Carbon neutral
Carbon-light bikes
Carbon fibre dominates modern bike design, but can alternative frame materials offer performance with a difference? We test a material mix to find out
Need to know
Carbon fibre may be the go-to frame material these days, but have you looked into the other options? Some metals have seriously impressive credentials that may make you think twice when buying your next bike…
CARBON FIBRE BIKES arrived in the early 1980s, featuring carbon tubes bonded into aluminium lugs. These were followed in 1986 by the Kestrel 4000, the first all-carbon production bike. Since then, carbon production has steadily become the material of choice for modern performance bikes. But great things can be done with metals too…
01 Steel life
The most venerable of materials for making bikes is steel. It’s represented here by Cotic’s Escapade, which boasts an asymmetrically butted down-tube. The Ovalform top-tube is double-butted, the seat-tube is bulgebutted and there are custom butted and curved tubes for the chainstays and the brand’s signature wishbone seatstays.
Next year there’ll be a limited-edition version made from premium Reynolds 853 steel, which has the strength-to-weight ratio of titanium and gets stronger when it cools after welding. This means frames can offer race-ready stiffness with a high strength while retaining a bit of the ‘give’ and ‘life’ that steel frames are known for.
02 Alloy ahoy!
Aluminium surpassed steel as the racer’s choice for a few years in the 1980s and 1990s before carbon fibre swept it away. Nowadays aluminium is found mainly on entry-level bikes. There are, however, a few exceptions such as Cannondale’s stunning CAAD13 and Specialized’s Allez Sprint. The Italian bike builder Basso also believes in aluminium alloys as a performance material. Basso’s striking Tera has an aluminium front triangle that’s built to be stiff and light, which is attached to a rear triangle made from carbon fibre. Crucially, the front and back are connected to each other via a pivot, creating a soft-tail rear end for comfort.
03 Tough ti
Titanium’s toughness and resistance to corrosion are its plus points. It’s represented here by Liverpool’s Dolan Cycles’ ADX endurance bike. The frame is made from 3Al/2.5V titanium alloyed with aluminium and vanadium, which was originally used for aerospace applications. The first titanium bikes were made by Speedwell in the UK and Germany’s Flema in the early 1970s. Since then, brands such as Moots, Seven, Lynskey and Reilly have pushed the material to greater heights.
04 Magnificent magnesium
Magnesium alloy first appeared on bikes such as Kirk’s Precision in the late 1980s, and Italian marque Pinarello also dabbled with the metal, releasing a Dogma with a magnesium alloy frame in 2004. The latest ‘Super-Magnesium’ alloy used on Vaast’s R/1 was developed for the aerospace industry. Vaast claims it’s lighter than aluminium, steel and titanium; stronger than steel and aluminium and more resistant to corrosion. The mag-alloys also use 40% less energy to create than an aluminium or steel frame and, unlike carbon, the alloy is 100% recyclable.
Warren Rossiter
Senior Technical Editor
During Warren’s more than 20 years of bike testing, he’s seen carbon evolve into what it is today. However he still has a fondness for alloy, titanium and steel. In fact he still owns, and regularly enjoys riding, bikes made mostly from metal.
Bike tech explained
Your quickfire guide to bike jargon
Butted tubing
● Butted tubes have a constant outside diameter but the wall thickness varies within that. On a double-butted tube the ends of the tube are thicker – usually 0.8mm compared to 0.5mm in the middle of the tube. This helps make stronger joints while reducing weight in the centre. Bulge butted means the tube’s reinforced on the outside.
4130 Cr-Mo steel
● 4130 Cr-Mo – or chromoly – is a steel alloy of chromium, iron, molybdenum, carbon, silicon, manganese and sulphur. It’s part of a whole category of 41xx alloys and the one most commonly used for bicycle frames. 4130 steels form the basis of tubing such as Reynolds’ 501, 520, 525 and 725, and even highly regarded steels such as 853 have base recipes derived from 4130 steel. Columbus and Tange’s tubing ranges also feature plenty of 4130-derived tubesets.
