I’ve never really been a proponent of the skinny tyred road bike. I’ve owned a few in the past, ranging from classically styled skinny steel to feather light carbon framed, carbon wheeled, but none of them have lasted very long. There was nothing fundamentally wrong with them, it’s more that at the time they didn’t really suit the type of riding I was doing (neither did mountain bikes to be fair) which was mixed surface, mixed terrain, that would probably be termed ‘gravel’ riding these days. As a result I, like many others I’m sure, used to hack around on a cross bike and more often than not the road bikes would sit unloved in the garage/shed/living room until I sold them on.
The cross bike was brilliant, it was shockingly bad on anything vaguely lumpy, non tubeless tyres meant high PSI and the 1×10 gearing (I was an early fan) was on the optimistic side to say the least. But, you could give anything a bash. I spent a fortune on the best cantilevers money could buy, lightweight wheels, carbon cranks and silly fragile tyres and until its untimely demise it was the go to bike.
Sadly the cross bike was killed by some ignorant asshole who decided overtaking me on a blind crest was a good idea, leading to me and the bike being smeared along the bridge parapet.
By this time gravel bikes had started to hit the main stream. I’ll be honest, I still sneer somewhat at the term gravel, but some of the bikes that fall under the designation are bloody brilliant. Still missing my favourite bike I wandered into Evans cycles in Brighton to pick up a couple of tubes for the single speed and came out 20 minutes later with a Cannondale Slate.
On paper this thing was perfect, 1×11, fat(ish) tyres, hydraulic discs and riding position not dissimilar from the cross bike. And for short rides less than a couple of hours it was, it had a few handling quirks and the typical Cannondale approach to design meant there were some interesting component choices, but in the main it was hilarious (it also fit on trains really easily which made bailing on a crappy weather commute much easier). It’s downfall however came due to two things. Firstly anything over two hours and it crippled me, riding from Brighton to Oxford on it and I was in agony for days afterwards, and it didn’t seem to matter what changes I made to it, it was still bloody uncomfortable. Secondly was the purchase of what could in some ways be considered the Ur gravel bike – a Singular Peregrine. I’ve always had an eye out for Singulars when they come up for sale ever since getting my hands on an early Swift. I think Sam’s approach to bikes and their aesthetic is brilliant and when a Peregrine frame came up I couldn’t resist. I built it up as gravel/all road/RSF bike and, despite being heavy enough to have its own gravity field, it does the job fantastically.
Now, around this time, for one reason or another I was spending a lot more time on tarmac than I usually would, so much in fact that having the Peregrine set up as a dedicated ‘road’ bike was starting to make a lot of sense. It was heavy sure, but I don’t go fast, fat tyres make it nice and comfy and the 38t single chain ring would force me to moderate my pace any way. Besides, having met Gavin of themanfromicon.net fame and then reading about his Audax ride to Wales and back on a Peregrine, it should be perfectly adequate for my Sussex pootling.
It’s great like this, the sort of bike you can literally ride all day. It looks gorgeous in a traditional kind of way as well, especially with a waxed cotton Carradice strapped to the back.
Circumstances at home changed lately, meaning I could no longer rely on the bail out option of the car if I took a particularly arduous route in on the commute (or more likely was just feeling lazy). This meant that Peregrine became the full time commuter as opposed to the fun, dicking about bike it once was. I’m not adverse to mixing the commute up and throwing in gravel paths, down land singletrack and whatever else I can find, but some times I just want to get home as quickly, easily and dry as possible. Swapping guards out and between wheelsets quickly becomes a chore and having a bike that’s just ready to go no matter the weather helps massively with the 5:45am motivation. The Peregrine for me though is not that bike, it just seems a massive waste of its potential to stick it in permanent road mode.
A solution soon presented itself however.
The solution being a very battered, yet still straight Singular Osprey frame and fork. The Osprey was Sam’s take on a classic steel road bike, all skinny tubes and straight lines.
It’s been built up with commuting in mind out of an eclectic mix of old bits in the shed with the odd newer part thrown in. 10 year old 10 speed Tiagra (apart from the latest gen 105 front mech) an old set of Fulcrum Quattro’s, and then some newer bits like the 42/36 cranks and the Velo Orange mud guards (42/36 is a weird combo but it works really well for the commute). 28mm Bonty R3’s are surprisingly comfortable and have a decent turn of speed, though getting used to a front mech and rim brakes is taking a while. It’s no light weight but it comes in under ten kilos sans luggage, which considering the build is pretty good (and compared to the Peregrine it weighs nothing).
What’s really surprised me though is how much bloody fun it is. My road riding over the past six or seven years has all been on the bikes above, the CaadX, the Slate, the Peregrine. Whilst all perfectly competent at being ridden on the road, being on a ‘proper’ road bike, skinny tyred, low(ish) position, lightweight wheels is marvellous. I had forgot how much these things shift. The handling of this bike is a credit to Sam sticking to traditional angles as it just flows through corners whilst being beautifully stable in a straight line. I was expecting it to give away quite a bit in the comfort stakes to the Peregrine with its’ fat tyres, but on the road there’s not a great deal in it.
This probably all reeks of hyperbole, but I had one of those moments where bike speed, wind speed, cadence and road surface where all perfectly aligned the other day and I lack the words to describe just how it felt.
Anyway Road bikes are more than alright, they’re actually OK.
The slow way round 