Update: the Batbike has since been fitted with a 3T Vola Team Stealth – read about it here.
As I obviously did not want to get my brand new Sensa Giulia G2 dirty – God forbid! – I continued cycling indoors on my demoted Element all through January and February.
Well, I did get out on the Bulls a couple of times, but other than that, I was honing my skills on the various indoor cycling platforms (mostly Zwift and CVT though).
Not such a bad way to spend time on zee baik, and I totally disagree with those ‘bad ass’ riders who argue that indoor rides amount to next to nothing, but I do agree that a real outdoor ride has it’s own unique merits.
Between those indoor rides, I was ‘finetuning’ my Batbike, with clip-on aerobars, an ‘all black’ saddle* and a Stages PM, waiting for the weather to change.
And one week after my frosty tour of Flanders, it finally did and I took the Sensa Giulia G2 for a spin.
Or at least, it was dry and there was sunshine – the temperature was still ‘a little’ below comfortable for short-sleeved jerseys, but I’m not lacking of clothing to almost invisibly disguise my being a wuss.
Not taking too many chances – other traffic has to adapt to the wannabe road cyclists back on the road again too – I chose a couple of well known – and not too busy – roads for my trials.
And despite the (slight) discomfort of four layers of clothing and the usual annoying wind blowing right through all four of them, I got a really good impression of the Sensa.
As I expected, it behaves like a race bike – with or without (use of) the aerobars, the aero tuck position is easily and comfortably achieved. Obviously, I will need to ride longer – so far, I’ve done 30+, 50+ and 60+ km rides – to see how it holds during a century, but I’m not afraid to test it.
The bike behaved extremely well on the often poorly surfaced parts of the roads in my backyard.
I’m used to riding with carbon wheels – though not ‘full’ – and overall it felt better than previously, with the Shimano Dura-Ace C35’s.
There’s no doubt in my mind that if you have to pick an upgrade, the wheel upgrade should be your first.
I’m pretty sure that the stock Supra aluminium clincher wheels will perform fine, but these RFC 55 Elite’s have full carbon fiber clincher rims laced to their own hubs and they perform just great.
Plus, they just look mean 🙂
(Disclaimer: I’m no expert on wheel sets – obviously – but these Supra’s perform way better than my favorites so far, the Fulcrum Racing 1’s I had on my Scapin.)
All in all, I’ve found the Sensa to be an impressively fast Batbike – it’s easy to handle, every pedal stroke feels like a direct power transmission and it behaves extremely well and stable, also in the corners.
There’s no compromising on material as far as my (lack of) expertise can detect – no cheap components or mixes, and everything just looks right and perfectly matched.
If you’re in doubt, considering buying a Sensa as it has no ‘big name’ yet: I would strongly recommend it.
It’s a high performance road bike, that will give you great value for money.
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* I mean, seriously – the Selle San Marco Regale you can chose when ordering the bike, has bright white stripes on it.
Really, Sensa – this is not done on this intense dark design.
But, to be honest, I suppose that the ‘Concor black-on-black’ that is on the standard option list, might have been Sensa’s first choice on this bike 🙂
However, I specifically wanted a Regale, just not this one – for me, the extra money for the Regale Carbon FX upgrade was also well worth it.
Note that you will have to order ‘oval rail seat clamps’ for this saddle too – did cost me another week’s worth of waiting before being able to put it on the bike.
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