Greetings folks, it's been so long since I last posted here, more than a year ago now where I last spoke of getting my 2B license. I had a short love affair with motorcycles, but after a few scares, some of my own and others from watching motorcycle accident videos, I sold off my motorcycles four months into the hobby, deciding I was happier off living my life without such risks.
Y'know I can't just sit still, trying new things out and getting into new hobbies is in my blood. So late into 2021 (November), shortly after selling off my Honda CBF150, I started reading up on bicycles. Alas, another expensive hobby, and after seven and a half months and thousands spent on this hobby later, I'd like to share with you my thoughts on the Triban RC 520 road bike that is sold by Decathlon.
First off, as we always do at The Watch Post, the specs:
- 6061-T6 aluminium frame, 1,830g in size M, with mounting points for mudguards, racks
- Aluminium fork with carbon blades, tire clearance up to 36mm
- Shimano 105 shifters, front and rear derailleurs, RS510 50/34 crankset, KMC X series chain
- Microshift 11 speed 11-32 cassette
- TRP HY/RD post mounted cable actuated hydraulic brakes w/ Jagwire compressionless brake housing
- In-house Triban handlebars, seatpost, saddle
- In-house Triban 700c aluminium wheelset (tubeless ready) weighing 2kg total, 28 spokes front/rear, quick release
- 10.6kg total weight in size M
- Lifetime warranty on frame, handlebar, stem
- Two years warranty on fork and peripheral components
All of the above costed me a grand total of 970 SGD (~713 USD), which is an incredible price considering a full 105 groupset (with rim brakes) costs around 657 SGD (~472 USD) alone on BIKE24 which is one of the cheaper online retailers. So for an additional 313 SGD, Decathlon manages to throw in a frame with fork and carbon blades, hybrid disc braking, a wheelset, tires and just about everything else that makes up a bicycle. Of course, Decathlon isn't paying 657 SGD for a Shimano 105 groupset, they probably get it for a much lower price due to their massive economy of scale and relationship with bicycle component suppliers, but it is still impressive as hell the value for money you get with the Triban RC 520.
The tradeoff for this insane price to value ratio is the scarcity and difficulty of attaining this bike. This bike is hardly ever in stock, at least in Singapore. I was extremely lucky when I first read about it online back in Nov '21, and messaged Decathlon Singapore on Facebook. It just so happened they had a small batch, I rushed down to Joo Koon on the very same night I messaged them, and that is the story of how I didn't have to wait a single day to get my hands on an RC 520. I've seen people on the Decathlon Facebook page who have had to wait for months, even up to half a year in order to get their hands on one.
The entire supply situation is further exacerbated by Covid-19. No reminders are needed in remembering the lockdowns that happened when Covid-19 first broke out en masse, and global travel pretty much screeched to a halt. My own mental health took a beating in 2020 and 2021, but I digress. People were raring for things to do domestically since travel was pretty much out of question in the last two years, and bicycling was one of these things. The sudden demand for bicycles and components led to shortages and price increases globally.
The selling price of the Triban RC 520 also increased from 970 SGD to 1,100 SGD, starting back in Jan '22. At 1,100 SGD, the Triban RC 520 is still a good deal frankly, a far better value than anything than you will get from Specialized, Trek or any of the high-end brands. You'd probably only get a Shimano Claris with a budget of 1,100 SGD at Specialized. That said, the Triban RC 520 was a steal at 970 SGD. At 1,100 SGD, it's become just a good value. People are still snapping up the Triban RC 520 at 1,100 SGD though, so I let the results speak for themselves.
With that out of the way, let's get into the bike itself, how does it do besides sounding impressive on the spec sheet? This review is going to be way too long if I go by paragraphs of description, so I'll list my likes, dislikes, and overall impressions to wrap up:
Likes
Groupset - The modern 105 groupset performs really nicely, with excellent shifting performance even when my drivetrain was absolutely filthy. It performed without a hitch even after I had a stationary fall on the drivetrain side, with gears changing into place precisely. Decathlon has selected the crankset of 50/34 and 11/32 for the cassette very thoughtfully, as this caters well to beginner road riders and allows for easier climbing of steep gradients. The medium cage rear derailleur means you can go even bigger than 11/32 (11/34 or maybe even 11/36) gives plenty of options. I never experienced an issue with the cassette being a Microshift instead of being a Shimano, I think the only penalty here is the weight.