Stack
● The vertical distance between the top of the head-tube and the centre of the bottom bracket. A taller stack means a more upright ride position; a lower stack, a racier one.
Reach
● The horizontal distance between the centre of the bottom bracket and the centre of the head tube. A longer reach lowers your ride position, a shorter reach means you sit more upright.
TIG-welded
● TIG, or tungsten inert gas, welding offers precision control over the welding process and can allow you to weld in tighter spots than you might with other processes, making it ideal for thin-walled tubes and small areas present in a bicycle frame. TIG welds can be found on steel, aluminium and titanium frames as well as on some magnesium alloy frames.
Shimano Di2
● Di2 stands for ‘digitally integrated intelligence’ and this is found on Shimano’s top-end groupsets, which forgo cables in favour of electronic derailleurs powered by a battery wired to the shift levers and mechs, usually mounted inside the bike’s seatpost.
Bikes on test…
Bikes on test…
Basso Tera Gravel Apex
£2,399
Vaast R/1 Ultegra
£3,199
Dolan ADX Titanium 105 Di2
£3,099.98
Cotic Escapade Ekar
£3,799
Basso Tera Gravel Apex
£2,399 Soft-tail alloy gravel machine with a pivoting carbon rear end
Weight 10.7kg (L) Frame Aluminium/carbon Fork Carbon Gears SRAM Apex 1 x11 (42, 11-42) Brakes SRAM Apex hydraulic disc Wheels Microtech MX25 Finishing kit Microtech XL Gravel bar, Basso stem and seatpost, Selle San Marco GND saddle, Maxxis Rambler TR 45c tyres
The Good
Compliant; comfortable; quick and forgiving handling
The Bad
Heavy wheels slow its climbing
BASSO BIKES DOESN’T HAVE the brand recognition in the UK of fellow Italian brands Pinarello, Colnago, Bianchi and Wilier. But the 45-year-old company has always taken pride in its made-in-Italy foundations, from the time Alcide Basso started making steel bikes in the 1970s to today’s handmade-in-Italy carbon creations.
The Tera features a beautifully finished aluminium front triangle that uses manipulated tube shapes, from a slender, round seat-tube to a tapering hexagonal-to-ovalised down-tube and a kinked, flattening top-tube, which is finished off with an oversized machined head-tube.
This metal front end is paired with a carbon rear triangle. This has a solid connection with the bottom-bracket shell, while the skinny carbon seatstays are pivoted where they join the seat-tube, about half-way down. These stays can flex, soaking up bumps and vibrations to keep the rear end smooth without the need for a flexible or suspension seatpost, and the distance between your saddle and pedals remains constant. Basso says this delivers more efficient pedalling.
The Tera comes with 45mm of clearance for 700c tyres, and its 45c Maxxis Ramblers still leave plenty of space. The Ramblers’ studded treads were the perfect match for my test period’s dusty trails, but they also roll reasonably swiftly on tarmac. Basso’s component brand Microtech’s MX25 gravel wheels have a broad, 25mm internal width and are solidly built around smooth cartridgebearing hubs and Sapim stainless spokes. They felt taut over coarse surfaces while still reducing jarring vibrations. The downside is their 2,120g weight, which contributes to the Tera’s overall 10.7kg bulk. This didn’t impact on its handling and it descends confidently, but it does feel a little sluggish on ascents, which is when you can really appreciate the SRAM’s 1×1 bottom gear.
Apex 1x is SRAM’s first-tier gravel group, but the performance is anything but budget. The single right-hand Double- Tap shifting – one click to shift down, double-click to shift up – is quick and easy to use, and the wide-spaced, 11-speed, 11-42 cassette offers ample range for fast road rides to the steepest slopes. Apex’s shifting may not be the quietest, thanks to the mix of mechanical click and sprung tension release. But the clutch-equipped rear mech helps to keep the chain controlled, even over drops and jumps.
