Kinesis Tripster AT+ review: a gravel all-rounder with 50mm tyres that's so much more than a drop-bar MTB

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The Kinesis Tripster AT is the South Downs-based brand's all-round gravel bike built for British (wet and mucky) conditions. With the new AT+, Kinesis has taken the template of its versatile all-roader, added huge tyre clearance and made some geometry tweaks.

Kinsesis could have made the AT+ simply a mountain bike with drop bars, but it was keen to maintain the Tripster’s road-going manners and endurance-bike influenced handling.

Kinesis doesn’t offer any stock builds of the AT+ just yet – instead, it views the bike's versatility as better suited to custom builds.

We asked Kinesis’ owner, Upgrade Bikes, to put together a bike well suited to year-round UK conditions, making use of the 50mm tyre clearance. It also gave Upgrade the chance to showcase components from the wide range of brands it represents.

That means a selection of great-quality and great-value kit from brands such as Thomson, Stan’s, DMR and Praxis.

Upgrade’s price of just over £3,400 for this complete build represents what you’d pay if you put it together yourself, or asked your friendly local bike shop to do so.

Kinesis Tripster AT+ frame details

The Kinesis frame is made of aluminium, rather than carbon. The aluminium used is 6069 heat-treated alloy, butted tubing and features a tapered, machined head tube.

It features triple bottle bosses, top tube mounts and seatstay mounts for racks or mudguards.

The frame has a claimed weight of 1.83kg (in a size large) and is adorned with plenty of fixtures and fittings.

This is matched to a new all-carbon 540g all-terrain fork with extra tyre clearance, cargo mounts on the legs and mudguard eyelets. The bike comes with internal routing for both the front brake and a dynamo.

Kinesis Tripster AT+ geometry

The geometry is based around a relaxed 70.5-degree head angle, paired with a steep 73.5-degree seat angle.

The fork comes with a 50mm rake that, combined with the long 450mm chainstays, gives my large test bike a generous 1,090mm wheelbase.

The AT+ has a lower bottom bracket height than the standard AT, correcting the geometry for larger tyres. Kinesis has also given the frame a more sloping top tube to aid manoeuvrability and, unlike the standard AT, the AT+ is designed for 1x drivetrains only.

My large-sized test bike features a 632mm stack and a long 410mm reach. That’s very much endurance bike territory for the ride position, although the longer reach enables you to run a shorter stem to keep the steering sharp, even with a wide gravel bar.

Kinesis Tripster AT+ build

My AT+ has a well thought-out specification with plenty of highlights and an eye on the robust rather than keeping weight down.

At the core of the bike is Shimano’s 12-speed mechanical GRX RX820 groupset. This is combined with a carbon Praxis Zayante crankset, with a 40-tooth chainring driving a 10-45t cassette from Shimano’s mid-range SLX mountain bike line.

It all works together well. Like the GRX 12-speed cassette, this requires the use of Shimano’s Microspline freehub (rather than HG), which is worth remembering if you already have wheels you want to use on a build.

GRX hydraulic brakes are matched to RT10S rotors in a large 160mm diameter.

The wheels come from Stan’s, with its 29-inch Arch S2 alloy wheelset. The rim has a 28mm internal width that comes fitted with tubeless tape.

The brand's E-Sync hubs are built for the rigours of mountain biking, with chromoly axles, Enduro bearings and heat-treated steel ratchet rings.

The rear hub has a pawl system designed to reduce stress on the bearings and the four-pawl design gives a quick 8.18-degree engagement angle.

These are wrapped with Goodyear’s Connector Ultimate tyres in their largest 50mm size. These tyres have the same closely spaced central tread pattern as narrower versions for low rolling resistance, but bring larger and wider-spaced side knobs designed to enhance cornering grip.

The tyre's 120 TPI (threads-per-inch) casing uses less rubber in the sidewalls, in theory making the tyre more supple and faster-rolling.

Up-front, there’s a Thomson Elite X4 stem clamping Thomson’s alloy Dirt Drop bar. The X4 stem comes with a well-earned reputation for quality and finishing, while the Dirt Drop bar is both wide at 44cm and flared with a 25-degree outward angle.

