Is the Rose Blend one dropbar bike to rule them all?
OK, Rose isn’t really trying to eliminate separate road bikes and gravel bikes. But their new Blend looks to successfully have eliminated the tough choice for new dropbar cyclists of whether to buy a road bike or a gravel bike.
Why pick, when you can have both!
Rose Blend adaptable, affordable alloy road AND gravel bike
Rose calls their new Blend a hybrid platform that can be built up as road or gravel. It’s not a huge stretch, as we see even top-tier modern road bikes with mega tire clearances these days. And gravel bikes with race-ready road-inspired geometry. So, just like with a lot of contemporary all-road bikes, there’s really no need any more to commit to riding on just one type of surface.
And that’s especially important to someone new to cycling, or even to mountain bikers looking to branch out onto dropbars. Rose’s entry into “sporty cycling” just got easier and more affordable.
Tech details
Sure this is an affordable entry-level, smooth-welded aluminum road or gravel bike. But you get almost all of the key modern dropbar bike features – plus a comfortably-flared Ritchey Butano bar to top it off.
This is a modern flat-mount disc brake bike with 12mm thru-axles, a tapered steerer carbon fork, 27.2mm post, a UDH, and fully internal cable routing through the headset. You can even mount a kickstand if you feel so inclined.
Tire clearance is 40mm, letting it fall more into the light gravel or fast gravel categories. But slap some 32mm slicks on there, and it’s firmly in the modern road category, with plenty of all-road capability, plus full-coverage fender compatibility.
A wide 7-size range (XXS-XXL) should offer a fit for everyone – with seattube lengths from 42.5-60cm!
Update: Above is an updated geometry chart, as the original that Rose provided had incorrect Stack, Reach & Wheelbase figures. Thanks to readers Michi & Gary who spotted the discrepencies.
Rose Blend – Pricing, options & availability
The new Rose Blend bike comes in 2 discipline-specific build spec levels – road or gravel – and in 2 colors. Pick from matte Salmon orange or more conventional matte black in either style.
Starting at €1199 for the road build you get a Tiagra 2×10 groupset with compact 50/34 x 11-34T gearing. Add 32mm Continental Ultra Sport road slicks on Rose’s own house brand alloy wheels with a 22mm internal width, for a claimed complete bike weight of 9.9kg.
For 1399€, the gravel build gets a GRX 400 2×10 build with lower 46/30 x 11-34T off-road gearing and 40mm Conti Terra Trail tires on those same G20 wheels. Just 100g more claimed than the road build.
Both iterations of the new do-it-all dropbar Rose Blend are available now, direct from Rose and in their retail shops.
