A2 Bikes began with a mission to cut out the middleman and connect triathletes (almost) directly with bike manufacturers overseas. At the time it was pretty revolutionary thinking: direct sales. But now, there are many brands skipping the bike shop, and even a few—like A2—who go low marketing, low overhead in an effort to cut costs to the very bottom. A2’s first bike, the Speed Phreak, was a result of this, and as such it was a fine bike—albeit a little raw in terms of handling, stability, and fit flexibility. The good news with the new SP1.x line is that A2 has fixed most of those issues and kept the price in check.

The result with the SP1.2 is a hydraulic disc brake-equipped bike, with decent components for under $4k. In terms of ride, it’s a much smoother bike than the first iteration with much better adjustability—particularly when you consider this setup technically falls in the superbike category. However, when it comes to ride stability, we struggled with handling, as the frame seemed to wander slightly during our testing. It’s possible that this was a one-off on an early model, but it was present.