Marathon bikes for around 4000 euros: The Koga Roqa Premium on test

Koga offers the Roqa as a road racer suitable for touring, which can be converted into an off-road gravel bike in a few simple steps: The frame and fork can accommodate studded tyres up to 42 millimetres wide. The Dutch also have a pre-configured version with a single drive in their programme, which we were able to test last year. However, if you are mainly travelling on tarmac roads, we would recommend the version with a double crankset shown here, as the gear range increases riding comfort enormously on longer tours and is not a major disadvantage off-road.

Koga Roqa Premium: Comfortable marathon road bike

As a marathon racing bike, the Roqa is decidedly comfortable: the riding position is upright, the slim seat post effectively absorbs hard impacts and the very simple but wide Conti tyres also filter out vibrations. A comfortable top handlebar encourages cosy cruising, and the saddle also suited the testers straight away.

If you want to be more sporty, this orientation naturally reaches its limits. The bike is mainly held back by the heavy wheelset, which is difficult to get going when pedalling spontaneously. However, this should hardly bother those interested in a comfortable long-distance road bike, especially as the Roqa offers other advantages in addition to the ample tyre clearance. These include the option of attaching mudguards to existing eyelets - without restricting the choice of tyres. There are also attachment points for a pannier rack, a top tube bag and a tool box under the down tube, which means that the bike can mutate into a fully-fledged touring road bike without any tinkering.

In addition to the Allroad version already mentioned, which is 200 euros cheaper with a single chainring and no front derailleur, there is also an inexpensive entry-level version with mechanical shifting Shimano 105 for 2999 euros and the top-of-the-range Prime version with Shimano's Ultegra Di2, which costs 1000 euros more than our test bike. With carbon wheels, however, it also makes up for the Roqa's only weakness.

Koga Roqa Premium: Info & test grade

• Price: 3799 Euro >> available here
• Weight of complete wheel: 8.9 kilos
• Frame sizes: XS, S, M, L, XL (test size greased)
• TOUR grade: 2,2

Geometry

• Seat/top/head tube: 511/555/167 millimetres
• Stack/Reach/STR: 614/370 millimetres/1.66
• Stack+/Reach+/STR+: 663/573 millimetres/1.16
• Wheelbase/caster: 1035/70 millimetres

Equipment

• Drive/gear shift: SRAM Rival AXS (2x12; 48/35, 10-36 t.) | Grade: 1.0 (5 % share of the overall grade)
• Brakes: SRAM Rival (160/160 mm) | Grade: 1.5 (5 % share of the overall grade)
• Tyres: Continental Ultra Sport 32 mm (eff.: 33 mm) | Grade: 3.0 (5 % share of the overall grade)
• Impellers: DT Swiss E 1800 23
• Impeller weights: 1577/2020 grams (front/rear)

Measured values

• Weight of complete wheel: 8940 grammes | Grade: 4.0 (25 % share of the overall grade)
• Rear comfort: 113 N/mm | Grade: 1.7 (20 % share of the overall grade)
• Comfort front: 97 N/mm | Grade: 2.7 (10 % share of the overall grade)
• Front stiffness: 8.9 N/mm | Grade: 1.3 (10 % share of the overall grade)
• Bottom bracket stiffness: 59 N/mm | Grade: 1.3 (10 % share of the overall grade)
• Lacquer: Grade: 1.0 (5 per cent share of the overall grade)
• Maintenance/adjustment: Grade: 1.0 (5 % share of the overall grade)

Advantages and disadvantages of the Koga Roqa Premium

• Plus: Space for gravel tyres, plenty of eyelets for attaching accessories
• Minus: relatively heavy, simple tyres

All 12 bikes in the comparison test

• Canyon Endurace CF SLX 7 Di2
• Cervélo Caledonia 105 Di2
• Cube Agree C:62 SLX
• Focus Paralane 8.8 >> available here
• Giant Daffy Advanced 0 >> available here
• Koga Roqa Premium >> available here
• Merida Scultura Endurance Rival Edition
• Rose Reveal 04 105 Di2 >> available here
• Scott Addict 30 >> available here
• Stevens Izoard Pro
• Storck Fascenario.3 Comp
• Veto B983

>> We have compiled all the information about our test here.