A sublime steel all-rounder: Pashley Roadfinder X review

My first ‘proper’ bike as a child was a steel Raleigh, and my first bike when I returned to cycling in my 20s was a 1980s steel Bianchi. I still own one of those bikes, and every few years I feel an urge to get back to metal. Much as I appreciate carbon bikes, something about the classic lines and unique feel of a steel frame speaks to me and I keep coming back for more.

So, when Pashley launched their new Roadfinder X last year, it felt inevitable our paths would cross. A Reynolds 853 steel frame paired with Columbus carbon fork, clearance for 45mm tyres and an all-road/gravel friendly geometry, the Roadfinder is a dream proposition – at least, it is for a niche but sizeable subset of cyclists willing to look beyond the carbon-copy options that dominate the space today.

Pashley, who celebrate their 100th anniversary this year, are probably better known in the UK for their Royal Mail cargo bikes and classic models like the Guv’nor – a revival of the 1930s path racer model. But there’s nothing old fashioned about the Roadfinder X. The frame may be Reynolds steel, with all the heritage that implies, but it’s a thoroughly modern tubeset: over-sized for stiffness in the downtube and top tube, slender and compliant in the seat stays and chainstays. And, while each frame is still handcrafted at Pashley’s workshop in Stratford-on-Avon, they’ve kept up to date with technology. Cutting-edge 3D printed stainless steel lugs are used at the seatpost cluster and dropouts, while a chunky T47 threaded bottom bracket provides a solid platform for efficient transfer of power through the drivetrain. And if you have concerns about the longevity of steel – we do live in a damp and salty coastal climate – Pashley take the trouble to prepare each frame with an anti-corrosion ‘e-coating’ before painting, designed to protect the frame from oxidisation.

Better still, the Roadfinder is available with a level of customisation far beyond that on offer from mainstream brands. Because each frame is built to order, you can decide on details like whether or not to include mudguard and rack mounts, a cable mount and routing for a front derailleur, and even custom colours.

I liked what I saw, and an order was placed.

As you like it

After a long and impatient wait, in mid July the order status updated: my frame was on the way. I blew the dust off the boxed components I’d laid aside, and set about the build.

Unboxing the frameset was all the sweeter for the wait. The paint gleamed, the silver Pashley head badge shone in the sun, and the quality of finish in the welds and paintwork was all you could hope for. The joins between the tubes are seamless. At the seatpost cluster, a 3D-printed stainless steel lug allows the top tube to flow in elegant curves into the seat stays. It’s a beautiful piece of work.

While the frame is steel and made in-house by Pashley, the fork supplied with the Roadfinder is a full carbon Columbus Futura Cross+. It’s a perfect match for the Roadfinder, with internal cable routing both for the front brake hose and also for a cable if you’re running a dynamo hub. There’s a crown mount for a light, mudguard mounts near the axle, and three eyelets on each leg should you wish to fit bottle cages, luggage racks. And the Futura+ has one more trick up its sleeve: a flip chip in the dropouts lets you adjust the wheel offset between 47mm or 52mm – shorter for a more racy, responsive feel (or if running 27.5″ wheels), or a little longer for a more stable feel or if running large tyres on 700c wheels.

Tyre clearance is 700x47mm or 27.5″x2.1″, and the fork has a claimed weight of around 535g. It’s exactly the fork I would choose if building up a road/gravel bike from scratch. And of course, it comes painted to match your frame in whatever colour you choose.

The Roadfinder frameset is priced £1795. Along with the frame and fork you get a headset, T47 bottom bracket, thru axles, 3D printed front derailleur mech, derailleur hanger and bolts for all threaded mounts.

If you don’t want to build up your own, Pashley offer a selection of builds including Shimano GRX (£2795), SRAM Rival AXS (£4295) or Campagnolo Ekar (£5495).

Time to get greasy: the build

Having waited several months for the frame to arrive, I was keen to get it built up in time for the summer. There was just one problem: try as I might, no amount of force or grease would allow me to thread the bottom bracket cups into the BB shell.

Guessing that the bottom bracket shell perhaps needed to be chased and faced, I rang around a half dozen bike shops; not one of them had a T47 chasing tool. I’m usually happy to add to my toolbox, but the T47 chasing tool is an expensive purchase for something you’ll use once in a blue moon.

After a quick message to Pashley I found myself on a video call face-to-face with CEO Andy Smallwood. The chat shed a little light on the original delay: Pashley had apparently been discovering continual small refinements to the frameset, in particular to the 3D-printed elements that join the tubing. These iterative improvements set back production – but were considered worth it as they resulted in an even better frame than Pashley had originally envisaged.

As for the bottom bracket issue, I’d received one of the very first Roadfinder frames, and while it had been correctly faced and chased, this had been done before painting meaning a final pre-build prep was required. Normally this would be done in-house by Pashley, or by the retailer before delivery to customer, and I’m told this will be the case going forwards.

