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Bike Exchange review The Granite

Hot Read Hot read Mar 15

Bike Exchange review The Granite bikes

The Granite bikes are our first all-road/gravel bikes. Designed to be the perfect all-round racer for this growing segment. Recently reviewed by Bike Exchange. Here’s what they had to say…

Frame and Fork

The Granite frame is made from ‘Hydroformed Aluminium Alloy’ and is paired with a custom Reid carbon fibre fork. It is completed with rack and mudguard mounts. To aid comfort, the Granite’s tube lengths are longer. The headtube angle is a lazy 70.8* (for the medium/ large) and the wheelbase is over a metre. In addition to the endurance geometry of the frame, the Granite bikes appear to have taken a leaf out of the aero road bike category. By dropping and thinning out the seat stays, these bikes create extra ride compliance and comfort.

The frame comes in four size options (49/52/55/58) catering for a large range of heights from 161cm up to 203cm.

The front and rear rack mounts are designed for those keen on touring, travelling or making the daily commute a little easier. To further aid comfort, the Granite comes equipped with Continental 700x35C Cyclocross Speed tyres but has enough clearance for 40C tyres. A couple of big ticks there.

The overall weight of the bike is 11.5kg. This is a pretty impressive stat when you consider the elongated alloy frame, large tyres, disc brakes and price tag.

tree2 - Reid ® - Bike Exchange review The Granite

Drivetrain

The Reid Granite drivetrain is Shimano Claris, a 16-speed entry-level groupset that sits below SORA in the Shimano groupset hierarchy.

The Claris crankset is a standard compact set-up, 50/34T. It’s the perfect choice for a part commuter, part off-road, part endurance bike. The 50T large chainring will be more than enough for any riding on the road. Also, having the 34T small chainring means you’ll be able to tackle any incline no matter how steep. Riding predominantly on gravel will obviously take more work to overcome the additional rolling resistance. Hence, having a larger lower range of gears than a typical road bike is essential.

Performance

The Granite handles very well for a 12kg Gravel-grinder bike. Thanks to the carbon fork, the front end feels light and can easily be lifted over curbs, branches or rocks. The lighter front end makes the Granite feel and handle like a road bike as opposed to an off-road hybrid, a compliment to the cockpit and carbon fork. However, it does make the bike feel like all the weight is in the rear. This makes it a little slow off the mark and especially noticeable when trying to accelerate hard out of a corner.

The medium/ large Granite bikes that we tested had a relatively long 1,033mm wheelbase which adds to the Granite’s stability. Nevertheless, this compromises the sharpness of its handling. Having said that, when you consider the bike is $799 with 35C Cyclocross tyres and an alloy frame that is meant to perform just as well off-road as on, its handling is pretty remarkable.

Tree3 - Reid ® - Bike Exchange review The Granite

Geometry

The braking power is impressive, as you would expect from disc brakes. It conveniently works with any cable-actuated road levers. Disc brakes are the perfect choice for the Granite bikes. At a little under 12kg, it requires more power than traditional calliper braking to stop in a hurry.

Check out the full review here.

Interested? Click for full model specifications and details.

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