STORCK VISIONER C REVIEW
As the current chairperson of Chatteris Cycling Club, and dealing with a lot of behind the scenes work to get the club up and running from scratch, I was starting to think that riding my bike was a thing of the past. So you can imagine my joy when Steve at C6 Bikes in Waterbeech informed me that he had a Storck Visioner demo bike coming in and needed putting through its passes. This bike has recently won “Road CC’s Best Bike 2015/2016” and to be fair I can understand why. It simply looks stunning and for a little over £2,000 it’s splashed with a great spec.
Knowing I had to ride this over a Fenland route that had everything, including hills, I left Chatteris Friday morning for my normal solo training ride. At first I thought it was going to be a bike for the all-rounder, Sportives on the weekend and the odd local Crit mid-week. But after about the 20 mile mark was reached I realised this bike was definitely for racing and would easily sit comfortably in a racing peloton with its stunning looks and performance. The new Shimano 11spd 105 group set, which too be honest was a very good group set in the first place, is amazing and as good as its bigger brother Ultegra. It shifts up and down the gears easily and is very precise leaving the rider in no doubt what’s going on down below. The new stealth black colour gives it that pro look and sets this particular bikes colour off very well.
This was proved when I started to climb in and out of the saddle (yes there are some hills in the Fens, you just need to know where to look – head South). It’s a very responsive bike with a stiff carbon frame making it perfect for a sprint and once I got past the head wind (most of the ride) I started to enjoy what I think the gap in the market this bike was pitched at – “an affordable local club sprinter”. With a lovely tail wind behind me the Visioner was very comfortable at cruising along around 26mph making a lovely dulled noise, the noise that makes you enjoy riding your bike on your own and one that confirms that you are riding something very special.
When the speed is up the Storck really comes alive. You only need a little bit of movement and it responds almost as if it’s the road bike version of Avatar attached to your mind/soul. Effortless throughout most of the ride, even with the head wind it just seemed to want to punch through the air. With a couple of basic upgrades to this already very accomplished machine such as non-slip bar tape and improved puncture protected tyres (yes a got a rear blow out at 26mph but luckily on a straight traffic free road so stayed upright). But saying this I was riding this in February and come the summer months you shouldn’t have a problem with the tyres it comes with.
To summarise the Visioner is an awesome bike, dripping in some top component parts, with a real sturdy feel of German build technology, you know exactly what you are getting. It moves when it wants and feels totally effortless throughout. The looks and colour are stunning but you would need to keep cleaning it at every café stop to do this bike justice. If I had the chance of owning one, then I would snap this bike up ASAP without a second thought and would defiantly call it Avatar. If you get the opportunity to test ride this bike, then make sure your ride is no less than 40 miles as it would go by too quickly otherwise. Bottom line, FANTASTIC, 5 STARS, TOP BIKE, BUY IT NOW!
Thank you to the lads at C6 Bikes for allowing me to give it a run out for you. Hopefully some more bikes will come in for more of the same.
