This bike is definitely in the running. Steel frame ( Made in Taiwan :/ ), carbon fork, 22lbs, feels comfortable on the road. Decent groupo and 700x35 semi-knobbies standard. Optimized for 700x33 but can go up to 42 wide. Needs some rain flaps but this seems like a top contender for my first gravel bike.

Great new version of a Santa Cruz classic. The new Shimano GRX gravel specific groupo looks perfect too. Tempting!

This seems like the only bike that could unseat the Stigmata. Light, available with GRX groupo too and probably the cheapest way to get factory carbon rims. A test ride is called for!