The new titanium Stage Storm King is a monster of an adventure gravel bike, and one fit for a king. Developed to tackle any terrain with giant tires either 650B or 700c, the new Storm King is the latest in premium adventure bikes to blur that thin line between gravel, monstercross & dropbar mountain bikes…
Sage Storm King titanium fat-tire adventure gravel bike
c. Sage
Built to fit rubber up to 650b x 2.4″ (61mm) or 700c x 50mm (effectively a 2″ wide 29er MTB tire), the all-new Sage Storm King is all about opening up more places to ride a gravel bike. Much like the same massive tire option in the recent Open WiDe, this is a new norm in adventure riding where classically technical singletrack is just as much fair game as any gravel road.
But while many gravel riders look to premium carbon bikes for the lightest builds, this Sage offers the inherent durability & forgiving ride of titanium with little weight penalty. And when open-ended adventure is on the horizon, it’s hard to argue the benefits of a US-made ti bike that still sells for about the same price as carbon competitors.
Sage Storm King adventure-ready titanium
Beyond fat gravel and even mountain bike tire compatibility, the ti Storm King is ready for adventure riding with a full set of frame bosses for bottles & bags, low-key fender mounts, and even a dropper post.
The bi-ovalized 3/2.5 titanium Storm King features classic external downtube shift routing with a patented modular clip-on touch that will even route electronic wires internal, and can be set up with 1x gravel drivetrains or even a road compact double. The bike also gets internal rear brake & dropper routing in the downtube to make bikepacking bag installation smooth. It features Boost rear spacing, flat mount disc brakes, a threaded BB, straight 44mm headtube for tapered steerers, and
Storm King geometry
Adventure geometry is said to lean towards “rock-gobbling” to match the massive tire clearance, and is meant to be comfortable for long days of technical riding. That is said to make for something a bit slacker than a gravel race bike. But available in seven stock sizes, it still centers around a quick feeling 72° head angle & ~73° seat angle on top of its big tires (just a half a degree slacker than Sage’s gravel Barlow.)
Storm King pricing & availability
The US-made titanium Storm King is undoubtedly a premium gravel bike. But with prices starting at $3200 for a frame-only ($3960 with a Enve G-Series fork & Chris King headset), it is surprisingly not much more than than a top-end carbon adventure bike.
Complete Storm Kings are also available now, but get pretty expensive, pretty fast. We’ve been told that some complete bikes will be offered from just $7500, but the standard GRX builds on Sage’s online bike builder are all over $9k.
Standard Sage ti bikes come in a raw ti finish with ten logo color options, but custom finishes are always possible, too. This lovely custom painted purple Storm King quickly brings the price up to $15,000 with a mechanical GRX 1x group, a PNW dropper & color-match Enve carbon wheels, cockpit & even a customized Brooks saddle.
I don’t understand why manufacturers go to the trouble of setting up beautiful, super-clean internal cable routing; but then leave bare derailleur inner wire exposed underneath the chainstay, where it will quickly be contaminated in any kind of off road, bad weather riding.
People have been doing this on mountain bike seat stays and chain stays for decades. There is also exposed cable on all mechanical rear derailleurs where the pinch bolt is. As long as your running stainless steel cables you should be able to get a year in between cable changes.
The reason I think is clearance between housing and tire or chainring. If the stays are manipulated enough, they may have decided it’s cleaner to avoid placing 3 zip tie guides to keep the housing clear of other stuff.
There’s not much to worry about in regards to contamination since high quality cable kits generally include sealed ferrules.
Well, if someone’s going to spend that much money, makes more sense to spend it on an indestructible frame. Carbon just doesn’t have the durability that an off-road bike demands.
Carbon doesn’t have the durability that off-road demands? …Pardon while I spray coffee all over the place laughing my @ss off!!! What planet do you live on, Bizarro World?
I saw this bike hanging on display in a shop in downtown Portland. Looks even more amazing in real life.
Very nice looking and expensive Lynskey, I mean Sage.
<——- Currently contributing to Storm King slush fund.