Sonder Camino 6 Months On! Is it a Keeper? 

Your point about "mixing and matching" is the crux of the matter. For me, that's what gravel biking is all about and bikes such as the Camino are brilliant. I've got a ti gravel bike with 2 sets of wheels: 30mm road tyres & slightly fewer spokes and 40mm off-road tyres. Like you, it's usually the bike I take away, eg to the Scottish Borders in a couple of weeks where the road & off-road riding is brilliant. Great video again.

I love your positivity in your videos! I think you have identified a strange trend in many gravel bike groupsets such as the GRX, Apex, Force - the lowest gear combination is not low enough for most people to get up really steep inclines, especially if they are lumpy-bumpy, and especially if they are carrying bags. Glad to hear that after changing your rear cassette to something more sensible, the derailleur still worked. All unnecessary additional expense, though.

This is fantastic, thanks for the video Julie, I'm looking at getting a Camino and this may have just sealed the deal!

Aaaah...my dream bike. Maybe one day...Currently I am riding a steel Ragley Trig on a chunky 2.1 inch Mezcals and I love it to bits! Thanks for your content Julie.

I’ve had mine for four years and being old, I can’t see me wanting anything different unless it’s and e-bike in time. Owing to hand arthritis, I had “Keep Pedaling” in Manchester swap the ‘bars to Jones Loops. I also have a chainring with 2 fewer teeth. I’ve not walked up a hill yet. I think bikepacking luggage is plain daft and have a rack and panniers and a rack top bag. I ride my Brompton the few hundred yards to town and it goes under the table in Costa. Other than that, the Sonder is my steed of choice. Alpkit is a super company to deal with; ordering the Camino was a great experience. I barely knew 1x existed back then but the person I spoke with was great. The bike is a gem and seemingly bulletproof. Plus, most of my wardrobe now comprises Alpkit clothing but being in distant East Anglia, I’ve yet to even see an Alpkit shop.

Another fantastic vid… cheers, loved it and I’m not even after a new bike :)

I have sonder Camino ti, and I also come from mountain biking background. Years ago the routes I did were more xc but over last ten years have been more enduro and off piste trails., so I absolutely agree with your views on the Camino. I run exactly same tyres as you and I run them fairly soft. I went Sram 1x 11 and put an oval 36 on the front and 11- 46 on rear which helps me get up most things as I age. Even fully loaded I have ridden Camino down some sketchy trails and it just inspires confidence. If I could only have one bike it would be the sonder.

Love the video, great review.

I really enjoy riding my Camino. I bought the frame and fork then built it up myself with the components of my choice. I have 2 wheelsets (Hope) and swap them out according to whether I'm riding trails or bikepacking. I sometimes wish it was a bit lighter but calm myself down when I admit that I'm the heaviest part of the setup 😂 Works great.

Can recommend the Cinturato H tyres at 40mm. Great for dry fast rides off-road.

G’day from Queensland,Julie. I’ll have another bike this week(4 already), but it’s not a Ti gravel, it’s a dual sus’ carbon trail bike. I’m going to try some credit card bike packing,and at 70,I’ll leave the bumpy gravel bikes to youngsters like yourself😂 Stay safe.

You should get a commission from Sonder. I had narrowed my list of potential bikes down to include this one but now it is right at the top of my list. Cheers! My first road bike (a Merida) came with an FSA crankset and BB. It lasted less than 500 miles. I didn't even bother with a warranty job and just replaced the front end with Shimano. I've got full GRX on another bike (Cannondale) and it is great, though I really only ride that bike on the road so it really should have 105 instead.

It will make a massive difference if you swap the FSA over to GRX, i did it on my alu topstone and irs night and day... So much lighter and stiffer. 👍👍

Having 650b and MTB tyres (Vittoria Mezcal 2.1 for instance) transform it massively in a different bike entirely! (quite a fan of Pirelli too, felt surprisingly fast on the H model).

Great video! Was just suggested to me after I watched the first one a couple days back after currently looking for a camino ti. Something I couldn’t really find out with the lack of pictures of it on the sonder page is: is there a hole in the carbon fork for mounting a front rack/ light above the front wheel? Thank you!

Watched your review and I am seriously considering buying the frames however I cannot find anywhere to see if this frames is Di2 compatible ?

hi julie, I'm just getting into this rabbit hole of bike technicalities. I'm about to order this now for 50/50 bikepacking and road. Do i need an entire extra pair of wheelset to put in a thinner tyre maybe 32 - 35mm or what's the lowest tyre size can I fit on the the stock 45 mm wheelset.

Nice reviews. Any reason you went for the 2x drivetrain instead of 1x?

Hi, does anybody know the maximu chainring size please? Sonder support wrote to me 40 teeth is the maximum, but I saw somewhere somebody put 46? Just looking at the stock photos it looks like there is plenty of space for bigger chainring.