Review: Twin Six Rando – Strong, Stable and Straightforward

Twin Six is a clothing company, so I was a bit surprised to see a collection of bikes in its Interbike trade-show booth a few years ago. The surprise quickly turned to respect, as the bike lineup was simple yet well thought out. This is the sole steel bike in the line—its other bikes are titanium.

“This whole thing [Twin Six, back in 2004] was started because of being fed up with boring options when it came to cycling apparel,” said co-founder and owner, Ryan Carlson. “We founded this company on the idea of designing clothes we wanted to wear. Fast forward 10 years, and our thoughts were the same—let’s design bikes we want to ride. There were plenty of ‘mediocre-frame with crappy- parts’ combos out there, but we felt like we could provide a better option. Two years of drawing and prototyping later and we couldn’t be happier with the range of steel and titanium frames we’re putting out there.”


Twin Six Rando – Strong, Stable and Straightforward

The Standard Rando is a very practical, by the numbers, all-rounder. While that might sound like damning with faint praise, it is a high compliment in these days of increasingly complicated bikes. A steel frame and fork with classic geometry, but modern components, might just be the ticket for people who want to step off the technology bullet train.

The Bike – Twin Six Rando

At the heart of the Rando is a double-butted, 4130 chromoly steel frame. While there are probably at least a dozen options for bikes similar to this one, the Rando stands out as a simple and focused option, offering just what most riders want in a frame like this without extraneous braze–ons or styling exercises.

My favorite feature about this frame is the cable routing. Nothing fancy here, just simple cable clips that screw into bosses in the down tube. Full housing runs for every cable reduces the chances for contamination, and all cables under the downtube keeps everything neat. It makes internal routing seem silly. Which it is.

Review: Twin Six Rando – Strong, Stable and Straightforward — Bike Hacks

The frame also has a chainstay mounted disc caliper for easy rack and fender mounting. The fork has mid-mounts for a low-rider rack and a pair of mounts at the forward-facing dropouts. Cheers to steel forks. I think they ride better than carbon and are better able to handle the day-to- day abuse a bike like this may face.

There is one complete bike option for the Standard Rando: a SRAM Rival build kit with BB7 brakes, NoTubes Grail wheels and a Fizik cockpit. Gearing is a practical 46/36 crankset and 11-32 cassette. It’s all very functional stuff and the customer can even choose handlebar width and crank length.

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The Ride – Twin Six Rando

The black paint hides it well, but the steel tubing on this bike is of the oversized variety. And that oversized tubing gives this bike a solid feel. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have the “feel” that a good steel frame is famous for, but compared to some of the steel bikes I’ve ridden lately, it resists flex under hard pedaling efforts very well

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    TwinSix_rando-4-800x530-1

    The stock 32 mm Panaracer Pasela tires step up and help take the edge off quite well. I swapped in a set of new, 36 mm tubeless Clement MSO tires (see page 60), and things got even better. You can stuff in a tire up to 43 mm wide but that is starting to run out of clearance for mud.

    The Rando can handle pretty rough roads without complaint, but it does make its road-focused geometry known when things get really dicey. For the most part it was a fun bike for exploring but not something I would intentionally take on rides with a lot of singletrack, as the steep head angle and low bottom bracket make for interesting times.

    That leaves a whole lot of good riding to be had, and with the versatility afforded by all the braze-ons this bike can be set up for almost anything. You could add fenders and a rack for commuting, a low-rider front and a big seat bag for light touring, or knobby tires for gravel rides. They’re all good options and all easy to set up.

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    The Rando has 75 mm of bottom bracket drop, which is a good spec when paired with the bigger tires. This keeps the center of gravity low when cornering. Those big tires, whether knobby or not, offer up the traction, and the geometry is happy to take full advantage of it to carve around corners like a sharp knife through a Christmas ham.


    Conclusions

    There is a frame and fork option as well for $600. As of early August, the green color option is sold out, but expect another color besides black to be ready soon. The black metal fenders pictured are a $30 upgrade, worth it for the matching look and protection from the elements, although they are not the easiest to install.

    The Standard Rando is standout for its clean aesthetic, smart spec and simple functionality. As a steel frame on the stiffer end of the spectrum, this is a good fit for heavier riders or for those folks who just want to mash the pedals and go fast. Strong, stable and straightforward, the Rando is a straight-talking bike that can deliver on its promises.

    Ed. Note: The latest color option for this bike is orange, as of May 2020.

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    Price: $2,000
    Weight: 23.5 lbs
    Sizes: 51, 53, 55, 57 (tested), 59

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    Review: Twin Six Rando - Strong, Stable and Straightforward — Bike Hacks