Eddy Merckx Pévèle Carbon

A versatile design that shows the pros and cons of flexible build options

- Katherine Moore

Named after the Mons-en-Pévèle cobbled sector that features in Paris-Roubaix a race won by Eddy Merckx the man no fewer than three times - the Pévèle is a new allroad model from Eddy Merckx Bikes, and one of the bikes spearheading the brand's recent revamp.

Notably, the brand now provides unusual levels of choice: several of its models are offered in multiple materials (the Pévèle comes in carbon fibre, aluminium or steel). Further, as every bike is assembled to order, Eddy Merckx offers a range of groupset, wheel and finishing kit options that the rider can select from during the purchase process.

On a versatile design such as the Pévèle, it should in theory afford the customer flexibility to spec the bike exactly for the riding they want to do.

Part of the Belgian Cycling Factory that counts a number of brands under its umbrella, Eddy Merckx shares a product R&D team with Ridley, although this sister brand tends to focus on more race-oriented bike designs, according to product manager Bert Kenens.

'Ten years ago, with Ridley we were selling thousands of cyclocross bikes, but they were often used as a winter bike or a commuter bike,' says Kenens. More recently, Belgian Cycling Factory saw a lot of people buying gravel bikes and putting road tyres on them to make more suitable winter road bikes and commuters. The Pévèle was developed as an all-road bike to address this need, with frame geometry that's slightly different to a pure road bike but also slightly different to a pure gravel bike, as well as wider tyre clearance than a standard road bike.

Kenens is keen to emphasise that the Pévèle is not a hardcore gravel bike for pointing down mountain bike trails or rockier surfaces, but rather for light gravel riding on unpaved roads when it isn't on tarmac.

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