The Pinnacle Neon Two was the middle of the range of three Pinnacle Neon rigid rim-braked hybrid bicycles sold by Evans Cycles in 2015 (e.g. the One had the Acera drivetrain, the Two had Claris, the Three had Sora) with an RRP of £450. Evans Cycles also had a couple of other hybrid models – the Lithium range with disc brakes and the Cobalt range with front suspension. The 2015 Neon was an updated version of the previous iteration first sold in 2012.
The Two uses their Pinnacle 6061-T6 double-butted aluminium alloy frame with an aluminium fork (the Three has a carbon fork). The drivetrain and shifters are Shimano Claris 2400 with 2×8 gears (50/34T chainrings, 11-32T Sun Race cassette). The brakeset is is Tektro RX1 mini-V. The handlebars are aluminium flat bar (600mm wide with a 9 degree back-sweep) on a 105mm stem. Mine is in large size (20″).
I purchased the bike second-hand from a used bicycle dealer in April 2025.
Modifications/Additions/Maintenance
- Pannier Rack
- A Tortec Tour rack was already fitted when I purchased the bike. As I wanted to keep the mount for my d-lock on the Marin I cable-tied some velcro straps to the pannier rack which I could use to attach the d-lock.
- Bottle Cage
- I found a Hasagei bottle cage with was a mix of neon orange fading to dark grey – a perfect match for the Neon’s colour scheme.
- Mudguards (fenders)
- As summer drew to a close in 2025 I bought a set of SKS Velo 42 Urban mudguards (42mm wide) along with the optional u-stay kit for more secure mounting. They worked pretty well (the photos on this page are all from prior to me fitting them).
- Frame Bag
- I added a small Rockbros frame bag to carry a small toolkit and my keys.
- Rear Derailleur Hanger
- The rear cogs always sounded a little noisy regardless of adjustment. On closer inspection I realised the cage was at a slight angle causing a little chain rub on the cage which was down to hanger being slightly bent (it must have taken a knock before I bought it). I bought a cheap hanger alignment tool and was able to pull it back into line.
- Spoke
- I had a spoke in the rear wheel break on a ride which I had to replace. Fortunately it didn’t break far from home, but that short ride was enough for the wheel to get pulled somewhat out of true so I had to re-true it as well.
- Chain
- As I was coming up to the first year of ownership the drivetrain was still a little noisy and, having read up on chain wear and not knowing how many miles the bike had on it prior to me owning it, I decided to fit a slightly upgraded chain (a KMC EPT – improved rust protection). It was only a few days after fitting it that the accident happened!
Accident Damage
As noted on my page about the accident I got hit by a car while riding this bicycle. As I’d steered to avoid it being a head-on the impact was around the middle of the bike on the right side (sending me and the bicycle through the air separately and rotating the saddle through 45 degrees). I initially thought maybe the bicycle was repairable as there was no immediately obvious frame damage (just some to some accessories and the wheels were clearly now out of true and the rear gear indexing was off).
A few days later I had a chance to take a proper look over the bicycle and figure out if it could be repaired. I noticed that the rear brake was now able to move far enough inboard to foul part of it on the pannier rack and the pads were off compared to the rim, then I realised the rear wheel was misaligned with the rear mudguard and then noticed the leading edge of the wheel was turned towards the drive side (and rotating the wheel didn’t change that by much, so it wasn’t a consequence of the out-of-trueness of the wheel following the accident). I took the rear wheel out, flipped it 180 degrees and put it back in the dropouts and it was still turned towards the drive side by the same amount confirming the wheel wasn’t the issue, the frame was. Looking closely at the chainstays I could see a slight difference in the S shape between the two sides – one slightly more compressed the other slightly more elongated.
I used the “string” method to properly check the alignment – tying one end to the left dropout, running the string taut around the head tube and back to tie on the right dropout and then measuring the gap between the seat tube and the string on each side – there was a 15mm difference at the seat tube in the gaps on each side. In the photo to the right you can see visually that chainstays are not aligned and the string makes it even clearer (even without measuring). That warping is enough such that the dropouts are now positioned more towards the drive side than they should be and this also potentially has messed with the length of them too – the consequence seeming to be that the rear wheel was now offset to the right and slightly turned towards the right (so misligned with respect to the seat tube and the brakes).
Everything I’ve read says an aluminium alloy frame that has been warped even slightly by force will have been weakened – it’s essentially scrap – and trying to unwarp it will weaken it further. So the bike is basically a write-off – a bike shop will not repair it and I would not be able to sell it except to break for spares (and if I did move it on I’d want to make sure the frame is scrapped rather than risk it unscrupulously ending up for sale to someone unsuspecting).
Because the frame warping is a relatively small amount then assuming the third party insurer agree it’s a write-off and they don’t actually want to take possession of the damaged bike when they compensate me then I may see if a combination of a little bit of drop-out filing (to straighten the direction the wheel is pointing) and then re-dishing to move the rim back more central are enough to make it ridable so I can basically use it (carefully, given the frame weakening) as a sacrificial bike for rides into the city centre when I need to leave a bike locked up. The dishing will not help with the cassette location though so that will be off still relatively to the wrong mech and so even if I can get the rim position back to a useable alignment the drivetrain won’t run as a smoothly.