There is nothing about the Scott Addict Gravel that does not scream speed. From the aero tubing, to the performance on the scale, and clean front end, this is a thorough bread racer through and through.

However, as you look closer, this isn’t a gravel racer that is wholly impractical for anything other than pinning on a number like CX bikes of a few generations back. With bag mounts and bosses for mudguards, it has an air of livability — provided you don’t look at the headset.

So, when searching out a steed to test Shimano’s new GRX RX820, the Addict Gravel seemed a worthy canvas to bolt these parts onto, both for what we expected from its performance and for how the group would interface with the highs and lows of what’s very much a contemporary gravel bike in 2024.

Scott’s local distributor Shepherds Cycles provided us with the all-singing, all-dancing flagship Addict Gravel Tuned frameset. Before we go any further, we’re just reviewing the frameset here. If you’re interested to read more about the GRX groupset that’s bolted to it, stay tuned that’s coming next week. In the meantime, check out my first impressions from the launch in Bend Oregon last year.

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An overview of the Scott Addict Gravel Tuned

Made from the brand’s HMX carbon fibre, the Addict Gravel Tuned is claimed to weigh just 930g, and the fork 395g. It borrows much of the design language from its road fairing cousin, as pretty much every tube on this bike is either an airfoil or has been optimised in some fashion to slice through the wind with minimal disturbance.

Of course, one of the main arguments for running the cables through the headset is to reduce the drag coefficient, at the expense of serviceability. While there are binders full of wind tunnel data to back these claims, it makes it easier to mount a handlebar bag in the real world — thus nullifying all of that aerodynamic gain. I would still prefer it if they went around the outside of that top bearing.

Mounts, mounts, and more mounts

At the same time, the frame also has mounts for a top tube feedbag, bottle bosses under the downtube and a third bottle mount inside the front triangle to allow better access when using a frame bag.

There are also sneaky mounts for full-coverage fenders if you’re headed out for a big adventure in truly biblical conditions.

While stiffness and efficiency have always ruled the day on Scotts drop bar bikes, the Swiss outfit has made some considerations to the less-than-pristine terrain this bike is designed for beyond claims about the carbon layup. The dropped seat stays paired with a D-shaped seatpost add appreciable vertical compliance, and the forward arching silhouetted of the fork is intended for the same.

The frame has provisions for both 1x and 2x groupsets and room at both ends for 45mm rubber. Scott also say the fork will accommodate up to 180mm rotors on the front and 160mm on the rear.

Scott Addict Gravel Geometry and fit

The aggressive attitude of the Addict Gravel is air apparent with one glance at the geometry chart. Making for a long and low riding position, our size medium frame sees a 554.5mm top tube — 10mm longer than its predecessor — mated to a 100mm stem, which is 10mm shorter than its predecessor.

Extending the reach of the frame for added stability while making up for it in the stem to speed up the handling is basically the standard when it comes to mountain bikes. However, the Addict Gravel is still fairly long.

The 71ºhead angle paired with a 50mm fork rake adds up to a 69mm trail figure, while the seat angle clocks in at 73º. The wheelbase sits at 1029.2mm while the BB drop is -71mm, putting your centre of gravity in the bike rather than ontop of it.

At 177mm tall with an 81mm inseam, I opted for a medium frame. Getting comfortable on the bike was no big deal, and the stack and reach figures are within a few millimetres of my personal gravel bike, a Sage Barlow.

While this bike was a frameset, Sheppards provided us with the 100mm stem, which is what comes on the complete bike in this size, to play nice with the Acros headset spacers and a set of basic non-flared 42cm Syncros Creston 1.5 bars.

This thing is a f***ing rocket.

Scott Addict Gravel weight

Built up with a full GRX groupset, the alloy stem and bars, and the Shimano RX880 wheels packaged in a set of 40mm Continental Terra Trail tyres, this build tipped the scales at an impressive 7.95kg!

Of course we’re only delving into the frameset here, but weighing 930g for the frame and 335g for the fork, that’s an impressive figure in it itself. With the D-shaped seatpost, Scott has opted for a one-piece carbon clamp rather than the hidden wedge systems many brands jump to. It is a substantially less fiddly solution, and I’d speculate it’s lighter too.

Given the number of bosses that are bonded into this frame, it’s clear Scott could have gone lighter, however clearer heads have prevailed and livability rules the day. If only that same clear-headed decision-making were present in the meeting where they were talking about the headset.

