Start with the right frame.

Steel · Berlin, GermanyShips from overseas

Berlin steel with a look all its own. Standert sell direct, so the price is the price, and their stuff turns up in fewer group rides than another Tarmac. Duty and a European warranty are the tradeoff.

Aluminium · Truckee, CA

The cheapest thing here and not a compromise. Aluminium got good while nobody was watching, and this is a frameset-first company rather than one selling you leftovers. Lifetime warranty on manufacturing defects.

Aluminium · Truckee, CA

Straight road geometry in alloy. Sits alongside the Road Plus, which trades a little sharpness for more tyre.

Aluminium · Berlin, GermanyShips from overseas

A proper alloy race frame, which is a thing almost nobody makes seriously any more. If you want a fast bike that doesn't cost carbon money, this is on a very short list.

Titanium · Truckee, CA

Titanium at roughly half what the established ti names charge. Frame, fork, seatpost and headset in the base price.

Steel · Bloomington, MN

Road plus done properly. Fat slick tyres on a steel frame, comfortable for hours, and cheap enough that you can spend the savings on wheels. Surly parts stay available for years, which matters more than people think.

Steel · New York, NY

Crust build strange, lovely bikes for people who ride a long way and don't care what it looks like on a spec sheet. The Bombora is their all-road, and it will take a bigger tyre than you expect.

Aluminium · Truckee, CA

The alloy version of the Allroad, and the cheapest way into this brand. If the titanium one is the dream and the budget says otherwise, the geometry is the same.

Titanium · Truckee, CA

If you want one bike and one bike only, start here. Titanium, sits deliberately between road and gravel, and priced where a lot of people can actually reach it.

Steel · Portland, ORMade in Oregon

Ira Ryan and Tony Pereira, built here. This is their stock all-road model rather than a custom commission, so you order it like any other frameset. $500 deposit.

Carbon · Rogers, AR

Carbon actually made in America, which is rarer than it sounds. The ECHO swaps between road and gravel setups, so it's one frame covering two bikes if you're happy changing wheels.

Carbon · Ogden, UT

40mm clearance and specced for all-road or endurance depending on how you build it. The price is a chassis, not a bare frame, so compare it accordingly. Cyclepath PDX stocks these if you'd rather see one in person.

Aluminium · Direct, USA

Three hundred dollars. I have built one of these into a loaded bikepacking rig with a dynamo hub and carbon wheels, and it is still going, so I am not being sniffy about it. If your budget is going into wheels and drivetrain rather than the frame, this is a completely legitimate place to start.

Steel · Bristol, UKShips from overseas

Bristol-built steel that looks like it came out of 1975 and takes a modern disc wheel. Cheap for what it is, if you can live with duty and a warranty that lives in England.

Steel · Direct, global

Steel, drop bars, mounts for everything, and a reputation earned the hard way on long tours. One of the best value frames here if you want to carry things.

Steel · Bloomington, MN

Drop bars, trail clearance, and no interest in your average speed. If the gravel you ride is closer to singletrack, this is the one.

Steel · Annapolis, MD

Monster gravel on a budget. Huge tyre clearance and mounts everywhere, for people whose idea of a good day involves a bivvy bag.

Steel · Bloomington, MN

Been around long enough to be unfashionable, which is usually a good sign. Takes racks, fenders and abuse. A sensible first custom build if you want to learn what you actually like.

Carbon · Bloomington, MN

Carbon gravel for less than most people spend on wheels, with an adjustable dropout so you can shift the chainstay length and change how it handles. Genuinely a lot of frame for the money.

Steel · Bloomington, MN

Drop bars on 29er clearance. The Fargo has been the default answer for serious bikepacking for over a decade and nothing has really displaced it.

Steel · New York, NY

For the rider who already knows what they want and doesn't need it explained. Crust don't chase trends, which is why their bikes age well.

Aluminium · Truckee, CA

Aluminium gravel from a company that only makes framesets. Priced against the Crux DSW and the Checkpoint ALR, and worth putting on the same list.

Carbon · Bloomington, MN

Built for the Tour Divide and it shows. Carbon, enormous clearance, and storage worked into the frame. If your dream ride is measured in days rather than hours, look here.

Titanium · Truckee, CA

Titanium gravel at well under what the established ti names ask. Same argument as the rest of their range: the material without the mythology tax.

Steel · Portland, ORMade in Oregon

The gravel side of the Breadwinner stock line. Same builders, same city, more clearance.

Carbon · ItalyShips from overseas

3T were doing fast gravel before it was a category. The Racemax is the racier of the two, and it's made in Italy rather than badged there.

Carbon · ItalyShips from overseas

Same money as the Racemax but built around much bigger rubber. If your gravel is genuinely rough, this is the one of the pair to look at.