Take a look at the State Bicycle Company 4130 All-Road in photos, and this steel gravel bike seems to check all the boxes. You’re getting a durable frame (#steelisreal), a newly added 12-speed wide-range drivetrain, tubeless-ready tires and wheels, and branding that makes the bike feel cohesive. It’s an awfully photogenic bike to boot.
And for $999 USD, it feels like an unbeatable value, too.
Is a bike like the State Bicycle 4130 All-Road too good to be true? Kinda. Sorta. Mostly no, so long as you know what you’re getting. Let me explain.
Quick Hits: Six Things to Know About the State Bicycle Company 4130 All-Road
- The State Bicycle Company 4130 All-Road is the brand’s lone steel road and gravel bike, fitting in beside a Carbon All-Road, 6061 All-Road, and a Titanium All-Road
- Bike receives updated frame details, SRAM UDH, and threaded bottom bracket
- Mounts for 3 water bottles, a top tube bag, racks, fenders, and accessories
- Max tire clearance: 700c x 45 mm (at fork); 700c x 55 mm (at rear triangle)
- Sizes: Four sizes (XS – L)
- For more: statebicycle.com
Build details
What’s in a steel bike? Steel, right? Yeah, mostly. State says its steel bike is made from 4130 steel, which has to be the most appealing part of the 4130 All-Road. Chromoly steel isn’t perfect; it isn’t the lightest, stiffness, most comfortable, or even the easiest to repair. Rather, it’s a durable, trustworthy, and reliable choice. Considering how rare steel bikes are at this price point, it is good to see one here.
This latest generation bike gets several modern touches that elevate the 4130 All-Road and make it worth considering. The biggest update to the frame has to be the added tire clearance: 700c x 55 mm claimed. Sadly, the matching steel fork is limited to just 45 mm claimed; you’ll need to upgrade to the State carbon monster fork or a State All-Road suspension fork to take advantage of the frame’s tire clearance. More on those upgrades later, however.
Elsewhere, you’re getting some features you wouldn’t expect at this price point. The 4130 All-Road gets a SRAM UDH (Universal Derailleur Hanger), which allows for compatibility with SRAM’s direct mount derailleurs and makes for easier derailleur hanger swaps to boot. There’s also internal dropper post cable routing, mounts for three bottle cages, fenders, and racks, and a top tube bar bag, too.
All in, the frame feels like a solid foundation, one that I think is worthy of some upgrades down the line. That’s impressive at this price point.
Lots of ways to customize the State Bicycle 4130 All-Road
Unlike a lot of other bikes at this price point, State offers all kinds of customization. That starts with the aforementioned fork options; while the 4130 All-Road comes with a steel fork with 45 mm tire clearance, the other forks offer quite a bit more clearance.
The State Carbon Monster fork gets tire clearance for up to 700c x 58 (2.3”) mm tires, a three-pack cage mount on the fork blades and fender mounts, and a relatively affordable $300 upcharge. Frankly, that might be the fork to have on the bike. It still has three pack mounts, but it boosts tire capacity to match the frame without changing the geometry of the bike. It’s a $300 upgrade, but it is one that I would recommend thinking hard about.
On that note, State lets you upgrade the bike past this stock $999 build. Not only can you upgrade to a carbon fork at purchase OR after purchase, but there’s also a suspension fork option with 40 mm travel. That’s a $350 upgrade at purchase or $450 separately.
Geometry
| Geometry (all measurements in mm unless noted | XS | S | M | L |
| ACTUAL TOP TUBE LENGTH | 496 | 517.3 | 528.9 | 553.1 |
| BB DROP | 75 | 75 | 75 | 75 |
| CHAIN STAY LENGTH | 450 | 450 | 450 | 450 |
| CRANK ARM LENGTH | 165 | 165 | 170 | 175 |
| EFFECTIVE TOP TUBE LENGTH | 510 | 535 | 550 | 575 |
| FORK LENGTH | 405 | 405 | 405 | 405 |
| FORK OFFSET | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 |
| HEAD TUBE ANGLE (degrees) | 70.50 | 71.00 | 71.50 | 71.50 |
| HEAD TUBE LENGTH | 125.00 | 145 | 165 | 185 |
| REACH | 359.8 | 373.7 | 371.5 | 385 |
| SEAT TUBE | 430 | 470 | 510 | 550 |
| SEAT TUBE ANGLE (degrees)td> | 75.00 | 74.50 | 73.50 | 73.00 |
| STACK | 560.7 | 581.6 | 602.5 | 621.5 |
| STANDOVER HEIGHT (700 / 650) | 743 / 735 | 772 / 764 | 798 / 790 | 827 / 819 |
| WHEEL BASE | 997.1 | 1013.1 | 1054.1 | 1062.9 |
The State Bicycle Company 4130 All-Road geometry is well-suited for a bike in this category: right in the middle of aggressive and comfortable. I think it works well for overnighter trips and some light gravel, but I wouldn’t expect it to do a whole lot more than that.
A look at the fit geometry reveals the 4130 All-Road is quite short in the reach dimension. That should make the bike a bit more upright, with the ability to fit a longer stem if folks want to stretch out a bit more. Stack heights aren’t as upright as some of the competition, but they should again allow folks to find a comfortable position without working too hard.