The braking is power-laden and has a good feel through the levers. The tall hoods may look a little inelegant, but I like how they give you a sense of security when going over bumpy terrain.
“The Terra features a beautifully finished aluminium front triangle that uses several manipulated tube shapes”
In addition to the wheels, Microtech also provides the alloy XL gravel bar – and it’s a winner. The ovalised tops sweep back from the centre and transition into the drops, providing a good platform for the heels of your hands when you’re on the hoods. The flare is moderate, but the midheight drop makes them ideal for riding in the drops. Another advantage of the less extreme flare is that the lever position is nearly vertical.
01 The tall hoods help stop your hands bouncing off 
02 The 1x SRAM Apex 11-speed setup works well 
03 Skinny carbon seatstays can flex to soak up bumps
The well-thought-out geometry pairs a slack 70° head and steep 73.5° seat angle for a bike that’s easy to pedal hard, yet with a front end relaxed enough to track on line when things get bumpy. The sporty ride position features a low 592mm stack and mid-length 384mm reach. The 46cm bar and 100mm stem elongate the reach a little and give a reasonably low and fast ride position in the drops, though when you’re on the hoods, the swept-back bar can make it feel a little like a mountain bike when navigating twisty singletrack.
The Tera is a very capable gravel machine, with a smooth and stable ride that’s low on fatigue-inducing vibrations. The frame is well appointed with mudguard mounts, top-tube mounts, multiple bottle fittings and even provision for a front mech. With a little less weight, ideally with lighter wheels, the Tera would be a real alternative to a lightweight carbon gravel bike. But even as it stands, it’s still a very good option at a great price.
Verdict A great-value gravel machine with balanced handling and a smooth ride
Also consider…
A little more…
Basso Tera Gravel GRX600
£2,499
Do you like the soft-tail design of the Tera but prefer Shimano to SRAM? Well, Basso also makes this Shimano GRX 600-equipped edition, so your luck’s in.
A lot more...
Basso Palta disc GRX
£3,599
The Palta Gravel is the Italian brand’s take on a race gravel bike. Made from carbon, this lightweight model has a racing ride position and promises some fast handling.
Vaast R/1 Ultegra
£3,199 Magnesium-framed, aero-styled road machine
Weight 8.37kg (XL) Frame Super-Magnesium Fork Carbon Gears Shimano Ultegra (50/34 Praxis Zyante, 11-30) Brakes Shimano Ultegra hydraulic disc Wheels Vaast Aero 30mm alloy tubeless ready Finishing kit VAAST Aero carbon bar and seatpost, Vaast Pro 3D forged stem, ProLogo Scratch M5 PAS saddle, Vittoria Rubino Pro 25mm tyres
The Good
Rapid handling; low weight; great kit
The Bad
Skinny tyres; stem paint flaking; slight frame rub
EVEN THOUGH US BRAND VAAST has only been around since 2019, it has produced a wide range of bikes. It aims to make its products environmentally friendlier by shipping them in plastic-free packaging and by making its frames from magnesium. The ‘Super-Magnesium’ alloy it uses, originally designed for the defence and aviation industries, comes from the US company Alite.
Vaast and Alite claim Super-Magnesium is lighter than aluminium, steel and titanium, as well as being stronger than steel and aluminium and more resistant to corrosion. It also requires 40% less energy than steel and aluminium to manufacture and it’s 100% recyclable. The 1,250g claimed frame weight would be respectable for an aluminium alloy frame, and the complete bike weight is by far the lightest here. Our Ultegra-equipped model sits in the middle of the three-bike R/1 range, between a 105 and a SRAM wireless Force AXS (see right). The R/1 frame’s curved, flattening toptube gently arches back to the aero-shaped seat-tube, the wheelbase is tightened with a cutaway for the rear wheel, while the triangulated down-tube adds plenty of torsional stiffness. The back end is more slender and the seatstays slightly dropped, nicely balancing the bike’s looks between modern and classic.
