Fresh off the Hell of the North
The bike is Chris Newton’s 2009 Condor Leggero which is hand made in Italy using Dedacciai tubing constructed from ultra lightweight high-modulus carbon-fibre.
Because each frame is hand made, any Condor bike, whether steel or carbon, can be built to a custom geometry, and incidentally, Chris’s just happens to be the same as mine so I was able to nab it for the Rapha ride.
For 2010 the Leggero is available with a new rear triangle, which the Rapha Condor Sharp team rode for the first time towards the end of last season in events including the 2009 Tour of Britain. While the revisions to the 2010 frame make it slightly more compliant than the one you see here, the 2009 model still feels springy and nimble and, combined with a 1.5″ lower headset race, gives nicely balanced ride characteristics.
I rode the Tour of Flanders sportive on a Ridley Noah last year and paid the price for riding such a stiff machine on the pavé, and this was certainly on my mind when we turned up to Rapha’s Hell of the North last Sunday to ride 100km on the lanes and bridleways of Hertfordshire.
However well a pro’s bike is maintained, they always come out of the end of a race season having endured the kind of wear and tear that us mortals would take some years to inflict. While structurally sound, the bike is cosmetically a little rough around the edges so I wasn’t too worried about taking on some of the really rough stuff. Being a ‘cross rider, pavé fanatic and fresh off the back of the 2010 Absa Cape Epic, I was relishing the opportunity to get a bit grubby on my [Don’t you mean Chris Newton’s? – ed.] road bike.
At a shade under the 1kg mark, the Leggero frame is lighter than my Ridley and a bit more forgiving too, which to my mind makes it a bit more versatile. The latest incarnation of the bike is currently being campaigned by the Rapha Condor Sharp team. Chris and two other riders are using the Shimano Di2-equipped version, which has internal cable routing and is specially drilled to accommodate the wiring.
The handling characteristics of the bike filled me with confidence which buoyed me over the rough-stuff, through the river crossing and up the muddiest climb on the ride which saw everyone around me walking (sorry to the chaps I bumped on my way through). The compliance in the frame meant that I finished the ride feeling fresh and still had the legs for a kick at the end, where I could feel the power from the pedals transfer directly into the rear wheel. At no point did I feel beaten up by the bike or worried at taking on the terrain and I got through the day incident-free.
