Basso Astra review in Pro Cycling

Murph100 · 23-10-2009 11:09AM #1

Trying to find any info on this bike but failing miserably, but after tons of Googling I saw it was reviewed by Marcel Wurst in last months Pro Cycling ...which is not on the shelves anymore

Anybody have it and care to give the bottom line on the review ?

lukester · 23-10-2009 11:10AM

Have it at home, from what I remember it was a pretty positive review. If no-one else has it to hand I'll try to remember to look it up this evening.

Lumen · 23-10-2009 11:15AM

Doesn't Marcel Wüst always say the same thing, i.e. that the bike is very stiff but compliant, climbs and descends well, and he would have loved one when he was a pro?

lukester · 23-10-2009 11:22AM

Lumen wrote: »

Doesn't Marcel Wüst always say the same thing, i.e. that the bike is very stiff but compliant, climbs and descends well, and he would have loved one when he was a pro?

Did you see what he's wearing in this month's review of the Cofidis edition Look 595? Eugh. Obviously appealing to the German tri market.

Agree, most of his reviews are the same nonsense- I think he was confused in this one because the Basso isn't well known, so he didn't know whether or not to like it. Hilarious review recently of the Giant TCR, they gave it to him with a pie-plate on the back and badly stuck on tubs.

RobFowl · 23-10-2009 11:23AM

Lumen wrote: »

Doesn't Marcel Wüst always say the same thing, i.e. that the bike is very stiff but compliant, climbs and descends well, and he would have loved one when he was a pro?

Pretty much

Murph100 · 23-10-2009 11:24AM

Cheers Lukester, that would be ace !

Yeah Lumen he does tend to repeat a bit, but any little bit of info would be better than nothing.

Impossible to find anything on it, but the specs seem very good, geometry is perfect for me, price is right, looks great and is very light ... 870g for the frame ( yeah I know, probably for the special hobbit edition )

Lumen · 23-10-2009 11:26AM

Murph100 wrote: »

any little bit of info would be better than nothing.

This?

Murph100 · 23-10-2009 11:32AM

Yup, saw that one, typical First Look review .... about as much use as the bottom half of a mermaid !

Lumen wrote: »

This?

blorg · 23-10-2009 11:58AM

To be honest I am more and more skeptical of paying much attention to any magazine bike review. I would attach more credence to weighing up forum postings to be honest. Not a single posting but the general impression you get from a collection of owners of a bike.

penexpers · 23-10-2009 12:09PM

Lumen wrote: »

Doesn't Marcel Wüst always say the same thing, i.e. that the bike is very stiff but compliant, climbs and descends well, and he would have loved one when he was a pro?

Surely you mean : that the bike climbs like a squirrel, descends like a greased squirrel on a luge, corners like a decagon, and accelerates like a methamphetamine-addicted rabbit.

Lumen · 23-10-2009 12:11PM

blorg wrote: »

To be honest I am more and more skeptical of paying much attention to any magazine bike review.

Definitely. Except when selling a bike that has excellent magazine reviews. Then they come in quite handy.

Chips Lovell · 23-10-2009 12:11PM

lukester wrote: »

Hilarious review recently of the Giant TCR, they gave it to him with a pie-plate on the back and badly stuck on tubs.

This seems to be a regular occurance. Remember Boardman reviewed a bike for them a few years ago and discovered after his test spin that there weren't glued on at all.

Raam · 23-10-2009 12:14PM

Say what you like about Marcels reviews, but he sure does have some set of legs and arms on him

Chips Lovell · 23-10-2009 12:15PM

I want those legs:

marcel+wust1.jpg

Murph100 · 23-10-2009 12:19PM

I'm with ya on that one Blorg, but there seems to be SFA about it anywhere owner wise, so I'll even take a advertorial revenue driven review at this stage....with a truck load of salt of course

blorg wrote: »

To be honest I am more and more skeptical of paying much attention to any magazine bike review. I would attach more credence to weighing up forum postings to be honest. Not a single posting but the general impression you get from a collection of owners of a bike.

lukester · 23-10-2009 12:26PM

Raam wrote: »

Say what you like about Marcels reviews, but he sure does have some set of legs and arms on him

And he likes to show off those arms:

He's doing the same sleeveless tri thing in this month's mag too.

Quigs Snr · 23-10-2009 02:00PM

The Basso is a nice looking machine.

At that level of machine though, assuming the bike fits, is it even possible to get a bad bike ? Has anyone ever seen a bad review of a mid to high end bike (or even a low end brand name) ?

Murph100 · 23-10-2009 02:39PM

Just spoke to the UK Distributer who put me in touch in Bike Inn in Tallaght. They are one of the dealers in Ireland. The guy there spoke really highly of them, they have a good selection of Basso bikes coming in next week, so will definitely have to take a look.

Completely made in Italy too, how rare is that !!!

£1,799 RRP for the frameset in the UK so probably around €2K here.

blorg · 23-10-2009 03:01PM

Murph100 wrote: »

Completely made in Italy too, how rare is that !!!

I would be skeptical about that, not that it matters any. Under value-add rules if the frame is painted in Italy it can be slapped with "Made in Italy" sticker. The vast majority of carbon frames from all the top Italian brands are made in Asia.

alfalad · 23-10-2009 03:07PM

Murph100 wrote: »

Just spoke to the UK Distributer who put me in touch in Bike Inn in Tallaght. They are one of the dealers in Ireland. The guy there spoke really highly of them, they have a good selection of Basso bikes coming in next week, so will definitely have to take a look.

Completely made in Italy too, how rare is that !!!

£1,799 RRP for the frameset in the UK so probably around €2K here.

RRP of £1,799 it will be a nice bit over the €2K i would guess.

lukester · 23-10-2009 03:10PM

alfalad wrote: »

RRP of £1,799 it will be a nice bit over the €2K i would guess.

Ain't you been following the exchange rate?

Murph100 · 23-10-2009 03:17PM

I was skeptical too until the distributer himself said, without being asked, the frames were actually made at their factory in Vicenza and not the usual 'made in Japan, painted in Italy' flavour. I guess he probably was used to getting that thrown at him.

Of course then you could argue for €2k

Completely made in Italy = Cheap carbon + Expensive Labour
OR
Made in Far East, painted in Italy = Expensive carbon + Cheap Labour

blorg wrote: »

I would be skeptical about that, not that it matters any. Under value-add rules if the frame is painted in Italy it can be slapped with "Made in Italy" sticker. The vast majority of carbon frames from all the top Italian brands are made in Asia.

petethedrummer · 23-10-2009 03:46PM

Raam wrote: »

Say what you like about Marcels reviews, but he sure does have some set of legs and arms on him

All for show. I'd rather have they guy beside him's legs (and cardio vascular system).

Basso Astra review in Pro Cycling

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