Sonder Broken Road Ti Review

Just yesterday, Campagnolo announced a wireless groupset that costs $4,300. The other week, SRAM launched one for $3,500. Both were reviewed and shared widely as if spending significantly more than the average monthly mortgage payment in the United States on a few bike bits is a totally normal thing to do. It’s not, and nine in ten of us will never reap the marginal benefits touted by these and many other unpalatably expensive components the bike industry regularly churns out. Sure, maybe the tech will eventually trickle down. And yes, these particular releases aren’t aimed directly at our niche market corner, but we’re far from insulated from such frivolousness. 

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I can understand the desire for nice things. We all want them, and I believe in buying the right thing once, but riders without deep pockets—that’s most of us—risk being left behind in the pervasive pursuit of saving grams, adding speeds, and electrifying everything. Thankfully, there are still brands designing products for folks with real-world budgets and a need for practical, long-lasting goods. One such brand is Sonder Bikes from the UK. Although they’re not exactly a household name, they’ve been around since 2015 and have quietly grown their range to include an impressive and diverse mix of more than a dozen gravel, road, and mountain bikes. Sonder isn’t a budget brand, but nearly all their bikes are available at approachable prices.

Browsing Sonder’s collection of hardtails online last year, the seemingly versatile Broken Road Ti stood out for its potential bikepacking prowess. With some worthy rides on the horizon, I arranged to demo the mid-range Shimano XT build with a RockShox Reba RL fork, priced at $3,599 complete. I’ve had the bike all year and have pedaled it on a medley of chunky roads and trails around Colorado and Utah throughout that time. Read on for an in-depth look at an aptly named bike that has taken me on some of my most beautiful rides in recent memory and helped me fall in love with mountain biking all over again.

Sonder Broken Road Ti Overview

Forgoing flowery language, Sonder calls the utilitarian Broken Road Ti a “hardtail mountain bike for long rides, remote places, and wilderness bikepacking.” Having tested mine in all three scenarios, I can confirm it’s up to its intended tasks. I also found its limits, which I’ll explore below.

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The frame is built in China from 3Al-2.5V titanium and has a claimed weight of between 2.05 and 2.3 kilograms (4.5 to 5 pounds), depending on size. As Sonder’s bikepacking-focused hardtail, it sports three-pack mounts above and below the downtube, a standard set of bottle bosses on the seat tube, and rear rack mounts. That’s fewer mounts than expected, but the essentials are covered (update: the latest Broken Road Ti frames now feature two sets of mounts on the top tube). The dropper is routed internally, and somewhat unexpectedly, the rear brake and derailleur are, too. This offers a clean look and partly protects your housing but can quickly turn into anything from a minor inconvenience to a pain in the ass if you need to replace it, especially in the field. 

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The Broken Road Ti’s top tube is ovalized, which Sonder says keeps the frame vertically compliant but laterally stiff. It’s incompatible with a front derailleur and has a 73mm BSA bottom bracket, 148mm boost rear spacing, and a post-mount rear brake with clearance for a 160mm rotor. It’s optimized for 29-inch wheels and will clear a 29 x 2.6″ or 27.5 x 3.0″ tire. Adjustable sliding rear dropouts open the possibility of running it singlespeed or with an internally geared hub. The frame comes backed by a 10-year “Alpine Bond” warranty against defects in materials and workmanship. 

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The welds on my frame look good to my eye, and the etched logos are subtle. It’s not a flashy frame by any means, but small details such as the yoke engraving and the functional curves in the seat tube, downtube, and seatstay bridge add a little visual appeal. I think it nicely toes the line between understated and uninteresting, which many riders want from a titanium frame. 

