Kinesis G2

British bike brand Kinesis Bikes has good form when it comes to versatile all-terrain drop bar road bikes with its Tripster AT and ATR, and this new G2 continues that trend but ups the accessibility factor with an aluminium frame, SRAM Apex 1x groupset and £1,500 price tag. It's huge fun off-road, fast and comfortable on the road, and adaptable to different riding requirements.

• Pros: Handling, performance, value, looks
• Cons: Not the lightest, limited size range, I didn't really like the saddle but you might

Ride and handling

I'll say it again, the G2 is huge fun! For mixing up rides with stretches of country lanes and diving into the woods and along bridleways, dirt tracks and through skinny singletrack, before pottering back into town along the cycle path for a flat white and brownie to recover and Instagram your adventure, the G2 is bob on.

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I must admit I do enjoy riding bikes like the G2. From the tyre and equipment selection to the geometry, these bikes allow me to spice up otherwise regular road rides through the lanes with forays into any woodland that has public access through it. Once you start exploring it's surprising just how many off-road paths there are to be ridden and added to your mental map.

The G2 shines in this capacity as a bike capable of doing service on the road, where it's adequately comfortable to contend with poorly surfaced lanes, yet be able to roll up its sleeves and get stuck into some meaty dirt tracks. Down rubble-strewn descents with rocks pinging off the tyres, sliding around bermed corners at my local mountain biking spot, and blasting along the edge of fields in a way that reminds me of 90s mountain biking, the G2 does it all.

One area where the previous Tripster AT and ATR frames shone was in having really good geometry. While the G2 is largely based on the same numbers, the chainstays have been nipped in a little and the head tube skimmed which does provide a slightly more agile ride. You especially notice this when shimmying between narrow trees on a thin ribbon of singletrack with slightly faster-turning speed helping to arc the G2 through the bends.

On the road, the lower head tube gives you a slightly more aggressive position that I found nothing but comfortable for long rides. It's a good move; I found the head tube on the Tripster AT tall for my preference, so taking 12mm off (down to 173mm) is a tick in my book.

Kinesis says the G2 is 'more capable than a road bike, more comfortable than a 'cross bike, and more versatile than an out and out gravel bike.' I would certainly agree with the first two parts of that statement; it can do more than a regular road bike can and it's nicer and easier to ride than a cyclo-cross bike outside the limited confines of a 'cross race, but I'm not sure it's more versatile than an out and out gravel bike. Other gravel bikes have more mounts for attaching extra racks and bottles, and many are pushing tyre clearance beyond the 40mm of the G2.

For general road and gravel riding, though, the handling feels good, and so does the equipment which lets you get on with the task of plotting new routes and getting out into the countryside. Kinesis has really joined up the dots with some smart equipment choices and it all comes together very cohesively to create a bike that is capable, fast and entertaining all at once.

One potential issue is that there are just four sizes to choose from, which is a bit more limiting than the often six or seven you get from bigger brands. The large/57 test bike has a 390mm reach and 595mm stack, 71-degree head angle, 70mm bottom bracket drop, 1052.7mm wheelbase and 435mm chainstays.

As with many gravel and adventure bikes, the G2 is endlessly versatile. It's ideally suited to commuting with the option for mudguards and a rear rack, and the Schwalbe G-One tyres allow you to get creative on your ride to or from work. With a change to some fat slicks, it would be right at home on a long distance touring ride, audax or for winter training. Add a frame and seat pack and arm yourself with a map and some adventure spirit, and you can embark on any micro adventure.

Frame and equipment

Normally Kinesis focuses on selling frames but the new G2 is being offered as a complete bike, which certainly makes it a very accessible option at this price point.

A couple of decades of expertise with aluminium shows: this is a very smartly designed and smoothly constructed frame, using double butted 6061 tubing all dressed in a fetching slate blue.

And being a British company, it's in touch with the needs of British cyclists, so there is an external threaded bottom bracket and eyelets for fitting mudguards and a rear rack for doing duty as a commuting/touring/audax bike.

