If you want a bike that allows you total freedom to take any road, or indeed non-road, that takes your fancy – then a Cyclocross or Adventure Road bike is right up your street.
The sliding scale from endurance road, to ‘Adventure Road’ (usually called a ‘Gravel Grinder’ in America) to ‘Cyclocross‘ has been a hot topic as new 2015 models trickle in.
Endurance road bikes are designed for comfortable long miles, often with clearance for fatter tyres and disc brakes. Cyclocross race bikes are created for one hour, 95% off your max heart rate efforts in muddy fields. Gravel Grinders, or Adventure Road bikes, are somewhere in the middle – perfect for on and off-road exploration.
The differences between Cyclocross and Adventure Road bikes are minor spec and geometry tweaks, making a CX bike more suited to racing, and an Adventure Road better for comfortable long miles. Nothing is stopping you racing an Adventure Road bike or spending all day on a Cyclocross bike, but it makes sense to shop with the primary use in mind.
The Pinnacle Arkose Women’s One Adventure Road bike is a great £700 option. The 2015 model has seen some tweaks to the geometry around the forks, making steering nimble and reliable off road, and the tubing has been on a diet since the 2014 models.
The women’s ‘One’ is on the entry level end of the Arkose scale, with a Sora Groupet and cable brakes. Created in house at Evans Cycles, higher spec versions of the women’s model are on their way for the early months of 2015.
The tyres, Kenda Small Block 8’s are a balance between road speed and off-road grip, if you want to attack some muddy cyclocross races, you would likely want to swap these for a tyre that sheds mud faster. Similarly, if you were more focused on using the bike on the road, slick tyres would decrease resistance and increase your speed dramatically.
If racing is on your mind, a race specific machine will have more room for mud clearance, and a higher bottom bracket – this reduces the chance of catching the BB on a tree root or rock and is more appropriate for fast off road riding.
Elsewhere Giant offers the ‘Liv Invite 1’ (£849) and ‘Live Invite 2’ (£699). The Invite is pitched as ‘adventure bike’ for a ‘comfortable ride on roads, gravel or dirt’, and the higher end model comes with SRAM BB5 mechanical discs.
