Hello all,

I'd like to build a gravel bike ; I'm coming from road cycling so I'd like your inputs to hopefully make some good choices.

Some info : my height is 177cm and inseam 81cm. Given I already have a road bike (Rose X-Lite 6 2020 size 55cm) I'd like a gravel bike more oriented towards XC, singletrack, not afraid to tackle some steep downhills...
Typical envisioned sortie would be 20% paved road/ 80% dirt (or rather mud, I live in Brittany France...) paths.

- The Frameset :
I've looked at some threads and reviews and some brands seem to be trustworthy and with decent pricing (I don't want to spend too much on this build, aiming for 1300/1400€ max w/o wheels if that's reasonable) : lightcarbon, carbonda, sp cycle... A lot of options.

The Lightcarbon LCG071D seems to have good reviews (Hambini video, this forum...), good tire clearance, with paintjob options (some manufacturers only sell in black I believe ; my road bike is already all black I want some color ) so I think this might be a good option.

Here it is compared with my road bike frame : https://bikeinsights.com/compare?geometries=644f94235e3f37001b6d6b2c,643afde9b86a18001a9a03ee,

As you can see the geometry is fairly similar ; +8mm in stack and -8mm in reach, I'm wondering if it's even too similar. I don't want a replica of my road bike with fat tires, but something closer to a XC bike with dropbars if that makes sense ? I don't have gravel experience so I don't know if this is an actual concern. I'm open to other frames suggestions.

- The groupset :

The L-TWOO GRT 1x12 speed set seems a good option to keep the price down. I'm currently using Shimano so I wonder how the shifting works with the thumb lever ;  can you comfortably reach the lever frow the drops ? And from the hoods ? Would I be better off going for a Shimano GRX set from an ease of set-up/maintainance perspective ?

Thanks in advance for your insights.

Alex