thewashingmachinepost




..........................................................................................................................................................................................................

focus izalco extreme di2

integrated seatpost

focus bikes have come from seemingly nowhere to pro tour (milram) in a very short space of time, and have been available in the uk through online retailer wiggle.co.uk since 2006. the reputation of these german designed bikes compares favourably with that of german products generally, and i've already tested a variado expert at the opposite end of the money spectrum.

this time round it's a full carbon focus izalco extreme that arrived in one of those enormous boxes that allows wiggle to offer a ready to ride status for all their bicycle offerings. having pointed out last time that simply removing the seatpost would have allowed for a considerably smaller box, this time no such compromise would have applied. more as we go on.

i'll happily admit that the principal reason for requesting this particular focus was the shimano di2 groupset (see separate review) with which it was delivered, however, it was also an excellent opportunity to review one of the more expensive offerings from focus. except doing the arithmetic pointed in the direction of this bike being a total bargain: the shimano groupset costs £2400, the mavic wheels retail at £860, meaning that the rest of the bits, including the frame, only costs just over £700. for a frame of this standard, that's not a lot of pennies.

so all in all, what rolled out of the box? a 56cm frame with a colossal down tube, an integrated seatpost atop which sat a ritchey height adjustable external adaptor, an fsa integrated headset, a pair of mavic cosmic carbone slr wheels (see separate review) and the aforementioned shimano di2 electronic groupset. the rear brake cable reached its brake caliper internally through the top tube. bars and stem were from techno tubo torino, more commonly monikered as 3t those days, a company who also supplied the rather fine looking funda pro carbon forks. i'll say i was rather surprised at only aluminium bars and stem - i would have expected carbon, but purely on aesthetic grounds, because i know of no real difference in performance between aluminium and carbon. the saddle was a fiz:ik arione, the same model worn on the cielo in portland.

izalco extreme

i think firstly, i'll get the moans out of the way: wiggle advised me that the test model of this bike was a 56cm, something that i wasn't too bothered about because, although i generally ride a 54cm, and extra couple of cm is easily managed, and sometimes i rather like the extra length in the top tube. sadly the izalco extreme has an integrated seatpost; whoever is responsible for coming up with this idea deserves to be taken outside and slapped with mountain bike inner tube. not being even remotely competent in the field of frame design or fabrication, i consulted with framebuilders of my acquaintance as to whether there is any advantage to this feature, and to a man they all agreed that it contributed nothing apart from possible some aesthetic appeal.

of course, if the bike is yours to keep, it's simply a worrying few minutes with a hacksaw to make it the right size, but then you're unlikely to be able to sell it on to someone incrementally larger when you turn professional and they give you a freebie. in this case, the bike only just fitted and no more, (the ritchey adaptor was as low as it would go) and even then only if i wore my marresi leather shoes (because the sole is slightly thicker than the others). i'd just like to go on record as saying that i think integrated seatposts are one of the silliest ideas ever to be imposed on the modern bicycle. focus make many of their other frames to accept a regular seatpost, and i'd like to recommend this as a course of action on the izalco extreme.

izalco extreme

now that i've got that out of the way, it is my pleasure or displeasure to tell you, depending on how you wish a bicycle to perform, that this is one heck of a stiff frame, with very few forgiving comfort attributes. handling is quite excellent: you could turn on a sixpence, throw it into corners with gusto, and climb like robert millar (well, not really, but you get the idea), but all this comes at a price, and i'm not talking money. i for one, would not like to ride paris-roubaix on this bicycle.

in certain circumstances, this rigidity was quite exciting, and i would imagine that to be the case when racing, which is pretty much what this bike is seemingly designed for. i doubt many would spend over £4000 just to ride around the village, though stranger things have happened, but i think it likely that the racing market is the very one focus are aiming at. i managed around 300km on this bike over several days, and while the comfort factor never ever came close to a ten, it was quite exhilarating at times.

i did swap the mavic cosmic carbones for a pair of their r-sys brethren, but this really had very little bearing on the comfort factor. if i had to find a culprit, i'd point the finger at that integrated seatpost, but i have no true evidence to back that up.

the continental gp attack tyres performed very nicely thank you very much: good grip in the wet, and fine speed when required. the alloy braking surface on the mavics worked as well as you'd expect, and i think it worth pointing out at this stage that, having criticised izalco extreme shimano calipers from further down the range, the blue/gray anodised dura-ace versions were a delightful surprise. not quite as much modulation as those from camapagnolo, but very firm stopping and nice feedback through the levers. shimano's di2 levers were much more to the liking of someone brought up on vicenza levers; a textured rubber cover gave excellent grip and the shape was quite unobjectionable. not something i've experienced with either ultegra or 105.

if you're looking for something that exudes speed with no compromise, this is one of those machines, but shimano di2 notwithstanding, i wouldn't ride the gran fondo campagnolo on this, or any other sportive for that matter, though matters could likely be improved without that dratted integrated seatpost, and the naked cable stops on the huge downtube look a bit awkward.

focus also offer this bike with campagnolo super record at the same price of £4049. however, since this groupset retails at around £1700, such an alternative version can't be regarded as a similar bargain to the version tested.

wiggle.co.uk | focus bikes

. twmp

posted on thursday 11 june 2009

top of page.

..........................................................................................................................................................................................................