Shand Stooshie

The Shand Stooshie is a comfortable and relaxed-handling all-road and occasional gravel bike with enough versatility to serve multiple uses. This new version with regular dropouts makes it more affordable than the Rohloff model if you only ever want to run a derailleur-based drivetrain.

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Ride and handling

This is a bike that feels right at home cruising along country lanes, with a big route planned that may or may not include some forays into the wilderness via forest tracks and abandoned byways.

It's a comfortable bike for going the distance, the skinny steel tubes and big tyres helping to soak up vibrations effortlessly. It still impresses me that despite modern material and technology advances, a really good steel frame can be so silky smooth.

Handling is on the relaxed side, the steering a little slow and, dare I say it, lazy, but it wafts from corner to corner without hesitation, enabling you to string together the corners with a lovely flow.

The Stooshie's geometry leans towards the endurance road bike with a hint of gravel bike, more so than the cyclo-cross roots of the original bike before it was updated in 2016, and it's paid off. Here's a bike that is lovely to take on a long road ride with the ability to chuck a few gravel tracks into the mix.

It wouldn't be my first choice for hustling around a cyclo-cross course, though it would undoubtedly handle the occasional 'cross race if you wanted to dip your toe into the sport. For exploring the vast network of bridleways and byways around the country, though, the Stooshie is in its element.

Bumping and grinding down a rocky descent, scrabbling up a rooty climb, darting down rutted gravel tracks, a short section of tarmac before diving back into the woods again, the Stooshie makes exploring jolly good fun.

The Stooshie has the versatility you want from a bike in this category – it can do service as a daily commuter with mudguards and a rear rack, you can add a few audax events to your yearly goals, do a micro-adventure with a framepack and seatpack for your essentials... Or just go out on weekend rides and be able to mix up road and off-road to your heart's content.

Frame details

They sure know how to make frames at Shand. The company has been making frames at its Scottish base for many years now, and the workmanship on show with this Stooshie is first class. The welds are tidy, the attention to detail is excellent, and the paint finish is just lovely – and tough, too.

For the frame, Shand combines Italian sourced Columbus and Dedacciai tubing, with slim tube diameters, beefed up by a chunky 44mm head tube and carbon fibre fork.

Clearance is rated for up to 42mm tyres on 700C wheels without mudguards, decreasing to 35mm when you make use of the mudguard eyelets.

Finishing details include a threaded bottom bracket, external cable routing that's neatly done along the underside of the down tube and along the top of the chainstays, mudguard and rack eyelets, 12mm thru-axles and flat mount disc brake callipers.

The most important detail on this bike, and the reason we've got it in for review, is that this is a brand new version that swaps the modular dropouts of the Rohloff frame (allowing the use of hub gear and singlespeed setups) for a regular dropout designed for a conventional drivetrain. That brings the price down to £1,595 for the frame and fork and also looks nicer in my opinion. If you never intend to stray away from a rear derailleur, this is a good choice.

Geometry, the key angles and measurements that define how a bike rides, lean in this case towards an endurance road bike, with Shand evolving the frame in 2016 to take it away from its cyclo-cross roots.

You've got a choice of five sizes, with the medium here featuring a 582mm stack, 380mm reach, 1,027mm wheelbase, 68mm bottom bracket drop and a 71.5-degree head angle, numbers that are par for the course for this sort of all-road/light gravel bike.

Equipment

Now the tricky bit. If you wanted to buy the exact build I've tested, you won't see it listed on Shand's website, but you can buy a Shimano GRX 800-equipped model for £3,395. Shand was keen for us to test the bike and in the absence of GRX 800 groupsets, built up this GRX 600 model. That said, Shand can offer complete custom component choices, so if you don't see exactly what you want, just contact the company and ask.

I've ridden plenty of bikes now with all varieties of Shimano's new GRX groupset, so I've got a good handle on how it works. Mechanically this GRX 600 works identically to GRX 800, with slick mechanical gear changes and powerful hydraulic disc brakes. The revised hoods are nicer to grip in your hands and more tactile in bad weather, and the reshaped levers are easier to hook your fingers around.

