Pinnacle Laterite 3

With a responsive, simple frame, surprisingly fun ride characteristics and nicely balanced handling, Pinnacle's Laterite 3 is a great package for those of you who are looking to spend less than a grand on their first or next bike. With its mudguard mounts, deep drop brakes and a smattering of Shimano's 105 groupset, I don't think you can really go wrong for the money.

• Pros: Fun, easy to live with, some decent spec
• Cons: Handlebar is too stiff, could do with a brake pad upgrade

The ride: buzzy, in a good way

I really wasn't expecting a ride experience as good as the Laterite gave when I first climbed aboard. It feels nippy, and when going out for an hour's smashfest through the twisty country lanes it felt like it wanted to keep being pushed harder into and out of the bends. It's a buzzy kind of a ride – not in a harsh, feel-everything-from-the-road kind of a way, but buzzy in the way it makes you feel.

On the main roads mixing it with lots of traffic it holds its own too. With a slightly relaxed head angle and a lengthy wheelbase, the Laterite's neutral handling makes it easy to dice with lorries and cars through busy intersections and roundabouts, whatever the road conditions.

The confidence it gives you lets you forget about the bike and focus purely on the road and surrounding metal boxes, especially as you keep the pace high to maintain your position in the rush hour melee. It makes for a very capable commuter.

> Find your nearest Evans store here

We don't all ride like loons all of the time, though, so thankfully the Laterite 3 is pretty good when it comes to tapping out the miles on a Sunday morning.

With an effective top tube length of 560mm and 160mm head tube on our medium size, the Laterite isn't as aggressive as a race bike, but nor is it a bolt upright endurance steed.

The stack and reach figures of 569mm and 386mm respectively allowed me to get into a pretty low-slung position without requiring too much of a stretch, and by rotating through the various hand positions I found the setup comfortable for hours.

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Aluminium alloy frames used to have a reputation for giving a harsh ride and while the Pinnacle isn't uncomfortable per se it is a little bit 'old school'. Let's say it hasn't got the most refined aluminium alloy frame I've ridden, though wouldn't really expect it to at this price.

If you are going to do a lot of long rides on the Laterite I'd recommend playing about with tyre pressures a bit and maybe tweak some of the contact points to maximise comfort.

First to get the cull would be the own-brand winged handlebar. True, this type of flat topped bar does give a more comfortable hand position when riding on the tops, but this one is very stiff and just compounds the firm ride from the frame.

If you are on one of those roads where the surface is like a washboard, your wrists are soon going to know about it. This medium model gets a 420mm bar which is quite narrow, adding to the stiffness, though it does help with keeping the front end quick for that fun handling I mentioned earlier.

Another issue with wing shaped handlebars is that you can't fit anything to them. Lights, computer mounts, bells... and as this is a great commuter bike, at least some attachments are going to be a must. Anyway, I digress – back to the ride.

The Laterite's stiffness does benefit forward motion. Climbing and acceleration, while hampered a little by the overall 9.75kg weight, is pretty good and you certainly get a good return for your efforts.

In fact the Pinnacle responds like a lighter bike a lot of the time. Attacking short, sharp climbs out of the saddle is fun, and if you are in it for the long haul you can just sit down, bang it in the 34-tooth chainring and 28 sprocket and spin away.

The balanced handling I mentioned earlier comes into play on the downhills too. The Laterite feels planted and as long as you can see the exit of the bend you can point it on to the line you want and carry a decent pace throughout. The head tube isn't tapered but the fork is pretty stiff so you have some confident steering to guide the bike through the turn.

It's only if you have to tweak your position that things require a bit of work. An unexpected pothole, gravel or a tightening corner when you are travelling at high speed will show that the Laterite hasn't got the sharpest steering in the world, and it can take a bit of skill to shift your line to catch the apex. This is no carbon superbike, though, so I wouldn't criticise it too much for this.

Frame and fork

The Laterite uses 6061-T6 grade aluminium alloy tubing in its construction and it is a common one that we see in the bike industry.

The tube walls are double butted, which is where they are thicker at the ends for strength at the weld area and thinner in the middle to promote a bit of flex for comfort.

For the money, the welding is relatively tidy and the overall finish is tough and robust, so battle scars should be kept to a minimum. The black and red paintjob is quite understated too, should you leave the bike locked up in public.

The frame itself is quite simple. There are no radical tube profiles or massive oversizing going along the bottom half the frame. The head tube is 1 1/8in in diameter from top to bottom, with the down tube maintaining pretty much the same profile right the way through.

Those who use their bikes in the rain will rejoice in seeing the threaded bottom bracket shell rather than a press-fit option, which then leads into the rectangular section chainstays.

The seatstays run narrower – a common idea to promote flex and comfort – and the sloping top tube allows you to run a good length of exposed seatpost for a little added movement there.

Internal cable routing is used for the front half of the frame, with both of the gear cables exiting at the bottom bracket, which provides a small amount of protection from the elements especially if you are running mudguards.

