Anyone got any feedback – good or bad – on these bikes? I’m in the market for a new road bike for year round use, sportives and perhaps the odd overnighter (hence the rack mounts). I can’t see myself doing proper races so, tempting as a lithe little carbon number is for not much more money, I’m trying to stay focused 🙂

My feeling so far is that the Tifosi looks better quality and more expensive than it is and my session on a turbo trainer proved it is a comfortable ride. I’m hoping to test ride the Racelight this week sometime.

i have a t2 as my winter bike.

its good, solid and dependable, i really like it.

take the guards off and its not too slow either. obviously not as fast as my summer bike, but not bad.

HT is short tho, position is ‘traditional’ so might need some interesting stem/spacer combo if you wan a more upright all nighter position…

anyone else got any experience?

I sell the Tifosi bikes and they are fine. I only stock the veloce spec as I think it very good value for money. You should not have to pay anymore than £810 for a velcoe spec bike as I reently had to price match.

There are some things though that need upgrades or changes in my opinion so for the next CK7 order I will be building a different spec and selling that.

1) I think the X1 saddle is too uncomfortable for many so I will offer a different Sella Italia saddle, the XO or if the customer wishes a C2 gel flow. Ot any saddle they wish quite frankly.

2) The tyres are cheap ones Vittorio Zaffiro (I won’t tell you the trade price it silly cheap) so these will be subsituted for Conti Gator skins as the zaffiro’s in my experience puncture to easily. In fact the last one I sold I did an exchnage on the Vittorio’s against a pair of new gatorksins as the ustomer was also oncerned.

3) The other change will be the wheels. The Miche Reflex wheels are 24F and 28Rear with bladed spokes. This is fine on a small frame with a light rider but I do worry about these on a heavier rider on a large frame. Also they are very heavy. Therefore I will be fititng 32H front 2x and 32H rear 3x wheel using a rigida chrina rim, Sapim race spokes and Miche RC2 hubs. These are alot lighter and on poor roads stand up very well. Infact the rear wheel I am planning to use, with the gator skin tyre, Conti Race28 tube, cassette and velox rim tape is nearly 500g lighter than the complete rear wheel on the CK7.

4) The stem length needs to be shorter for many ridersI am thinking the Cinelli Vai.

5) I am comtemplating fitting a Miche 12-27 cassette in plae of the Miche 12-25 for hill climbing.

I do think the CK7 is a decent bike in veloce spec (the sora spec use even lower end and heavier Miche wheels) but with a little thought and hardly any extra cash it can be made so much better and bring the coat to about £850.

The Cycle Clinic

Interesting comments thanks. I’m having a nightmare getting a replacement spoke for some factory Shimano R500 wheels so I’m a lot more aware of wheel choice now.

this is why I will be fitting wheels for which I carry spokes as I do not want to have a box of miche spokes for just for these wheels.

I’ve been commuting on a Kinesis Racelite TK2 for the last couple of years, handles well and feels fast, but I’ve nothing to compare it to as it’s my first road bike.

Seemed to get good reviews as a do it all road bike at the time.