Reviews

Scott Addict Gravel 10

Off-road adventure bike takes cues from super-light top-end road sibling

Wait, what’s this? A Scott Addict with the word ‘Gravel’ in the title? There must be some mistake.

There isn’t though – the Addict Gravel 10 sits right at the top of Scott’s adventure-cum-cyclocross range and represents the Swiss brand’s flagship carbon gravel frameset. It takes cues from the super-light Addict road bike but throws in considerations for those wanting to take their road bike into the wilderness.

So, the Addict Gravel 10 gains a reprofiled rear triangle and forks that splay outwards to accommodate disc brakes and thru-axles. That means clearance has also gone up too, with the bike coming with space for the supplied Schwalbe G-One gravel tyres.

We’re particularly impressed by how the Addict Gravel retains the speed of its road counterpart. It retains the high-modulus carbon layup and an oversized bottom bracket area that guarantees direct and efficient power transfer, but the geometry has been tweaked to ensure the Addict Gravel is as at home off-road as it is on it.

Even so, and tyres aside, you’d be hard-pressed to spot the difference between the road and gravel version of the Addict.

Of course, differences there are. The bike that Esteban Chaves and the Yates twins use isn’t disc brake-ready yet, and they don’t use a SRAM 1x system either. While the Force 1 setup is capable of providing a range of gearing that matches up to a compact, it positions the bike right in the middle of the gravel market – the lack of front derailleur meaning that, should you decide to cake your Addict gravel in mud and grime, there’s one less thing to go wrong when what you need is reliable shifting away from civilisation.

You’ll get that reliability from the clutched rear derailleur, as well as the 10-42t cassette that provides the range of gearing needed when things tip steeply uphill.

The Force system is completed by SRAM hydraulic disc brakes, complete with both front and rear 160mm rotors for maximum braking performance, while handling is smoothed out via a long 1,043mm wheelbase in a 56cm frame. That makes dealing with loose surfaces a relative doddle, giving plenty of time to recover rear end slides while the 71-degree headtube angle not only tips the rider backwards but slows steering inputs just enough so long days on the Addict over rough terrain are no issue in terms of fatigue. There’s no lack of stiffness here either.

The build on show in the RCUK 100 leaves no expense spared, with Scott’s own finishing-kit brand Syncros providing all the high-level gubbins you could want. This includes a carbon handlebar, specifically profiled for taxing gravel work, and a 27.2mm carbon seatpost for essential compliance.

RCUK 100 2017 - Scott Addict Gravel Disc gravel bike

Scott Addict Gravel 10

Price: £5,199
Website: Scott Sports

There is one stat that impresses us with the Addict Gravel 10, however, and that’s the claimed weight of 7.54kg. That’s crazily light for a gravel bike with disc brakes.

It also opens up the serious possibility of switching out the wheels and tyres, and fitting something more road-specific when you have a road adventure in mind. As good at the G-Ones are, fitting a set of 28c Continental Grand Prix II tyres will transform the Addict Gravel 10 into a much closer imitation of the Addict pure road bike, making this one seriously flexible machine.