The 90mm reach and 130mm drop mean the bar flares out to a very wide 55.7cm at the drops.

The bar is wrapped with Lizard Skins' DSP tape, which is a vibration-killing 4.6mm thick. Finishing off the contact points is a combination of an X-Fusion Manic dropper post (with 50mm of drop), drop-bar remote and DMR’s OiOi saddle.

The saddle has a textured, hard-wearing cover that completes a build that majors on robustness.

This Kinesis Tripster AT+ weighed in at 10.22kg.

Kinesis Tripster AT+ ride impressions

With its huge-volume gravel tyres, dropper post and tough build, it’d be easy to dismiss the Tripster AT+ as simply a mountain bike in gravel clothing.

That’s not the case, though – the AT+ is at heart a great drop-bar bike that’s enhanced to take on the rough stuff, but not at the expense of what has made every iteration of the Tripster a brilliant all-rounder since its original design back in 2013.

The geometry hasn’t strayed too far from the road, combining a 70.5-degree head angle and a steep 73.5-degree seat angle. However, it's worth looking over the geometry table to ensure you get the right size. For example, usually, I would opt for an XL/58cm frame to suit my 6ft 2in stature.

The AT+, however, has an effective top tube length of 581mm in the L/56 size, with a stack and reach of 614mm and 402mm. That’s close to what I usually ride, whereas the XL/58cm is both much longer and taller than my preference for a gravel bike.

The 50mm fork offset, combined with the large-diameter tyres, creates a 76mm trail – which gives the steering a solid feel when riding rough rock-strewn and rooty singletrack.

The large tyres do a superb job of reducing vibrations and squashing jarring lumps, bumps and potholes. Combined with the thick DSP bar tape, the AT+ has a very comfortable front end.

Shimano’s mechanical GRX continues to impress in its new 12-speed guise, with quick shifts and a clutch-assisted derailleur that keeps chain bounce to a minimum.

The braking is full of feel, although the simple RT10 rotors can get a bit noisy at times when they're hot.

The Praxis carbon crankset is a step up from the standard alloy GRX version and the tooth profile works seamlessly with the Shimano chain.

On unmetalled roads, forest fire roads and trails, the Tripster AT+ offers high levels of smoothness from the big tyres, and the exemplary contact points impress.

It’s not a rapid racer like the Ribble Gravel SL Pro or Ridley Grifn RS, but it is a superb bike for covering big distances, no matter what the conditions are underfoot.

Whereas more race-oriented gravel bikes can come a little unstuck when riding more technical terrain, tight twisty turns and lots of obstacles don’t pose a threat to the AT+.

The addition of a dropper post and the frame's lower-sloping top tube made it a formidable companion when heading downhill on more challenging trails, enabling me to shift around to find the balance point more easily – all adding up to increased confidence and speed.

Heading uphill, the AT+’s weight of more than 10kg comes into play – it's more of a plodder than a puncher on longer climbs.

If the path upwards is more technical than steep, though, its low gearing and stable handling make for a surefooted ascender, where low-speed corners requiring balance and torque are the key.

It helps that the big-volume tyres provide ample grip and cushioning for the task.

On the road, the AT+ feels like an endurance bike rolling on big tyres – perhaps unsurprisingly.

The Goodyear tyres’ tightly spaced centre tread rolls quicker than I expected on tarmac, although on road corners I could feel a little wallowing as the larger shoulder knobs squished underneath me.

It’s a fair trade-off when the cornering grip in hard-baked dry conditions is so good, though.

Kinesis Tripster AT+ bottom line

Kinesis has achieved something very special with the AT, producing an excellent all-rounder.

Gravel bike design can shift to the extremes – from race bikes that excel on smooth gravel and tarmac right through to extreme gravellers that impress on downhill technical trails with handling chops that match hardtail mountain bikes. The AT+ hits the mid-point perfectly.

It’s no slouch on the road and it's highly capable off-road too, even to the extent of taking on singletrack trails reserved for mountain bikes.

Ideally, I’d like to see it shed a few pounds – but it could easily be lighter when choosing the build yourself.

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