Triban RC 520 Gravel

The Triban RC 520 Gravel is one of the company's first forays into the adventure market and if you're tempted to give it a go it's a really good place to start. It's confident on loose terrain and is fun to ride thanks to a decent weight and some quality components. And though it's pricier than the very similar road version, there are reasons for that...

• Pros: Stable handling on and off road; quality components
• Cons: No thru-axles; gearing may be too high for tough gravel climbs; limited tyre clearance

The RC 520 Gravel is based around the same frameset as used on the RC 520 Road that Ash gave a glowing review. He liked how the bike was very easy to live with thanks to the relaxed geometry, making it ideal for long distance rides or for those new to the sport. The neutral handling and its ability to cruise along at moderate speeds were also highlights.​

> Find your nearest Decathlon store here

In fact, if you want to know how this Gravel version performs on the road, then read Ash's review, as apart from a wider set of tyres and a flared handlebar they are almost exactly the same machine.

At first, this did make us wonder why it was £120 more – so we asked Decathlon... It's not just the handlebar (which is more expensive than the RC 520's) and the tyres, we're told it's also that the paint job on the frame is "much more complex than the RC520 with small details included such as brazed inserts for the bottle cage screws".

With that cleared up, I'll concentrate on the gravel tracks...

The ride

That neutral handling on the road is what makes the 520 Gravel so much fun to ride off it. This medium model has a 71.5-degree head angle, which is slack by road bike standards but when it comes to adventure and gravel it's about right.

The unpredictability of loose aggregate under your tyres makes the handling feel quicker here than on the tarmac, and gives the Triban a more interesting and fun ride.

It still errs on the side of neutrality, helped by the lengthy 1,014mm wheelbase, so don't go worrying about it becoming a handful on the trails. If (when) the tyres break traction, the bike is easily controlled with just a slight shift in body weight and really doesn't deliver any surprises.

When out for four or five hours riding purely on a mix of gravel byways and smaller dry, dirt trails, that steady, confidence-inspiring steering just lets you get on with the job of ticking off the miles and enjoying the scenery.

On the technical sections it isn't quite as direct or sharp as some of the other, more race-inspired gravel bikes I've ridden, and at 10.3kg it isn't the most flickable either to change course around tree roots, potholes or large rocks.

Not that the 520 feels overly heavy. Out on the tracks and trails it's only on the steepest of climbs that you'll really notice it, although it isn't really helped by the tall gearing; more of that in a minute, though.

Comfort is pretty good too. True, you have the cushioning effect of those 35mm tyres but still there is an underlying feeling coming through from the frame and fork that there is little vibration and buzz coming from the surface below.

The 520 Gravel is a good all-rounder on the whole, whether on the road or off it, ideal for that short blast around the lanes or out on an all-day adventure.

Frame and fork

The frame is manufactured using 6061-T6 aluminium alloy tubing, and has a claimed weight of 1,780g in this medium size. Svelte, no, but it is solid and will easily stand up to the rigours of loaded-up gravel and adventure riding. Triban even offers a lifetime warranty.

For the budget we are looking at here, the welding is plenty neat enough and the mix of a painted top half against the clear-coated natural finish of the lower makes the bike look more expensive than it is.

All cabling has been kept external, which is no biggie at this price point and at least it stops the cables rattling on the insides of the tubes over rough terrain.

There isn't a huge amount of oversizing going on anywhere in the tubing, and to be fair the frame doesn't really need it. For the job its been designed to do it is plenty stiff enough, and only on the steepest of climbs could I feel a tiny bit of flex at the bottom bracket.

Up front, Triban has even stayed with a straight through 1 1/8in head tube, not something we see that often these days.

Inserted into that tube is a carbon fibre fork with an alloy steerer tube. It's pretty stiff and copes with the braking power of the discs and forces from the steering.

The TRP Hy/Rd brakes are pretty good and put a fair bit of force through the fork leg, so I would like to see a thru-axle for wheel retention to resist that when braking really hard. The frame having quick release dropouts for the rear is less of an issue, as much less braking is done back there.

For a bike that could be used for adventure riding or even a bit of canal path commuting, it's great to see a full complement of mudguard and rack mounts front and rear. You can load the fork rack up to a maximum of 8kg too, according to the Decathlon website.

Finishing kit

Seeing the main parts of a Shimano 105 groupset for this money is no surprise, as Decathlon has always offered excellent levels of kit on its in-house bikes. You are getting the latest R7000 shifters and the front and rear mech.

Making up the rest of the kit is a non-series Shimano RS 510 crankset that doesn't look out of place as it mimics the shape of the brand's more expensive offerings, and its black finish matches that of the 105 group.

Microshift provides the 11-speed cassette.

Gearing-wise you are getting a 50/34 up front paired to an 11-32 cassette, which for this type of bike and the sort of riders likely to be buying it could be a bit on the high side. In many places, riding off-road sees shorter, sharper climbs where you also need to remain seated for decent traction at the rear wheel.

