The ASR 8.8 has a chromoly steel frame and a full-carbon fork with a tapered steerer. The straight, over-size head tube (44mm internal) accommodates that via an external lower bearing, a neater solution for a skinny-tubed steel bike than tapering the head tube. Fitting the Randonneur to carbon seatposts is fine, according to Arkel, and I can't see much reason why you shouldn't. You wouldn't want to fit it if you have carbon saddle rails; yes, the seatpost clamps them too, but it does so over a larger area and in a place where the rails are designed to cope with the load. My first outing on the ASR 8.8 was a 50-mile hilly club ride with companions on expensive carbon road bikes and a moving average of 18.5mph. The ASR was fine. It might have lost a marginal amount of speed on long climbs; given the price, disc brakes and steel frame, it’s relatively light, but not in absolute terms. I’d nevertheless be happy to do all-day rides on it. Finance is subject to application, financial circumstances and borrowing history. Performance Cycling Limited FRN: 720557 trading as Tredz are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We are a credit broker not a lender – credit is subject to status and affordability and is provided by Mitsubishi HC Capital UK PLC. Terms & Conditions Apply.

The top tube is also quite long, perhaps 15mm longer than usual for this size. It doesn’t stretch the reach to the handlebar, however, as the ASR 8.8 is designed for, and comes with, a commensurately shorter stem.At 160mm long on this medium, the head tube is tall for a road bike. I had no difficulty in setting the handlebar at a comfortable height, and still had spacers to spare. Disc brakes are everywhere in the road bike world now, even appearing in the Grand Tours. Sometimes rim brakes are a better solution, but for a bike like this one, discs make sense. The acronym ASR stands for ‘all-season road’. Hence mudguards, for which there’s proper clearance, and discs, for reliable wet-weather braking that won’t wear out the rims or turn them filthy with pad residue. Gearing is 2×9 Shimano Sora, with a compact double chainset driving an 11-32 cassette. Although it’s an industry standard, I’m not a fan of the 50-34 chainset. For most of my riding, I wanted a chainring sized somewhere in the middle, for example 42. The sub-30in bottom gear was nice for spinning up hills but I never used the 122in top gear.

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