Gravel bike input?

[benb]

The CX8.4 option is the cheap and easy thing but I guess you'd have to figure out what you actually want in a new bike.

The new bike is not going to be a revelation.

I have CX9s on my All City Space Horse. I've upgraded almost everything on it to 105 type level and it weighs between 25-27lbs depending on tires & whether or not the fenders and/or rack are on it. Not a light bike, but it's fine 99% of the time. Inexpensive stuff in this space is heavy because the bikes are trying to be jack of all trades and while you were happily riding the Poprad all the bikes got stupendously expensive.

There were tons of bikes with Cantis years ago. On the internet Cantis are still the best brakes, in the real world they are incredibly fiddly and the market decided they needed to die. Almost everyone in the real world has bad memories of Canti brakes in the 80s and 90s that didn't stop worth a damn and could never seem to be adjusted right.

I am a good mechanic IMO but the Cantis that came on my All City were indeed the most fiddly brakes I've ever owned. Even worse than the ones I had in the late 80s and 90s. The CX9s I have are also fiddly but it's easy to learn the recipe for how to keep them working well. It's just that just like Cantis you have to constantly adjust them as the pads wear to keep them working, constantly changing the main cable tension and then adjusting the spring tension to keep the brake centered. Nothing like a modern road rim brake where you just have to tighten a barrel adjuster as the pad wears and it works flawlessly the whole time.

Last time I tried Hydro discs on a road/gravel bike was 2016, they were still not very good IMO at that time, but still better than cable discs and cantis/V-brakes. If and when they get as good as MTB wet discs they'll revolutionize everything... I've had wet MTB discs for a long time and they have been the least hassle of any type of brakes I've owned. But compared to the Shimano Ultegra hydraulic discs I tried in 2016 the MTB brakes still seemed to be vastly more powerful with much better modulation and easier bleed procedures. (My experience with MTBs is bleeding almost never needs to be done.)

[sonicCows]

If you like the new bike and it makes you want to ride more, that should be a win!

A lot of folks here telling you to keep your old bike and upgrade to V-brakes, and that's fine. Bear in mind that discs have a weight penalty since the frame needs to be built up for thru axles and reinforced for the disc mounts, they'll also be a bit tougher to set up (compared to v-brakes at least). Vs will be light and an easy setup, but you get rim wear (esp on gravel) and braking performance impacted by wheels getting out of true.

I think it comes down to what kind of wear-items you want to deal with, and whether a new bike will inspire you to ride more. You mention you've had your bike for a while, so it's not like you're impulsively buying.

By all accounts Shimano R7020 (105-level hydro) shift and brake very well and for a price point below Rival if you want to consider that. Niner (lots of braze-ons), Orbea, and Giant (very sleek) all have nice aluminum options too.

Originally Posted by benb

There were tons of bikes with Cantis years ago. On the internet Cantis are still the best brakes, in the real world they are incredibly fiddly and the market decided they needed to die. Almost everyone in the real world has bad memories of Canti brakes in the 80s and 90s that didn't stop worth a damn and could never seem to be adjusted right.

I am a good mechanic IMO but the Cantis that came on my All City were indeed the most fiddly brakes I've ever owned. Even worse than the ones I had in the late 80s and 90s. The CX9s I have are also fiddly but it's easy to learn the recipe for how to keep them working well. It's just that just like Cantis you have to constantly adjust them as the pads wear to keep them working, constantly changing the main cable tension and then adjusting the spring tension to keep the brake centered. Nothing like a modern road rim brake where you just have to tighten a barrel adjuster as the pad wears and it works flawlessly the whole time.

[semdoug]

I have a Lynskey GR260 that I like a great deal. It has 105 with TRP mechanical discs. I paid $1850 for it during one of Lynskey’s clearance sales directly from their website. Lynskey also blows out frames on eBay.