Bionicon Urban Road

The Bionicon Urban is a fun, agile, energetic city bike that is also super-versatile. The rugged look, set off perfectly by a matt green paintjob and understated graphics will certainly draw a crowd.

On the first ride to the office I had nice things shouted at me by drivers “nice bike mate” being the most common, not something I’m used to and the popularity continued in work with emails coming my way asking about the bike that was leant up in the corridor of my office.

On to the spec of the Urban, it’s a bit of an odd one… is that a Sram Red, carbon aero gear shifter? Why yes it is, industry rumour has it that lever actually costs Bionicon more than the frame. So sublime over-kill on the shifting front then. The rest of the 10 speed drivetrain on the current model is also SRAM and it delivers outstanding performance, never missing a beat, handling sudden burst of acceleration to get out of trouble on Bristol's Gloucester Road or a bit of a sprint up Park Street with ease. I think, however, that an 8 or 9 speed Tiagra set up would be just as much fun, as reliable but with less of a bling factor…it’s a shame but the related cost change would make the Urban far more appealing to a whole host of potential suitors.

The current craze of graphic designer types with flat caps and satchels riding fixie’s and singlespeed has, in part, inspired the simplicity of the Urban. It looks clean, effortless and sharp but it has the flexibility of a geared bike meaning that many, non fixie riders, can have the look while riding a bike that can be enjoyed.

The gearing side of things isn’t obtrusive, the gear shifter is as subtle as they come and being perched on the end of a simple set of time trial style base bars means that its is nigh on hidden when riding past, it does bring in the comments when stationary though. A simple set of Shimano V- brakes offers impressive stopping power with the 700c Alex rims, nothing snazzy about them but they do the job well. It’s a bit like that throughout this bike (SRAM shifter apart), nothing showy but all very cool. Lots of eyelets, you can fit front mech, it'll take up to 40mm tyres, mudguards, rack.

The spec on the Bionicon Road is about to change upcoming models will still be getting 10 speed SRAM Force cassette and chain, matched up to a Rival rear mech but the current 11-28 block will be replaced with wider ratio 11-32 block making it even more hill capable without the necessity to add a front mech – although there is a hanger on the frame should you want to. That snazzy shifter is going to, it'll be replaced by a Microshift TT lever. So, if you want that shifter you'd better hurry while stocks last. Oh,and the price stays the same though.

The riding position is akin to that of a flat barred giant tcr of the mid-late 1990s, the relatively compact nature of the frame makes for an energetic and exciting ride. The stance I had when on the bike was naturally very upright, I did my best to minimise my frontal area on my 20km each way commute but with the exceptionally short stem getting comfortable AND low was difficult. If I owned this bike Id perhaps stick a set of stubby tri bars on for longer commutes but that isn’t what the bike is designed for, it is perfectly at home on relaxed, nippy, fun roads and urban areas. The handling is superb, reliable and honest.

The Bionicon Urban would be easy to live with day to day, there is clearance and mounting bolts for mudguards and a rear rack, it'll also take up to a 40mm tyre and, as mentioned a front mech, there's also plenty of room for playing with the position by fitting a longer stem - you cold tour on this. All that said I like it the way it is so I probably wouldn't do anything that mighty spoil the Bionicon’s tricky personality, I wouldn’t want to relax it too much!

Verdict

Good fun and well built, a great bike. Probably most at home on short rides around built up areas, looks pretty good leant up outside a pub on a sunny afternoon too.