The Poseidon Redwood has to be one of the best value-for-money adventure gravel bikes you can possibly buy. With comfortable adventure-focused geometry and more than ample tire clearance and mounting options, allowing you to go even further with all your camping gear.
It has been featured in numerous articles on this blog for being one of the largest tire-clearance gravel bikes. It’s also one of the best gravel bikes you can buy for under $1,000! It is one of the gravel bikes we most recommend to people looking to get started into gravel bike bikepacking, it’s perfect if you plan to be more on the adventurous side.
We also compared this bike to the likes of the State Bicycle Co’s All-Road bike and it was safe to say that the redwood seems much more capable, especially when it comes to adventure.
Poseidon does have a few gravel bike options that are worth looking further into before you commit to the Redwood. We wrote a detailed article comparing Redwood to both the Ambition models. But again we came to the conclusion that the Redwood is most capable when it comes to roaming those roads or even single tracks less traveled.
The Poseidon Redwood is available in either a drop bar or flat bar option. Making it a great choice for flat bar gravel bike for commuting adventures
Introducing the Poseidon Redwood
There are only two build options for the Redwood a drop bar or a flat bar. A bike that was designed to tackle terrain meant for hardtail mountain bikes. Perfect for someone looking for a gravel bike that will take you even further than most. ideal for gravel, single-track riding, and bikepacking, it is literally a do-it-all bike!
The build features a 6061 Double Butted Hydroformed Aluminum frame and 6061 Aluminum Fork – Tapered Steer 1 1/8″ – 1 1/2″ fork. Powered by a 1 x 10 Microshift Advent X groupset. This means a Prowheel Charm 170mm Crankset with (38T). And an (11-48T) 10-speed Microshift Advent X cassette. Combined with the 27.5″ x 2.35″ Kenda Kadre tires. Giving you an incredible 21.88″ granny gear and a 95.54″ highest gear. Combining to make a 0.79 : 3.45 gear ratio.
Just quick for those of you who don’t know much about gear inches. They typically range from 18 (very low gearing) to 70 (medium gearing) to 125 (very high gearing). So low gearing is for going up hills and high gearing is for going fast.
On first inspection I was concerned whether this bike would have adequate gears for climbing, with the 10x setup however the sub 22″ granny gear is actually decent for a gravel bike. While most have around a 25″ and generally MTBs have around 18″. While this could be even better, say 20″ it’s actually quite surprising for a stock a gravel bike under $1k.
The Redwood is said to have amp’d up geometry made to eat up gravel, along with enough tire clearance to soak up the vibrations on rough and rocky trails. Redwood wheels have 27.5″ thru-axle/tubeless compatible rims. Allowing a 2.6″ tire to clear this frame without issues (tire and rim combos vary).
We will talk further about geometry and comfort next, however, the stack/reach ratio is around 1.48 which is not the most upright when compared to other gravel bikes. Around 1.5 and up is ideal for the most comfortable and upright riding position. For those long adventures! You get a chill ride feel at the rear with a 440mm chainstay.
It has the potential to take you on some rad adventures for only $899.99! With mounting options on the fork and those Poseidon Adventure Bars with 24 Degree Flare for extra comfort when shredding, also adding to comfort.
Geometry and Comfort
The Redwood’s geometry is designed perfectly for comfort and capability while on adventures.
I wanted to try a little experiment. See I personally ride the Kona Sutra LTD and wanted to compare something like this bike which is made for eating up off-road trails with all your bikepacking gear. When comparing the Sutra’s geometry to that of the Redwood. They are rather comparative, both giving numbers more designed for adventure riding. Stack/reach ratios are 1.48 vs 1.54, Chainstay is 440mm and 445 mm (with the Sutra overall having longer measurements.) Along with the wheelbase 52mm longer. Both trails are on the longer end in mid to high 70 mm, but the Redwood is 5.4 mm shorter.
Then taking a look at a bike like the Cervelo Aspero a bike designed for fast gravel riding, not really intended for comfort over the long haul, we can start to see where these bikes differ. The stack/reach of the Aspero is 1.43 which is much more aggressive than the Redwood, then you have a shorter wheelbase and chainstay as well, which makes the redwood have a more stable ride feel. Making it feel planted, especially when carrying gear.
Poseidon Redwood Bikepacking
When it comes to bikepacking the Poseidon Redwood has to be one of the most adventure-ready gravel bikes for the price. Most gravel bikes are built to only provide the minimum capabilities when it comes to all types of riding. And only a certain select few gravel bikes are good choices for off-road riding and adventure cycling.
The Redwood has many mounting options for all your camping gear. Along with a wide wheelbase and perfect length chainstay, it offers stability for riding with a heavier bike due to all the gears. One of the downsides if you wanna say that. The Alloy frame material in my opinion is not the most ideal for adventure cycling. Steel gravel bikes are a favorite, you just can’t beat this bike material in my option.
Compared to most other gravel bikes, the tire clearance on this Redwood is what makes it so appealing. this 2.6″ tire width potential is what can allow you to venture much further than an average 45 to 50 mm tire gravel bike could. Even from personal experience, riding events like the Vic Divide on my Kona Sutra LTD on stock 50 mm tires. When attempting to ride single-track compared to say the 2.3″ tire I know to ride with this bike its is a dramatic difference! That extra tire dampens so much road chatter making for a much more capable and comfortable ride.
Poseidon Redwood Pros and Cons
As I write this article it is solely from researched experience and comparing specs to other bikes on paper. I, unfortunately, haven’t got this bike in person to test. However, I am working with Poseidon to potentially test out a Redwood. So as things progress this review will be updated with real-world experience and testing to give you a holistic view of how good this bike really is.
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