Pinnacle Neon review: an ordinary-looking commuter bike with some of the best spec I've seen for £500

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Pinnacle says the Neon is designed to be fast around town – a quick commuter that’s at home on city streets. It comes with a specification that’s among the best I’ve seen on a sub-£500 bike.

With a 2x 10 Shimano Cues drivetrain, the Neon is capable of much more than round-town riding. Add in good-quality, tough tyres, hydraulic disc brakes and a frame that’s fully fitted out for lots of luggage, and you have a potential flat-bar touring bike, too.

The 6061 aluminium frame is finished neatly, and with internal cable routing for the rear brake and gear cables, it’s kept tidy, too.

The textured silver paint finish and understated graphics give the Neon a quality look that belies its modest price tag of £499.

• Read more: Best commuter bike – What's the best bike for commuting?

Pinnacle Neon frameset

The 6061 aluminium frame frame features three sets of bottle bosses, a top-tube bag mount and triple ‘anything’ mounts on the fork.

This is alongside traditional mudguard eyelets and rear rack mounts. Both the frame and fork have old-school quick-release dropouts, rather than more modern thru-axles.

Pinnacle doesn’t publish geometry tables for the Neon. However, it doesn’t step too far from the norm. The 70-degree head angle gives it nicely swift steering.

The deeply sloping top tube and relatively short back end bring the Neon a sportier edge than a traditional hybrid bike.

Pinnacle Neon specification

For under £500, the Neon represents great value when you dig into the specification. The drivetrain, for instance, is full Shimano 2x 10 Cues, and this is matched with Tektro hydraulic disc brakes.

Compared to the Specialized Sirrus I tested it alongside – which costs £100 more – the Pinnacle arguably has the better drivetrain, since Specialized uses a lesser Prowheel crankset and the Sirrus runs the 9-speed version of Cues in a 1x setup.

The Cues gearing of a 46/30 crankset and wide 11-39 tooth cassette gives a broad range that's great for lots beyond city riding. If you live in a hilly town or city, you won’t be struggling for ample climbing-gear options.

The remaining build is all solid, if unremarkable stuff. The bike comes with tough, double-walled alloy rims on Joytech hubs, wrapped with Schwalbe Spicer 38mm tyres that are built tough with a puncture guard and reflective strip for a bit of side-on visibility.

The flat, 660mm alloy bar is narrower than the Cube and Specialized, which are both 680mm.

The textured Velo grips are matched to the Velo saddle, and the seatpost is a simple alloy unit with 15mm of offset.

Pinnacle Neon ride impressions

The Neon’s good-value spec is one thing, but the bike looks somewhat unremarkable – especially alongside the urban cool of the Cube and the rough-stuff ready stylings of the Specialized Sirrus X 2.0.

Looks aside, it’s a bike with an engaging ride, and with key components that do their job with the utmost reliability.

The ride position is the most road-focused of the three bikes I tested – the Cube’s a little more upright, while the Specialized is a little shorter and more agile/MTB-like in feel.

That makes the Neon feel suitably quick, even with the large-volume, tough tyres that don’t exactly light up when you accelerate.

Toughness and longevity are more important than speed on a bike such as this, though, and their grip in the wet has been impressive. I haven’t had any punctures, and the tyres have had suffered cuts or cracks in the months I’ve been riding the bike.

The drivetrain is great, with reliable shifts every time. Compared to Shimano’s premium groupsets, the shifting is a bit noisier, with more clunks between gears on the cassette. The gears haven’t missed a beat, though.

I even like the single push-pull lever for the front derailleur – a different unit from the usual two-lever right-hand shifter for the rear derailleur. The braking has impressed me, too; the long Tektro levers and big 180mm rotors combine to offer plenty of feel and lots of out-and-out power.

The handling is nimble and the steering feels swift. It’s an easy bike to navigate through traffic, although the steering is a bit faster than the Sirrus, bringing a little less stability. It’s not like it’s a nervy race bike, but it’s just not quite what I'd expected from such an ordinary-looking bike.

The mudguards, which were fitted free of charge by Evans Cycles, remained rattle-free and kept me dry.

It’s worth remembering that if your commuter bike doesn’t come equipped with mudguards, you’re probably going to need them, especially in the UK. A good bike shop should fit (for free) any accessories you buy when you purchase a bike and that's a good reason to opt to buy from a real bricks-and-mortar shop rather than a direct-to-consumer online store.

Pinnacle Neon bottom line

With what looks to be an average take on the city commuter bike, I fully expected to be happy, if unimpressed by the Neon.

What I found, though, is a bike with an excellent-value-for-money specification, with a frameset capable of much more than a daily commute.

The fact it comes in at under £500 is quite the achievement. If you’re looking for a competent, value-packed, daily commuter at a great price, look no further.

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