The best titanium gravel bikes you can buy in 2023

The best titanium gravel bikes offer great looks, smooth ride quality and the versatility to take on different adventures

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By Paul Norman

Published: June 12, 2023 at 4:00 pm

The best titanium gravel bikes take advantage of the shiny metal’s distinct qualities, leading to its use in some of the best gravel bikes. It’s a great option for gravel racing, as well as bikepacking and more general off-road exploits.

Firstly, titanium doesn’t corrode, which is a plus over most steel gravel bikes, where exposed metal can rust. This enables brands to offer unpainted, brushed-finished titanium gravel frames. Titanium offers similar ride qualities to steel, but is lighter and stronger.

Aluminium has half the strength of titanium and has lower fatigue resistance, so aluminium gravel bikes can be more prone to stress fractures. Small dings in aluminium can spread over time and form major cracks, wiping out the frame while titanium is more resistant to impacts.

Carbon gravel bikes can have similar issues to aluminium concerning robustness if the frame takes a hit, because this can damage and crack the carbon fibre structure.

The disadvantage of titanium is it’s more expensive than other metals. It’s also harder to work with, which adds to the cost of titanium gravel bikes. You can read more on the pros and cons of titanium in our guide to bike frame materials.

Read on for our pick of the best titanium gravel bikes, which make up just a small percentage of the titanium gravel bikes our team of expert testers have reviewed here at BikeRadar over the years. The list includes some less expensive models as well as top-tier builds.

Further down the page, you’ll find our buyer’s guide to titanium gravel bikes, to help you to choose if you’re looking for the best gravel bikes made from titanium.

Rutland-based J Laverack has sweated the details on its titanium gravel bike, with neat welds, while the low production volume enables you to spec the bike as you like and include or omit mounts for mudguards, extra bottle cages and the like. You can also request custom geometry and choose your own component spec. There’s frame clearance for 48mm 700c or 50mm 650b tyres.

We were impressed by the GRiT’s composure and stability on uneven gravel surfaces and the bike coped well with winter conditions. We said in our review that the GRiT was “comfortable, dependable, secure and quick, and was always fun”.

Mason Cycles majors on steel and aluminium all-road framesets, as well as offering the alloy Bokeh gravel bike. The Bokeh Ti is a rarer beast though, made in Italy in small runs and with a significant waiting list.

It carries over many of the details of the alloy Bokeh, including frame ports that provide compatibility with a wide range of 1x and 2x drivetrains and internal dynamo cable routing through the carbon fork.

Mason has long collaborated with Hunt wheels and you can spec 650b or 700c wheels or, with Mason’s build-to-order production, something entirely different.

We loved the composed off-road ride quality, and comfort from the frame and the chunky gravel bike tyres – even if they did make the bike feel a bit slow on the road. It’s a bike that majors on more extreme challenges and bikepacking, with Mason continually looking to push the limits of where you can take your gravel bike.

The Reilly Gradient frame has the clean, sparse looks of the best titanium bikes and the ride is both quick and comfortable. The bike is nicely specced, with a Shimano GRX 1x groupset and alloy 4Season gravel wheels from Hunt, and well priced for a titanium bike made in the UK.

There’s reasonable tyre clearance for faster gravel riding at 700×43mm, although not the super-wide clearance offered by some gravel bikes. However, the bike feels as precise as a road bike on tarmac, while still offering the control needed when you hit the gravel.

All-City’s first titanium frame, the Cosmic Stallion Ti is sold as a frameset only, with the brand saying it’s around 340g lighter when compared to steel. The frameset is made beautifully too, with some very intricate details, although it is expensive.

The All-City Cosmic Stallion Ti is a great all-rounder that could be configured for road riding or commuting as easily as for heading off-road and bikepacking.

The frame tubing may look thin, but there’s plenty of rigidity where it matters, making for stable handling on tricky surfaces. The frame can be fitted with either 700c or 650b wheels. Our build weighed just under 10kg, but we reckon you could shave 500g off that with a more conventional component choice.

Sussex-based Enigma Cycles is a titanium bike specialist and the Enigma Escape works well for gravel riders. It has a ride that’s well-damped and takes advantage of titanium’s ability to avoid transmitting surface buzz. There’s clearance for 45mm 700c or 50mm 650b tyres.

Like many titanium gravel bikes, the Enigma Escape majors on versatility, with a geometry and configuration that would enable you to set the bike up for commuting, touring or backroad riding, as well as gravel. The external cabling and threaded bottom bracket should avoid maintenance hassles too.

The Moots Routt 45 gravel bike comes from the legendary Colorado-based titanium bike specialist. The quality of the welds is second to none and the finish exemplary. It’s completed with a separately formed Moots head badge.

Although American buyers can select a complete bike, in the UK Moots frames are available as a frameset only, making them a great, if expensive, option, if you want to build up your own bespoke gravel bike.

Our review bike took advantage of this, with a build including a Chris King headset, ENVE gravel bars and SRAM Force AXS groupset. The White Industries hubs were laced up to Astral Wanderlust alloy rims rather than flashy carbon numbers.

We loved the ride qualities of the Moots Routt 45. Although at over 9kg it’s not the lightest titanium gravel bike available, the sheer quality of the construction and the attention to detail help to justify the bike’s lofty price. It also has decent clearance, being able to fit 700×50mm tyres.

Ribble majors on versatility with the CGR Ti. CGR stands for cross/gravel/road, highlighting the multiple options to configure the bike to your preferences using Ribble’s Bike Builder service. The all-rounder frameset stands in contrast to the more specialist Ribble Gravel Ti, highlighted further down this list.

