No. 22 already has a few “dirt-oriented” drop bar bikes with the all-road Drifter and the gravel race Drifter X. Yet, the newest offering, the Drifter Adventure, is by far the most geared toward how I like to ride road bikes. Long, graded, and smooth gravel roads bore me, to be quite honest. Rather, I seek out the kind of Forest Service roads that are just wide enough for a single car and oftentimes fade away into chunky doubletrack. I want engagement. A challenge. Steep pitches running alongside crystal-clear water-filled ditches. Loose rock, sand, and ruts. The bumpier the better. The Drifter Adventure was perfect for this terrain.

What’s great about this new Drifter Adventure is how it represents the current zeitgeist in terms of how people use their gravel bikes, yet this usage isn’t an afterthought; it’s embedded in the frameset’s DNA. Racks, cargo cages, extra bottle bosses, and bag bosses abound on a bike that looks as good stripped to its core as it would loaded down for a brevet or S24O.

If it were my money, I’d buy the Raw Titanium Drifter Adventure frame and build it with the old parts from my current gravel bike. Forking out over $14,000 for a bike is bonkers and a tip-top luxury tier beyond the reach of most people. Yet, this is a way finer steed than anything plastic from the bigger brands. Hands the fuck down.