Originally making flashily painted single-speed bikes for students, on-line bike brand Mango started offering affordable, versatile and geared road bikes in 2014.
The Point AR (standing for All Road) is the company's first bike aimed at those who want to venture off the black stuff as well - with the main difference being fatter tyres and enough extra tyre clearance to fit up to 42mm tyres.
As standard the Point AR is fitted with a 32mm Vee Tire Co Baldy tyre, which is a cut-slick tyre that should cope well on most surfaces - from smooth tarmac to gravel roads and dirt trails.
Carbon fibre might be the talk of the town but aluminium has a long history of producing light, strong, and lively frames, with hydro-forming technologies adding the ability to produce more interesting tube profiles and shapes.
Mango matches this frame to a carbon fork with huge tyre clearance and disc-brake mounting points. The fork even has fixing points for mudguards, further broadening the Point AR's all-year, all-terrain appeal. Fixing points on the seat stays mean you can fit mudguards and a rack, and there are two bottle cage mounting points inside the main triangle.
As with all Mango bikes the looks are clean and cool, helped by a range of funky colours and internal cable routing for all but the rear brake cable.
Front and rear discs are Shimano's confidence-inspiring proven Avid stoppers, and the drivetrain is a mix of Shimano and FSA. Wheels are solid if not super-light WTB i19 rims with CW sealed bearings.
All said, if you want a fun, do-it-all road bike that will also take canal towpaths, gentle forest tracks and all-weather road adventures in its stride - not to mention the odd light tour, the Mango Point AR is an excellent, fun and affordable choice.
Drop-bar versions of the AR are also available.
