Pearson Cycles describes the All Mod Cons as an ‘all-road gravel bike’ and I successfully racked up numerous super-enjoyable testing miles on it, including 17-mile commutes, unsurfaced canal towpath jaunts and a ride along the top of Wiltshire's ancient Ridgeway.
The All Mod Cons has a well-finished, triple-butted aluminium frame and a carbon fork with tapered aluminium steerer.
The cabling is internally routed, and the two-tone grey and two-tone green design is well integrated and attractive.
My Shimano 105-equipped model came with an FSA 50/34 Gossamer compact chainset, 11-32 cassette and 36mm tyres, and there’s room for 46mm rubber for off-road rambles.
Its versatility is maximised by a full raft of mudguard and rack fittings, allowing you to use the All Mod Cons for old-school touring and its whippersnapper offspring, bikepacking.
You could go for lower gears for more challenging off-road conditions; combine an FSA 46/30 chainset with an 11-34 cassette and the bottom gear drops down to a wall-climbing 23in with a big enough top gear for 99 percent of rides.
The All Mod Cons is also available for £1,400 / $1,864 with Shimano 105 and TRP Spyre mechanical disc brakes, though I think Shimano’s absolutely impeccable hydraulic braking is worth the extra money.
Fulcrum’s Racing 7 DB wheels aren’t that light, but I’ve found them to be tough and durable all-rounders, and their 2-Way Fit Ready design will also let you convert to riding tubeless, though, oddly, Fulcrum allows only Schwalbe’s tyres.
The slightly upright ride position was perfect for my long commute and just as good on a muddy gravel towpath, where Clément’s excellent knobbly-with-lugged-shoulders X’Plor MSO tyres offered great grip and comfort.
They will lose you a little speed on tarmac, though. If you’re mainly riding on road you could go for skinnier 25mm tyres, which would give you an excellent year-round training or fast commuting setup.
Control is excellent, too, with little flex from the frame, and precision from the tapered steerer and front and rear thru-axles; the short stem on my model kept the handling sharp too.
It climbs comfortably and confidently if not super-swiftly in this chunky-tyred guise, but descends very decently indeed, especially on slightly sketchier surfaces.
One bonus of buying from an independent such as Pearson is the degree of customisation you get. The price includes a Pearson precision bike fit and Shimano clipless pedals, but even the standard service will measure you for different handlebar widths, crank lengths, gear ratios and the like, discussing your needs on a one-to-one basis and speccing accordingly.
You might think that a smaller-scale operation such as Pearson can’t compete on value, but this price compares reasonably with similarly equipped bikes, especially when you consider the service.
The All Mod Cons is great fun, well-considered and fantastically versatile, and it will cover a range of rides for a lot of different riders.
Pearson All Mod Cons geometry (S)
- Seat angle: 73.5 degrees
- Head angle: 73 degrees
- Chainstay: 41.5cm
- Seat tube: 51cm
- Top tube: 54.5cm
- Head tube: 14.5cm
- Wheelbase: 977mm
Product
| Brand | pearson |
| Price | 1600.00 GBP |
| Weight | 9.8600, KILOGRAM (S) - |
Features
| Fork | Carbon blades, tapered alloy steerer |
| br_stem | 4ZA alloy |
| br_frame | Triple-butted aluminium |
| Tyres | 36mm Clément X’Plor MSO |
| br_brakes | Shimano 105 hydraulic discs |
| br_cranks | FSA Gossamer 50/34 |
| br_saddle | Bontrager Montrose |
| br_wheels | Fulcrum Racing 7 disc |
| br_shifter | Shimano 105 |
| br_cassette | 11-32 |
| br_seatpost | 4ZA alloy |
| br_handlebar | 4ZA alloy |
| br_availableSizes | XS, S, M, L, XL |
| br_rearDerailleur | Shimano 105 |