State offers this bike in four sizes, with the XS size getting a 42 cm wide handlebar. While we’d normally raise an eyebrow at a bar like that on a size small, it’s worth mentioning that State specs a 42 cm bar regardless of size. This feels like an oversight, especially considering that State specs three different crank lengths across the four sizes.
Wheelbase measurements are right in the middle for a gravel bike, though the 450 mm chainstays across sizes make the front center of the bike a bit shorter than one might expect.
Riding the State 4130 All-Road
In for review is a stock State 4130 All-Road. Total weight for this size small bike was 26 pounds on the dot (or 11.8 kg). That’s heavy for any drop bar bike, much less the bikes around this price point, regardless of how much you’re spending.
There’s a lot to like with the State 4130 All-Road, particularly on the road. The ride smoothness doesn’t spur you on like the best bikes, but that’s not the MO for this bike; it’s here for mile munching, and the bike seems like it’ll do a good job of it. I think the 4130 All-Road is at its best in these situations – mostly smooth dirt roads or light gravel – where the bike feels more expensive than its affordable price point.
Where the bike starts to falter is when you start going up, down, or on chunkier terrain. Out of these, the 4130 All-Road is best on the climbs. The updated 12-speed drivetrain offers a 42T chainring with a 46t low gear, a real upgrade over the 1:1 ratio of the older State bikes. There’s no getting around the sheer weight of the bike, but on pavement, the 4130 All-Road is a better climbing bike than before.
Descending and higher speed scenarios are a different story, however. Handling is confident, consistent, and feels far from twitchy as you get going faster. The issue comes when you need to stop. Boy, these brakes are the weakest point of the bike. They’re a hydro-mechanical system, meaning the levers pull a standard brake cable to the calipers, which have hydraulic fluid. They’re kinda slab-sided in look, but the CNC’d design looks fairly robust if simple. That’s not my struggle.
I struggled with the sheer power of the brakes as constructed, and it wasn’t the first time we’ve had issues with the braking performance. Even properly bedded in, the max power feels roughly equivalent to a set of modern cantilever brakes. I struggled to stop on steep descents, even as a relatively light 130 pound (60 kg) individual, and getting the most of the braking power requires plenty of braking effort.
I messed around with solutions here and even enlisted some current bike mechanic friends. Thankfully, the brakes are compatible with Shimano brake pads, and I found that they seemed to improve performance quite a bit. With that, I was much more confident and could control the power more easily. Swapping the brake rotors improved braking, too, but the stock rotors with even basic Shimano pads were a step up.
What’s in a name?
One of the ways State is able to get the bike down to a price point is by ensuring just about everything is State branded. And I mean it; besides the tires, nearly everything here is State-branded. The wheels, the saddle, the bars, and even the drivetrain are all State Bicycle Company branded. You’d expect some house branding for some components, but the drivetrain? That’s new.
The State-branded drivetrain is an update of the company’s previous drivetrains. The shifters and derailleur come courtesy of Chinese company Sensah shifting a 12-speed cassette with a choice of either an 11-46t or an 11-50t cassette (more on that later). The shifting is a further simplified version of SRAM’s mechanical shifting, but it uses the brake lever as a shift paddle rather than a dedicated space.
Its a simple system, and one that works smoothly and accurately most of the time. I found I would misshift more often that I would like, as the light shift feel makes it easy to accidentally upshift as you’re grabbing a bit of brake to slow down. This is a non-issue most of the time, but the sheer flare of the brake levers make the misshifts more frequent.
The cranks are new to the 4130 All-Road, featuring a CNC’d direct mount chainring and cranks with a SRAM DUB spindle. There’s a Sunshine cassette and a KMC 12-speed chain; while neither brand is particularly top-tier, it seems reliable and well-enough made.
The shifting was good enough. It lacks the precision of a Shimano or SRAM mechanical system, and doesn’t feel quite as robust as a Microshift system. But all outside of the woeful braking performance, I think this drivetrain is plenty good in most situations.
Then there are the wheels, which have been recently updated too. Riders will be able to order the bike either with 650b or 700c wheels, with most folks going for the 700c build. That comes with pinned alloy rims with a 23 mm internal width. The All-Road wheels use 32 spokes per wheel and get a quicker-engaging hub to match. The wheels don’t come set up to be run tubeless, but add in a set of valves and tape and they set up in my experience without issue.
All said and done, I found the bike to feel quite a bit more robust than before. No bent derailleur hangers, no misaligned frames as I’ve heard from folks before with older 4130 frames, no poorly-fitting components. I’m not ready to say this is ready to take on a muddy Unbound, but the new bike sees notable improvements… provided you fix those brakes.
Conclusion
I’m a bit conflicted by the State Bicycle Company 4130 All-Road. This bike feels like good value for money, and unlike most bikes at this price point, the steel frame here feels worthy of upgrading now and in the future. The handling is predictable on road and on light gravel, and while I wish the fork’s tire clearance matched the back of the bike, I appreciate the sheer number of mounts here.
I struggle deeply with the braking performance of the bike. On the road and light gravel and dirt roads, I think the braking is acceptable. But for someone heavier, with a loaded bike, on a steep dirt descent, or on some combination of all of it? The braking simply isn’t good enough. Fixing this was as simple as a pad swap, but I’d rather not have to pay more to fix something so simple on the bike.
Kudos to State Bicycle Company for offering a unique bike at this price point, one that feels far more usable out of the box than other bikes I’ve experienced at this price point. Just make sure your brakes are bedded in before your next ride.
Gallery
