Van Nicholas Chinook road bike

Modern road bikes are evolving rapidly, but the Van Nicholas Chinook, with its external headset, bottom bracket and cable routing combined with race bike geometry, provides a classic appearance that will appeal to many cyclists turned off by the latest modern road bikes. If the looks don't win you over, the sublimely smooth and ride ride experience sure will. The Chinook is a real delight.

Ride and handling

There's something pleasingly traditional about the appearance of the Chinook. It's not only the appearance, but the geometry that shuns trends. It's a case of a classic long top tube and short head tube here, which puts you in the aggressive position that's best to extract the most out of the Chinook.

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Despite its skinny tubes, the Chinook doesn't exhibit any undesirable flex when you really push it close to its limits. Granted it's no masterclass in stiffness, but you'd need thighs the size of Andre Greipel to really find the limits of the Chinook. I don't and didn't.

What the Chinook does exhibit though is a very lively characteristic. Sure it doesn't have the razor sharp precision of a top-end carbon race bike, but critically it doesn't feel soft or vague if you like to attack yourself over crests and rises, or keep up with friends on carbon race bikes.

It doesn't take long to get tuned in to the way the Chinook rides. It you want a bike with almost telepathic responses, well the Chinook probably isn't for you. It's a bit more measured in the way it responds to inputs, whether through the handlebars or pedals. It likely won't be the fastest bike between A and B, but it'll likely provide the most smiles between those two points, even if you don't arrive first.

Where I really found the Chinook to excel most is just the way it handles corners. The combination of the geometry, the frame stiffness (or lack of) and the carbon fibre fork ensures the Chinook glides through corners in a way that puts a smile on your face every time. I love corners, and they're a good place to really test bike handling. The Chinook excelled on every variety of corner, bend and turn I tested it through. It's a very accomplished descender.

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The Chinook manages to provide a nice blend of comfort without ever resorting to feeling like a soggy sponge. Don't expect it to smooth out every ripple and crack though, the Chinook still ensures you feel connected to the detail of the road surface, it isn't the damped, sometimes isolated, ride you get from some carbon fibre bikes. The 25mm tyres certainly help, but don't expect to be able to fit any wider tyres, that's the widest the bike will accept.

At 7.8kg with the SRAM Force groupset and Mavic wheels, the Chinook has a fighting weight. The compact chainset provides a good platform for tackling undulating terrain and plenty of hills. I'd have liked a more generous cassette than the 11-25 fitted, but that can be changed through the company's custom bike builder. Every part of the bike can be tailored to your precise requirements.

Frame and build kit

The Chinook is constructed from 3.5 Al/2.5V seamless Optiformed tubes with a slightly oversized down tube (42mm diameter) and matching diameter top tube and seat tubes (32mm), with a 27.2mm seatpost. Because of the minimally sloped top tube there's not a lot of exposed seatpost compared to some compact frames, but this didn't appear to dent ride comfort that a longer exposed seatpost typically provides.

A pair of slender seatstays are mated to chunky chainstays by way of CNC machined dropouts that look really smart, and serve to boost rear-end stiffness with a 7mm thick plate at the dropout. The head tube carries a non-tapered carbon fibre fork but the outside of the head tube has been CNC machined, with excess material removed. It's finished with an engraved head badge, a nice touch.

The bike tested is a 56cm with a 56cm top tube and 15cm head tube. The other numbers are classic race bike stuff, with a short 990mm wheelbase and 405mm chainstays and a steep 74 degree head tube angle, paired with a 73 degree seat tube. The Chinook is available in seven sizes, or you can go down the custom frame path if you need or want.

You can buy the Chinook as a frameset, or build a complete bike, using the company's online bike builder to customise the specification. The test bike came in at £2,458 with a SRAM Force 22 groupset, Mavic Aksium One wheels and 25mm Vredestein Fortezza Senso All Weather tyres.

The components all worked well. SRAM's Force 22 group is easy to use and provides quick gear shifts, and the brakes are responsive. The tyres are good in a range of conditions and roll well. The saddle is the only component I'd change, as I didn't get on with the flat shape of the own-brand part.

A Chris King headset and Van Nicholas carbon fork and aluminium finishing kit completed the build, providing a complete bike weight of 7.8.kg (17.2lb). Frame weight is a claimed 1.59kg (3.19lb).

Conclusion

The Chinook is a bike that revels in a wide range of riding situations. It's happy being ridden fast and hard and would make a fine race bike, where the geometry comes into its own, and it lives up the company's intention of building a race bike. But it's more than a finely honed race bikes, it's right at home on the long ride, where the lively ride and comfort ensures it puts a smile on your face.

Verdict

Fast and sprightly ride, great in the corners, with a classic appearance