Pashley promptly arranged for the frame to be returned to their workshop to be finished. It was soon back in my hands, and they had even fitted the bottom bracket for me. (I’m told it went straight in without any further prep; read into that what you will!)

From there the rest of the build was a breeze. I went with the tried and trusted Campagnolo Ekar 1×13 – easily the best value groupset on the market today in my opinion – and was soon set up and ready to ride.

Apart from the groupset and a set of Easton EC70 AX carbon bars, I opted for a polished alloy finishing kit. The stem, originally anodized black KCNC, was stripped in a basin of oven cleaner. The seatpost is a titanium one, well scratched from previous adventures but I managed to buff out the worst of the gouges.

For wheels, I originally went with Campagnolo Shamal fitted with Ultradynamico Rosé tyres. The saddle is by Artax – an extremely comfortable one, and lightweight despite the classic tan leather looks. 

For the bar tape, I wanted to run with cotton in keeping with the slightly retro look; I couldn’t find the exact shade I wanted, and eventually improvised with some woven cotton ribbon. Before wrapping the bars, I unrolled the ribbon and stuck a strip of 2.5mm adhesive neoprene along the full length of it to add a bit of extra padding. 

I’m still not 100% on the colour, but it’s grippy and the neoprene does a great job of providing some cushioning for the hands. As for the bar ends, these are hand-crafted (ahem) from locally sourced wine corks. They have a tendency to pop out every so often and I’ve lost one or two, but it’s a good excuse to open a bottle.

A refined ride

Whatever cycling alchemy Pashley have been working at over the past 100 years, they have perfected it. I have tried, on a few rides, to pinpoint the unique quality of this bike: it seems to glide where a carbon bike would judder; it rolls like a dream.

Right from the get-go the bike felt exceptionally well balanced and poised. Our road surfaces here are in dire condition, but the Roadfinder irons out smaller potholes and broken tarmac in a genuinely surprising way. I know people talk about the unique ride quality of steel, and I’ve sometimes been inclined to raise an eyebrow, but having ridden the Roadfinder there is no doubt about it.

I started out on the gravel tyres, and initially attributed the bike’s plush feel to the supple casings on Ultradynamico’s admittedly very nice rubber. But even when I swapped over to a different wheelset, fitted with Vittoria 32mm road tyres, the ride quality persisted. Pashley use the word luxurious, and I can’t think of a better description for the sensation this bike conveys. The Roadfinder X is a bike with a truly distinctive character, and the rapport was immediate.

The geometry plays a part in the bike’s feel and handling, and again I think Pashley have struck just the right balance between road efficiency and off-road capability. My size small has 380mm reach and 579 stack; very similar, in fact, to the Fairlight Strael 4.0 in 54T (378mm and 580mm) which seems to be a popular benchmark among steel frames. Running a 5mm spacer under the 110mm stem, my Roadfinder gives a position that is just right for longer endurance or touring rides: efficient, but not so low and aggressive as to induce cramps or strain over all-day efforts.

The Roadfinder has a slightly slacker head tube (72 degrees vs 72.25) but where it mainly differs from the Strael is in the chainstay length: 435mm vs a snappier 419mm on the Strael, reflecting the more road-oriented intent of the latter. The Roadfinder’s longer wheelbase (1020mm vs 1001mm) no doubt contributes to its road manners and stability, and also allows for up to 45mm tyres whereas the Strael is limited to 39mm; Fairlight’s gravel-oriented Secan is perhaps a closer match here. Pashley’s stated tyre clearances are conservative, allowing for 4mm clearance all around; in practice I think you could run a 50mm slick on the Roadfinder.

A note on the weight: yes the Roadfinder is heavier than a carbon bike. Although maybe not as much heavier as you’d think. Set up in road mode, my build – a size small, 54cm – weighs in at 8.76kg (with bottle cages; without pedals). There are plenty of high-end carbon gravel bikes that would be happy with that.

In gravel mode, now running deep-section Campagnolo Bora X wheels with 45mm Continental Terra Speed tyres, complete with pedals, bottle cages, computer mount, and a Restrap top tube bag, my Roadfinder X comes in at 9.7kg. But, more important than the number on the scales, is how the bike feels: and the Roadfinder feels poised and agile. It’s a really well balanced bike that invites you to push on and ride further.

Towards the end of last summer, in late September, I found a free day to tackle a ride I’d wanted to do for years – a coast to coast across Ireland, from County Down to Donegal and back. The Roadfinder seemed the ideal tool for the job, and so I saddled up at 6am one Sunday and struck out west. 

