First impression: Carver Ti All-Road

Carver’s Ti All-Road is a mountain biker’s road bike. It’s more than ready for rough road rambles, gravel grinds and singletrack shortcuts.

Built from 3/2.5 titanium alloy, the All-Road comes with a lifetime warranty and crash replacement discount. Stock frames come in 2 cm size increments (from 44-62 cm) and retail for $1,400. For $200 additional, Carver offers the option of making custom geometry tweaks.

Our standard size 56 cm frame features the optional Pinion drive interface, which adds $500 to the asking price ($1,900 total).

The Pinion P1.9XR gearbox provides nine speeds spanning a 568 percent gear range, and the rear sliders permit proper tensioning of the Gates Carbon Drive belt. The Paragon dropout inserts feature vertical wheel slots, making it a breeze to remove and reinsert the quick-release wheel while maintaining proper belt tension.

The low-slung, central location of the Pinion gearbox made its 4.9 pounds weight less noticeable than the rearward weight bias of internally geared hubs. I appreciated the balanced feeling, especially when venturing onto dirt or skittery gravel.

The All-Road fits tires up to 700×45, and our test bike came with WTB Riddler tires of that size. With the rotund road rubber, the All-Road felt at home zipping down gravel roads, and romping over roots and rocks on local singletrack.

Carver designed the Ti All-Road to fill the popular gravel grinding, light touring and bikepacking niches. My first impression is that the bike is well-suited for all of the above. This is a very versatile platform, and I can envision builds ranging from fast and furious to rough and ready.

Note: The full bike review will appear in print in Dirt Rag #202. If you don’t already, subscribe now so that you don’t miss the juicy stuff we’ve got planned for the upcoming issues! While you’re at it, sign up for our email newsletter to get great content like this delivered directly to your inbox every Tuesday.