Condor Odyssey Gravel Frameset

The Condor Odyssey Gravel is a smart-looking aluminium machine with mounts aplenty and decent tyre clearance. It keeps things simple, too, with external cable/hose routing and a threaded bottom bracket, which makes it reliable and easy to fix and the ideal companion for those adventures away from some civilisation, as well as the daily commute. The only sticking point for me is that it's very slightly more expensive than what I'd consider the benchmark of top-end aluminium gravel framesets.

For more adventure-ready options, check out our guide to the best gravel bikes.

> Buy now: Condor Odyssey Gravel frameset for £1,499.99 from Condor

Condor Odyssey Gravel: Ride

Though a gravel frameset, the Odyssey is based on Condor's road bike models, with subtle tweaks to give stability on surfaces that tend to move around beneath you. That means it's on the performance side of things – a bit more eager, flickable and nippy than a bike designed with the adventure side of gravel riding in mind.

It's a lot of fun to ride. It's responsive and nimble thanks to a wheelbase that is just over a metre in length (55cm frame) and the fact that the frame is very stiff around the bottom bracket and lower half of the frame, though it doesn't look massively oversized.

The head angle is steeper than many gravel bikes by a degree or so, which means the steering is quick, ideal for riding off-road, especially on looser surfaces. This makes it a great gravel racer, a real 'rider's' bike whose focus is on performance over easy-to-live-with handling, and even comfort.

The alloy frame and full carbon fork do offer a great ride quality, though, so comfort hasn't been sacrificed. The Odyssey is firm but not harsh – a balance that shows Condor's designers have developed a high-quality tubeset.

With loads of feedback through both the frame and fork, this is a bike that communicates with the rider very well indeed. I loved the way that on quick technical sections I could feel exactly what both the front and rear tyre were up to independently, so I could tweak my body position or dab the brakes or change gear to keep the Odyssey balanced when the surface had other ideas.

Everything can be felt through the saddle and handlebar, so there is no need to look anywhere else other than straight ahead.

All of this actually means the Odyssey is an easy bike to ride. Often, quick handling and a short wheelbase can make a gravel bike twitchy, even a bit of a handful, but thanks to how connected you feel to the Condor, riding it is more down to instinct than having to focus too much.

This also means that if you are planning a trip, or even a long ride on it, the Odyssey isn't a chore to ride at a slower pace. It's easy to live with, and its go-anywhere nature makes it an absolute joy to ride.

Its stiffness, and the fact that this GRX 820 build came in at 9.66kg, means the Odyssey is a capable climber whether in or out of the saddle. Acceleration is also brisk, especially from a rolling start, so if you fancy a bit of cyclocross action it'd be well within its remit. You just won't be as quick out of the corners as those on lightweight carbon fibre machines.

All of this adds up to a capable endurance-style road bike too. I ran the Odyssey with some 36mm WTB slick tyres to create a fun commuter, especially for this time of the year where weight isn't the main priority. It was easy to live with on wet and greasy roads, with the added bonus of being able to nip down a hardpacked byway or canal path for a bit of variety.

Condor Odyssey Gravel: Frame & Fork

The Odyssey is handmade in Italy (like many of Condor's frames) from 7005 series aluminium alloy tubing, much of which isn't a traditional round profile, but instead manipulated to create strength in some areas and comfort in others.

For increased front end stiffness Condor has gone for a 44mm diameter head tube.

The welding isn't as smooth as some I have seen, but you can see that it hasn't been sanded and smoothed, removing material purely for aesthetics.

I kind of like it. The slight industrial look gives confidence on a rough and tumble gravel machine. The fact that it is covered by a matt paint job also helps, and I'm a big fan of this two-tone green finish. It's durable too, as well as looking smart.

The frame has quite a traditional look to it, with fully external cable routing throughout, and both the chainstay and seatstay bridges have been retained for the fitment of full mudguards.

The bottom bracket shell accepts a traditional BSA threaded setup, so replacing a worn unit takes just a few minutes, even for the home mechanic, and the tools required aren't expensive either.

External cable routing might have you thinking that the Odyssey won't work aesthetically with electronic wireless groupsets, but Condor has thought of that. Rather than welding cable guides to the head tube or down tube, it has used a removable alloy guide which bolts to the underside of the down tube. Once removed, the Odyssey is left with a smooth, clean look – no redundant guides or entry/exit ports.

The rear brake hose is directed internally from the down tube to the chainstay, while the front enters the fork at the top of the leg. Dynamo routing is also available on the fork.

You'll find mounting points all over the Condor's frame and fork. The frame has twin bottle cage mounts, with the down tube having three bolts instead of the usual two…

…and there's a pair on the top tube for a bento box/top tube bag.