The frame has sensible details, including a threaded T47 bottom bracket and mounts for a rear guard, though neither the fork legs nor bridge have fittings. This is a shame as the R/1 is a potential fast commuter-cum-winter trainer. Plus the single central entry port for the internal cable routing means two cables and the rear brake hose are routed a little untidily around the head-tube.
The geometry is built for speed, with my XL test bike pairing steep parallel 73° head-tube and seat-tube angles with a very short 1,009mm wheelbase, a low 590mm stack and long 400mm reach. All this gives the R/1 an unashamedly oldschool race-bike feel about it.
Vaast’s kit choices are excellent. The aeroshaped carbon seatpost is topped with ProLogo’s quality Scratch M5, a compliant, supportive and compact saddle that encourages you to go down in the drops.
The slender stem is colour-matched to the frame and clamps to a well-shaped carbon Vaast bar that has a deep teardrop-profile top section, slight backsweep and deep ergo drops. Sadly, the paint on the stem’s faceplate is flaking a little. It won’t hamper performance, but doesn’t look great.
01 The carbon Vaast bar boasts deep ergo drops 
02 Steep headtube and seat-tube angles make it racy 
03 There’s a good spread of gears to choose from
Vaast’s own wheels have been made in collaboration with Alex Rims. The 30mm-deep, aero-shaped alloy rims are tubeless-ready and weigh just 1,500g a pair, helping to keep the bike’s weight down.
“Vaast claims Super- Magnesium is lighter than aluminium, steel and titanium; and stronger than steel and aluminium”
Shimano’s mechanical Ultegra offers a great all-round gear range, pairing an 11-30 cassette with Praxis’s highly rated carbon Zyante 50/34 chainset. Shifting is swift, though the chainset/front mech combo wasn’t quite as slick as an all-Shimano setup, and there was a little annoying chain rub when the chain was crossing from big ring to larger cogs at the rear.
The frame and fork are stiff but don’t transmit much road buzz, which is impressive considering the bike has slender 25c tyres and a rim that’s narrow by modern standards, giving you much less cushioning than you’d get from a bike such as the Dolan with its wider 28mm tyres sitting on broader rims.
The result, though, is a bike with handling so crisp and direct you can’t help but have fun threading it downhill or weaving through traffic. The firmness of the ride isn’t wearing on smooth surfaces but can get a little jumpy on rutted roads where the slim tyres don’t offer much compliance. Since the R/1 can take tyres up to 30mm, I’d switch to 28mm tubeless tyres.
Overall, Vaast’s R/1 personifies everything that’s good about alloy – whether it’s aluminium or magnesium. It’s light enough, fast enough and inexpensive enough, and with its near-classic race shape, it’s a blast to ride. And thanks to its stiff frame, lowish overall weight, light wheels and responsive ride, the R/1 is also the quickest climber here. With more compliant tyres and a couple of detail updates truly outstanding alternative to carbon.
Verdict With rapid handling, this is a lightweight, racy ride that oozes old-school charm
Also consider…
A little less...
VaastR/1 105
£2,299.99
This uses the same lightweight Super-Magnesium frame but this time it’s completed with Shimano’s mechanical 105 groupset and Vaast aluminium tubeless ready wheels. it would be be a ride that oozes
A little more…
VaastR/1 Force AXS
£4,999.99
The same frame is used again but here it’s decked out with 12-speed wireless SRAM Force AXS and 45mm-deep carbon aerodynamic wheels, pushing up the spec, and the price, significantly.
Dolan ADX Titanium 105 Di2
£3,099.98 Titanium endurance machine with Shimano’s new 105 Di2
Weight 9.3kg (58.5cm) Frame 3Al/2.5V titanium Fork Alpina ADX carbon Gears Shimano 105 Di2 (50/34, 11-34) Wheels Mavic Cosmic SL 32 Brakes Shimano 105 hydraulic disc Finishing kit Deda Zero bar and stem, Selle Italia Novus saddle, Alpina Ti seatpost, Continental GP5000 28c tyres
The Good
Great value; wireless shifting; smooth ride; sporty handling
The Bad
Coarse bottle boss thread
LIVERPOOL-BASED DOLAN HAS been designing its own-brand bikes under founder Terry Dolan since 1977. With close ties to British cycling and track racing, its range covers everything from road and time-trial machines to gravel, tandem and ebikes.
