Fork in the Road (gravel)

[Epicus07]

Im looking at building up a Soma Wolverine as a utilitarian adventure bike. I'm trying to keep the build cost down and triage my choices for best value.

I can get a Wolvy V3 for significantly less than a v4. The V4 comes with TA front and rear, 44mm headtube for tapered fork compatibility, no frame break for belt drive (which i am unlikely to ever use) and about 1 cm more stack height.

I really like the features of the V4 (especially the reduction in headset spacers) and TA but with the difference in funds I could get much nicer brakes or crank etc.

I could live with QR and more spacers. Some people claim that the older forks have a good deal of flex and the tapered plus TA should really stiffen up the front end.

Is TA really worth an extra $250?
Do I splurge for a crank from white industries for its versatility and mad sex appeal?
TRP Spyres vs Yokozuna cable-hydros.

Split the difference and get a v3 with a v4 TA fork? (Would be black frame with blue fork, blue in label may clash with blue fork)

I also considered BMC MCD but that would be more expensive yet and they are out of stock in my size.

[jtakeda]

I think the TA is worth it. It’ll be easier to find wheels in the future.

I also think cable actuated discs are just fine assuming you’re not using campy

[Ed-B]

I also think cable actuated discs are just fine assuming you’re not using campy

I'm running a set of Shimano R317 cable disc calipers with Campagnolo Centaur Ergopower levers. These are just single sided mechanisms with adjustable pads on the fixed side, but I think they're okay; cable pull seems to be compatible and they generate very good stopping power. I'd say they're comparable to the BB7's I'm running with 5600 levers on another bike.

Ed

[jtakeda]

I'm running a set of Shimano R317 cable disc calipers with Campagnolo Centaur Ergopower levers. These are just single sided mechanisms with adjustable pads on the fixed side, but I think they're okay; cable pull seems to be compatible and they generate very good stopping power. I'd say they're comparable to the BB7's I'm running with 5600 levers on another bike.

Ed

I’ve used spyre and bb7 with compressionless housing and they were fine until I tried some
Juin Techs and those made me realize how bad they were