As you’d expect for a bike designed for versatility, there’s plenty of clearance for wide tyres and fittings for gravel bike mudguards and luggage. The brushed raw titanium finish of the Ribble CGR Ti looks great and at 1,700g it’s reasonably lightweight for a metal frameset.

We reviewed a more road-going spec, but the frame can be set up for either 45mm 700c or 47mm 650b wheels and even has internal dynamo cable routing through the fork leg. Despite the road focus, we did stray off-road and were impressed by the bike’s handling on 32mm road tyres in all but the roughest conditions.

Alongside the CGR Ti (see above), Ribble sells the Gravel Ti. Whereas the former bike is designed to handle a variety of uses, the Gravel Ti is a gravel specialist. We loved the quality of the titanium frame detailing and the clean welds, which place it on a par with much pricier bikes.

We reviewed the Hero build, although there are less expensive component choices that can be selected with Ribble’s online Bike Builder. Choose the Hero and the Gravel Ti comes equipped with a SRAM Force AXS XPLR single-ring groupset, ENVE AG28 650b wheels and Halo GXD 47mm tyres.

The Gravel Ti in its Hero build is well matched to UK off-road conditions and we were able to power through some rough terrain, although on-road the wide tyres slowed things down a little.

The Sonder Camino is from Alpkit’s in-house bike brand. It has an MTB-style geometry, wide tyre clearance and all the mounts needed for extended off-road trips. There’s even internal routing for a gravel dropper post.

The spec includes a host of own-brand components alongside a SRAM Rival mechanical 11-speed groupset. It’s very comfortable, with an upright ride position and handles well when loaded up for bikepacking.

The Camino Ti was on long-term review, so we found niggles that a shorter acquaintance may have missed. These included the undue pressure on the SRAM levers from the wide flare of the Bomber gravel bike handlebar and the need to swap out the SRAM bottom bracket bearings after a spell of UK winter riding.

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Titanium gravel bikes (and indeed the best titanium road bikes) are prized for their looks. It’s common for titanium gravel bikes to be left unpainted, although there’s no reason why they can’t be painted and some brands will offer this. No paint means there are no chips to repair; the common brushed or peened finishes for titanium gravel bikes don’t tend to show scratches.

Titanium is half the weight of steel for a tube of the same tensile strength. It’s also more resistant to impacts and fatigue than aluminium. Since it’s light, the titanium tubing used for bikes is thicker than steel tubing too, which increases its impact resistance.

Titanium can be left unpainted because the metal is highly corrosion resistant, making it a good option for the poor weather and conditions that are often experienced when gravel riding.

Titanium gravel bikes, when well designed, have a similar forgiving ride quality to steel gravel bikes, with the metal’s inherent ability to soak up vibrations and surface imperfections an advantage when riding gravel.

Titanium is more difficult to weld than steel or aluminium. Titanium welders tend to be the most highly skilled, so you can expect the welds to be really well finished, with the mark of a good titanium frame being small, regular ‘fishtails’ at the joints.

Titanium tubing is usually round, at least for the bike’s main triangle, because it’s more complex to form titanium tubing than aluminium or steel. Many titanium gravel bikes offer internal cable and brake hose routing, at least through the down tube. External routing does have advantages for serviceability though.

It’s usual for a titanium gravel bike to be fitted with a carbon fibre fork, for carbon’s better ability to absorb vibrations and provide a more comfortable ride.

As with other gravel bikes, you can expect the full set of bottle cage and luggage mounts on a titanium gravel bike, so it can be loaded up for bikepacking, touring or as one of the best commuter bikes.

The major disadvantage of many titanium gravel bikes is their high price compared to other metals. This isn’t always the case though, as some of the examples above demonstrate, but if you’re looking for the best budget gravel bikes, titanium is unlikely to feature.

Typically, titanium frameset prices are comparable to carbon fibre and will exceed those of the lowest-priced carbon fibre gravel bikes. That in turn means titanium gravel bikes are often offered with high component specs, including the best gravel bike wheels and best gravel groupsets, which in turn raises the price again.

It’s also often possible to buy titanium gravel bikes as a frameset only, enabling you to build your dream spec, or alternatively to select cheaper gravel components and bring the price of the whole bike down a little.

Titanium gravel bikes tend to be comparable in price to the best carbon gravel bikes, because the raw material is expensive and there’s a similar level of detail that needs to go into making them.

As discussed above, there’s usually less intricate shaping of titanium framesets, to take advantage of the metal’s inherent strength. Carbon fibre can be moulded into intricate shapes to take advantage of the material’s anisotropy, the technical term for its different properties in different directions.

Weight-wise, many titanium gravel bikes are a little heavier than many carbon gravel bikes, although less so than aluminium or steel.

Many of the best gravel race bikes are made from carbon fibre. However, a titanium gravel bike is more likely to be able to withstand a hard impact than a carbon gravel bike, so its longevity may be greater.

Paul has been writing about bike tech and reviewing all things cycling for almost a decade. He had a five-year stint at Cycling Weekly and has also written for titles including CyclingNews, Cyclist and BikePerfect, as well as being a regular contributor to BikeRadar. Tech-wise, he’s covered everything from rim width to the latest cycling computers. He reviewed some of the first electric bikes for Cycling Weekly and has covered their development into the sophisticated machines they are today, on the way becoming an expert on all things electric. Paul was into gravel before it was even invented, riding a cyclocross bike across the South Downs and along muddy paths through the Chilterns. He dabbled in cross-country mountain biking too. He’s most proud of having covered the length of the South Downs Way on a crosser and fulfilling his long-time ambition to climb Monte Grappa on a road bike

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