Dolan’s ADX Titanium is the brand’s take on the classic endurance bike, with a smart, brushed-finish 3Al/2.5V tubeset built into a semi-sloping frame. Proper mudguard mounts and provision for rear racks make it a truly year-round machine, adding commuting and light touring to the ADX’s endurance credentials.
The ADX is available from £2,399 with mechanical Shimano 105, to £6,449.99 for a model with Dura-Ace Di2. I opted for the new 105 Di2 to get a bit of the flagship feel for less than half the price.
The geometry is classic road bike, with a steep, 74° head and similarly upright 73.5° seat angle, though the riding position is relaxingly upright, with a tall 623mm stack and short 390.2mm reach. I thought this might make the bike feel too sedate, but the steepness of the head angle combined with the straight-legged fork make the steering quick and the ADX feels responsive thanks to the stiffness through the bottom bracket.
What usually marks out a titanium frame is a softer spring than you get with quality steel frames such as the Cotic’s. Dolan’s ADX, however, feels more like the spring of steel, which means the bike’s great fun to ride, with quick handling and a position that’s very easy to live with. In short, the ADX offers everything you’d want from an endurance bike. I found Shimano’s new 105 Di2 impressive. It shares the same 12-speed gearing as its more expensive siblings, though with fewer gearing options available. Our test bike’s climbing-friendly 50/34 chainset and 11/34 cassette’s 1:1 bottom gear will keep you spinning up the steepest climbs though.
The rear-mech’s shifting is pretty much indistinguishable from the dearer Ultegra Di2. And while its front shifts aren’t quite as quick as Ultegra, the motor-assisted shifts under load between chainrings is dependable and accurate. The levers lack the additional buttons of Ultegra and Dura- Ace, so you can’t control your Garmin head unit hands-free. Thankfully the 105 Di2’s semi-wireless design lets you connect to your Garmin or Wahoo head unit to show your gearing and each battery’s individual level. The mechs are powered by a wired seatpost-mounted battery with the levers using coin cells.
01 The new Shimano 105 Di2 didn’t disappoint 
02 The tubeset has a smart, brushedmetal finish 
03 The gearing ratios helped us up steep hills
Shimano has improved 105’s braking too, with a more progressive lever action that gives more feel than ever. The distance between the pad and rotor has been increased by 10% to reduce the likelihood of rubbing, which seemed to work, though on a couple of wet rides I did get a bit of brake squeal under hard braking.
“This is Dolan’s take on the classic endurance bike with a brushed finish 3Al/2.5V titanium tubeset in a semi-sloping frame”
Mavic’s understated Cosmic SL wheels are reasonably light and have a 32mm-deep rim with a 21mm internal width. Their special shaped and sealed rim bed makes them very easy to set up and maintain as tubeless. Their stiff, solid feel is classic Mavic. The 9˚-engagement freehub picks up quickly and the wheels’ tautness balances the smooth-riding titanium frame. The tyres are even more impressive. Continental’s 28mm GP5000s are superb: compliant, fast, grippy and durable. Be aware they’re not the tubeless version, though.
Dolan finishes off the ADX with a smattering of quality Italian components, including Deda’s dependable Zero stem and bar. The stem is stiff and light, the bar has a good shape with a big, hand-friendly semicompact drop and nicely ovalised tops. It’s well complemented by Deda’s tacky and grippy all-weather tape. Alpina’s titanium seatpost is polished to match the frame and is topped with Selle Italia’s well-padded Novus saddle, with a full-length channel and split nose that I found comfortable as the hours – and miles – mounted up.
