We've been big fans of BMC's GF01 since we took it for a first ride back in 2012. It’s the bike BMC designed, in its standard brake trim, for the early season cobbled classics.
While its full name of Gran Fondo GF01 suggests a bike designed for more endurance-minded riders, make no mistake – this bike was designed to be raced. So how does its disc incarnation measure up under testing? Well, we reckon the fact that it's been crowned the winner of Cycling Plus magazine's Bike of the Year 2015 award should give you a fair indication.
- Highs: Wonderful road manners, fantastic fun everywhere
- Lows: Nothing major, bar we’d want to start upgrading it
- Buy if: You want a bike that shows brilliant handling, excellent comfort and can handle plenty of the rough stuff
The GF01's geometry sits firmly in the middle between out and out sportive bike and race machine. To make a brief comparison with a similarly positioned bike – Cannondale's Synapse Disc – it's 19mm lower in stack and 3mm longer in reach. The wheelbase, however, is 20mm longer and its angles match the Synapse at 73.5-degree seat, 72.5-degree head. On the road its no surprise that the bikes feel very similarly matched. The BMC is a little weightier than the Cannondale by half a kilo, but this doesn’t reveal itself even on the stiffest climbs of out test loop, especially with the very friendly 50/34 11-32 gearing, just what the doctor ordered for the steepest inclines. The Synapse has the edge on the scales thanks to its loftier Ultegra group as opposed to the GF’s 105, though the Synapse is marginally heftier on your wallet too.
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We absolutely loved the way the GF01 covers the ground. The fat 28c Continental tyres feel faster on tarmac than you’d imagine they have any right to be. On descents the wider rimmed RX31 Shimano disc wheels and wide rubber induce masses of confidence – allowing for cornering speeds on wet January roads that we really had no right trying to achieve.
Where the BMC comes into its own on rough surfaced roads and gravelled surfaces. The clever frame, with its hollow oversized chainstays that kick upwards towards the dropouts, and slender angular seatstays, absorbs vibrations brilliantly. Slotted in there is BMC’s own flexible Compliance seatpost, which gives you the feeling of floating above the bike's back end, isolated from the dramas going on underneath you.
You can read more at BikeRadar.com
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