im not sure how much you wanna skimp on shoes. 

but my reason going aliEx is because Santic actually makes lockless cycling shoe for flat pedal that looks like road cycling shoe, and stiff outsole+ no arch flex n still comfortable to walk in. 
i tried some other random brand lockless shoe, not close to Santic at all in term of stiffness.

maybe check out Santic shoes for spd, maybe theres some tickle your fancy n budget

Santic is in fact really nice.
But: it's not super low in price (reasonable i would say)
Looking around in sales deals it is possible to get a similar price for a shoe, that you can easily send back if it doesn't fit.

I had some good fitting references at home, so I could give it a try by comparing the inner sole and the outer appearance of the toe box. But it's definitely a risk if you couldn't already try them.

(I just bought Northwave very recently...)

Novatec has at least one hub that is 12x142 and has an 32H option

https://www.eshop.novatecwheels.eu/eshop/hub-rear-d982tsb-cl-x12-11s-alloy-centerlock-anodized-black-32h-14g-crmo-12x142-with-novatec-360-logo-d459-rl-2sb-bearings-loose-balls-freehub-s5-type-w-9-speed-15-spacer-without-thru-axle-oem-not-for-e-mtbs-cn/p-5317947.xhtml?srsltid=AfmBOoqSQzUPcGdce0Ju9wOtuAzWQQGjrB5qqwz0jp1axwqqmGfbrDW9

Also DT Swiss has an 12x142 32H hub

https://www.bike-discount.de/de/dt-swiss-350-classic-mtb-cl-12x142mm-hinterradnabe

There are still some non boost mountainbike used , so that's probably the reason the 32H hubs work 12x142 can be found.


I know a hub is not a wheel.. but only if the right hubs exist, the wheel can be created

How did you measure erd and in which direction was the spec wrong?

The rim was stated to be 555mm ERD. For Carbonbeam this value refers to the pure rim.. which is also very clearly visible in the technical drawings.
I measured including nipple head which ads 3mm for Sapim polyax 14mm . This measurement gave 553mm .
So considering that the spoke heads added 3mm to the measurement, the pure rim ERD was 550mm .. 5mm off from the data sheet. That's quite a bit and far away from measurement accuracy.
Whereas Ken confirmed my finding, Carbonbeam still didn't change the wrong number in the data sheet.
My wheel build turned out perfect in spokes length, which adds another proof to the finding. With 5mm to high ERD I would have bought 2mm longer spokes, which would have been a desaster.

Thank you very much for your answer. Do you also use some road tire on the 505 ? If yes, how does the bike handles ?

Is the clearance really 42 or it can take a bit more ?

The "classic" 505 has 40mm regarding spec. However my rear tire grew fatter from using and it turned out to be close to 42mm. But for that I would not ride to muddy stuff.. this would definitely lead to collisions if the tire is coated with a mud layer.

I can't tell you whether Carbonda widened the rear by 2mm or just updated the clearance values at unchanged design.
I used my road bike wheelset for a while. It was  28mm GP5000 (30mm real width)
The riding is an endurance road bike riding, slightly less vivid in the steering. Maybe that's due to the steering angle. The rear is very short for a Gravel bike, which makes it more road bike feeling. "Verspielt" . I don't have a translation for that.

But as a clear assessment: though it is a vivid bike, it will never be as good as a pure road bike, guess it already starts with the broader fork, which is probably not helpful for the CV value  . But if someone would force me to reduce to one bike.. it would be the 505..
The thin tires however do look a bit funny .. for good weather i do use 32mm tires, which grew up to 33-34 in the rim.. it looks still a bit funny, but better than 28.

You could compare the frame geometry and then you know if it's 707 or not..
Tantan also has a similar frame design, but different geometry and the top tube looks different.. but as you said you look for a similar appearance you might check out this one also.

Do you have examples ?

Canyon  also develops the frames in Germany but the manufacturing is in China or Taiwan. (I am not exactly sure where it is)
Giant is not on this because they are basically a Taiwanese company 
Europe does not have a lot of carbon frame manufacturing
.. it's just to expensive as it needs a lot of people and the salary in Europe is higher (not uniform, but it is)

I don't see those popping up anywhere I search. I'm in the US, is Decathalon a UK brand?

I suppose I'll keep my eye on those Pearl Izumi gloves or something similar from other 'western' brands. Cold hands is the #1 comfort factor for me, I think, so why cheap out?

Decathlon is French. Looks like there are no Decathlon stores in US, but you can get their stuff at retailers.
https://www.decathlon.com/pages/in-store-purchase-information#:~:text=Decathlon%20will%20close%20all%20retail,growing%20number%20of%20retail%20partners.

Recommendation of gloves is super difficult.... it's not only the shape that should match your hands, also the need for insulation in winter time is very personal.

I asked what the point is to understand. When i started commuting, i first bought a hybrid (basically an entry level "road" bike with a flat bar), and i pretty quickly bought a real road bike, for the same commute.
Where did i write that i dont want people to ride flat bars?

It is somehow classical thing that someone asks for something and then the answer is not about possible solutions but questioning the whole thing... example : " why do you want that, the drop bar has 4 different grip styles..., a drop bar is faster..."