Tyre clearance is good for up to 40mm tyres, shrinking down to 38mm with mudguards, and there's more than enough for most requirements – my personal preference is for a 38-40mm gravel tyre for mixing road and dirt paths. If you want to go wider, you'll have to look elsewhere, but for most people it's sufficient.

All cables and hoses are internally routed for clean lines and a colour-matched carbon fibre fork with a tapered steerer tube completes the frameset details.

Hanging on the frame is some decent equipment. It's not flash but it's no-nonsense and ensures the G2 is able to compete with similarly priced and specced rivals from much bigger firms in the bike industry.

The build revolves around a SRAM Apex 1 groupset, with an 11-42t cassette and 40t single ring. It's SRAM's cheapest 1x11 road bike groupset but you get all the same key technology as Force and Rival, so a clutch-style rear mech and narrow/wide chainring to prevent the chain making a bid for freedom on rough ground, and very powerful hydraulic disc brakes operating on 160mm rotors.

It works just fine, too. Shifting quality is very good with just a single lever to throw the rear mech smoothly up and down the cassette. I had no issues with the chain staying on the single ring, the wide-range cassette provided plenty of scope for tackling steep climbs, and the brakes are reassuringly firm and powerful.

SRAM's tall shifters aren't necessarily hugely admired for their aesthetics, but they have a performance benefit when riding off-road, and combined with the Kinesis-branded shallow and flared drop handlebar give really good control when weaving the G2 through narrow tree-lined trails with tight corners where you need maximum control over the steering and braking.

That flared-drop handlebar won me over. It cants the hoods over in a way that I was ready to be sceptical about, but after my first ride the comfort and handling turned out to be a real benefit of the shape. It's a shallow drop too so when you're bashing out the road miles you can get low and aero easily.

A stubby stem contributes to the positive handling, ensuring the steering speed is sufficient to twist and shake the G2 through the fun trails that it's is so well suited to. It maximises control on technical trails and helps to boost your enjoyment.

An inline seatpost is topped with a Selle Italia X3 saddle, not my preferred shape but an easy change if you're fussy about saddles.

The wheels, Novatec aluminium hubs with sealed bearings on Alex Rims, are nothing flash but perform faultlessly. Novatec hubs are used by lots of wheel brands and have a good reputation for durability, and the Alex rims are tubeless-ready which is really a must-have on a mixed terrain bike like the G2.

Schwalbe's 38mm G-One Allround dimpled tyres are an easy and obvious tyre choice. They're hugely popular for their fast rolling on hard surfaces with reasonable grip in the soft, plus good durability and easy tubeless setup in most cases. Rather than go into detail here, you can read our review of the tyres here.

All together, the large size G2 test bike weighs 10.03kg (22.11lb) on our scales. That is quite a bit more portly than the 9.5kg (20.7lb) Canyon Grail AL 7.0 I tested a while ago, and while not a whole bunch on paper, in hilly terrain you are going to notice it. How much you notice it and whether it's a huge negative is down to your personal feelings about how critical weight is to ride performance.

Rivals

What competition does the G2 face in this price category? Well, for £1,350 there's that very capable Canyon Grail AL 7.0 I mentioned above, which also offers an aluminium frame with Schwalbe G-One tyres and a Shimano 105 groupset.

Direct-sales brands are tough to compete with, with no dealers to look after, but perhaps better showing just how good value the G2 is for a bike you can walk into your local shop and touch and sniff, the Giant Toughroad SLR GX 0, from the biggest bike company in the world, costs £1,599 with the same SRAM Apex 1 groupset hanging off an aluminium frame.

> Buyer's Guide: 21 of the best gravel and adventure bikes

Also costing £1,500 and built around a versatile aluminium frame is the Cannondale Topstone 105, with a Shimano 105 groupset and WTB Nanon 40mm tyres.

Or, for just over an extra £500, which is a big ask, you could get a carbon frame and Shimano 105 groupset with the Rose Backroad 105 (£2,042).

Conclusion

The new G2 offers brilliant performance that is fun on off-road trails and fast and pleasantly comfortable on the road. It's well equipped for the money with no changes required, just slap on your favourite pedals and hit the road/dirt. As the rivals above show, it's competitive on price too.

Verdict

Great fun, smartly specced and well-priced versatile adventure road bike