Wheelset - The wheels fall into both likes and dislikes, so I'm going to start with what I like about the stock wheels. The sealed cartridge bearings on these wheels perform really nicely, and the front wheel can roll for minutes if you give the front wheel a spin while suspended. They are also are little overbuilt, with 28 spokes front and rear, but at least you know they're bombproof like that. You could easily take these wheels for a gravel adventure and abuse them, they're built solid.
Mounting points - There's a chock load of mounting points on this bike, allowing you to fit a rear rack, mudguards and a front rack if you so wish. I have myself fitted 45mm SKS Bluemels mudguards onto my Triban RC 520 and I really enjoy having no skid marks on my shirt and dry feet when riding on wet roads. Mudguards are pretty much a must for me on any bike after having installed them onto the Triban RC 520.
For touring and bikepacking, the mounting points make the Triban RC 520 a great option, which coupled with it's relaxed geometry makes for a really ideal bikepacking bike.
Tire clearance - There is room to fit up to 36mm officially, but there are people on the Interwebs who have even fit up to 40mm x 700c tires. You could potentially go even bigger if you changed to 650b wheels. Again, the versatility of the RC 520 shines here; you could convert this to a gravel bike if you wished. This makes the RC 520 an excellent bike for touring and bikepacking, just pop on some 36es if you're expecting more offroad, and when you're back from your trip go back to 28 slicks and it's back to being a road bike.
Saddle - It's said that saddles are very personal, you could buy the 600 USD Specialized Power Mirror saddle which in my opinion is a ridiculously overpriced piece of kit and still feel uncomfortable on your bicycle. On the other hand, the stock Decathlon saddle which comes with the bike (and costs just 15 SGD when bought separately) fits me great and I've done rides that are eight hours long on it.
Comfort - Overall, this is a bike with quite a relaxed geometry. The rider is in quite an upright position as compared to a race bike and it comes stock with five stem spacers. This is definitely an endurance bike and it shows in it's geometry, but it also makes for a comfortable ride which doesn't force you to bend down low while riding. I believe you could make it quite a bit more aggressive by removing all the stem spacers and increasing the saddle, along with shorter cranks, but I'm more of an endurance rider and am very comfortable and happy with the stock position it comes in.
Brakes - Love the TRP HY/RD's on the RC 520. Admittedly, I've only had rim brakes to compare it against, but damn I love the braking power of hydraulics. While these aren't true hydraulics, I've read online that the HY/RD's come pretty close when it is setup properly, while also having the disadvantages of both systems. Compared with other bicycles that I've used before though, the HY/RD's have lovely linear modulation and also a sufficiently strong bite without requiring me to jam down on the brake levers. I intend to change to fully metallic pads when the stock ones wear out, and perhaps a change in wheelset including some Ice-Tech rotors too to see if I can further improve the brake feel.
Smoothness - The bike rolls very nicely (and much nicer once you swap out for better tires), incredibly smoothly, which is a combination of all the parts like the drivetrain, wheelset and the sealed bearings, tires, and frame working together. Decathlon has put together a really nice road bike here and the feel of the road when you're rolling at 30km/h on tarmac is just great, a nice combination of feeling the buzz from the road but not overwhelming. They've nailed it with the rigidity of the frame, it falls in the sweet spot for me.
Value for money - Again, the incredible value you get, 970 SGD for a Shimano 105 (mostly) drivetrain, and all the things I like about the bike mentioned above, is truly the king of value in this price range. There is no other offering out there (short of a well maintained secondhand bicycle) that can offer this kind of value. It competes with offerings from other companies that are double or triple it's price.
This bike is pretty much the most value for money you get in entry level road bikes, short of an awesome secondhand find (or a secondhand RC 520 in pristine condition, for that matter). Canyon, Ribble, Merida don't even come close (though they offer better specs), and the only thing that may come a considerably distant second is Boardman.
Dislikes
Weight - Well, it can't all be good right? Designing an entry level bike is always an exercise in managing compromises. Straight up, this is a heavy bike, and by road bike standards, really heavy. The frame comes in at 1.83kg in size M, which is a full 1kg heavier than full carbon race bike frames. This will negatively affect your climbing experience although it can be negated by being fitter and to a lesser extent, performing component upgrades. On the flats, weight is usually less of an issue, but it does affect acceleration which brings us to the next point.
