Polygon Bend CT5

The Polygon Bend CT5 is a rough and tough 'urban sport' bike that offers loads of versatility. It's not the lightest bike out there but it'll handle everything from all-weather commuting to gravel tracks, and it's a lot of fun.

I've really enjoyed riding the aluminium-framed Bend CT5 over all kinds of roads over the past few weeks: asphalt, gravel, towpath and even a bit of singletrack. It offers a fairly upright riding position (more on that in a mo) and a decent level of comfort, largely thanks to 30mm-wide Schwalbe G-One Speed tyres, and it's easy to fit mudguards and racks thanks to eyelets on the frame and fork.

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The Bend CT5 really shows its worth over poorly surfaced roads. I have a ride from my place where the tarmac gradually deteriorates, then there's a bit of towpath by the canal, a stony section where one minute the surface is flat and rock hard, the next it's a bit rippled, and then there's a bit of loose shingle on an off-camber bend... Interesting and challenging.

The Polygon Bend CT5 doesn't just cope with this kind of stuff, it eats it up, giving you the confidence to tackle the next section that bit quicker and generally putting a smile on your face.

The bike doesn't get knocked about easily, holding its line well when the front wheel hits a bump or hole rather than bouncing you off in an unwanted direction. That means you don't find yourself constantly correcting the steering over uneven roads.

The brakes help there too. These are SRAM Rival hydraulic disc brakes operating on 160mm rotors front and rear and they've performed superbly throughout the test period. It's not the all-out power that's so valuable, it's the amount of control you get at your fingertips – the modulation, if you like – whatever the conditions. That could be valuable if you're using the Bend CT5 for commuting, for example, and you have to ride at a particular time, even if the rain is hosing down.

The Bend CT5 isn't particularly light – our 56cm model tips the scales at 9.6kg (21.2lb) – but it's one of those bikes that you can steadily winch up really, really steep and loose climbs if you head off well-surfaced roads and on to forest tracks, for example. It's well balanced. On damp, sharp hills where standing up on the pedals would result in the rear tyre spinning, you can just sit in the saddle, keeping your weight over both wheels, and you'll get there. The same is true on less severe climbs if you have a load on board – if you're carrying clothes and laptop to or from work, for instance.

A lot of that is down to the gearing. The Bend CT5 is fitted with a SRAM Rival 1X groupset with a single 38-tooth chainring and a wide-range 11-42-tooth WiFLi cassette.

We've covered SRAM 1X lots on road.cc over the past couple of years, and it has pros and cons. It's a little easier to use in that you never need to change from one chainring to another – although most people get along with a double just fine – and there's no chance of the chain rubbing on the front mech if you don't have one.

> Read our SRAM 1x Road first ride here

The biggest negative, as far as I'm concerned, is that you get some gert big jumps in gear ratios across such a wide-ranging cassette. The 38-tooth chainring and 42-tooth sprocket give you a 24.3in gear (with the 700 x 30 tyres fitted), if you work in such things, while the next largest sprocket is 36-tooth and gives you a 28.3in gear. It can be difficult to keep your rhythm when swapping from one to the other.

That said, the 42-tooth sprocket will get you up nearly anything – not necessarily quickly, but at least you'll keep progressing.

At the other end of the scale, I found myself running out of gears on long, fast descents. If you want to pedal at over 28mph you have to spin at more than 100rpm in the 11-tooth sprocket. If you want to pedal at over 33mph you're looking at 120rpm, so I found myself just coasting more often than usual. If you're going to ride only on tarmac and unladen you might find this 1X system under-geared.

One big plus is that the Entity disc wheels (Entity is Polygon's in-house brand) are fitted with those Schwalbe G-One Speed tyres that I mentioned, and I won't have a word said against them. These were previously called S-Ones.

When we reviewed the S-Ones on road.cc last year we said that they were a grippy, light, fast tyre and advised: "if you can fit 'em, buy 'em".

Some kinds of sticky mud can bung up the bobbly tread of the G-One Speeds, but apart from that they stick firmly to pretty much anything from wet and slimy tarmac to loose stone, getting you out of all sorts of trouble if you misjudge your line slightly. Plus, they never feel like they're sucking away your energy.

The tyres are capable of being run tubeless but the Entity wheels aren't tubeless-ready which is a shame because that would allow you to run lower pressures for greater comfort without the danger of pinch flats. If you use the Bend CT5 on asphalt the whole time that's unlikely to be an issue but if you want to add more comfort over the rough stuff you could always fit wider tyres, the stays and fork offering plenty of clearance. I got on well with the 30mm width as a fast option suited to the various types of roads I've been riding, but you could easily go for 35mm or wider if you intend to spend more time off tarmac than on it.

Speaking of comfort, I found the ride position offered by the Bend CT5 to provide plenty. I've had the 56cm model with a 565mm effective top tube, a 560mm seat tube and a 170mm head tube. The head angle is 72.5°, the seat angle is 73°, the stack height is 585.5mm and the reach is 385.1mm. Plus, the fork's tall axle to crown height pushes the front end up further.

That geometry puts you into quite an upright riding position compared to most road bikes, although there are endurance road bikes out there that are more relaxed. On the other hand, the Bend CT5 is a little more aggressive than the Genesis Datum adventure bike that we reviewed recently. As ever with geometry, it comes down to what works for you.

The lightly padded Entity Flux saddle and slim (27.2mm diameter) seatpost provide just enough give to keep you feeling happy over damaged roads and the handlebar tape is certainly grippy, although I'd have appreciated a little more cushioning to help damp vibrations coming up through the fork. I'd also have preferred more of a rearward extension to the Entity Expert handlebar. I got on really well with the variable radius shape of the drops, particularly when resting my hands within reach of the levers, but I found myself wanting more of a sweep down there for flat, open roads where dabbing the brakes or shifting gear are less of an issue.

You can see the frame welds if you go looking for them but they're not exactly conspicuous, and the same is true of the black-on-black logos and graphics that are subtle verging on incognito, in the daylight at least. At night, though, some sections zing out in car headlights, which is a neat little trick.

Summary

All-rounder is a term that gets bandied around a lot, and although no bike can offer you the best of all worlds, some are more versatile than others. The way I read it, the Bend CT5 doesn't have any pretensions to grandeur, it's a bike that'll just crack on with whatever you throw at it, and this is its greatest strength.

With a no-nonsense frameset, wide-range gears, grippy tyres and the all-weather reliability of hydraulic disc brakes, it makes a good case for itself as a year-round fast commuter. On top of that, those same attributes – perhaps swapping on some larger volume tyres – mean it's happy to head off on the gravel or other non-tarmacked roads and tracks for adventures at the weekend.

Verdict

Versatile aluminium 1X bike that's well-capable of handling both the daily commute and rough rides into the back of beyond