• Sizing: Small, medium, large, and extra large
• Headset: IS42/28.6 | IS52/40
• Bottom Bracket: 73mm BSA threaded
• Rear Spacing: Boost 148mm x 12mm with thru axle
• Seat Post Diameter: 31.6mm
• Dropper routing: Internal
• Driveline: 1x drivetrain specific. Not designed to accommodate a front derailleur
• Chainring Clearance: 36 tooth max
• Brake Compatibility: Post mount, 160mm rotor as standard
• Max Tire: 29 x 2.6″ or 27.5 x 3.0″

Fit, Sizing, and Geometry

The titanium Broken Road is available in four sizes—small to extra large—made to suit riders from 5’2″ (158cm) to 6’2″ (187cm+) tall and above. At around 6’3″ (190cm) with a 35-inch inseam, I went for the XL. I could have fit on the large, but given that I mainly imagined loaded bikepacking aboard the Broken Road, I wanted to maximize frame bag space and eke out a hair more steadiness. Had I known I’d do so many unloaded trail rides on it, I might have sized down for the added maneuverability. 

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Sagged, the XL Broken Road has a 67-degree head tube angle, 73-degree seat tube angle, 480mm reach, 626mm stack, 60mm bottom bracket drop, and long chainstays that adjust from 440 to 460mm. Considered together, these figures translate to a tame and balanced bike. The slack headtube angle, slacker seat tube, and extended wheelbase make it stable and comfy for all-day rides and are ideal for a go-anywhere style of bike. That said, the Broken Road can feel a little long and challenging to manage on tight, twisty trails. And with just 100mm of travel, the fork is better suited to routes that don’t heavily feature big drops or jumps. 

I was confident and relaxed while pedaling full days on jeep roads but conscious that I probably wasn’t on the optimal bike while bouncing down technical singletrack. A more skilled rider could manage just fine, but the Broken Road feels more in its element when cruising along chundery mountain roads rather than zooming down snaky trails. It’s an adaptable bike in the sense that any short-travel hardtail is somewhat of a jack of all trades, but Sonder clearly prioritized efficiency and stability over responsiveness when conceiving it, which makes sense when considering the availability of more thrilling hardtails and full-suspension bikes in their range. 

White Rim Approved

One of the first big rides I took the Broken Road Ti on was a three-day spin along the White Rim Trail in Utah’s Canyonlands National Park this spring, where it more than proved its mettle. Comprising a mix of slickrock, graded gravel, dirt roads, and rocky doubletrack, the geologic playground of the White Rim is rugged, sandy, and remote in places but almost entirely non-technical. You could ride it on a gravel bike or rigid MTB, which many have done, including a couple in my group. Still, with its 100mm fork absorbing the bumps, its chainstays in the middle position at roughly 450mm, and a few bags and a rack attached, the Broken Road felt like the perfect bike for creating the experience I was after. It was right at home, enabling me to fully immerse myself in the mind-bending landscapes without much concern about how the surface might change around the bend. In fact, of the many past, present, and upcoming personal and review bikes in my rotating stable, it’s the one I’d choose to ride if I made the trip again today.

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Fast-forward to this summer, and another jaunt that helped illuminate what the Broken Road does exceptionally well was a day ride that included the Switzerland Trail, a popular local loop following a mellow but chunky former railroad track through the mountains above Boulder. Regular contributor Evan Christenson was visiting, and I was giving him a whirlwind tour of some of the area’s easily accessible greatest hits. The Switzerland Trail is an off-road route you could do on just about any bike, but sailing along effortlessly on the Broken Road, chatting and pointing out landmarks as we rode, I had an awareness that I was riding the archetypal bike for people who want to pick just about any line on the map and trace it with little worry. 

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Lightly loaded with gear for a night or more out, the Broken Road loses a tad of its liveliness but feels even steadier and more planted, a trade-off I’ll take for long days out. At its worst, it’s perhaps a little dull, but if you have ambitions of taking on big rides through unpredictable terrain—let’s say traversing the Sierra Nevada in California or the Atlas Mountains in Morocco—comfortable and safe are ultimately fast and will get you where you need to go. 

Shimano XT Build Kit

Buyers have many options when ordering a frame or complete bike through Sonder’s website, and every bike is customized to order. I picked my bars, saddle, seatpost, and stem, sticking with the default options on the Shimano XT build, which I think represents a serious and competent spec that strikes a good balance of price and performance. You can purchase a complete Sonder Broken Road Ti for as little as $2,549 with an SX Eagle build, and prices go up to $5,149 for the version with a Pinion C1.12 gearbox. There are seven complete builds that cost less than Campagnolo’s new wireless group! 

