After doing the research looking for a single speed gravel/cyclocross bike that was both affordable and easily upgraded, I decided to go with the State Bicycle Thunderbird. I spent my money on this bike and these are my observations.
The bike came ridiculously fast, 2 days from Phoenix to Denver! It was a straightforward build, it came well packed and there were no issues putting it together. While assembling the bike I noticed there was some paint chipping off near the rear dropouts, but that was luckily the horrifically colored pink which I planned on painting anyway.
The components are decent middle of the road quality. I purchased the size 55cm, it came with 40cm bars and 170mm cranks which are too small for that size bike. I swapped them out for 44cm wide bars and 175mm cranks. The bottom bracket is high enough, there is no reason to go with such short cranks. The seat looks nice and seems to fit my butt, I realize that is subjective though.
The bike isn't light, but isn't a tank either. A few things that would drop some weight: A good quality tubeless wheel set (with lighter folding tires), better quality crank set, swap the BB5’s for BB7’s (more adjustable, sealed from the elements and lighter), swapping out the 1/8" chain for for a 3/32" and a carbon post would improve ride quality and drop some weight.
I now have almost 200 miles on my Tbird and the bottom line is when asked the question "would you buy it again?" and the answer is yes, I would buy it again.
(Should be a 4.5 star review)
Pros-
Industry standard 135mm rear & 100mm quick release wheel spacing
Lightweight aluminum frame & carbon fiber fork
Eccentric bottom bracket for chain tensioning
Good quality Ritchey Logic components
Sram/Avid brakes & levers
More than 1 water bottle mount
Cons-
Heavy non-tubeless, no-name rims laced to low end Joytech/Novatec hubs
Narrow 40cm bars on the size large frame
Short 170mm and heavy no name crank set
Obnoxious color choices