What we liked about the Scott Addict Gravel

This thing is a f***ing rocket. It is so fast and so efficient there is no loss from the power you’re putting in at the cranks to turn the back wheel. When you attack the pedals to muscle up the last little bit of a switchback or gap your buddies in a race to some ill-defined random point, it feels like your head is going to whip back from the way the bike surges forward. Honestly, it accelerates like a road bike, and that’s saying something, given the toothy 40mm Conti Terra Trail tyres I was using.

When you do get up to cruising speed, it feels like it wants to stay there. The Shimano wheels likely play a role here, but there is definitely something to those airfoil tubes.

The handling is snappy and well-balanced – when you find the right stack, more on this later — and Scott has found a good balance of speed and stability on this front. It doesn’t feel overly sleepy on tarmac or champagne gravel, but on chonky fire roads and singletrack, you’re also not fearing for your life.

Our build ended up with a set of non-flared handlebars, and unfortunately, during my testing period, we weren’t able to organise a set of flared bars to wang on the front of the Addict Gravel. While the bike rode well with those bars, that bit of extra control and leverage l that the flared drops bring to the party would absolutely have benefited this bike.

Given its stiff and direct nature, this bike does transmit a degree of feedback to the touch points. It’s not enough where you’d be able to describe the geological makeup of the riding surface with your sit bones, but the bike does rely heavily on the tyres to take the sting out.

With the cables running through the headset bearing, during the install the compression plug was strangling the gear cable and needed a bit of time on the business end of some sandpaper to make enough space.

What we did not like?

There is a very definite sweet spot when it comes to the stack height and finding handling nirvana. Every bike has that sweet spot, however for the Addict Gravel, some may not be flexible enough to find it. Knowing this bike was headed back once the review period was over, the steerer was cut with enough room for 30mm of spacers under the stem to provide a degree of wiggle room to wherever it goes next — most bikes off the floor of a bike shop will have 40mm+.

In this position, the handling was a little tippy and the bike felt somewhat unbalanced. Getting rid of 10mm of spacers however put the sucker on rails, it was so direct and so solid, the difference was impressive.

However with 20mm of spacers under the stem the front end is pretty low and may put some at the limit of their flexibility. That said, it is a race bike, after all, and an aggressive position should not come as a surprise.

When it comes to tight and twisty riding at speed, the long position can feel a bit of a bare to muscle around a compressed singletrack hairpin.

Cables through the headset

Integration probably is the dirtiest word in the bike industry, but it seems that all we’re stuck with it for a while longer. With the cables running through the headset bearing, during the install the compression plug was strangling the gear cable and needed a bit of time on the business end of some sandpaper to make enough space.

Along those same lines, I’d also love to see a threaded BB. However, that would make the Addict Gravel a unicorn among Scott’s range. Even still we had no noise during our test period.

I fear if Scott had built more compliance into the carbon layout, it would have come at the cost of the snappy, playful demeanour.

Flow’s Verdict

Scott’s Addict Gravel is one of the most fun gravel bikes I’ve ridden to date. It’s an outright hooligan of an adventure buddy that loves speed — it’s the Ricky Bobby of gravel bikes if you will.

Being that it is on the racier end of the spectrum, this probably isn’t the bike you should choose if your average gravel ride is better suited to a hardtail than something with curly bars. The handling is anything but nervous, but there is a limit to its capability, especially with the low front end.

I don’t love the integration, but despite the collective protest of just about everyone from consumers to folks like us, the powers at be seem determined to keep on trucking towards more hidden cables that run through the top headset bearing. Long term, this does present some livability problems; however I can’t speak to those with this bike yet.

It’s incredibly efficient from a standing start and when you get up to speed, and it loves a long sweeping corner. It’s not the softest ride out there, however I fear if Scott had built more compliance into the carbon layout, it would have come at the cost of the snappy, playful demeanour. In my short time aboard this bike, I think the folks in Switzerland have made the right call here.

Being a race bike, the flexibility required to find the handling sweet spot isn’t necessarily a surprise, but I do worry that zone might be lower than the pliability of some folk’s spines.

We should note that the Tuned version of this bike that we tested is not exactly wallet-friendly, priced at $5,299.99 AUD for the frameset, and you can currently get complete bikes fewer dollarydoos. These are made from second-tier HMF carbon which will be a touch heavier, but will ride just about the same.

Overall, the Addict Gravel Tuned is a brilliant gravel race bike.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER - Colin Levitch

Hometown

Gold Coast, QLD

Height

175cm

Weight

72kg

RIDING STYLE

Aggressively mediocre