HEAD HEAD-TO- VALUE PACKS
Not the least expensive bikes on test, but Eastway and BTwin both offer great value
Acouple of grand is a lot of money for a bike. But spend wisely and you can get a lightweight carbon bike specced with quality kit and seriously good wheels. Yes, prices have edged up since last year, thanks to the fall in the pound, which has added 300 quid to the Eastway’s original price – but these are still two of the best bikes around when it comes to the maximum bangs for your buck. Its high-end hoops help to make the BTwin Ultra 720 CF the lightest bike on test, and the Eastway Emitter R2 isn’t that far behind…
The reason these two bikes can hit the heights of value is that neither BTwin nor Eastway have the traditional bike shop model. Eastway is part of online retailer Wiggle, having been launched by Fisher a few years back, while BTwin is the house brand of the French Decathlon chain. It’s hard to visit one of its immense sporting goods stores without accidentally taking up a new hobby. You’ll pop in for running shoes and leave with a climbing harness, cross-country skis, and maybe a BTwin bike such as the Ultra 720 CF.
While you can buy BTwin bikes in-store and online, Eastways are an internet-only purchase, though unlike with brands such as Rose, you can’t select the components. Which means we’ve got two very similar bikes, from their Shimano Ultegra groupsets to their Mavic Ksyrium wheels. BTwin in particular has really done some wheelerdealering to spec a rather expensive set of rims: the Ksyrium SLS has
now been discontinued by Mavic but it’s a light, stiff, desirable wheelset, albeit one with a rim profile that’s pretty narrow by current standards. The Eastway’s Ksyriums are the entry-level model, but they are paired with 25mm tyres rather than the BTwin’s narrower 23s.
The weighting game
Lightweight wheels aren’t the only way these keep from bothering the scales. Not long ago a well-undera-kilo frame was the preserve of the seriously high-end bike. The BTwin’s frame is a claimed 850g in medium, with the full-carbon fork adding just 320g. The frame is clean and purposeful looking too, with a gently curved top tube tying together an otherwise boxy ensemble that includes a proprietary square carbon seatpost. The tube sections are reassuringly massive (for the stiffness) and the details are textbook modern racer: internal cabling, a press-fit bottom bracket, and a seat clamp wedge that’s flush with the toptube. There’s nothing too whacky though – the brakes are in the conventional, easy-to-access position and that seatpost aside, everything is standard sized.
Eastway’s designers have also pared down the pounds on its Emitter. It has retained the same shape but has been reworked from a not-exactly-excessive kilo to an impressively-light-for-the-price 800g (or ‘mega-lightweight awesomeness’ according to a breathless Eastway). Visually it’s a big leap forward too compared with the previous model. Our test bike’s purple/blue geometric fade colour scheme – ‘Peacock Dancer’ in Eastway’s spiel – stands out from the crowd and makes a welcome change from the black and red that still dominates today’s market. It has a similarly angular head-tube as the BTwin, but a straighter toptube and slimmer seatstays.
“THE EASTWAY EMITTER FRAME HAS BEEN REWORKED FROM A NOT-EXACTLY-EXCESSIVE KILO TO AN IMPRESSIVELY LIGHT 800G”
The BTwin is also a visually arresting machine, made even more so by natty neon highlights. But if we have one complaint about the frame, it’s that the matt finish is a complete filth magnet – it looks great out of the box but if you even think about touching it with hands or gloves that are less than perfectly clean, it collects oily smudges like they’re going out of fashion.
In the kit box
We’re getting bored of praising Shimano’s second-string Ultegra groupset but yes, it’s here on our test pair and it’s still very good. The BTwin gets the whole shebang apart from a KMC chain, and the front brake is a super-stiff, direct-mount unit for maximum stopping power. Eastway and BTwin have both gone for ‘pro-compact’ 52/36 chainsets with a pretty wide-ranging 11-28 cassette; it’s a setup that covers top and bottom gears well and should be suitable for the great majority of prospective purchasers. The only
real difference is that Eastway has a standard front brake, but Ultegra’s power and control is so good that it was never an issue.
Both machines have compelling complete packages too, though we found the BTwin’s version of the Fizik Antares saddle surprisingly (and occasionally disconcertingly) slippery, but its finishing kit is all good stuff – we particularly liked the own-brand bar tape. As for the tyres, those decidedly skinny 23mm offerings are set to change for the 2017 bike that hits shops in the spring. In the meantime, it’s the one spec detail we’d look to upgrade in the near future.
And it’s much the same line-up from Eastway’s Emitter. The Ritchey Comp hardware is up to the brand’s usual high standard, and we particularly appreciated the ovalised, rearward swept bar tops, along with a compact drop that still has room for riders with large hands. We had no trouble with the Eastway’s Antares saddle and, as with the BTwin, the Emitter comes with quality bar tape. Wiggle listened to our criticisms about the skimpy offering on previous models and has upgraded to Lizard Skins DSP, normally £34 a pop.
Riding along
Make no mistake, the reality is that BTwin’s Ultra is a proper race bike that doesn’t need to make any excuses for itself. It’s not Earthshatteringly stiff and a hard effort on a climb can provoke some rearend flex, but it never feels remotely lacking or compromised. It’s a reasonably firm ride (albeit one that could be moderated with better rubber) made more so by a firm- riding wheelset, but it still manages to be impressively smooth, evidence that BTwin isn’t using just any old carbon for its frames.
The Emitter also has a firm ride, but it always stays on the right side of harsh, aided by the 25mm tyres. The front end does chatter a little over rougher surfaces but the quality tape and bar combo keeps the finger tingling at bay. Its light chassis and firm front end can skip a little over broken surfaces, so we’d back off sooner than on much more compliant bikes on test such as the Trek and Specialized. But it’s still suitable for day-long rides.
It’s a shame in our value headto-head that Eastway’s Emitter has had a price hike, and it can’t quite compete for value with last year’s R1, which managed Ultegra Di2 for less than two grand. And though it’s ahead of most of the competition, it can’t quite match the BTwin. Yes, it’s easy to be snarky about brands like BTwin because they tend to focus on value rather than raw sex appeal, but while the Eastway Emitter R2 is a good value, light and nimble option, the BTwin Ultra 720 CF snaffles this value-based manoa-mano fight. It’s 300 quid cheaper (at the moment…), it’s lighter and smooth, and though the ride is on the firm side, it never feels remotely lacking or compromised.
“MAKE NO MISTAKE - BTWIN’S ULTRA IS A PROPER RACE BIKE THAT DOESN’T NEED TO MAKE ANY EXCUSES FOR ITSELF”