Riding an original team bike - on top of that the current bike of the last German team in the professional circuit - Milram - with stars like Linus Gerdemann, Gerald Ciolek or the current German champion Fabian Wegmann.
The German brand Focus promises that the team bikes will be sold exactly as they are ridden by the team. The framesets would therefore have to have identical geometries; weights, stiffness and equipment details such as dropouts - all the same. Conversely, Ciolek and Co. could go to any Focus dealer and pick up a new bike from the shop if their own bike is broken and the team truck is not nearby.
One indication that the "Izalco Team Milram" is a professional machine is the professional price of an impressive 7,999 euros. This distinguishes our professional racer from so-called team replicas from other manufacturers, which are available at prices starting at 1,000 euros. However, such "I-look-like-a-professional-racer" bikes only have the same paintwork and decor as a team bike. The frame set, gear group, wheels and components are usually cheap parts.
In contrast, the Focus parts list for bike freaks reads like the menu of a Michelin-starred restaurant for gourmets: FSA top parts such as stem, handlebars and seat post, garnished with Fizik's "Arione" saddle in team design. Plus the "Red" shifting group from SRAM and, as the icing on the cake, Lightweight's "Standard III" wheels, covered with Conti's "Competiton" tubular tyres. Delicious!
In the past, TOUR has often been able to test team bikes directly from the material lorries of various professional teams - most recently in TOUR 7/2007, where we tested the Colnago "Extrem Power Ale-Jet" - then the team bike of Milram -, the Giant "TCR Advanced ISP Team" from the then Team T-Mobile and the Specialized "S-Works Tarmac SL" from the recently disbanded Team Gerolsteiner. The measured values from the test laboratory confirmed that the professional bikes were close to the series. However, they differed in detail. The Colnago had a two centimetre longer top tube and a fork with a heavy aluminium steerer tube instead of a carbon one compared to the series for its then rider Alessandro Petacchi. In the case of Giant's "TCR Advanced ISP Team", we don't have a comparison with a model from series production; only a handful of the bikes were sold. As far as we could tell, Specialized's professional material and production bikes were identical; however, TOUR readers who bought a "Tarmac SL" from the team's stock during the Gerolsteiner sale (TOUR 12/2008) told us that some of the frames were heavier than our test specimens. This is an indication that at least some of the frames have been reworked for the pros. Incidentally, if professionals have the opportunity to influence the frame, we have found that they primarily want more stiffness.
Jörg Arenz, Product Manager at Focus, explains how the development of the Izalco frameset for Milram went: "When the deal with Milram was official, we had different prototypes built by our manufacturer in China, with different carbon fibre coatings on the steering head and bottom bracket." The result was three bikes with different riding characteristics. Sprinter Ciolek test rode the fully assembled future team bikes and decided in favour of the setup that then became the main team bike for most races - even for material-killing spring classics such as Paris-Roubaix. This model, our current test bike, bears the additional designation "UD". A second, somewhat lighter and less stiff model bears the suffix "1K". It serves as the main workhorse for lightweight tour specialists such as Linus Gerdemann. We have already tested it in TOUR 3/2009; it is only available as a frame set at a price of 1,799 euros.
In appearance, the Focus is a worthy professional racer. Large Focus lettering, Milram blue and the many small stickers of parts sponsors such as SRAM, Continental, FSA, Fizik and Lightweigt leave no doubt: this is the bike of a professional (in this case Niki Terpstra). The large white painted Lightweight wheels in particular have an enormous recognition value. The slightly sloped frame itself, on the other hand, is kept discreet. Clear lacquer on the round carbon tubes reveals the fibre structure, the seat stays and chainstays are unspectacularly dimensioned, the brake cable is routed internally and the dropouts are made of aluminium - practical and robust in view of frequent wheel changes. During the ride test, the handling of Milram's 6.5-kilo team machine was pleasing in every situation. The short-travel bike is agile to steer - also thanks to the lightweight wheels. Fast descents are always mastered with ease, sprints and hard pedalling on the climbs don't upset the suspension. SRAM's Red shifts well, the braking behaviour on the carbon flanks of the Lightweights is problematic, especially when riding in the rain.
ConclusionMilram's new tool is a true professional. The equipment and technical values of the frameset are of a high standard, and you won't find other professional bikes cheaper. With a weight of 1,650 grams, the "Izalco" frameset is not one of the lightest of its kind and is therefore not suspected of being used by professionals on tuned bikes that you can't buy. The only fly in the ointment is that the lightweight wheels are not available - "only" normal lightweights in the new clincher version.
Test bike frame size greased; **projected measurement from centre of bottom bracket to upper edge of head tube/seat tube height at 75 cm seat height (centre of saddle frame-upper edge of headset cover); ***adjusted weight for frame size 57 and fork steerer length 225 mm; ****The grade includes further individual grades that we cannot print for reasons of space. In the case of complete bikes, 60 per cent of the final grade is given to the componentry.
