Kinesis

Having a cyclo-cross bike in your possession during the wettest drought in history is a godsend. After the fun I'd had with the Decade Tripster I was looking forward to testing its slightly racier sibling, the Kinesis Crosslight FiveT, for commuting and general day to day riding duties.

Now, I'm a roadie through and through – I like speed, I've never ridden anything with tyres wider than 25mm and certainly never used a rack so when I arrived at road.cc to collect the Kinesis Decade Tripster I wasn't quite sure what I'd let myself in for. It turns out though that the last couple of months of riding have been some of the most fun and carefree I've ever known.

The Kinesis Racelight is considered the winter training bike by professionals and amateurs alike. Good, solid, double butted tubing in a racey geometry is how it got this image. In a new build for 2012, with Tiagra 10sp, R500 wheels, a carbon fork and FSA finishing kit, does the bike still hit the mark as a true all-rounder?