Pearson On and On

An aero carbon gravel machine from the oldest bike shop in town

£3,850| 8.98kg

London's SW14 postcode may not be the centre of the gravel-riding universe, but Pearsons have been around since 1860 and so know a thing or two about bikes. Their in-house knowledge, gleaned largely from decades of customer bike fitting, has seen them move away from selling big-brand bikes to selling their own. For the gravel bikes (adventure bikes is their preferred nomenclature) that's a five-bike range utilising four materials: carbon, titanium, aluminium and steel. The On and On is the carbon frame in the range and while it has the word 'aero' in its description, it isn't just built for the fledgling gravel racing scene.

Frame

Pearsons work with a carbon factory in China, and while the On and On is an open-mould frame (due to costs) it's their design input that has shaped every aspect of it. That design has led to what at first glance wouldn't look out of place lined up at a road race HQ on a Sunday morning. There's a truncated seat tube, aero seatpin, dropped seatstays, internal cabling and bolt-through axles. In fact some of the tube shapes are identical to Pearsons' road bikes. The differences mainly come in the geometry, with 3cm more in the wheelbase, and a slacker 71.5° head angle. This builds in the tyre clearance while shortening the top tube length for a less stretched out riding position.

While this bike could handle any gravel race, it also has mounts on the fork, top tube and seat stays as well upper and lower bottle-cage mounts to create more space inside the main triangle for baggage. You can pack this frame out with bags and head off for the weekend as easily as you could ride out for a quick hour's blast. I'm happy to confirm it does both jobs well.