B’Twin Ultra 900 AF
BUDGET CARBON OR TOP END ALUMINIUM FOR YOUR £1000 ROAD BIKE?
These make a particularly interesting test pair, perhaps lacking the glamour of certain brands or the ubiquity of Trek, Giant and Specialized, but this head-to-head is the perfect snapshot of £1000 road bikes. Okay, the B’Twin may cost less than £800, but its kit easily makes it the equal of more expensive bikes.
Both B’Twin and Dolan know their way around the highest level of cycle sport. The French sports supermarket Decathlon uses the B’Twin name for its kit, but the moniker has also adorned pro team bikes ridden by AG2R and FDJ. Ormskirk’s Terry Dolan’s bikes have been ridden to more than 80 European and world track titles. So, both should be able to make a bike that’ll cope with the more modest power produced by the rest of us.
B’Twin’s hypermarché business model means its £799 aluminium Ultra 900 AF comes with a complete Shimano 105 groupset, Mavic Aksium wheels and Yksion tyres. This puts it on a par with top-end £1000 road bikes, and comes with the UCI seal of approval. It does have a couple of features that were popular a few years back but that are seen much less today: the directmount rear brake under the bottom bracket shell where it picks up road crud; and a 31.6mm seatpost, one of only two here, along with the
Both B’Twin and Dolan know their way around the highest level of cycle sport
Boardman. Fortunately, that’s changing for 2019, which would address just about the only criticisms we have on what is possibly the best-value bike around. The brakes are extremely effective, we’d just prefer them to be sited elsewhere for cleanliness and ease of maintenance.
We were concerned that the oversize post and comparatively straightforward frame would make this a brutal ride, but the semicompact frame and slightly flattened seatstays do just enough to ease the ride on a frame that says it’s tested in Flanders, where they know about rough roads. It doesn’t have the plushness of Dolan’s great-looking carbon frame, and weighs about 300g more, but considering the price we’ve no qualms about that. In spite of the Etape name, the Dolan’s geometry is more race than endurance, and the same is true of the B’Twin; you could get down nice and low if you put the spacers above the stem (or cut the steerer).
The B’Twin is a bargain, and the Dolan is hot on its heels in the value stakes. The £1000 carbon Ribble now comes with Tiagra, and the Boardman Team Carbon also has a lesser spec than the Dolan. The wheels are budget Shimano affairs, but they’re smooth runners and should prove durable. The rest of the kit is without fault, the carbon fork’s tapered aluminium steerer contributing to pleasingly sharp and responsive handling – this really does not feel like budget carbon.
Both are very good bikes, each a stunning bargain in its own right, but we’d just be tempted to splash our cash on the Dolan, but it’s a very close call.