Keep in mind that if you do buy the Canyon Grail that you will be seen riding it...FUGLY.

Matter of opinion, but A. I like it, and B. I have no fucks to give about what anyone thinks as long as I'm happy :)

Van Dessel ADD. Just had one built and love it

Do your best to stay away from ANYTHING with PF30.

I am coming up on 4 yrs with my Kona Jake the Snake. I bought it to race 'cross but have also loved it for its versatility - it has two bottle bosses and I got a rear rack for it for commuting. I have 700x25c road tires (maybe soon to be replaced with Vittoria Terreno Zero when they are available) for riding the rollers in winter or road riding. It may be a bit twitchier than a "gravel" or adventure bike but I have not had many issues with it. Currently I feel like I have trouble sitting up while pedaling, but that could be a new-dad, less core training time thing. I have occasionally thought it might be nice to get a Kona Rove Ti frameset, but I digress...

I am on my second PF30 bottom bracket replacement. The first one was a warranty replacement from FSA. The second one was a SRAM unit installed by my LBS last year. We shall see how long it lasts. I am considering the Kogel BB but the price factor is preventing me from moving quickly. It has been quite annoying as I never had issues with the Truvativ GXP on my road bike or Shimano Octalink on my Mountain Bike. It seems I only have a year or two before I start hearing the dreaded snap/crack/pop sounds.

Every new bike I look at and daydream about getting - I look at if it has a threaded bottom bracket or not!

Definitely go with something that can fit 40c or wider tires. The fork on my Kona has no problem with a WTB Nano 700x40 but I use a 700x37 WTB Riddler on the back due to chainstay clearance concerns.

The Canyon cyclocross bikes look cool and are on sale. I just bought a couple, but have not put them together yet, so no review. They arrived super quick.

I have not personally ridden one, but I know a number of people who have a Santa Cruz Stigmata and rave about it.

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Matt

It starts at $3600 so is outside the top end of what I am looking to spend. I don't see any need to crack above $3k for a simple recreational bike.

Just assembled and rode my Grail for the first time this weekend. Most fun I've ever had on a bike ever. Was a blast. I bought it not for but in spite of the front end (although it fits me perfectly in terms of stack+ and reach+, I was mindful of it being not tired and tested and the what ifs around if I do break it and replacements, etc), but overall the bike is fantastic, better than I hoped for.

And I don't mind the stealth-like looks of the bike overall.

I built up a Santa Cruz Stigmata and despite considering myself mainly a triathlete it's become my favorite bike. I've got two sets of wheels; one with a set of 40cm gravel tires and the other with a set of 30cm road tires. Both are tubeless and I really like switching back and forth between the two and using the bike for both road and gravel rides. With the 40cm tires it handles all types of dirt with ease. It's of course great on gravel, but is also great on non technical single track. I set it up as a 1x and have a XT di2 rear mech and it shifts great both on the road and the dirt.

I also use the bike for occasional cross races and it works great for me. Not a full on cross race machine like a Crux, but for me it's all about the tires. If it's dry I use the 40cm gravel tires and if it's wet I swap them out for a set of 35cm mud tires. I know there are better choices for "racing" cross, but I do it just for fun in the fall and the Stigmata works great for me.

It's not the best road bike (mostly because of the gearing), but I still like occasionally taking it out on a group ride with the 30cm tires and other then running out of gears while descending it does a great job as a road bike too.

It's a really versatile bike and I honestly couldn't be happier with it.

what's your impression of the handlebar now that you've taken it for a ride?

I spend most of my time on the hoods, so no difference to any other handlebar really. When on the (supposedly more compliant) top, It was fine, liked the position, but didn't ride long enough and don't have enough of a previous sample size of gravel riding (except using my MTB) to compare with, or to see if it reduced overall fatigue in the arms over a long period of 3 or 4 hours of non-stop gravel riding.

In the drops, the position takes getting used to (wrapping your thumb around the base bar), but once there it's great and probably a bit more stable than without. I can see that someone with small hands would have trouble though (which has been reported in various tests/reviews).

In short, I wouldn't say a game changer at all, but not a problem at all either. I managed to fit a bell and my front light on the different bar space at disposal, so no problems there either.

Just overall, how the bike handles and behaves in all situations (gravel, fire trails, non-technical single tracks, pavement, cornering at high speeds on pavement or dirt, etc) is even better that I had hoped for. It was a blast riding this bike, beyond what I thought it would be. Excelled in all situations.

FYI, and for what it's worth (I live in Australia), my choice came down to:
- Salsa Warbird Sram Apex 1x (just nearly one thousand AUD more expensive that the Grail, slightly lesser components, and most of all no internal cable routing for a carbon frame in 2018!)
- Orbea Terra Sram Rival 1x (geometry a bit more CX and less Gravel compared to the Grail, again about one thousand AUD more)
- Trek Checkpoint (only about half a thousand more than the Grail, but just meh on the looks of it)
- Grail CFX 7.0 (with Shimano 105 2x). For the package I got overall, the Grail seemed like the best value for money (and lowest price overall).