And yep, you can do that because the Laterite is equipped with mounts for guards front and rear and some for a rear rack too. Evans Cycles, the shop chain behind Pinnacle, even sells mudguards for the Laterite and its Dolomite stablemate, with trimmed stays for ease of fitting.

As you'd expect these days, the Pinnacle uses a carbon fibre fork and this one comes with an alloy steerer. As I touched on earlier, its stiffness is pretty good plus Pinnacle has gone for a 50mm offset for stability, whereas most road bikes go for 45mm.

Mix and match

Between £700 and £1,000, most manufacturers adorn their bikes – if they go down the Shimano route – with either a Sora (9-speed) or Tiagra (10-speed) groupset, so the 105 mechs and shifters here are a big plus. After all, you get an extra gear or two to play with as 105 is an 11-speed setup, with the Laterite coming with the reasonably close ratio 11-28 cassette option.

Although it is probably due a revamp soon, following in the footsteps of the latest Dura-Ace and Ultegra groupsets, 105 is still one of the best setups out there for performance versus price. You can read a full review of 105 here. The shifting is precise, nicely weighted and copes well with pretty much everything the winter weather chucks at it.

Fitting 105 parts to a £700 bike does have consequences elsewhere, though. The chainset, for instance, has been swapped out for a Prowheel Ounce with 50/34t chainrings.

Shifting was fine and stiffness was plenty good enough, but the whole chainset does look quite dated compared with those of Shimano's cheaper groupsets, and with Sora and Tiagra offering very similar performance to 105 but just with fewer gears I'd happily sacrifice the more expensive components for a complete groupset; it just makes for a nicer looking bike, in my eyes.

Brakes

As the Laterite can take mudguards, the brakes need to have a deeper drop to reach the braking strip on the rim: 57mm over the usual 49mm. This allows clearance between the mudguard and tyre.

Pinnacle has specced Tektro's R315 brakeset which, when you consider they cost about £15, are decent enough performers. I certainly didn't think they were dangerous in any way, like some cheap brakes. The main body is a little flexy if you haul on them hard, plus the non-cartridge pads haven't got the grippiest compound for allowing much modulation. A pad upgrade would change things for the better, but if there is money in the kitty I'd say splash out on some Shimano R650s for a better and more confidence-inspiring performance.

Finishing kit

I've already touched on my thoughts about the handlebar, so we'll move on to the stem, seatpost and saddle, all own-brand items.

Well, there isn't much to say, actually: they do a decent job for budget components and I wouldn't bother to change them. At 100mm the stem is shorter than I would expect on a bike of this size, but it works with the longer top tube and extended fork trail to keep the riding position the same and the handling quick enough.

Saddle-wise, I found the Pinnacle model adequately comfortable for the majority of riding but as with all things seat-related it's a very personal choice. If this saddle doesn't suit, find one that does and that'll improve the Laterite's ride quality for you.

Wheels and tyres

The wheels are unbranded but that's no real issue here. What they lack in logos is more than made up for in performance. They use a double wall rim with 32 spokes front and rear, which offers plenty of strength and reliability for the commuter or light tourer, both uses the Laterite is perfectly suitable for.

Both wheels ran true out of the box and I had no issues at all with them throughout testing. They are a touch weighty but just like the Pinnacle as a whole, they didn't feel hindered by what the scales are saying. Upgrade? Yes, definitely if you are going to put in a lot of miles in the hills, but these wheels are solid performers and will work well for the winter months at least.

Schwalbe Durano tyres are a nice touch to see here. They offer a really good balance of rolling resistance, grip and, more importantly for this type of bike, durability.

Big on value

A lot of brands like to send us their top of the range models for testing, so as far as 2018 goes we haven't reviewed a lot of sub-£1,000 bikes (yet), so with a bit of inspiration from our £500 to £750 buyer's guide, I'll take a look at what some of the big brands are offering in comparison to the Laterite 3.

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Trek has the Domane Al 3 which is a similar beast to the Pinnacle, with an alloy frame, mudguard mounts and a carbon fork. It does come with a full Shimano Sora groupset, though, for its £750 price tag.

Giant has the Contend 1, priced pretty much the same as the Trek at £749, and the spec is similar, too, although you don't get an option to fit proper mudguards.

Obviously you can't discount Specialized's Allez here either, especially after its revamp with more relaxed geometry and mudguard mounts – fork recall issues aside, which should be dealt with soon. I loved the latest 2018 Elite version and the Sport model comes in at £799 with Sora mechs and shifters, Praxis chainset and Tektro brakes.

The Allez's frame offers a better ride quality than the Pinnacle in terms of comfort, but you can't take away the fact that the Laterite 3 is very competitively priced.

Conclusion

I'm a big fan of the simplicity of cycling and while it can be an expensive pastime it doesn't have to be, and the Laterite 3 highlights that.

Yes, for more money you will get a lighter, more comfortable bike with a more refined ride, but for just £700 this thing is a blast and you'll still come home with a smile on your face.

It's a simple frame with decent components and while it could do with a few tweaks, it's hard to knock for the money.

Verdict

A simple, well-designed, fun bike to ride – whatever your ability