Price: £649
Frame: section stays, Disc mounts, hose guides and Crud Catcher bosses.
Fork: Rock Shox Judy XC.
Stop: Shimano V-brakes with Avid SD5 levers.
Go: 27spd Deore groupset with Truvative Firex chainset
Wheels: Rigida Aries rims laced to unbranded six-bolt disc hubs, Continental Explorer/Traction Pro Tyres.
Trim: Kore Lite stem, SDG saddle, ‘Ardaznailz’ Paint
Total weight: 26.3lb complete.
From: Dawes 0121 7652030

Thrash round the local test trails. Recently rained on so plenty of twitchy technical sections, plus plenty of steps, dives and technical verts both up and down. We’ve also dragged the bike out for long days in the Peak District.

The Edge comp’s frame provides a solid base to the package. Though it’s a fairly generic Taiwanese production, it isn’t just an off-the-peg alloy frame. Disc mounts that sit on nicely cast drop-outs, hose guides that double up to take the fully sealed V-brake cable as stock and even Crud catcher bosses on the underside of the down tube specifically for a UK bike show it’s been well thought out.
Despite the safely neutral geometry elsewhere, the short S-bent box-section stays make for good acceleration and climbing too. the only downside (in common with many riser bar bikes) is that the front wheel can wander if not weighted down sufficiently under power.

RockShox’s Judy model has been around for ages, in terms of suspension forks at least, and has played big brother to the likes of Quadras, Indys and Jetts as well as seeing other manufacturers model lines come and go as it has been refined over the years. This makes it a good spec on a bike at this price level and though it will come in below the ‘Duke’ as the budget model next year it is still a good performer with a smooth stroke and supple action. The Judy XC also gets proper adjustable damping which clearly marks it out from lower end forks where damping can be friction based or just forgotten about altogether.

The same thoughtful approach is applied to the spec list with the Edge Comp getting a host of branded components to round off an attractive package. The Kore stem does a fine job of holding the 25″ wide risers, which carry the Deore shifters and Avid levers finished off with WTB grips and the whole thing runs on Conti rubber, all good kit that people can recognise. Inevitably there are adjustments to the rest of the spec. that allow parts like these and the SDG saddle to be included.

At first glance this isn’t apparent but looking closer there have been a few cost saving decisions made elsewhere. For example on a bike like this you would probably hope for Deore V-Brakes, the seat post is anonymous and it wouldn’t be long before the cheap platform pedals die. The difference with this package is that all the ‘downgrades’ are made in less significant areas. The brakes you might argue are quite significant and youd be right, but the Shimano units are still snappy stoppers despite not being Deore like the rest of the group. It’s only when you consider the disc hubs, the disc mounts and the hose guides that a cheaper set of brakes as stock makes sense. Dawes have anticipated that the end user will eventually want discs and twists the Edge Comp buyer’s arm with a package that’s worthy of them and original equipment brakes that won’t be missed too much. As for pedals, well they’re a personal thing and its best to choose those yourself as at this price they would be a compromise anyway. The one area of the Dawes we were less impressed with though were the wheels. It wasn’t the unbranded disc hubs, we like those, it was a mixture of the Rigida rims and poor spoke tension that gave the Dawes bendy wheels. The rest of the package is all good value, Deore running equipment driven by the sleek arms of the competent (if slightly flexy too when really powering along) Truvative Firex Chainset.

From what we had seen in the parts list, we knew most of what to expect in terms of performance of the Edge. The geometry didn’t surprise, but it didn’t disappoint either. The rectangular stays always made for a quick getaway if you had the legs for it, and the Edge was equally happy to fly along in the big ring, thirsty for more. Technically the Edge falls down a bit, leaving its strengths in high average speed / longer distance runs than in blasts round the woods attempting to avoid the trees. This was mainly down to the wheel build as even on the preliminary make-sure-nothing-drops-off ride around the block the rims would tap against the brake pads if we hit the low rise curbs anything less than straight on.
What followed was not a happy bunny in the local technical trails, the Dawes was always noticeably nervous in tight and technical situations, making it more of a high hills roller, especially with the longish stem, high bar configuration up front. While this was fine on open terrain and remedied in part with a bit of nipple tweaking action, it didn’t suit the rooty off-camber stuff that the Dawes met on its first brush with the trails and tantrums weren’t far away. With the wheels tightened there was much improvement though we were still happier pedalling greater distances over hill and dale where the bike shone. With a flat bar on – which would probably suit the stem for better handling – there is quite a racy bike under there too and it would not look out of place in any fun or sport field for those who fancy a day’s racing. The only other slight niggle was the body of the mech would bounce against the bead of weld on the drop out, tapping quite loudly over bumps. We were able to limit this to the highest gear by adjusting the stops but it was still annoying and required some cushioning.

When bikes arrive for test as well specced for the price as the Dawes, it becomes increasingly more difficult to justify more expensive bikes and you start to question whether something like this is all you really need. After all, thinking about it, you could buy a 3 grand bike which will no doubt perform well, be light and probably (though not necessarily) last longer, then spend a lot cash maintaining it. Conversely you could buy a bike like this new every 6-9 months and ride it ’til the arse falls out of it’ and it could work out cheaper. A lot of people do this with cars in much the same way (“Bangernomics” is the daft term the motoring press came up with) and its certainly something to think about.All that aside thought, the Edge comp is astonishing value, which is probably why we were so hard on its wheel package, because they detract from what could be a true five star ride. In all the Dawes is suited to someone with a budget, possibly buying their first (or second) serious bike for longer distance day rides and with a view to purchase discs (maybe when the V-brake pads wear out) and that can account for quite a number of riders. The Edge Comp is certainly worth considering if that sounds like you, just be sure to have your dealer run a spoke key through the wheels. Hopefully it was just our sample and a one-off but its one of those things you’d like your dealer to do anyway when preparing a bike for sale.

For more details on this and the rest of the range head for the Dawes Website or ring 0121 7652000