What’s your local riding like?
I’m in central NM, and most of the trails in my area are rocky enough that they’re best enjoyed with burly MTB tires. Any other singletrack would be fine without suspension, and I could see using the rigid Seigla as a drop bar MTB in those areas!
I’m new to the gravel world, but spend many years riding and racing road, MTB, and CX. I haven’t come across dirt roads around here that I feel like suspension would be a big advantage.
I’m in Prince William County in northern Virginia, south west of DC a fair bit outside of the beltway. For as rural as the county is, there are surprisingly few gravel roads. Most are in the surrounding counties. There are a lot of great events within 1-2 hours of driving, including Gravista and the C&O Canal Towpath. 57mm of clearance is overkill for what I have nearby, but even if I can convince the wife I need a gravel bike, it will be the only one I get so I want to ensure it can do as much as possible.
For the value I keep coming back to the Seigla. I’m looking at the Weekend Wireless. While there are other carbon gravel bikes with Sram XPLR and similar tire clearance that are less expensive (e.g. Ribble Gravel SL, Fezzari Shafer, etc), the costs will be about the same by the time I add a power meter and upgrade their handlebars.
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I ended up going with the Giant Revolt Advanced Pro frame set and building it up with SRAM mullet and two wheel sets (700x45c with Pirelli Cinturato H tires, the other with 700x50c Maxxis Ramblers), along with Lauf Smoothie bars. Haven’t done any big rides on it since it’s winter in New England, but it’s been really fun on a couple of shakedown rides. No regrets at all.
That said, I definitely would have been super happy with the Seigla, too.
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Where did you get your frame? The Revolt Advanced 1 is the third bike I’ve been strongly considering.
However, for compatibility with my Fezzari Empire, I’m interested in having 160 mm rotors front and rear (complete Revolts have 140 mm rear, I think the brake calipers can be moved with an adapter plate, though). I’d like to be able to swap my road wheels as needed and just change cassettes.
I’ve also read a lot about the 2022 frame crack issue but that seems to occur most often with the D-Fuse seat post but not with a round post. The Revolt round seat post is 30.9 mm. To use a 27.2 mm seat post (such as the Ergon CF to add some comfort) you’d need another adapter.
I’m not a fan of the Revolt handlebar shape. I prefer a flatter section in the drops instead of a continuous curve and would likely upgrade the bars to something like the Lauf Smoothie or Enve G Series Gravel. More money.
The Revolts do not come with power meters whereas the Seigla Weekend Wireless does.
Finally, for me, the stack on the Revolt would still be 7 mm higher than my Empire even if I slammed the stem. The Empire is already an endurance geometry. I’m not sure if 7 mm makes enough of a difference to notice, though.
I really like the way the Revolt looks and it earned BikeRadar’s Bike of the Year last year, so I it looks and sounds like a great bike. Online the Revolt Advanced 1 is nearly the same price as the Seigla Weekend Wireless, though. Add in the things I would change and it ends up being $500-1000USD more. That’s kind of a tough sell unless I could get the frame for around $1000 or complete bike around $3200.
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Yeah, this is easily accomplished using adapters….don’t let the OE spec put you off the bike if it otherwise tickles your fancy.
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That’s weird about the lack of dirt roads!
I’m not familiar with your area, but I’ve spent some time in Harrisonburg racing the Shenandoah Mtn 100, then visited Richmond. Both are areas that would definitely justify a gravel bike with >40mm clearance!
Sounds like a solid set up. If I’m honest, one of the things that has me so set on the Lauf is that I’ve never seen one around here.
Loudon County has made a concerted effort to map their gravel roads, and it is evident on the map below. I live near Manassas and do most of my road biking to the west and south, and there are few dirt roads even out there - beautiful farm country tarmac, though! Seems like Prince William County made a conscious effort to pave over every inch of gravel. I’d still like a gravel bike, though.
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I got the frameset from a shop in PA, it looked like it was one of the last two in the country from the Giant website. I got a good price on the frame and picked up the SRAM Force groupset during some of the pre-Black Friday sales with a lot of the parts around 50% off. The wheelsets are from Farsports with DT Swiss hubs, so they were pretty great bang for the buck. I had an extended test ride with one of the frames last year and really liked it, and given the luck on the frame and the deals I was able to get, I feel really good about the purchase (right around $5500 for complete bike with both wheelsets), and I was able to get it with exactly the parts I wanted. That said, I have no doubt that I’d feel equally good if I picked up a Seigla.
I’m mildly concerned about the cracking seat tubes and will probably end up just switching to a straight 30.9 post for the extra security, since I feel like the compliance benefits of the D-shaped post would probably be a wash with 45-50c tires.
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Based on what I’ve read I would definitely do this.
If the frame is designed for D-shaped post, I don’t think this would be possible.
Might depend on the model, but here is one related bit:
I am trying to find pics, but seems like it’s round by default, with an insert for the D-Fuse post.
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Oh, that is interesting…had not seen that.
Yeah, the seat tube is round with a 30.9 diameter, then they use an alloy shim with a lip to keep it in place to get it down to the right side for the D-shaped seatpost.
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The 2022 Giant Revolt carbon frames are notorious for micro cracks at the top of the seat tube when using their D-Fuse seatpost. The issue has received little to no coverage in the mainstream cycling media but appears widely reported by users on Reddit, Facebook groups, and forums. From what I’ve read Giant has been good about replacing frames but I’m still baffled at the lack of coverage. There are pics of 2023 frames with reinforced carbon layup at the top of the seat tube to fix the issue.
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This thread right now gave me the extra little nudge I needed. Just ordered a Whisky seatpost from Jenson. Thanks!
Is this supposed to be a “flexy” post for comfort?
Yes
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Has anyone gotten the Schafer? I think thinking this or the Ventum GS1 or a Enve MOG, but the Schafer seems like a steal compared to the others. I can’t find that many reviews, but I am mean the carbon frames are all more or less the same? I also want a more relaxed ride since I’m on the older side with tight muscles, and prefer longer rides.
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I ended up getting a great deal on a Giant Revolt Advanced Pro frameset and building it up with SRAM Force mullet. Honestly, I love the bike a ton but if I hadn’t stumbled onto an awesome price on the frameset, i think I’d probably be just as happy with a Fezzari Shafer.
The Lauf Seigla is another great deal (and includes a power meter), but as things stand now, I probably would’ve gone with the Fezzari over it for the lower BB (which is helpful with a lot of technical riding I do in my area) and the fact that it can come with a mullet setup stock. As a 50+ rider who lives where 1000’ of climbing for every 10 miles is the norm, I really like the bottom end of a 40t chainring with a 10-50 or 10-52 cassette over XPLR, which comes with a 10-44. I’m sure it’s capable of a bigger cassette, but it’s really nice being able to go fully stock with a mullet setup where everything just works together perfectly.
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