Pinnacle Lithium women's hybrid gravel bike

The build

My partner had been window shopping for small ‘gravel’ type bikes for some time. She’d settled on the Surly Bridge Club as an affordable mixed surface workhorse and bikepacking rig but, even before the Covid-19 demand spike, couldn’t find anyone with stock, or even knowledge of when one might exit the US factory. In January 2020, I noticed that Evans Cycles produce an interesting Pinnacle own-brand ‘hybrid’ frame, the Lithium, with decidedly Bridge Club/Salsa Fargo-esque geometry (particularly in the small size Chanté needed).

Evans describe it as “part rigid 29er mountain bike and part touring or city bike”. It has a steel fork and room for 2.2″ knobblies. A fairly low-spec budget stock build got a great review and when we spotted a 2018 colourway frame in the clearance section for £85 it seemed a no-brainer. Chanté found mint secondhand Jones loop bars online and went for SRAM’s Eagle GX groupset, with its massive 500% dinner plate at the back. She treated herself to some lush Hunt 650b gravel wheels, shipped with WTB high-volume tubeless tyres pre-fitted. Rather than playing the saddle lottery, we looked for something known to suit her backside over long miles, which luckily was the the cheap stock saddle on her Scott road bike, the kind that most of us swap as the first act of owning a bike. She scored one with a matching purple highlight for £15. The total spend was around £1,300, resulting in a supremely lightweight, high-spec gravel muncher.

Full specifications

Frame: Pinnacle Lithium 5 women’s aluminium alloy hybrid, small with steel fork and steerer
Groupset: SRAM Eagle GX 12 speed: 32t chainring, 10-50t cassette
Bottom bracket: SRAM DUB threaded
Brakes: Shimano SLX hydraulic disc with SM-RT70 160mm centre lock rotors
Wheels: Hunt Adventure Sport Disc 650b tubeless ready; 4 Season SRAM XD freehub QR
Tyres: WTB Byway 650×47 tubeless
Bars: Jones H-bar aluminium
Seatpost: Easton EA50 27.2mm
Stem: Ritchie Comp 84D 80mm
Saddle: Synchros (Scott) women’s road
Pedals: Shimano M520 SPD
Grips: Ergon GA3