There is an RC 520 Gravel Ltd model coming out next month that will use a SRAM 1x11 groupset with a 44t chainring paired to an 11-42 cassette for the same money. It'll also get 650B wheels and 42mm wide tyres.

Back to this test model, and the shifting here worked fine with the mix of kit, even when under load. It isn't quite as slick as a full 105 groupset but you'd struggle to notice unless you were riding them side by side.

I mentioned that the brakes are TRP Hy/Rd; these are cable-operated at the lever as far as the calliper, where the hydraulics take over. If you are ever thinking of building your own bike and the cost of hydraulic brake levers is prohibitive, then these are a good way to go, providing braking performance sitting somewhere in between a standard cable system and full hydraulic.

Power-wise they are pretty decent and have a fair amount of modulation too, although having the reservoir at the calliper means they are quite bulky.

Triban has gone for 160mm diameter rotors front and rear, which is a good size for this style of bike.

The handlebar and stem are own-brand stuff and it all does the business without any fuss. Most gravel and adventure bikes are built using flared handlebars, where the bottom of the drops is wider than the hoods to increase stability at speed on rough terrain with a wider stance. The Triban's has a flare of 16 degrees which is pretty standard and works well for the majority of situations.

Both the bar and stem are plenty stiff enough and are sized in relation to the size of the bike. This medium gets a 44cm bar and 100mm stem.

I am also a fan of the Triban Ergofit saddle. Its plentiful padding isn't overly squishy for a soft ride, but it takes out enough vibration from the surface.

Wheels and tyres

Triban supplies the wheels, with tubeless-ready alloy rims and disc hubs. They are 24mm deep and are laced up with 28 spokes front and rear in a two-cross pattern.

They're a bit weighty at 2kg stripped, but they seem to be pretty tough and I had no issues with them throughout testing. They arrived true and remained so even after plenty of abuse on the gravel trails.

They do only have an internal rim width of 17mm, which is quite narrow, so the 35mm tyres don't sit with quite as good a profile as on some other gravel wheels we see that are 6-7mm wider.

The RC 520 Gravel gets a pair of Hutchinson Overide tyres in a 35mm width, which saves you about 120g over the tyres that come as standard on the RC 520 Road, which makes cruising along on the road a pleasurable experience.

They are pretty slick for a gravel tyre, though, and only really work on hardpacked gravel and dry trails, but they are robust and didn't submit to the puncture fairy.

Decathlon supplied us with an extra set of wheels with knobbly tyres on and they made a real difference to gravel riding, although obviously that restricted road use fun.

The Triban will work well with something like the Panaracer GravelKing SK tyre if you are switching between surfaces throughout the ride.

> Buyer's Guide: 18 of the best gravel & adventure tyres

For gravel use, I find a lightly treaded tyre of around 40-42mm works best for most conditions, so it's a shame that the Triban is restricted to just 36mm. Reading the small print at the bottom of the website, it look as though this is more down to bigger tyres causing toe overlap at the front wheel (when you turn the front wheel at slow speeds while pedalling and the front of your shoe stops the wheel from turning). If you know what you are doing then it isn't an issue, and you should be able to squeeze a 40mm tyre into the front and rear of the bike.

Value

As it stands, the RC 520 Gravel is very decent value.

Competitors like the Saracen Levarg SL will set you back £1,350 for an alloy frame, SRAM Apex 1x groupset and 650B wheels sporting WTB tyres. That is pretty much the same build the 520 Gravel Ltd is going to get, but for £500 more. It's nearly half a kilo heavier too.

The Boardman ADV 8.8 has risen in price to £800 and it is a very good bike indeed. For that money, though, you are only getting a 9-speed Shimano Sora groupset, although it does come with some excellent Schwalbe G-One tyres. I'd say it comes down to how much you want those extra two sprockets as they are very similar bikes.

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

The one competitor the Triban Gravel does come up against is its own sibling, the equivalent road model. As I said earlier, at first glance it's pretty much the same bike but with the Gravel getting a flared bar and upgraded tyres, but when you also take into account the more complex paint job and other details it explains the £120 difference.

Conclusion

Overall, the Triban is a very good bike. It offers most of what you'd want from an entry-level gravel/adventure bike, all for a very good price, plus its weight is similar to bikes we are seeing at £500-£600 more. It's only 900g heavier than the £4,500 Pinarello Grevil I'm currently testing.

If you want one bike to do a little bit of everything – touring, gravel, commuting, adventure, rides with the family – then it is definitely worth considering.

A point of note is that the scoring in the report below is how I perceived the bike to perform on the gravel tracks; if you are interested from a road perspective, take a look at the RC 520 Road review mentioned at the start of this review.

Verdict

A great entry-level gravel/adventure bike that is fun and easy to ride off road