GIANT ANYROAD 1
£1249 › Affordable go-anywhere machine
The AnyRoad certainly looks different, with the huge bow shaped top-tube flowing from head-tube to rear dropouts creating a very low-slung frame. This not only gives great standover clearance, but also makes the AnyRoad seriously manoeuvrable.
The ergonomically-shaped XR bar has just enough flare for ample wrist clearance when you’re down in the shallow drops. It features a cyclo-cross style top, with a pronounced flat on the ends that makes it much more secure when you’re bouncing across the rough stuff.
Shimano’s Tiagra with a road-friendly 50/34, 11-32 gear range is plenty to hustle the bike along the tarmac, with a low enough bottom gear to get you up steep gravel climbs. At this price you can’t expect hydraulic disc brakes, but it does have the next best thing – TRP’s Spyre C discs.
We were impressed by the ride. The carbon fork takes the sting out of bumps, aided by the chevron-treaded big volume tyres. The back end’s compliance combined with the slightly squishy saddle can feel a bit soft when really hammering on smooth tarmac or dry dusty trails, and the P-SLX2 tyres have just enough tread to really bite into dirt but don’t slow things down too much over standard slicks on the road.
As an all-road vehicle the AnyRoad is impressive, and one of the finest dirt-ready machines we’ve tested at this price.