Hello all-
Long story short, I have a great groupset handy (more on that later) but am coming up on short on finding an adequate frame to build on.

My current ride is a 2003 Cannondale R2000 CAAD7, which is fun and sporty, but it starts shaking with fear if it sees anything but smooth bitumen. Previous rides are a 2002 Bianchi Veloce (steel chromoly is real) and a chonky 1980-something Bianchi Axis Pro cyclocross used for touring/commuting. Have ridden my dad's unbranded Ti road bike and I'd have to say the ride is pretty darn smooth. In a nutshell... all my rides have been old, classic geometry.

Ideally, this bike could conquer all - I could ride it to work one day, a wander out through the hills on the weekend, and dabble on an unpaved rail trail a couple times a year. Let's say it'd be 80/20 road/gravel.

I stumbled across this forum as I'm considering getting a Chinese-made gravel frame, but have ZERO idea what geometry I'm looking for or what brands/models I should try to emulate (e.g. Canyon Grizl/Grail, Specialized Crux, Enve Mog, Moots whatever, Cannondale Topstone, etc. etc.).

I don't intend to go on hardcore terrain so something that's a bit more reactive and stiff is okay with me, but I'm also not a speed demon and don't want to be coming home with numb hands. I am leaning toward Ti for this reason, but open to whatever.

So, TL;DR - what production frames should I research that will fit my needs? Oh, and I'm in Australia, so my options are even more limited. 😣

TIA!