13 Bikes Intrinsic Lambda

On a smooth, straight section of downwardly sloping tarmac, with a touch of tailwind, 13's Intrinsic Lambda feels as good as just about any bike I've ridden – and better than some. Maybe it's the aero touches in the design, maybe it's lowering expectations in a snobby, superior, I-normally-get-to-ride-much-more-expensive-bikes-than-this way, but this £550 offering from the Halfords brand spins along very decently on the flat, deals with rougher surfaces quite well, and its wide gear range means hills aren't too much of a bother. You could certainly do worse.

The Intrinsic is one of 13's new range of women's bikes. It has an aluminium frame, 8-speed Shimano Claris gearing, and Tektro brakes. So far, sounds pretty standard. But the two new road bikes in the range, the Intrinsic and the £850 Intuition Lambda (there's also a flat-bar model, the Intuitive Lambda, at £499.99), have spent time in the wind tunnel on their way to the high street, and both incorporate aerodynamic tube shapes and aero brakes tucked behind the fork legs and under the chainstays.

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Do these aero details work? That's hard to say without heading into the wind tunnel myself (and seeing how it compares with the non-aero version, which doesn't exist...), but it's certainly a pleasant enough ride – until you have to start climbing. Less fun then.

On the flat, and downhill, I was expecting a lot more pounding of the backside and hands. Aluminium isn't best known for its comfort-giving credentials, and adding aerodynamics into the equation doesn't tend to help. Topping it off with tyres that are only 23mm wide and I was prepared for the worst. And yet... there's not a lot not to like. It's not as smooth as the lovely steel bike in my stable (well, side extension), but it's not overly harsh, and I'm not sure some carbon bikes costing twice the price have been twice as comfy (though they have had better brakes and bits). The main drawback to my mind is the weight.

Even a longish last-minute emergency ride in my least comfortable commuting shorts didn't have any negative effects, and I found myself thinking that, for half a grand, this more than decent ride would be a good choice for daily commuting if you have a posher bike whose parts you want to preserve for weekend outings – as well as being good enough for all sorts of other activities if this is your max budget. It might even do for racing, given the aero details, at least until your results/wallet could move you on to something lighter.

Frame details

The Intrinsic has a triple butted aluminium frame, which means the tubes have three different thicknesses within each length, balancing strength where it's needed with lightness and thinness where it's not. The aero down tube is deep and narrow throughout its length, at its deepest and narrowest in the top half, widening as it reaches the bottom bracket. The top tube roughly maintains its width all the way along, but reduces in depth towards the seat tube.

It's a big ol' down tube, and the chainstays are quite deep too, but thinner, round seatstays and a full-carbon fork (though with teardrop profile legs) seem to help stop the ride being harsh. You get feedback, but it's not beating you up. It also has a 27.2mm seatpost, which will provide more give than an oversize post, although there's not a huge amount of flex going on; it's definitely a semi-compact frame rather than compact (where the top tube joins the seat tube way down), so not a huge amount of seatpost sticking out.

Despite having the rear brake positioned aero-style behind the bottom bracket, there's still a brake bridge (or mudguard fixing point – plus eyelets on the dropouts) between the two seatstays, which will help create rigidity rather than comfort. The seatstays join well below the seat tube/top tube junction, too, and short'n'straight tends to mean stiffness rather than flexiness. And yet...

Overall I think it's a good looking frame, and I know there'll be plenty of women out there who like the fact that it's not all pinkified. The internal cable routing keeps it looking tidy, and the welds are semi-smoothed, though a bit halfway house. 13, do you want the welds showing or not? Decide one way or the other!

The bits

As for the kit and components, although £550 might seem a lot of money for a bike for some, you can obviously spend a whole lot more, and we're talking fairly entry-level as far as components go. Shimano's 8-speed Claris gearing works fine, and I opted to test this model rather than the more expensive Intuition, with its 10-speed Tiagra groupset, because of the gear range. Both bikes have 50/34-tooth compact chainsets, but the Intrinsic's 11-30 cassette provides a slightly lower hillclimbing gear than the Intuition's 28t largest sprocket, and I need all the help I can get in the hilly part of the country where I live.

I do find myself twiddling the gears quite frequently, front and back, to find the right cadence, but it's worth it when the time comes to shove it into its lowest setting and start grunting and grinding. Home. Every day.

The direct-mount TRP Aero brakes, hidden away beind the bottom bracket and tucked behind the fork legs, might reduce air resistance so they let you go faster, but slowing down isn't anything to shout about. They work, though you need to give them a bit of notice in wet weather, but they certainly aren't up there with the likes of Shimano Ultegra. They're also going to be a bit more fiddly to work on than non-aero brakes (I haven't needed to), and the rear brake position means it collects plenty of road gunk (and mud if you head on to less-well-surfaced cycle tracks/paths).

They're working to slow down 13's own RS aero wheels. These are referred to as 'deep section' by Halfords/13, but I won't be diving into whoever wrote that's swimming pool... With 32 spokes at the rear and 28 at the front, they've stayed true throughout testing, but I'd like to have seen them wrapped in 25mm rubber not 23. Everyone is going bigger in the tyre department these days, aren't they? Even 28mm and 32 can be seen on some road bikes, so 25mm would have been good, adding speed as well as extra comfort according to more scientific brains than mine...

Finishing comfort

I've been more than happy with the finishing points of the bike too. I'm quite fussy about my saddles, preferring extra width for my sit bones plus a cutout. The Velo-made women-specific model on the Intrinsic has a groove rather than cutout, with a bit of gel squish in the wings, and I've found it perfectly comfortable. On longer rides I've had to do a bit of manoeuvring to remain happy, but have always managed to achieve that.

Bar width, access to the levers, and getting into the drops has all been perfectly acceptable, too. I've ridden women's bikes with 38cm handlebars and they've always felt too narrow, so I was pleased to find a 40cm one specced here (38cm on the smaller frame models), and it has a decent drop too, for when you want to get low and fight those inevitable headwinds; some 'female-friendly' bars are very shallow.

Conclusion

Overall, I've enjoyed my time with the Intrinsic. It's a bit heavy when you're climbing – but that's good training, isn't it? – and you don't really notice the weight so much on the flat. It zips along well, and the handling/steering is neutral, not at all twitchy; I've even been practising my no-hands riding (while ignoring shouts of protest from husband behind). And I've felt confident on big, swoopy downhills, though I would swap out the 23mm Vee Rubber tyres for something wider.

Otherwise, it's a good looking bike that rides well and copes with ups as well as downs. If £550 is your max budget, it's a good first road bike; if half a grand is what you can afford on your second bike, the Intrinsic makes a fast and capable commuter (add a rear mudguard to help in winter), so your posh carbon steed and its fancy parts can stay at home out of harm's way.

Verdict

Looks good, feels good, rides well and won't break the bank