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Being an offshoot of Alpkit, the better-known outdoor apparel, equipment, and bag brand, I added a made-to-measure Alpkit Stingray full framebag with a horizontal divider and a partial lace-up attachment. It’s generally well made and reasonably priced at $169, but its fit could be improved. There’s some unused space in the corners of the main triangle, and the bag’s lower edge doesn’t follow the downtube perfectly, even when the tension is all the way off the upper lacing. These gripes aside, I appreciate Alpkit’s highly customizable UK-made offerings in an array of fabrics, even if they don’t have quite the same charm as bags from smaller bespoke bag makers. 

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After adding my pedals and taking a few quick spins, I ended up swapping out the grips and saddle for more familiar options, but the build is otherwise bone stock. Especially at its price, I’m happy with how everything in the Shimano XT build performed. I never felt undergeared with the 36 x 10-51 range, the brakes offered ample stopping power, and shifting was smooth. I wasn’t hugely impressed by the weight or feel of Sonder’s in-house-built Alpha 29 wheels, but they’re adequate for budget hoops. I’d also have preferred to max out the tires at 2.6″ wide, as much as the Goodyear Peaks are solid all-around tires. I was initially thinking I’d swap out the Sonder Aspect Riser bars for my preferred Hunter Smooth Moves, but I grew to like them, and 780mm is a width that works well for me. As expected, the titanium frame shows only minimal signs of use after nearly a year of regular riding. See an overview of the full build below. 

• Frame: Sonder Broken Road Ti
• Fork: RockShox Reba RL
• Wheels: Sonder Alpha 29
• Tires: Goodyear Peak 29 x 2.4″
• Crankset: Shimano XT M8100, 170mm, 32t
• Derailleur: Shimano XT M8100, Long cage, 12-speed
• Shifter: Shimano XT M8100, 12-speed
• Cassette: Shimano CS-M8100, 10-51T, 12-speed
• Chain: Shimano CNM7100, 12-speed
• Bottom Bracket: Shimano MT801, BSA
• Handlebar: Sonder Aspect Riser, 780mm
• Stem: Sonder Piskie
• Grips: Ergon GA3
• Headset: FSA Orbit C-40-ACB
• Brakes: Shimano XT M8100
• Rotors: Shimano RT66, 180mm (front)/160mm (rear), 6-bolt
• Saddle: WTB Koda or Selle Italia Flite
• Seatpost: X-Fusion Manic Drop

A New Steel Counterpart

Relative to steel, one of the key drawbacks of titanium is that it’s generally unaffordable as a frame material, even off the shelf. It’s not out of the ordinary for a brand to charge $3,000 or more for a production titanium frame made in Asia, and you can pay twice that for something custom. The Broken Road Ti frame costs a more sensible $2,049, which is still a hefty chunk of change for most. Fortunately, after numerous customer requests, Sonder rolled out a steel version of the Broken Road earlier this year, which they now offer as a frameset for $924 and in several complete builds starting at $1,949. 

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The Broken Road ST features the same geometry but is constructed from 4130 chromoly steel, lacks some of the subtle frame details, and weighs significantly more. Despite the steel prices coming in lower across the board, interested buyers will want to think carefully about each build level’s relative value. For example, the steel XT build costs $2,999 versus $3,599 for titanium, an unusually small price difference between equivalent bikes in the two materials. Frankly, this equation breaks the mold of what I discussed in my recent piece that tried to unpack titanium’s allure, and if you’re considering the steel Broken Road, you might find a better bang for your buck elsewhere.

• Model/Size Tested: Sonder Broken Road Ti (XL)
• Actual Weight: TBD pounds (TBD kilograms)
• Place of Manufacture: China
• Price: $3,599 (complete), $2,049 (frame)
• Manufacturer’s Details: Sonder Bikes

Further Reading

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