Our annual pilgrimage to the Eurobike trade show in Friedrichshafen, Germany always reveals a number of bike manufacturers seemingly huge in their home market but with relatively little presence in the UK.
Koga is among them but the Dutch company is planning an assault on these shores and the £1,599 Solacio 105 is the first machine through the doors at RoadCyclingUK HQ.
The Koga range is wide and covers road bikes, mountain bikes, city and trekking bikes, and e-bikes. There’s also the Koga Signature collection, which includes the stunning AL-Limited we spotted at Eurobike and which we hope to get in to test later this year.
The road range itself is comprised of four aluminium and three carbon fibre-framed bikes, each available in a number of builds, and the Solacio sits below the race-focused Kimera Premium and Kimera Prestige.
The Solacio is Koga’s ‘endurance’ (or sportive) bike, then. That’s most evident in the relaxed geometry: our medium test bike (one of five sizes available from small to extra-large) has a relatively tall 160mm headtube for the 547mm toptube.
The frame has all the features you’d expect of a modern carbon fibre machine. There’s a tapered headtube and PressFit bottom bracket, designed to offer stiffness both through the front end and through the pedals. All the cables run internally and there’s also a 27.2mm seatpost, which has become the standard on bikes like this, with the narrower diameter said to offer more flex and thereby help take the sting out of rough roads. Koga have also specced the Solacio 105 with 25mm tyres, which seems a sensible concession to comfort.
The Solacio is available in four models of which ours, the Solacio 105, is the most affordable at £1,599, rising to the Solacio Ultegra Di2 at £2,599.99. Our bike, as the name suggests, is equipped with Shimano 105 components, though only the shifters, derailleurs and 12-25t cassette come from the Japanese firm’s mid-range 10-speed setup. The chainset and brakes are non-series Shimano units. It’s also the first bike to arrive at RCUK with a triple chainset (50-39-30t) for some time and it seems odd that Koga don’t offer the Solacio with Shimano 105 in its standard or compact double chainset configuration.
Otherwise, Koga-branded aluminium finishing kit (handlebar, stem and seatpost) and saddle, and Mavic Aksium wheels wrapped in 25mm Vredestein Fortezza tyres, complete the spec sheet. All-up weight is 8.3kg on our scales.
Price: £1,599
Sizes: S-XL
Website: Koga
UK distributor: Maxtrack
