I’m buying a new gravel bike for commuting and light trail duties. Budget is £1300 very max. I thought the Croix de Fer would be the one, but following a visit to Evans I was steered towards the Pinnacle Arkose 3 and have to admit it looks like what I’m looking for and is a good bit lighter than the Croix de Fer. Having a mtb background, it’s 20 years since I even sat on something resembling a road bike. Commute is downhill all the way to and uphill all the way home and can be anything from all road to 80% trail and everything including canal paths in between. Shortest is 7 miles each way.

Any thoughts or recommendations. This will be a 0% finance purchase with a sizeable chunk of deposit.

https://www.cube.eu/en/2018/bikes/road/road-cyclocross/nuroad/cube-nuroad-pro-blackngrey-2018/

Or the Exec model for ~£100 more, for dynamo light and a rack.

Cube nuroad

Merida sylex

Trek Checkpoint

All +/- £100 of your bugdet

Maybe think about the Pinnacle Pyrolite as well as the Arkose? Takes bigger tyres (650b) so will be more capable and comfortable off road, probably no slower and has sensible gearing. Only £950 so would leave you a bit over for some decent lights (dynamo setup?) and mudguards. Not ridden one but fondled one in the shop and was very tempted!

I bought an Arkose frameset to replace the London Road that developed a terminal crack in the seat tube / top tube weld.

So far I like it. Probably a bit heavier than the London Road but seems comfier. Mine was a bargain bacement 2016 frameset. Use it for a 15 mile commute each way but have used it on bridalways and mild off road without any issues.

Pinnacle is an in-house brand from Evans so you may want to take their recommendation with a pinch of salt (haven’t got any experience with the brand myself though).

Giant anyroad, just 2 weeks into mine. It’s a comax. Love it I have 40mm tyres just came in from a 20mile road ride, Friday night was canals.

ticks all my both world boxes.

I like my Arkose a lot. It’s very capable off road and not too shabby on it. Ideal for commuting on bumpy tow paths, I would say.

I’m building a velobuild.com gravel frame into a complete bike (Chinese carbon). Should build for £1200 for full carbon and 105 hydraulic groupset. Not everyone’s bag, but I love building bikes.

Thanks for the input folks.

I’ll take a look at the Pyrolite. I know it’s an in-house brand, but apart from obvious business reasons of Evans making more money from a sale, is there any reason that the actual frame itself is of any worse quality than the others. Turn it on its head and you could say that with Specialized etc, i’d be paying more for the name?

Stoddys, i’ll look at the Gian as well.

Checkpoint is a very good all rounder nice bit of kit.

If anything, you’ll get more for your money with an own brand like Pinnacle, Boardman, Btwin, etc. Just check out the huge Arkose thread to see that most people are loving theirs. I don’t own one, but they would certainly on my list when I’m in the market for a new bike.

Thanks steezysix. Didn’t realise there was a thread on the Arkose. I’ll go search for it.

I did have a seat on the Cannondale equivalent, but they didn’t have my size in anything so i’ve ordered an Arkose in to test ride on Saturday.

Yeah, JamesO on that thread is the designer.

I would strongly recommend the new Cotic Escapade. Did a 100km club ride on mine today, and the Dirty Reiver two weeks ago. Very versatile bike and Cotic are great people to deal with. I’ve owned a 2016 Croix de Fer 10 and it was noticeably heavier and less engaging than the Escapade.

Yeah, I figured something like that about JamesO from the thread.

I’ll take my discussion over on to that thread as I think it’s convinced me that Arkose is the way forward. Thanks for the input everyone.

I have a croix de fer… One with the carbon fork. Weighs about as much as I do right now after a belly full of fire cooked pork and peroni. Mostly down to the stock wheelset.

I fell out of love with it last year… But it’s all I have been riding last couple months and now back in love. I have a preference for steel framed bikes… I just like them and find ally a little harsh and I don’t trust plastic. Just my opinion.

Pinnacles look great, mate has the new one in orange and it’s spec can’t be beaten for the price (unless you go boardman which are also spec’d well. He never rides it though as he thinks it’s very harsh and batters you about – can’t comment on that as he may just be crap 🙂

Probably the escapade would be my next choice if the croix died or snapped which to be fair is pretty unlikely as its very well built. I didn’t find genesis great to deal with though…. Had warranty issue with hubs failing after about 2 months and they were awkward to get hold of and deal with. Also have a solaris and cotic were great… Similar level of customer service that I have experienced with hope.

cube nuroad is the boollax.  i have one. seriously light, seriously comfy. sold a genesis tdf to buy it.

<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>Pinnacle is an in-house brand from Evans so you may want to take their recommendation with a pinch of salt (haven’t got any experience with the brand myself though).</span>

Arkose may be the most common staff-owned bike at Evans. But it’s fair to question that.

I know it’s an in-house brand, but apart from obvious business reasons of Evans making more money from a sale, is there any reason that the actual frame itself is of any worse quality than the others.

There are other options we sell that make more margin on, as we have to be competitive on this type of bike and Pinnacle numbers are a tiny fraction of the numbers a bigger US brand sells. The frames are good – triple butted tubes and ~1550-1650g weight dep on size, that’s a tad lighter than a Mason Bokeh and over 300g less than the Tripster Al I weighed not long ago. Made by the factory that makes a lot of the Fuji and Cannondale frames (not Caad12s etc though).

My issue with the Arkrose and some of the other bikes suggested are the mismatched axles. I would be looking for thru axles front and rear on any new disc braked bike.

That said I did a very similar commute to the OP’s for 10yrs on a Specialized Allez, the bike was faultless, maybe a little sketchy in the worst mud but I still use that bike on a turbo now.

So whilst this and that bit of tech may be preferable you do get by with anything.