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Factor has unveiled the new Ostro bike, a “superlight aero race bike that’s ready for the cobbles”.
The Ostro is only available for disc brakes and electronic shifting, and is making its debut at the Tour de France.
“The Ostro concept was born from my long experience working with pro teams and riders, especially at Paris-Roubaix,” said Graham Shrive, Factor’s director of engineering. “Every year there would be a couple of riders who wanted to use their aero bikes to get that advantage, no matter how poorly suited they were to the cobbles.
“Plus, of course, pros have always wanted an aero bike with no weight penalty, or a super light bike with no drag penalty in the valleys, as the climbers might see it. Instead of battling to get them on a bike made for the cobbles, we decided to build them what they wanted, and it turns out to be a hell of a bike.”
Key features:
– Superlight frame weight
– Mid-chord aero profile
– Wide stance fork
– Reversing Flow Energising Channel
– 32mm tyre clearance
– Fully-internal cable routing
– Compliant rear triangle
– Identical geometry to the O2 and O2 VAM
– Very high frame stiffness
– Cockpit options
– Electronic shifting only
– T47 threaded bottom bracket
– Three different fork offsets
– New lightweight seatpost
The Ostro is launching with the Black Inc Forty Five wheelset – its “perfect partner”, said Factor, balancing aerodynamics, lightness, strength and stiffness. Its performance is driven by a proprietary rim profile and the brand’s new ratchet driven hub. It is disc-only, tubeless-ready and optimised for 25-28mm tyres, with an internal rim width of 20.7mm.
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