I’m a big fan of Standert, the German brand. It occupies an interesting space, offering the exclusive feel of a boutique custom builder combined with the reach of a mainstream brand. This sweet spot ensures genuinely enthusiast-owned thinking, progressive design, and exquisite details. While not cheap, the bikes offer great value for riders who appreciate well-conceived aesthetics and design.
Standert build bikes, such as the Pfadfinder and Kreissäge RS, that appeal to “proper riders”—the kind with a discerning taste for the finer things that assist ones lifestyle in the urban environment – perhaps for those carrying a Leica or who are selective about their coffee. While Standert undeniably have a “hipster” aesthetic, this is backed up by real substance in the design of their bikes.
It also likes playing in areas where others see less value. Aluminium for example is a premium choice for Standert’s engineers, not junior to composites. That’s relevant here as we’re testing its stainless steel gravel frame, the Erdgeschoss.
Stainless is expensive though, right? Well, not at Standert it seems. And if it’s cheap, that begs the question, how, and where have the corners been cut? I got hold of one for weeks of testing, and spent a huge part of that staring at the loveliness of the thing, and this is what I found out.
Design details
Standert’s work definitely stands out. It’s had a full rack of frames in London’s Via Atelier store since it opened—a shop adjacent to Meta and Google Campus (read: pretty on trend). It’s possibly one of London’s most progressive and design-forward bike shops, and arguably the perfect place to nurture a community who don’t need their arms twisted to love high-end Berlin design.
Unsurprisingly, it’s very obvious what this bike is and isn’t. It’s not a beginner bike. It’s designed to look fast standing still, and it absolutely does, even by gravel bike standards. You could be forgiven for thinking it’s a fairly hardcore road bike with fat tyres on it.
(Image credit: Future)
Unlike Cinelli’s XCR bike, which I reviewed recently, this one leaves you in no doubt about what it’s made from. It’s resplendent in largely bare stainless steel, lacquered over for protection and to lock in some of the lovely details. These include the Chinese cat emblem and some great typographical elements that feel like grown-up versions of the cool stickers you wanted to see on bikes when you were a kid. In that sense, it is very Masonic—like a Mason bike, that is, not like a mystery business person from the similarly named lodges.
(Image credit: Future)
Bosses are evident everywhere you’d need them, and the bike overall looks like something fast, purposeful, and very practical, built with the intention of going hard.
What’s less convincing is how Standert has managed to do all this for the ticket price and I was initially concerned that there must be a catch?
(Image credit: Future)
Specifications
The spec sheet delivers no surprises or obvious answers to my cynical questions, just good gear that’s designed to work properly. Like the DT Swiss GRC1400 wheels with its 30mm internal width. It’s all the wheel you’d need in a bike like this, and nothing excessive that you perhaps don’t.
The fork is from Columbus, with rack bosses shot in and even a hole for routing a dynamo cable. Combined with the beautifully yet classically considered stays out back, it offers a full 50mm of tire clearance, or 54mm if you go old school and fit 650b’s. The tyres are Pirelli’s excellent Cinturatos. They’re knobbly enough for nearly anything and fast-rolling too. They’re an excellent and versatile choice that seems to stick to the script nicely.
Tape and saddle are premium branded items from Fizik, though whether you like them or not depends entirely on you, so I won’t dwell on those. They are at least of excellent quality, feel great, and suit the bike.
(Image credit: Future)
Reliable Zipp Service Course SL components make up the conventional-looking but spot-on cockpit, and SRAM’s near-perfect Force AXS Groupset (with powermeter) supplies the forward drive. You could be forgiven for thinking that’s all a bit boring, because it is, in the sense that it’s all about efficiency and utility.
(Image credit: Future)
The flourishes that make this bike a little more exciting are less obvious. The Chris King inset-7 headset, for example, which should last you forever if you look after it, and the beautifully made and finished sliding dropout.
Hang on, a sliding dropout? What on earth is that for on a geared bike, I hear you scream? Well, this is where the bike gets interesting. The dropout gives you a measure of adjustment in the wheelbase. This is coupled with a flip chip in the fork that enables you to slow down or speed up the steering. Now, ordinarily, I’d say flip chips are a waste of time. Not because they’re not a good idea, but because 99% of people never, ever touch them, much less know why they might.
But while Standert fans might be fashionable sorts, they also stroke me as the kind of riders who might actually appreciate the adjustment, and here it feels like the right kind of approach. Not least because the sliding dropout is really beautifully done and finished. It’s the kind of detail your geeky mates will want to chat to you about, when they ask what the tubes are made of at the coffee stop.
(Image credit: Future)
There are no Columbus stickers on the frame, no Reynolds badge, not 953, not XCR, nothing but a nicely designed label that simply reads ‘Superthin Stainless Steel’.
My assumption was that this frame, some 1950g in claimed weight, was made with straight-gauge tubing—some cheap gear masquerading as something it wasn’t. It was, in fact, the very first thing I pushed the brand on when discussing the bike.
