How comfortable/stiff, how well built, paint durability, etc.

Considering a frameset and after some real world comments. Usage would be general club runs/solo rides upto c200k.

Also considering kitting it out with Fizik R3 level kit, Veloce, and Zonda wheels, so if anyone fancies picking any holes in that (i already have the wheels)

I have a volare 20, with Veloce and Zonda wheels. not quite the 853 frame tubing but next tier down.

I find it really comfy, its nicely made, just watch the cable barrel adjusters on the headtube as mine snapped easy, simple to replace though.

plenty stiff enough for me and i’m 90+kg and can churn out quite a bit of power, i.e i don’t notice any flex where as i can normally twist a frame quite easily.
As i said, despite being stiff its plenty comfy for long distance, not as comfy as some more distance oriented frames, but for its type, its not half bad.

Plus, they look awesome!

I assume because you replaced, you mean the threaded insert rather than the cable stop welded to the head tube?

yeah, exactly that, just unscrewed the broken part and replaced with some better ones. other than that, its perfect

The first silver one was gorgeous.
An affordable, off the peg 853 bike was pretty unusual at the time.

Classy look too.

Wish I’d got one at the time, but I was obsessed with MTB’s.
They never seem to come up secondhand.

I think oldgit on here has one. THey certainly look decent and seem to be a bit of a bargain when they’re in the sales.