My only niggle with the ADX is that one of the down-tube’s welded-in bottle bosses had a very coarse thread that wasn’t perfectly aligned. Ideally this thread would have been chased out properly when the bike was assembled, but that’s a tiny thing on well-priced bike with a quality ride.
Verdict A great, sporty, yearround bike that majors in value and doesn’t disappoint in its ride
Also consider…
A little less…
Dolan ADX Titanium disc Ultegra
£2,799.98
Dolan’s titanium frameset built up with mechanical Shimano Ultegra mechanical gears and custom options from Dolan’s bikebuilder website.
A little more…
Dolan ADX Titanium disc Ultegra Di2 12 speed
£4,449.98
The same frameset again, but this time with Shimano’s brilliant semi-wireless 12-speed Ultegra as well as plenty of options for customisation.
Cotic Escapade Road Plus Platinum
£3,899 British-designed, steel framed, all-road, go-anywhere machine
Weight 9.93kg (L) Frame Custom 4130 multi-butted steel Fork Carbon Gears Campagnolo Ekar 13-speed (38, 9-42) Brakes Campagnolo Ekar hydraulic disc Wheels Fulcrum Rapid Red 500 DB 2WF Finishing kit Cotic bar, stem and saddle, CC Alloy seatpost, WTB Horizon Road plus 47c Skinwall TCS tyres
The Good
Great balance of comfort and performance; quality frameset; versatility
The Bad
Average saddle; versatility means tough build choices
THE PEAK DISTRICT-BASED British steel specialist Cotic has an enviable reputation among mountain bike aficionados, thanks to its forward-thinking design and love of all things steel. But while best known for its off-road bikes, Cotic has been designing interesting drop-bar bikes since its earliest days in the early noughties. The Escapade is Cotic’s go-anywhere, no-limits road bike. When launched in 2015 it featured horizontal dropouts that enabled it to be run with hub or derailleur gears or as a single-speed. On our fourth-generation Escapade, it’s thru-axles both ends, but versatility is still very much to the fore.
The Escapade comes with a choice of two wheel sizes across multiple models that start at £1,799. I opted for the smaller 650b wheels with huge Road Plus tyres, Campagnolo’s 1×13 speed gravel/adventure gearing and Fulcrum’s Rapid Red 500 wheels. For £939 you can also buy it as a ‘rolling chassis’ – a frameset with wheels – and spec the rest of the kit yourself.
The beautifully finished frame has tidy welds throughout and pretty much every fitting you could wish for. The carbon fork has an internal brake hose routing along with triple ‘anything’ bosses on the legs, mudguard mounts and a drilled bridge. The frame has internal routing for Di2 and external removable mounts for mechanical drivetrains.
The down-tube has six bottle bosses and there’s a further set on the seat-tube, though oddly there are no top-tube bento-box mounts. Wishbone seatstays offer rack and mudguard fittings, making the Escapade equally suitable as a bikepacking machine, trainer or year-round commuter bike.
01 The large 38t chainring helps give a wide gear range 
02 Triple ‘anything’ bosses on the fork make it versatile 
03 The wide flared bar helps you ride technical terrain
Thanks to its 9-42t cassette and 38t chainring, Campag’s 13-speed Ekar delivers a super-wide gearing range. The Escapade accelerates well on WTB’s 47mm semi-slick tyres, though once you’re up to pace in a group ride, you’ll be putting in more effort than your friends on 700c wheels. The wheels have a shallow 24mm-deep rim that measures 28mm externally and 23mm internally, pushing the tyres to 50mm, right at the rear triangle’s limit. The Fulcrums are a pretty weighty 1,760g, though, and the tyres add over a kilo, so these aren’t flyweight climbing wheels. On one of my test rides that included half a mile of ploughed bridleway, the bike collected mud around the tyre, chainstay and bottom bracket shell. This didn’t stall the bike, but was a gentle reminder that the Escapade isn’t a mountain bike.
