Gravel Build help, please

[eeney]

Hey, so I have started my Gravel build, or started buying parts.  I plan the following, with a number of questions:

• Waltly Ti frame - I'm going with their standard 2022 gravel frame. My main decision now is cabling:
• all external cables - easy maintenance
• all internal cables
• external gear cables with internal brake hoses
 
• Lun Grapid 650b wheels with 2.1 Btway tires - Already purchased
• 1x drive train, but here is the issue. I would like mechanical gears with hydraulic brakes, however, looking at Sensah and Ltwoo they don't have hydraulics yet.
        I like the idea of the Sensah shifting, not too sure about the Ltwoo thumb shifting - personal preference, I'm coming from Shimano
        Looking at some options:
• Go with cable actuated hydraulic brakes, eg. Juin GT-F because Sensah and Ltwoo don't offer hydraulic.
• I see Sensah SRX Pro 1x12 groupset on Aliexpress but didn't know Sensah had a 12 speed gravel groupset - anyone tried this or can vouch for it?
• I see Ltwoo have Gravel groupsets coming in 12 speed with hydraulic.....someone said ETA of September but I don't see anything
• Sensah I've seen mention hydraulic but by end 2022 - I don't want to wait 3 months

I'm interested in people thoughts about the 'external' v 'internal', and which groupset and brakes to go for.  1x12 would be my preferred option

[Crash217]

Sensah and LTWoo will have hydraulic brake, cable shifting group sets on the market by the end of the year....

[s3si1u]

If you don't want to wait and really want the hydraulic brakes, I would suggest looking for a SRAM Rival or Force 1 hydraulic shifter set as they are compatible with Sensah derailleurs. Even better, just look for the whole SRAM 1x groupset. They're really great and you can likely find one for not too much money.

That being said, I'm really looking forward to the upcoming offerings from LTwoo and Sensah....I'll probably pick one of them up if/when they're available, but I'm sure there will be some kind of a learning curve and the gen 1 release won't be perfect.

[eeney]

Thanks for the input... annoying that I'm doing this just before the Sensah and Ltwoo hydraulic groupsets are released. The option of the cable actuated hydraulic Juin Teck GT-F's is an interesting option (external cables could be neater than external hoses), but there is a price to pay for the GT-F model.

I will also look out for discounted or second hand Sram groupsets, but my budget is very very tight after buying the wheels, frame and powrlink pedals.  I'm trying to build a light titanium gravel bike for USD $2,500. I'm already at $1,600 for the frame and wheels.

[ChrisB]

Another option as I have done on my Titanium Gravel bike project documented here:
http://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,3555.0.html

Combine:
- Mechanical 105 shifters
- GRX 1x derailleur with Garbaruk cage (You can find a copy on Ali) allowing 11-50 cassettes to be used
- Juintech F-1 / Performing well enough for any application including downhill

Especially coming from the Shimano world this might be a solution that suits you and saves some money.

BR Chris