Somewhat sluggish, not the most responsive - It's not the ultra responsive, fast accelerating carbon race bike that weighs in exactly at the UCI mandated 6.8kg, in fact, after adding mounts, bottle cages and proper pedals, it's likely to weigh in closer to upwards of 12kg. This is evident when you handle the bike, it's requires more time to get into turns and also gets up to speed much slower than a "super bike". Even if it were 6.8kg, it would not be as responsive because the geometry of this bike is more upright and the rider is naturally in a less aero position. I considered before adding this point in the dislikes section, because I understand that after all it was meant as a endurance road bike and not a race bike. However I still do think that some weight could be shed from the stock wheels at least so that they could spin up more quickly, and to also have an easier time when climbing.
Alignment of disc brakes and quick release - This is my biggest dislike with the RC 520, disc brakes and quick release are simply a terrible combination. With quick release, you can never quite put the wheels in the exact same position whenever you mount them onto the bike. You'd have to remember how many turns you did if you wanted to, and who would remember such a thing when you remove the wheels only occasionally? With disc brakes, this is a problem because the tolerances are tight. The result is that you rather frequently get disc rub which is terribly annoying. At best, you have an irritating sound every revolution, and it eats away at your power just ever so slightly. At worst, the rub is full on dragging, and you're losing immense power due to a constant braking effect. It feels like you're riding uphill wherever you go.
The irritating part is the frequency of needing to adjust for disc rub, and how difficult it can sometimes be when the simple method of grabbing the brakes and then tightening the calipers don't work. By far, this is my biggest gripe of the RC 520 and I wish they charged 60 bucks more and went with thru axles.
Inconsistent build quality - Story time, I actually owned two RC 520s before. I bought the first one, crashed it, and didn't want to bother with the replacement of handlebars and saddle to make it look new again, so I bought another one secondhand, in a different size. An issue with the first one was that I couldn't fit my front mudguard onto it, because the front hole for the screw wasn't threaded all the way through. I have no experience with tapping nor do I have a screw tap, so I simply didn't bother to mount the front mudguard which always felt like a waste since the front half was just sitting there. The second frame however, very thankfully was properly threaded and I could fit my front mudguard on. I love the look of the RC 520 with long mudguards in place, it looks like it's ready to take on the wettest roads.
Wheelset - So the positives of this wheelset has been covered above, but here come the negatives. First, it is a very weighty set of wheels, coming in at 2kg for the pair. This probably contributes a large part of the sluggish acceleration on this bike, and although it does contribute to maintaining speed better, for my use case where I have to constantly stop and then roll, I'd prefer something with a lighter weight and therefore snappier acceleration. Second, these tires, which are tubeless ready (again, incredible value for the price) means that the rims are somewhat bigger. It is a massive pain to fit on tires which are themselves known to be tight (e.g. Continental GP5000 clinchers). Until I got myself a bead jack tool, it was impossible to fit on the GP5000 myself, and I had to get local bike shops to do it for me at considerable cost. I'd rather they weren't tubeless ready if this is the price that needs to be paid, as I won't always have my bead jack tool on me when I'm riding outside. Having the ease of mind that you can fit on tires with your bare hands is always reassuring.
External cabling - my last con is but a little niggle; the wires are fully externally routed, not even partially internally routed which can be found in other bikes around this price range (~1,000 SGD). This is both a boon and a bane, the boon being that maintenance is far easier like that, but the bane is the look (and perhaps some aero disadvantage) and the cables getting in the way of larger lights mounted in the out front mount. Overall, this is just a small issue for me.
Overall
Decathlon has knocked it out of the park with this offering. I didn't want to spend too much to get into the sport when I first picked up road cycling, yet spend too little and you will find yourself quickly feeling deficiencies in your bike. Therefore, the smart choice is to go with the most value you can get for your money. In this regard, Decathlon is king, not just for bicycles, but for their sporting goods in general. Most of their items are excellent value and will cover you well into intermediate level of proficiency in a huge range of sports, and bicycles are no exception.
The Triban RC 520 represents one of the best (maybe even the best) value for an midrange road bike. After having ridden it for close to 2,000km, it performs superbly as a road bike, with excellent gear shifting, rolling, braking and otherwise performance in general. The choice of crank and cassette is excellent for beginner riders and the whole package is solid, with little holes to poke at.
The only major gripe I have with it are the use of quick release being paired with disc brakes, which gives a high chance of brake rub whenever the wheels are taken out and remounted, and the somewhat heavy wheelset which makes the bike feel a little sluggish. Wheelsets can be changed though, so that is somewhat ameleoriated.
Overall, this bike punches well above it's weight, competing with offerings that are twice or even thrice it's price. Decathlon has done a great job on the Triban RC 520 and I could not recommend it more to someone looking for a decent midrange road bike to get started on road cycling.
