WINNER
Pinnacle Dolomite 4 › The pinnacle of practicality
There are bikes to suit all kinds of riders and their approaches to distance riding but some measured up better than others.
As value is a big part of the reason you might go direct, what you get for your money is high on the scoring chart. Unfortunately for Vitus, investing in a new frame has cost it in componentry, and weight and poor braking sidelined the Venon early on. Other bikes couldn’t translate appeal on paper onto the road. Dolan’s Dual is a classic winter training bike and the latest Ultegra on a carbon frame is an attractive package. Actual performance isn’t as impressive once you start pushing harder and it doesn’t deliver on the lightweight responsiveness you’d expect from a rim-brake bike.
Contrary to its reputation, the Canyon doesn’t particularly impress in terms of parts for the money, but it’s the surprisingly hard ride of the Endurace AL Disc 7.0, without a significant performance benefit, that took it off the podium.
Boardman’s SLR Endurance delivers in terms of performance to the point of being borderline race bike in terms of efficiency and excitement. It’s not going to soothe miles away smoothly though.
B’Twin has done an excellent job with the Ultra 520. It doesn’t have proper mudguard mounts but the alloy frame is a great balance of energetic responsiveness without beating you up on longer, rougher rides.
If you can stretch your budget by £150, Pinnacle’s Dolomite delivers extra. You’re getting new Ultegra 8000, tubeless-ready wheels and a full set of rack and mudguard mounts, plus it provides the best balance of easy-rolling, shockshrugging comfort and confident handling without suffering in terms of speed or the engaging excitement that makes riding any distance fun.