TREK CHECKPOINT ALR5
£1700 › Big Boone?
Owing far more to the fantastic Boone and Crocket cyclo-cross bikes than Trek’s road models, the Checkpoint has all the bona fide features we’ve come to expect for a bike of this genre, and one we didn’t, the adjustable rear dropouts to support singlespeed riders.
Our ALR5’s aluminium frame has classical looks with unfussy round or ovalised tubes, neat welds and glossy paintwork. It sports numerous mounts for racks front and rear, mudguards, options for one bottle cage on the seat-tube, two on top of the down-tube, and one beneath it.
There’s neat internal cable and hose routing through the down-tube via a single port, externally on the fork, and beneath the chainstays, and for those who think this bike has 21 gears too many, Trek’s adjustable Stranglehold dropouts allow conversion to singlespeed. At first glance the barely more than 3mm gap between the left crank and chainstay could have been a concern, but it hasn’t proven to be.
For the dedicated gravelista, those same dropouts permit some wheelbase length alteration too, making room for bigger rubber – the ALR can take 45mm tyres – increasing stability, or keeping the rear end tight. In standard form, the ALR5 shares its chainstay length and wheelbase with the equivalent-sized Boone, has a slightly slacker seat angle and fractionally steeper head angle, with a shorter head-tube, longer effective top-tube and lower bottom bracket.
All that boils down to a bike that, although not aimed at cyclo-crosslevel technical riding, is quick over mixed terrain, and super-stable, making a solid platform to add some luggage to. It shifts on tarmac, with 50psi in the 35mm Schwalbe G-One gravel tyres, clipping along at 18mph-plus wasn’t hard, and we pedalled away from a road bike or
Our ALR5’s aluminium frame has classical looks