My feet didn’t touch the ground from the doorstep at home until I pulled up on the shores of the Atlantic in Rossnowlagh six hours later. I turned on the sand, and headed for home again. We covered 357km in 13 hours and it’s a testament to the Roadfinder’s temperament that I arrived home begrimed and sweaty, yet feeling about as fresh as it’s possible to be after a full day in the saddle. Tired, but fresh – and if that sounds like a contradiction, put it down to the witchcraft of Pashley’s furnaces. 

Road or Gravel?

The Roadfinder X is, by design, a versatile platform that will lend itself willingly to road or gravel adventures. I’ve used it extensively across all kinds of surfaces and it’s a joy throughout but, for me, it leans slightly towards the road/light gravel side of the spectrum. It’s such a silky-smooth cruiser on the road – even broken road, but just a fraction of that composed quality is lost when you’re bouncing it down a loose gravel singletrack listening to stones pinging off the downtube.

That said, there is scope to fit up to 48mm 700c tyres in the frame – I even experimented with 2.1″ tyres in 650b wheels and they just about fitted. This opens the path to some pretty rough terrain if you’ve the taste for it.

In fact, I seriously considered taking the Roadfinder to ride the Italy Divide earlier this year. While in hindsight it was the right decision not to – the terrain is definitely MTB worthy at the northern end – I’d have no hesitation taking it on slightly tamer gravel events like the Tuscany Trail.

It would also make an ideal audax bike – a theory I put to the test earlier this year on the Tyrone Ranger. This is a 300km audax organised by a friend of mine, Chris, taking in a connoisseur’s selection of back roads, broken roads and even a few gravel sectors through five counties of Ulster. We rode the route recce together a couple of weeks before the event day, and it was a tough day out – I expect nothing less of a route devised by Chris – but the Roadfinder handled it all without complaint. (Which is more than can be said for me…)

So, full marks to Pashley; the Roadfinder X is a sensational bike. I am also going to give some credit to Campagnolo here. The original Ekar groupset is an under-rated gem, but it’s excellent. I have put well over 15,000km on Ekar-equipped bikes since the group launched and it’s easy to set up and maintain, lightweight yet durable, and in my opinion perfect for a bike like the Roadfinder X. A 42T chainring paired with the 9-42T cassette offers wide enough gearing for steep climbs and spirited road rides alike. For loaded touring, or hillier events, simply swap out to a 38T or 40T chainring.

First anniversary

It’s now been a year, and closing in on 4000km together I’m no less enamoured with the Roadfinder. It’s little short of perfection. If you are a sportive or audax rider, or a passionate cyclist but not fixated on riding the lightest bike possible, the Roadfinder X must find a place on your shortlist.

I don’t think there is a more versatile bike out there; we mentioned the Fairlight Strael earlier, but it can’t match the Roadfinder’s tyre clearance (and, aesthetically, I also prefer the Roadfinder’s internal cable routing). The clincher is that this versatility doesn’t result in any sense of compromise: the Roadfinder is a pleasure to ride on road, yet equally proficient on gravel. (You only have to take a look at Guy Kesteven bombing it down a chunky rubble track to get a sense of the Roadfinder’s off-road potential.)

It’s also worth noting, if gravel isn’t your bag, that Pashley launched the Roadfinder SL a few months after the Roadfinder X. Essentially a pure-road version of the Roadfinder X, the SL shaves 400g off the frame weight at a claimed 1698g, with a more road-oriented geometry and tyre clearance for up to 32mm.

The truth is, out on the road, or trail, any concern about weight disappears: the Roadfinder X is a light-feeling bike, agile and responsive, yet inherently calm and assured. This is probably not the bike for technical, MTB-adjacent high-jinx, but point the Roadfinder at a few hundred miles of tarmac, gravel and track and you’re in for a treat.

Room for improvement? Honestly, there’s very little. You’ll have to wait for it – the current lead time is 16-20 weeks – but it’s well worth holding out for.

At £1795 for the frameset, I think it offers value for money. This is a premium, UK-designed and built frame that is built to last. If you’re on a tight budget, buying the frameset and building it yourself might be the way to go – certainly if you want the Ekar groupset.

A small bottle of touch-up paint would be nice to have (I had to order a paint match to fill in some heel rub on the chainstay), as would blanking bolts for the front derailleur mount eyelets and grommets for unused cable ports. But I’m reaching here. It’s clear that Pashley have invested a lot of care and attention into this frame – not to mention 100 years of craftsmanship – and it’s paid off with an exceptionally high quality product that the company can be proud of.

All’s well that ends well

I am absolutely delighted with the Pashley Roadfinder and have no hesitation in recommending it. The team at Stratford have been in business for a long time; they know what they’re doing, and that experience shines through. The Roadfinder may be among their first truly modern steel bikes, but it displays all the hallmarks of a century of bike manufacturing know-how. It’s little short of a masterpiece.

Pashley Roadfinder X: £1795 (frameset), full builds from £2795 – https://www.pashley.co.uk/products/roadfinder-x