However, rather than satisfying myself that I’d found the reason why this bike seemed so cheap, I was left with no doubt that Standert really does understand its materials.
(Image credit: Future)
The tubing is off-the-shelf, as it were, much like almost all stainless tubing is, but it’s made by a very well-respected factory in Taiwan, and is made much in the same way as the very best stainless steel tubing. It was also not straight-gauge, but in fact, double-butted. Now, Columbus XCR and Reynolds 953 are available in triple-butted form. But even Columbus themselves would caution against using XCR for a hardcore gravel frame, depending on the use case. So it seems perfectly fit for the purpose. The lack of ‘extra’ butting to get it to lightest ‘triple’ status seems sensible, and accounts for the extra grams, over a similar road frame.
So far, in my quest to find the holes in the Erdgeschoss argument I was STILL drawing a blank.
Peformance
I was sure however I’d find that evidence in the frame’s performance: heavy, unrefined, all show and no go. What I found was the exact opposite.
The tubing is oversize, according to the definition, but nowhere near that of some steel bikes with big square oval downtubes and meaty stays. The stays are relatively large here, as is required on a frame that’s designed to take a beating, but the relatively skinny main frame tubes feel alive and zinging. I strongly believe you can’t hide poor frame design with large tyres, and as such, you can definitely feel the feedback in a frame, or the opposite if the communication is poor, regardless of how large the tyres might be. This frame is the perfect case in point.
It is alive with good vibrations and positive feedback, and for a bike of this type, it could be considered perfect. It’s not likely as stiff as a plastic road platform, but it’s perfectly balanced for the type of bike that this is. You certainly don’t feel any sense that you’re giving anything away in the frame, and in fact, it feels the complete opposite.
(Image credit: Future)
The geometry helps. And on paper, I was a little non-plussed. It read like a Cyclocross bike from ten years ago. And despite a reasonable and informed interest in frame geometry, I thought perhaps Standert was blindly warming over an old design here, and that they might have missed an opportunity to follow the trends. It absolutely has not.
Having talked to the engineers, the Cyclocross DNA of the bike has been kept very deliberately. Where a more modern interpretation might put you more ‘in’ the bike, with a lower bottom bracket, this one has the effect of making you feel perched on it, with all the grin-inducing flickability that goes with it. If I was going to commute on something in London again, it would be this bike. It changes direction like a scalded cat, with pretty lively handling that belies its long wheelbase and relatively gravelly front end. Again, for a newbie, or someone who wants something reassuring, this is probably not the bike for you. But for an enthusiast who knows their bikes and likes getting rowdy on them, the geo feels really fun and addictive, and it’s perfect for a bike with these intentions.
Having ridden the thing in anger, I discussed the geometry with the team who designed this bike, and it transpires that it is the most ‘owned’ bike at the Standert office, and I’m not surprised. It’s a heap of fun to ride.
Value
Who’s got £6.5k to spend on a gravel bike, or a lairy commuter? Not me. But let’s suppose I did for a moment.
If I wanted to buy almost any other stainless steel frame, this is the cheap option.
Frame only, it’s £2499. With Force and all the kit on this particular spec bike, it’s certainly not at the cheaper end, but it’s also not wholly unreasonable when you consider what you’re getting.
I’ll set out my case.
Another German brand, Canyon, can sell you a Grizl CF9, with the same wheels but loaded with ECLIPS and a ton of really cool integration. It also has a full SRAM Red AXS groupset, all for the same price. That’s pretty compelling alongside this relatively conventional build. On paper it blows it out of the water in fact. So it may really depend on the sort of customer you are.
But let’s assume you’re a Standert customer. You like your coffee, call a camera lens your glass, and wish you could get into Berghain. But you can actually ride a bike. Then, in that case, a top-of-the-line Canyon Grizl is still just a Canyon Grizl. It is to a Munich badged 190, a Mondeo ST.
To view it through that Meta/Google/Berlin lens, a different way, this is a very special-looking bike, with a huge amount of charm and more aesthetic interest than almost anything else on the market, made in a true “forever” material. Made, in terms of attention to detail and quality in the fabrication, really, really well.
The only potential downsides are the lack of proprietary electronic gubbins available elsewhere, and a modest groupset downgrade. When you consider that SRAM Force and the top-tier Red function and perform in exactly the same way, this Standert starts to feel like a much smarter and sexier choice. Add in the lively handling, and you have a very seriously well-built bike constructed for skids, wheelies, off-road fun, or absolutely killing the commute. You can do that on a Canyon, but it’s just not going to be this fun or quite the same stripped back experience.
As I stretch for a negative, I’d have to urge you to ignore the weight. It doesn’t matter. If you want a metal bike, go buy this one. If you haven’t tried a metal bike, go buy this one. If you need a gravel bike and want to have a ton of fun, go buy this one.
Old-school geometry, materials, and thinking, brought bang up to date. Dressed like it’s from the nineties, like all the cool kids are these days anyway. There really isn’t a catch. It’s brilliant.
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