A rear rack is also catered for, and as I have already mentioned, full mudguard mounts are included. The dropouts don't house the mounting points for the guard stays, though. Instead, they sit on the inside of the seatstays, so your guards will require a little bit of fettling to get them to fit.

It's the same on the fork, with the guard mounts being positioned on the inside of the legs just above the brake calliper. Again, you'll need to fettle the stays, but it's not a major issue; I've done it on some of my bikes without too much hassle.

The fork legs also have three mounting holes on each leg for carrying cages or kit.

Tyre clearance isn't massive, but it's roomy enough at 43mm. I find that 40mm gravel tyres are generally the sweet spot for my riding style, balancing weight and grip well. That's the size we are running here and I found they worked very well, with only the wettest muddy sections requiring something wider and more heavily treaded.

Condor Odyssey Gravel: Geometry

I've touched on this already, but I'll give you the official figures here.

The Odyssey is available in six sizes, nominally 46 to 61, which correlates to the seat tube length from centre to top in centimetres.

Our test bike is a 55, and it has a 55.5cm top tube and 135mm head tube height. The wheelbase is around 1,010mm.

Head and seat angles are 72.5 and 73 degrees respectively, with a stack of 564mm and a reach of 381mm.

The bottom bracket drop is 70mm, while the fork offset is 50mm.

Condor Odyssey Gravel: Pricing & build options

The Odyssey frameset costs £1,499.99, which includes the frame, fork, headset, seat clamp, headset spacers, 12mm thru-axles and the cable guides.

Condor also suggests popular builds too, but your exact spec is fully customisable.

Those builds kick off with a Shimano GRX 400 2x10-speed groupset, Condor finishing kit and wheelset, plus Hutchinson Overide Gravel tyres, for £2,645.

With a 1x GRX 800 group, Deda Zero1 cockpit, carbon seatpost and Mavic Allroad wheelset, that price increases to £2,999.99. It includes Continental's Terra Speed gravel tyres too.

A jump to GRX 820 12-speed Di2 sees a jump in price to £3,430, with the wheels upgraded to Mavic's Allroad S and Deda's Gravel100 components for the cockpit.

Flat bar builds are also available.

Our build includes a mechanical 12-speed GRX groupset (a review is coming very soon on these latest groupsets from Shimano), the Allroad S wheels and Terra Speed tyres.

We also have a mix of Deda finishing kit, plus a Selle Italia Flite saddle.

It's a great combination that works well with the Odyssey. The Mavics are a bit on the weighty side, so you could save some grams here, but they are massively durable, something I have discovered from using these on many bikes over the years.

Basically, if I'd specced this build I wouldn't be changing anything at all.

Condor Odyssey Gravel: Value

You can get cheaper aluminium alloy gravel bikes, as you no doubt already know.

Bikes like the Dolan GXA, which also has a more road-biased gravel geometry like the Condor. A Shimano GRX RX600 build starts at £1,699.99, while a GRX Di2 11-speed model is £3,199.99.

Or Ribble's Gravel AL, which is £899 for the frameset and £1,599 with 10-speed GRX 400. I reviewed the steel 725 model in 2022.

While good bikes in their own right, they're not quite on the same level in terms of exclusivity as the Odyssey, it being handuilt in Europe in small batches.

This puts it more in the same sort of bracket as something like Mason's Bokeh. The Odyssey isn't finished to the same level of detail as the Mason, though, especially in terms of the welding quality; when you consider that a Bokeh frame is available for 50 quid less (£1,450) than the Condor, that's something I find surprising.

While its ride quality is close, the Odyssey doesn't quite have the finesse of the Bokeh, whose suppleness and comfort I found to be sublime when I reviewed it for off.road.cc a few months back.

And for me this is a bit of a sticking point with the Condor. It's very good, but the Mason is a stunning gravel machine from every aspect, and it's slightly cheaper. If I was in the market for a top-end aluminium gravel bike I'd definitely be going for the Bokeh.

Condor Odyssey Gravel: Conclusion

If we leave the price out of the equation for a minute, the Condor is a stunner. In fact, I'd struggle to find anything to quibble over in terms of ride quality, handling, performance or comfort.

It's a good-looking bike too, and one that ticks all of the boxes in terms of versatility as either a gravel racer or long-distance machine.

The price for the frameset is in the right sort of area for this Italian-built machine, but it's ever so slightly higher than what I consider the market leader in this aluminium gravel bike category.

Verdict

Pushed hard on price from high-end competitors, but its excellent ride quality and performance help offset that