Moda Stretto
I’m just an ordinary club rider who enjoys long rides, climbing hills and like many of us, I suspect, has ambitions to ride faster. For me, buying a new bike is a mind blowing experience involving trailing through online reviews extolling the virtues of all kinds of bike technology when in the end what I want to know is, how does the bike feel on the road? And the answer with the Stretto is…amazing.
Obviously ‘amazing’ is a personal, unscientific judgment. It’s based on a couple of thousand miles of riding and comparisons with other bikes I’ve ridden. Fundamentally I want a machine that keeps me in good contact with the road whatever the situation and the Stretto delivers in spades. There are two (obvious) situations where this matters most, cornering and descending, and the Stretto is outstanding at both. It has none of the skittishness I’ve found with some bikes when taking tight corners, whilst its road holding when descending at speed has given me a level of confidence I’ve never previously felt.
Surprisingly, in the light of what I’ve said about its superb road holding qualities and solid feel, the Stretto is very light which makes it a great climbing bike, as well as being extremely agile when you need to step up a gear or get out of those tight situations. Oh, and it does go very fast if you ask it to and, of course, have the legs to power away! I suspect racers will love it even more than I do. I’m not an expert on individual components that combine to give the Stretto a high level spec – but I do know that collectively they add up to a bike I find a joy to ride.
- By Geoff Caton
