So I have had my toes dipped in the Gravel bike world for sometime now... Lots of experimenting and back and forth. I have built the following Gravel bike: Lynskey GR300, Niner RLT RDO, 2 Cervelo Asperos, S-Works Diverge, Niner RLT 9 Alloy and now my latest the State All Road 6061.
Many of you know of State Bike Co, as an inexpensive/ lower end Bike manufacture and you would be some what correct in that assessment. They do make some pretty cheap Chinese Alloy and Steel bikes... But this company has some gems among their wacky brand. One of them being the All Road 6061.
The 6061 was released a year or two ago and at that time they offered a Sram Apex Mechanical and their rebranded Sensa 1x11 mechanical both for $1500 USD. Just recently they started selling this bike with the newish Rival AXS XPLR.
Mulling over the Geo charts and just recently dabbling again with Alloy bikes (Niner RLT 9), I decided to pull the trigger on one with Rival AXS XPLR to see if this could fill my niche for a Gravel bike.
I opted for a XS or 48cm offering as the Geo is nearly perfect for my build and bikes I enjoyed in the passed. For reference I am 5,7" or 170cm tall with longish legs for my height at 32" or 81 cm inseam.
The XS AR6061 Geo are as follows: Stack: 538mm, Reach: 371mm, Seat tube angle: 74.5, Head Tube Angle 70.5, Chainstay: 435mm
The Geo leans closer to road/ endurance or gravel race geometer, which I like over the longer slacker offerings of recent gravel bikes.
Tire clearance is around 45mm by 700c and 2.1 or greater with 650b..
For $2500 with Rival AXS XPLR, out of the box with inexpensive rebranded Alloy parts (Wheelset, Seatpost, stem and handlebars) weighs 20.5 Lbs or 9.2kg with tubes and no pedals.
Before I start to swap parts more aggressively, I took some time to throw on some items I have in my parts bin, which ultimately lighted the bike up although it was more about fit and compliance rather than weight savings at this time. I swapped in Bontrager XXX integrated bar and stem, Carbon 20mm setback seatpost and some cheap DT Swiss R470 alloy wheels, running tubeless GK SK 40mm tires, ultegra 160mm rotors, e13 9-46 cassette, Red AXS crank arms with 38T CR and my Assioma single sided Xpedo conversion pedals.
As currently test I am at 19.4 Lbs or 8.8 kg.. Not lite, but honestly not that heavy considering gravel bikes in the $3500-$5500 with similar components and carbon frames are around 18-19 pounds..
I have put about 200 miles on Zwift, getting my fit dialed in and about 100 miles of gravel.
My thoughts so far: I am pleasantly surprised, honestly, I wasnt expecting a whole lot out of this bike, but it is so much more.
Pros:
It looks like a regular road bike, not like the sea of aero bikes which all look the same..
Its not a walking billboard, you cant tell what type of bike it is unless you get on top of it, branding is minimal
Geo for me is what I want out of Gravel race bike
Build quality, excellent, welds are clean and paint and finish are great (compared to the Niner Alloy, I would have guessed the Niner was the cheaper quality bike out the 2)
Frame mounting points finish, great, BB was straight, brake mounts are excellent ( super easy to align the rotors with no rub)
Ride quality is great, especially with the Carbon post and the Carbon fork is stiff but compliant
Negatives:
Honestly not much.. The 31.6mm seatpost isnt my thing so I put in a Cane Creek shim to run a 27.5mm carbon post and compliance is great.
PF 86 BB, some many not like this, but its fine for me.. Its smooth even with a cheap Sram BB in there now
For me, someone who rides more road than gravel based on my geographic location, this is a great bike and definitely offers a platform where you can build it with higher spec items or keep it cheap and just enjoy it.
I like that I can run a long stem.. I am old school and not a fan of current gravel trend of longer reach and stubby stems.. I also hate tall stack heights for each size.. Finally I like flatter top tubes as apposed to steep angled ones you find on the Diverge and others.
What about Alloy frames being harsh you say?? Well, honestly, I cant tell any difference between this and my previous fleet of higher end Carbon gravel bikes.. I would say that the Aspero and the Alloy Niner are less comfortable than the AL6061 for me.. I also ran the same tires, so no change there from bike to bike.
Being and huge Aethos fan, I was eyeing the Crux really hard, but I hated the Geo, or at least hated that I am a shorter rider.. I also hated the price considering I would ride this bike 25% of the season as most of my miles are road miles.. Finally, the Crux Expert Rival XPLR is $6200 plus tax.. The AL6061 was $2700 shipped to my door. $3500 difference.. Yes the State is Alloy frame and Carbon Fork, but the Crux at that build also has Alloy handlebars, stem and heavy Terra C wheels. If you arent a complete weight weenie you can spend that saved $3500 on some really nice upgrades..
Ok, I went on on.. more to come as I make some tweaks and ride it some more.. Here are some pictures (chimney will be cut once I get it dialed)
