Whyte Coniston

Whyte are new to the urban bikes game so you might expect them to be doing a bit of learning in the first model year of their C7 (multi terrain) and R7 (road) ranges. There's no feeling that the £1,099 Coniston is half cooked though, it's a versatile all-rounder that's fun to ride and up for the dirt as much as the tarmac. The price might put some people off – specifically the hordes of bike-to-work buyers – and it has to be said that for the kind of riding that you'll be doing on a bike like this, the cheaper Caledonian makes more sense in many ways.

Look at the Coniston from the side and imagine in your mind's eye some chunkier tyres, and it'll look a lot like a 29er, because that's more or less what it is, albeit a slimmed down one. The geometry is certainly MTB inspired rather than road-derived, and as with all the C7 bikes you get a suspension fork up front, in this case a 60mm RST Vogue Pro Air unit. The first one had an air leak but Whyte quickly supplied a replacement.

I am not usually a fan of suspension forks on road bikes, but the RST unit is actually pretty good. For a start, you can lock it out when you don't need it, and it hasn't bumped the overall weight of the bike (11.5kg / 25.4lb) up too much. Unlock it and it tracks pretty well and gives useful cushioning on unsurfaced tracks, though you'll find its limits pretty quickly if you try anything too technical. Coupled with the stiff frame and fairly plump WTB All terrain tyres it gives a lively ride when you're on the beaten track.

Get back on the road and lock the fork down and the Coniston is a well behaved hybrid. The position isn't too sporty and the MTB drivetrain (a Deore/SLX/XT mix with a 48/36/26 chainset) gives a wide enough range of gears for anything you might encounter. There's rack and mudguard eyelets if you want to utility up and plenty of scope to change the big 35mm tyres for something a bit more sporty if you're predominantly going to stay on the blacktop.

Assuming you're not packing so much gear that you need low-riders, it would make a very sensible touring platform. Certainly when I loaded it up with a child and seat, the fairly relaxed steering and long wheelbase made for ideal carrying conditions. The flip side of this is that it's not the most inspiring ride on the road; the Coniston is happy to roll along but doesn't jump forward when you add some effort and is not the fastest to turn, although lighter tyres would certainly make a difference.

Given that it's designed to be able to handle on- and off-road duties there's always going to be a trade-off. On balance the Coniston is better on the paths than the highways and for that reason I'd only consider it if you genuinely do want a bike that's capable of doing both. If you're just going to ride on the road then the fork is unnecessary and the position more upright than you need; you should be looking at Whyte's C7 bikes or another road-specific hybrid.

Transmission duties from the Shimano running gear were performed faultlessly throughout the test. Stopping wasn't quite as good: though the Elixir 3 brakes have plenty of bite they start to fade under prolonged heavy use. My favourite test is a 250m, 25% drop into the town centre and it needed both brakes and a fair old heave on the anchors to keep the speed down. I wasn't ever in any danger of not stopping though.

Okay, so to the money. £1,099 is an odd price for a bike like this, nudging as it does over the magical £1k cycle-to-work limit. That's a shame because it's exactly the sort of beast you might want to get for the commute and various other duties. I'm guessing that those dreaded fluctuations in the currency markets have made it necessary, but it probably means that folks looking for a bike-to-work machine from Whyte will look at the £849 Caledonian or £999 Stirling instead. I'm not saying it's poor value at £1,099 because it isn't, it's about on the money. It's just a missed opportunity, and I suspect that while these new bikes from Whyte will be generally well received – I've enjoyed riding this one – the cheaper Caledonian will outsell the Coniston.

Verdict

Good quality genuine all-rounder that's easy to ride, pity it's not £100 cheaper...