All-City Cycles Mr Pink review

All-City Cycles does things a little differently to your average bike brand, mixing classic styling and finishing with modern touches to the geometry and frame design. 

The Mr Pink continues this theme with a very well-appointed frame, complete with ring-reinforced head-tube (and beautifully polished head badge), sculpted, integrated seat collar and a stamped bottom-bracket shell.

• Top 5 ultralight road tech

All-City Cycles Mr Pink frame and kit

I like that the frame comes fitted with rear mudguard bosses, but the recent upgrade to the classy carbon Whisky fork, over the old steel unit, omits any mounts, so you save some weight over the steel fork, but arguably lose versatility. 

Overall, it’s a fabulous-looking frame, but designers could have chosen better cable bosses for the down tube rather than the generic black-painted ones. There’s no avoiding the fact they look cheap, which is at odds with just how well the rest of the frame is finished, with its clean and classy paint job.

The Columbus Zona-tubed frame is based on classic road-bike geometry with a 73-degree head angle paired with a seat tube that is relaxed by half a degree more. 

The rear brake cable is internally routed along the top tube but the gear cables are external, making it easier to work on gearing wise.

It uses mid-drop brakes and wider spacing for clearance up to 32mm tyres, or 28s if you want to make use of the mudguard mounts.

Like the rest of its range, the Mr Pink is treated to an electro-deposition coating inside and out. This is a high-quality rustproofing agent that protects the inside and adds durability to the paint too. It’s a great feature and should keep the bike corrosion free for many years to come.

All-City Cycles Mr Pink ride experience

The previous generation Mr Pink, with its slender, curved fork, had a much more relaxed ride than the latest version. 

The addition of the straight-legged and super-stiff carbon fork has really opened up the ride feel of this bike. It’s absolutely full of character, balancing a really chuckable feel, truly excelling through corners and impressive sprinting.

The well built Halo Evaura wheels are around 1,500g a pair and have a wider rim profile (19mm internal) that suits and shapes the 28mm Schwalbe Durano tyres perfectly to create pleasingly ride-smoothing rubber. 

The Dia-Compe BRS101 brakes aren’t the slickest looking and the action is a little soft, but thanks to the quality Aztec pads, the stopping power is as good as I’ve found at this price.

Elsewhere, solid finishing kit from All-City’s UK distributor ISON — owner of Genetic, Halo and The Light Blue — is all welcome, the STV saddle is a particularly nice place to be. 

If you want your metal kicks fast, firm, yet forgiving then the All-City is a very fine choice.