ALL-CITY CYCLES MR PINK
£1899.99 › Minneapolis-born All-City Cycles’ race machine
All-City Cycles does things a little differently to your average bike brand, mixing classic styling and finishing with modern touches to the geometry and frame design. The Mr Pink continues this mantra with a very well-appointed frame with its ring reinforced head-tube with a beautifully polished head badge, sculpted, integrated seat collar and the stamped bottom bracket shell.
We like that the frame is appointed with rear mudguard bosses, but the recent upgrade to the classy carbon Whisky fork, over the old tapered, bladed steel unit, omits any mounts so you save some weight over the steel fork but arguably lose versatility.
Overall, it’s a fabulous looking frame, but designers could have chosen better cable bosses for the down-tube than the generic black-painted ones. Compared to the Genesis’s brazed mounts and brass fittings they do look cheap, which is at odds with just how well they rest of the frame is finished, with its clean and very classy paint job.
The Columbus Zona-tubed frame is based on classic road bike geometry, which is essentially parallel 73-degree angles, although the seat-tube is relaxed by half a degree more. The rear brake cable is internally routed but the gear cables are external, the reverse of the Cinelli, but the All-City is easier to work on gearing wise.
The addition of a press-fit 30 bottom bracket helps keep the weight down. It uses mid-drop brakes and wider spacing for clearance for up to 32mm tyres, or 28s if you want to make use of the mudguard mounts.
Like the rest of its range, the Mr Pink is treated to an Electro
Deposition coating inside and out. This is a high-quality rustproofing agent that protects the inside, and adds durability to the paint too. It’s a great feature and should keep the bike corrosion free for many years to come.
The previous generation Mr Pink, with its slender, curved fork, had a much more relaxed ride than the latest version. The addition of the straightlegged and super-stiff fork has really opened up the ride feel of this All-City. It’s a bike that’s absolutely full of character, balancing a really chuckable feel, truly excelling through corners, and impressive sprinting.
The tightly-built Halo Evaura wheels are around 1500g a pair and have a wider rim profile (19mm internal) that suits and shapes the 28mm Schwalbe Durano tyres perfectly to create ride-smoothing rubber. The DiaCompe BRS101 brakes aren’t the slickest looking and the action is a little soft but thanks to the quality gummy Aztec pads, the stopping power is as good as we’ve found at this price.
Elsewhere, solid finishing kit from All-City’s UK distributor Ison – owner of Genetic, Halo and The Light Blue – is all welcome, the STV saddle is a particularly nice place to be. If you want your metal kicks fast, firm, yet forgiving then the All-City is a very fine choice.