I won't get into the pros and cons of 1x versus 2x, we all have our preferences, and Shand will put whichever you prefer on it. For me, the range proved good when riding on the road, with tolerable steps between the 11 sprockets on the cassette, and good low and high range for the climbs and descents respectively.

For rolling stock, it's a pair of Hope 20Five tubeless-ready wheels with 35mm wide Schwalbe G-One All-Round tyres.

I've ridden these UK-made wheels on several bikes (we'll do a separate in-depth review soon) and I've been impressed. A certain other UK brand might be getting all the attention at the moment, but these are a good alternative. They aren't that expensive, they're stiff, durable and reasonably light, and just go about their business with no fuss. Hope's CNC machined aluminium hubs have a stupendous reputation for reliability, and they're easy to service as well.

The rims are tubeless-ready and suit the 35mm tyres on the test bike.

Tyre choice is indicative of the sort of riding Shand has in mind for this Stooshie. The Schwalbe G-One All-Round probably needs no introduction to road.cc readers, it's been one of the most popular among cyclists embracing the 'wider tyres are better' mantra and for mixed surface requirements. They're fast everywhere, you can run them at low pressures for more comfort and traction, and they only really fall short in deep mud. But this isn't a bike for riding through hub-deep mud, is it David!

Elsewhere, there's a lightly flared drop handlebar from Ritchey, made from aluminium, a matching stem, and a Ritchey aluminium seatpost, while the comfy saddle is from the Shand parts bin. 

Is it the bike for you?

For many people, the Shand Stooshie in this build is an easy sell. It's great as a mile-munching road bike and suitable for weekend rides plus audax and long-distance touring, and adventure rides aren't of the question if sleeping in a ditch appeals to you. Or bikepacking, as it's more commonly called.

It's no rugged gravel bike, but in my experience it can handle dry to mildly moist off-road tracks without issue. You'll be surprised at just how capable a 35mm tyre is. And there's space for fatter tyres if you need. 

Price and value

When talking about value it's worth taking into account that the Stooshie is made in the UK, while most mainstream rival frames are made overseas. Another thing to bear in mind is the ability to customise the appearance of your Stooshie via a wide range of frame and decal colours, something few mainstream brands offer.

At £1,595, this new Stooshie frameset is cheaper than the Rohloff version (£1,795) and ideal if you only ever intend to run a regular drivetrain with a derailleur, and have no interest in hub gears or singlespeed setups.

Despite the lower price, it's still undercut quite considerably by the Fairlight Cycles Secan and Strael frames, which each cost £1,199, but here you've only got a choice of three colours.

> Buyer's Guide: 22 of the best gravel and adventure bikes

Condor's Bivio Gravel looks lovely and has recently been updated. It costs £1,299.99 for the frameset which is made in Italy from triple-butted, custom-formed Columbus Spirit tubing.

I should also mention the Enigma Endeavour, which I reviewed very recently. It, too, is a steel frame made in the UK with looks to die for. Costing £1,699 for the frameset, it's a bit more than the Stooshie, and remember the Stooshie offers a wide range of customisation whereas the Enigma comes in just one, though admittedly it is lush.

> Buyer's Guide: 21 of the best steel road bikes and frames

If money is tight but you crave a steel do-it-all road bike from a British brand, the popular Genesis Croix de Fer is worth considering. You can get a full bike with Shimano 105/GRX 810 parts on a Reynolds 725 frame with steel fork (there's a carbon fork option) for £1,999.

Overall

For comfortable road riding with enough versatility for commuting, touring, bikepacking and audax, and capable of taking in some gravel, with handling that is as relaxing as the steel frame is compliant over rough roads, and available a wide range of colour options, the Scottish-made Stooshie is a good pick. 

Verdict

Comfortable and relaxed-handling all-road and light gravel bike, with lots of versatility, available in a range of options