Rose Black Creek Urban

As a package the Rose Black Creek Deore Urban looks so good, with name brand kit from Shimano and Mavic in addition to Rose's frame-building expertise. But ultimately it's a heavy and unenthusiastic bike with a fairly stolid ride quality and only decent on-road stability and security. It comes well kitted out, though.

• Pros: Classy looks, loaded with practical kit, quality components
• Cons: Heavy and uninspiring, expensive, not as comfortable as expected

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Ride

With a big aluminium frame and an all-up weight of 16kg, the Black Creek Deore Urban was never going to be a racing whippet or eager beaver. However, even with relatively low performance expectations, the overall ride experience is still disappointing. Getting up to speed is smooth but more of a chore than anticipated and any sniff of a climb leaves you wondering where all your power has disappeared to.

It's not that there's a lack of ideal gearing options. With a triple chainset and biggest sprocket of 34t at the back, you can get the Black Creek up anything approaching a sheer wall. (But who wants to lug 16kg over a sheer wall?) It's just that the huge bulk of the bike feels so unfulfilling to propel.

Comfort is a little better, although it's still not quite as good as I'd hoped. Again, that aluminium frame is most to blame. At the rear, road bumps, pot holes and ripples reach the rider, while at the front the rigid fork doesn't really insulate anything much.

Control and position is the Black Creek's most laudable quality. With a nice 'n' high seating position, you can command the road and spot problems ahead. Steering responsiveness is decent, too. It's not too flighty to scare away hesitant riders but quick enough to perform emergency avoidance measures with ease.

Taken as a whole, the Black Creek Deore Urban provides a sensible, solid ride rather than anything more energising.

Frame

At the heart of this uninspiring ride is actually a rather handsome triple butted 6061 'ultra-light' aluminium frame. On first impression, it seems huge, even with its semi-undersized rear triangle. The down tube is simply massive and every join looks engineered to the hilt. There's certainly no doubting its manufacturing quality: welds are beautifully smooth; cables are internally routed; the metallic grey finish is better the closer up you view it; and there's a general air of quality.

At the front, our test bike came with a rigid aluminium fork. The Black Creek Deore Urban's sibling, the Black Creek Deore Trekking, comes with a Suntour suspension fork which might help smooth out the ride a little.

The rigid fork looks classy, though, and features a tapered steerer, internal routing, a bolt-through hub, and mounting points for front racks. Like the rest of the frameset, it's no shrinking violet.

Drivetrain

Despite its performance foibles, I said the frame has an air of quality and that's something that continues throughout the spec sheet. The Shimano Deore drivetrain might only be nominally mid-range, but it's smooth and fast enough for this kind of bike. There will be the occasional clunky gear change when under strain, but the triple chainset and 11-34t cassette combined have almost all bases covered.

This is very much a belt and braces bike, with all potential practical considerations covered and the Black Creek Deore Urban laden down with kit. The full length SKS chainguard fits this zeitgeist. It might keep your slacks free from oil marks for work, but on a sunny day when you just want to ride, it seems like overkill.

Brakes and wheels

Before hopping aboard this bike, the choice of Shimano M446 disc brakes had me confident about taking on descents, whatever the rolling mass. The Black Creek Deore Urban shows that even respected Shimano discs have their limits, and although they scrubbed off speed fairly well, they seemed to struggle a little with such a big bike.

This certainly isn't caused by a lack of grip. Because of the overall slow nature of the bike, the Schwalbe Fat Frank K-Guard tyres felt every bit as wide as their stated 2in. As I tested this in summer and I suspected gaining and maintaining momentum might be a challenge, I pumped the tyres up towards their maximum inflation (65psi). A little less air might improve comfort, but there's no hope for more speed other than to fit skinnier rubber.

That said, these are good all-year tyres that will cope easily with wet conditions, so you can make the most of the full-length mudguards. The Mavic XM319 wheels are decent, too, although they don't really get the chance to shine here.

Finishing kit

The Selle Royal Lookin 3D saddle is quite nice, although a little wide in the seat for my preferences.

The Herrmans lockable bar grips are, like the rest of the bike, a little on the firm side.

But the Rose flat pedals with their grip-tape-like surfaces are very good.

Because the Black Creek Deore Urban is actually specced like a typical continental trekking bike, Rose has thrown everything at it bar the kitchen sink. The Speedlifter steerer tube allows you to put the stem at the preferred height simply by undoing a quick release handle. It works fine but because the headset is set up underneath, it does seem a little unnerving to see no top cap and bolt. (That said, if thought about logically, even with a 'normal' headset setup you would lose steering control long before the bar and stem came off in your hands.)

There's also a Rose Pro Body Protector suspension seatpost, although it didn't seem to have any appreciable effect on ride quality.

And, because this is a trekking-style bike, there is a Racktime Eco 2.0 Tour rear rack…

…plus an Abus frame lock…

a kickstand…

and a very good set of dynamo lights – Herrmans H-Black MR8 front…

and B+M Toplight 2C plus LineTec LED at the back.

Value

Last year, I tested the B'Twin Hoprider 900 and the Cube Touring Pro, and both those bikes address largely the same kind of practical considerations as the Black Creek Deore Urban, but in a less heavy-handed way and – crucially – at far cheaper prices, the B'Twin £549.99, the Cube £649. Really, even with their lower quality builds, they offer more interesting and enjoyable ride experiences.

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In theory, Rose has set this up to be an easy bike to live with. Want to raise your bar height? No problem. Want to lock it up? Easy. Want to carry stuff? Of course. Want dynamo-powered lighting? It's there. The range of practical considerations it addresses goes on and on. But unfortunately, more can mean less and while the package looks good value, it doesn't add up to a bike I actually enjoyed riding.

Conclusion

A couple of months ago I visited the Netherlands and climbed the highest hill in south Holland. It's found in the Duinrell theme park, has a toboggan track on it, and takes about a minute to walk up. In a country where terrain like that is notable for its scarcity, the Black Creek Deore Urban makes sense. In the UK, where even cities tend to have a climb or two, it's a little less practical, despite – or even because of – the fact that it's covered in kit that should aid practicality.

So, the Black Creek is a fully loaded commuting/trekking bike that, owing to a combination of lifeless frame and excessive speccing, looks and feels more like an overloaded commuting/trekking bike. If your only expected uses are pan-flat rides to work and towpath tours, the Black Creek Deore Urban won't let you down even if it doesn't enhance the experience. But at this price, there are better options.

Verdict

A fairly heavy and uninspiring bike that at least comes loaded with plenty of kit. One for flat rides only!