony of trying to decide the spec for yourself!
but in the end despite the choices the “autumn glow” sparkly brown paint job was enough for me to love it.
UK GRAVEL COLLECTIVE 