Johnny Brown said:
Disc brakes seem great so far, work great and not had to touch them
For the love of God, go and show them some love (i.e. Holts brake disc cleaner) or you're heading towards a world of pain. Take the pads out, clean the pistons, exercise them, lube them, etc.
I'm not sure (a quick Google image search suggests I'm correct) on GRX but if it uses the same flat head retaining bolt (Chinesium alloy) as the road models, bin it and replace it with the hex-head MTB equivalent before it's too late (drilling them out isn't much fun). If you do need to get one out, make sure the screwdriver is a perfect fit.
PS - If people are looking for low maintenance disc options the cable operated hydraulic units (such as those made by TRP) get very good reviews.
The other option for people if they don't want 2x up-front is a Classified rear hub but this is still a bit niche (and still fairly pricey)? This combo seems fairly popular with the Backyard Bikeshop mechanic over on YouTube. Mine's 1x and on a route which shares a road section with a purely road loop with the same descent, I didn't find much difference in top-end speed.
In terms of NVH (or compliance) people seem to like the Redshift products such as their stem and seat post:
https://redshiftsports.com/products/shockstop-suspension-stem
https://redshiftsports.com/products/shockstop-suspension-seatpost
If you do buy a Ribble bike, I'd avoid their Custom Colour option. Plenty of people seem to be finding that they didn't do a great job of preparing the BB area so when they need a replacement it's damaging the paintwork. You can watch Hambini tear them apart if that's your thing.
https://www.hambini.com/ribble-cycles-cgr-al-multiple-failures-of-qa-qc-and-technical-service/
galpinos said:
*All the "gravel riding" images and media I see seems to be in the US on gravel roads that don't seem to exist in the UK?
Scotland looks to have some pretty good stuff. I can't remember his handle but a UKBer and former Foundry employee lives up there and his Insta looks like gravel is real. There's some good looking stuff here in South Australia but I can't easily try it out as I think at a push I can squeeze 30mm on the bike I have here and a rear spoke broke fairly violently the other day on a ride when someone else kicked up a rock; the result was a wheel that wouldn't clear the stays (so instantly locked up) so I'm a bit nervous of pushing my luck.