BEST DO EVERYTHING BIKE
E ROOK SCOUT 8-SPEED
PRICE: R13 350 / ROOKCYCLES.COM
THE GUYS AT ROOK CYCLES IN LONG STREET, CAPE TOWN, HAVE COOKED UP SOMETHING SPECIAL WITH THEIR SCOUT. It’s a steel-frame adventure/commuting machine with drop bars, disc brakes and cushy tyres: you can ride to the shops and back, or instal a seat and take your kid to school; you can do fun road rides on the weekend, or ride moderate mountainbiking trails. You can even load it up and go on a weekend cycle tour.
The Scout is locally designed for local conditions; and like the rest of the Rook range, it offers incredible value for money.
Key to the comfy ride is the 4130 chromoly steel frame. It’s not the lightest, but it’s strong as an ox and offers some compliance (flex) in the seat- and chainstays to smooth out a bumpy road or rutted singletrack. The geometry of the frame is as relaxed as a full-body massage – there are no racy angles. Instead, it almost feels as if the bike is leaning back: the front wheel out ahead of you for stability on the dirt, the bottom bracket lower to the ground, thanks to the 650b wheels, and the top tube sloping gently to reduce the stand-over height.
So it’s an easy bike to ride, which is exactly the point. And it’s an easy bike to travel on: the fork is 6061 aluminium, with pannier mounts on each side. There are pannier mounts at the rear, too.
Wheels? Rook decided to go with a smaller 650b diameter, to accommodate wider tyres. The WTB Byways measure 47mm across and have a smooth centreline for efficiency on the tar, with more substantial tread on the edges for grip in the dirt. You can run them tubeless, which means fewer punctures and less hassle. They’re truly excellent tyres – bought separately, they’d set you back at least R1 500.
Rook are known for their range of single-speed bikes, either for commuting or for criterium racing at night with your mates, in dingy parking garages. The Scout is offered as a single-speed too (R11 295); but thankfully, it’s also available with gears – a simple 1x8 drivetrain from a Chinese company called Microshift.
Purists and snobs will moan that it’s not Shimano or SRAM, but we really couldn’t fault the Microshift components on performance. Gears changed smoothly and efficiently, and the levers were easy and comfortable to use. The only issue is the lack of gear range: a single 44t chainring paired to an 11-34t cassette is fine for gentle riding on easy terrain, but you won’t keep up on a faster road ride, and you’ll struggle when the gradient gets very steep.
But riding fast and high is not really the Scout’s forte. It’s a friendly bike, designed for life, and designed to grow with you as you start to enjoy your new hobby more and more.
The frame has sliding drop-outs, so you can experiment with riding single-speed if the hipster angle takes your fancy, or you can upgrade the drivetrain in time if you decide you need more gear range. You can even swap out the wheels for standard 700c road rims and narrower tyres, or put burlier tyres on the 650b rims for a more capable off-road machine.
The options are endless.