MEKK is the brainchild of Mark Edwards and industry stalwart Ken Knight, a former member of Athletic Club de Boulogne-Billancourt (ACBB) in its Eighties heyday, when he rode at the elite French amateur club alongside Raphael Kimmage and Christian Yates, siblings to Paul and Sean respectively.
Edwards and Knight readily admit they have no ambitions to become a WorldTour team supplier and hang their hat on reliable chassis with a simple path to upgrades. Most of their offerings come with a full helping of the respective Shimano groupset, from Sora to Ultegra Di2.
Launched three years ago, the range has expanded to four road platforms, covering aluminium all-rounders (the Pinerolo), entry-level carbon offerings (the Poggio), a ‘sportive’-oriented machine with an upright geometry (the Potenza), and a more race-oriented bike at the top of the tree – the Primo. They make track bikes and triathlon machines too.
We headed to the West Country and the house show of Paligap, UK distributor for Cipollini, PowerTap, Ritchey, and a host of other road brands, including, of course, MEKK. Check back soon for a look at clothing from the latest addition to the Paligap portfolio – Italian brand, Alé.
Primo 6.2
It was the newly-arrived MEKK Primo 6.2 that caught our attention – a steed equipped with Shimano’s new 5800-series 105 offering in its entirety, and rolling on a set of full carbon clinchers from Saturae, another enterprise from Edwards and Knight. The bike is offered at a similarly attention grabbing £2,000.
Mekk claim confidence in the stiffness and responsiveness of the frame, qualities they say have been achieved with the deployment of Toray filament, and by boosting the surface area of the downtube and chainstays.
It would be fair to describe the steed pictured as hot off the press. Knight was at pains to stress that the decals will be different on the final version, while Edwards explained that the still hen’s-teeth-rare 5800-series components had arrived by courier from Shimano in Japan the day before the bike went on show. Expect to see bike and components in greater numbers in October.
Pinerolo AL 1.5
Almost at the opposite end of MEKK’s range from the Primo 6.2 is the Pinerolo AL 1.5 – an £800, entry-level aluminium bike, but one on which, pleasingly, few corners appear to have been cut.
The frame is triple butted, and the fork carbon-bladed. The componentry is Shimano Sora and deployed almost in its entirety (the brakeset is a non-series Shimano offering). The bike rolls on Shimano’s entry-level RS500 wheelset, wrapped in Continental Ultra Sport rubber.
In short, it looks like a nice bike for the money, and for another £100, the Pinerolo AL 2.0, on which the nine-speed SORA group is replaced with Tiagra, looks equally good value. The same chassis, dressed in Shimano’s new 5800-series 105 group, costs £1,000, while the range-topper wears Ultegra and costs £1460.
Pista T1
MEKK’s range also includes track bikes, a nod to Knight’s earlier exploits in the velodrome. The carbon-framed Pista C1 tops the range and costs £1,400, but it was the aluminium-framed T1 that caught our attention as a relatively low risk investment at £750. The T1 has the same triple-butted aluminium frame as the Pinerolo AL series, with the same triangulated tube profiles, paired with a carbon-bladed fork.
MEKK are adamant that the Pista is a pure track bike and not a converted fixie, and offer the wheel dishing (unsuited to flip-flop hubs) and the 1-1/8″ chain in support of their argument. Further evidence can be found in the supply of three chainrings with each track bike sold – 48t, 49t, and 50t – to accommodate the various track disciplines the new owner might pursue.
