So, now for a brief update after it’s first proper ride.
It IS comfy. Especially at the back end. Partly the step up to 28mm tyres but also no doubt the frame. A pothole is still a pothole, but the normal road “chatter” just got smoothed out. I felt much less tired and battered after the ride than on my old alloy Defy. A bit of experimental honking up a 10% climb in a silly big gear did suggest that there is a bit of flex if you really want there to be, but not a problem.
Hydro discs are great. Descending on damp, narrow, muddy lanes the brakes scrubbed speed easily. Though I did skid a couple of times as traction went sooner than I expected. The 105 gears shifted how they should. Glad I didn’t go to the extra expense of Ultegra, to be honest.
The Ksyrium wheels are lovely – quick to get up to speed and reluctant to let it go. My mate commented that I was keeping up on the downhills without making any apparent extra effort.
But what goes down has to go up. About 3,000 feet of “up” today. Now I’m a good stone and a half above an ideal riding weight, but the Fratello did feel it’s 22lb weight a bit on climbs. The silly big 32 tooth cog on the back meant I could get up them, but my mate was definitely disappearing up the hill ahead of me even quicker than usual. But it wasn’t bought for speed or to help me be a climbing god, so I’ll just have to lose a few pounds next year and deal with it.
A couple of niggles – the Lizard Skins bar tape is very tacky but felt quite thin, and I need to juggle with the position of the levers as it’s a struggle to reach the brake in the drops. Luckily it stops brilliantly from the hoods. And the cable/hose routing to the rear looks a bit of an afterthought compared to internal brake routing through the front fork.
Am I pleased with it? Oh god yes. Worth every penny, as was the extra for the custom paint colour. And the guys at Condor made parting with all that money a real pleasure.
Two other things I learnt today – there is a cake called a Paris Brest, so as a wannabe audaxer it seemed rude not to. And when you fit new clipless pedals to your new bike, just back off the release tension a bit. It wouldn’t be good to be unable to clip out on your first ride and perform the topple of doom scuffing up your knee, elbow and new shifter. 😳
