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andyp
@Skant
Test Ride!
The position came out millimeter perfect. It’s the same position as my road bike and my Orłowski, fairly aggressive but one I can comfortably ride all day, day in day out. So as soon as I sat on the bike I felt home. Handling geometry straight away also gave me that “yep” feeling, intuitive. I wouldn’t change it at all if I were to build the bike again.
The route was 137km, 57 on road or paved bike path, the rest a mix of gravel, sand, forest roads and singletrack...a good all round test for bike, tyres and rider.
The first 10k or so were on road and at first I couldn’t help thinking “maybe these tyre are just a step too far, too big” They’re so much bigger than anything I’d ridden before and from an aesthetic point of view, looking down from my road position, past a road cockpit, the front wheel looks bizarre! Then onto the gravel “ok they make a bit more sense” but as soon as I hit the first Sandstraße it was a eureka moment “woah, alles klar!”
The float they offer is unreal, it’s not just a case of being able the get through the sand but actually being able to rip over it. It’s weird, you don’t really get a sense of how deep the sand is until you turn, otherwise the bike just sits on the surface and flies over it.
The combo of the tyres and the super light wheelset is really special. They looks so big and cumbersome but acceleration is like on the road bike and for fixed off road riding being able to punch over short steep climbs without feeling weighed down is great.
On the road the speed feedback is totally different to a traditional setup but it certainly ain’t slow, whenever glancing down at the wahoo I was pleasantly surprised how fast I was going.
Gear ratios I chose feel spot on, one for road (which will likely be winter miles with the guards on) one for off road fun times.
I’m waiting for a Thomson seatpost to arrive for this, in the meantime I nabbed the seat & post from my road bike...virtually unpadded Arione is too firm for off road. Will get the Antares VSX on there and see how I go.
I lost a water bottle somewhere along route but other than than no catastrophes.
Average speed for the ride was just over 25kph which considering the terrain I was astounded by.
In short, it’s fast and more importantly it’s fun! I really feel this bike will change my riding and open up Brandenburg for me. There’s no hills to speak of, lots of long straight roads and to be honest I found it quite boring coming from Scotland and even London but there’s limitless forest roads, tracks, trails, which were previously blocked by the sand, that are now open to me and I’m super excited to spend the summer exploring and going hard.
It’s a niche bike this one but for me, my riding style and where I live it’s perfect and I couldn’t be happier.