“The beautifully finished steel frame has tidy welds throughout and pretty much every fitting you could wish for”
The Escapade is a capable climber in spite of its weighty wheels. You’re never going to set Strava KOMs on tarmac, but it’s easy to sit in the saddle on the Escapade and pound out a steady rhythm. On light gravel and unmetalled roads it’s even better, with the big, pliable tyres and a sufficiently stiff head-tube and carbon fork giving a rocksteady ride when you’re pulling around on the bar. This is balanced by the steel frame that easily swallows up uneven surfaces and jarring ruts.
The Escapade’s geometry is pitched just right too, its sporty-endurance 598mm stack combining with a 397mm reach for a ride position that’s equally at home at speed or when you’re sitting up and spinning while taking in the great outdoors. Its 1,035mm wheelbase is short enough to make it quick through tight turns, while its 72° head and 73° seat angle deliver a bike that has the trappings of a tidy tourer but the soul of a race bike.
The low-slung frame adds to the bike’s nimble handling and it impressed over woodland singletrack. It’s easy to throw around and maintain both your balance and a fast line. Its components are good, solid alloy items, with a 46cm flared bar that’s great for technical terrain and with a short drop that lets you get low on the road, to cheat the wind and keep up your pace.
The only real criticism I can level at the Escapade is the saddle. I found it overly firm, long, and narrow and, though I rode it on numerous rides, it still wouldn’t be my personal choice. But as Cotic bikes are built to order, this isn’t really an issue. The biggest question is whether to go for a 700c or 650b Road Plus wheelset, and that, again, is up to you.
Verdict With a lively chassis and fun handling, this is a well-made, do-anything drop-bar bike
Also consider…
A lot less…
Cotic Escapade Road Plus Gold 1x
£1,799
Sporting the same steel Escapade frameset, this one’s built up with a costeffective mix of SRAM 1×11 Apex and Cotic’s own wheels for those with a smaller budget.
A little less…
Cotic Escapade 700c Platinum 2x
£3,484
* *
Here, proving its versatility, the Escapade frame is built up for the road, with SRAM’s wireless Force AXS groupset and Hope’s 20Five RS4 24 wheelset. *Exact spec not shown
The winner is…
Dolan ADX Titanium Shimano 105 Di2
Titanium takes it, thanks to a great spec and versatile ride
EACH OF OUR BIKES shows beyond doubt that Carbon isn’t the only material out there when it comes to serious performance bikes.
The Basso Tera’s clever design not only stands out from the crowd but the bike’s quick handling and smooth ride challenges gravel bikes at twice the price. With a lighter, quicker set of wheels it’d be a true giant killer.
Vaast’s R/1 brings carbon-like lightness to an alloy road bike, and the magnesium frame feels lively yet forgiving over poor surfaces. The build is great value, and the bike should excel on well-kept tarmac, but the old-school skinny rims and tyres may suffer a little on rougher surfaces. With a more modern wheel and tyre combo, it would hit top marks though.
“This month’s winner is a smart hybrid of endurance-bike comfort and sportsbike handling with a price-busting spec”
Cotic’s fourth-generation Escapade retains its original, clever do-it-all design brief, so it can be pure road bike, tourer, bike-packer, gravel speedster, commuter or winter bike. But due to our Platinum build’s price, it’s just out-marked by the Dolan’s ADX Titanium.
This month’s winner is a smart hybrid of endurance-bike comfort and sportsbike handling, all wrapped up with a price-busting spec including premium Mavic carbon wheels and the latest semiwireless electronic group from Shimano. The new 12-speed 105 electronics are excellent and bring Shimano shifting reliability and electronic efficiency to a new price point and this, combined with Dolan’s value, is tough to beat. The ADX is at home on rapid group rides, big days out and even commutes and rainy winter training rides, and all these qualities add up to hand this bike the top spot.
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Specifications & measurements
● Geometry is probably the most important factor when buying a bike but even bikes nominally the same size can vary considerably. All reputable bike retailers should ensure the bike fits you.
*Centre of bar to centre of saddle clamp bolt on seatpost.
