The Sonder Camino alpkit’s adventure bike, this is the gravel bike I use and must have been using it now for I think 3 years now. Before that I had a genesis Croix de fer, this it what replaced that. This is actually the original OG titanium Camino, that’s what the V1 stands for if you didn’t guess. I’m not sure how much different the different gens are to be honest I know the newer ones have a bit more tyre clearance and the most major change is that this V1 Camino has a QR (Quick Release) rear axle that probably my only real criticism of this bike, not that I have anything against Qr rear axles just that it’s going to get harder and harder to find wheels for the rear of this bike as time goes on. (I guess I could just stop braking them) This bike I bought just before the lockdown crazy bike prices happened and picked this frame, fork, headset (hope) and seat clamp (also hope, broke that though) for about £470 posted, I feel like that was an absolute steal, for titanium.

If you have been following my adventures on YouTube for a while you probably are very familiar with this bike, it’s been this solid bike, well, while the heart of this bike has been flawless there have definitely been some issues, mostly it’s always the SRAM parts that I put on this bike, it was all originally force but from the brakes failing to the gears very rarely ever working consistently it’s safe to say I am looking forward to changing all the components, not decided 100% of what I will change it all for, but it will likely be GRX 1x or 2X we shall see. Being the V1 Camino it’s supposed to only have a max tyre size of I think 48mm maybe even 45mm I can’t really remember, but for the last couple of years I have been using 50mm maxis ramblers, which is my favourite bike packing gravel tyre. I only really like to use the gravel bike ob routes that are a bit less technical and pedally, so having not much tyre Clarence doesn’t really matter I avoid using the gravel bike in extreme wet and muddy conditions as much as I can.

Love them or hate them (I don’t really care) this gravel bike has been a great tool in my arsenal. And anyway gravel bikes are not really anything new, not really anyway, it’s the road hydraulic brakes that changed the game on disc “road bikes” People like to ride gravel bikes so they have a place in my opinion, it’s true they are not always the best tool for the job. Take wales for example I avoid that place on the gravel bike because its just not really the best place for it, but most people everyone I know cant have the perfect tool for the job bikes are way too expensive for that, so it’s better to have something that will get you out the door and on an adventure rather than sitting at home wishing you had the perfect bike for everything you want to ride.

Anyway this bike has seen me traverse across the UK on the along the GB divide during March which was an unforgettable adventure, up on the mountains in the snow was an absolute highlight. Ride my longest day ride at 369 miles in 22:30hrs elapsed time with just 1 hour off the bike, so I hope this bike stays with me for a long while yet.