Hersh Speed road bike

Looking through Hersh's description of the Speed you won't see comfort mentioned anywhere; this bike is about power transfer, handling and being ridden hard. In short, it lives up to its name.

Italian company Hersh offers a small selection of carbon road bikes in the UK along with a time trial bike and a steel fixie with a focus on customization. Whether you tweak the components, paint or even geometry on some models, the idea is that you can create a bit more of a bespoke ride than just accepting a full-on off the peg model.

The Speed is a frame of two halves. The front triangle is oversized with a 1 1/8in to 1.5in tapered head tube and a massive 55mm wide, diamond-profile down tube. The biggest thing of note, though, is the bottom bracket area, which actually eclipses the 34-tooth inner ring. Hersh have gone for a push fit BB30 which allows them to go wider at the BB shell as there are no outboard bearings needed for the chainset.

Using one of the highest tensile strength carbon materials, Toray's T800, means the combination of that and the large tube profiles creates a massively stiff frame. Sprinting, climbing, anything where you are really stomping on the pedals reflects the solidity of the frame and it really delivers your power to the road.

The £2,000 Shimano 105 build we've got here hasn't got the lightest of components on board but the low frame weight shows through on the climbs and with the narrow Ritchey bars the Hersh really loves to attack the climbs, especially those where you need to be out of the saddle. In fact it doesn't feel like it weighs 8.2kg (18lb) at all thanks to how efficient it is.

Low and long could be used to describe the geometry as its very much a racer's cut. The 53cm we've got has a seat tube of 52cm and an effective top tube of 54.6cm on this compact frame. The 15cm head tube sounds longer than it is as the slammed stem stance here means there's a good drop from saddle to bars.

Descending and cornering is solid and dependable thanks to a short wheelbase of just 983mm and a slightly slacker head angle of 72° than I was expecting to see. It does keep the steering controllable, though, especially on suspect road surfaces as the handling isn't quite so twitchy. The Speed holds a line well and crouched in the drops you can get the top speed up without having to worry about making it round the next bend. The full carbon fork matched the frame with very little in the way of flex. Really load the front end up and you couldn't upset it at all.

The trade-off of all this stiffness though is it ain't all that comfortable. It's not uncomfortable, just on the harsh side for anything over three or four hours. The rear end, especially the seat stays are very thin to absorb as much shock as possible and they do a good job of stopping your rear end from taking to much of a kicking. A lot of carbon seatpost poking out of the frame helps to though you can go for an optional integrated post version. It's the front end where the damage is done, the wrists and hands especially.

As I've mentioned this is the 105 build which offers a full groupset, Ambrosio wheels and Ritchey finishing kit. It's a sensible entry level into the Hersh range working well with the Speed frame and you can upgrade the parts as you go. The Ambrosio wheels were a very nice ride with smooth hubs and they stayed true throughout the test period. They are heavy though. We swapped out the standard wheels for some deep section carbons for a couple of rides and that really gave the Hersh a new lease of life.

There is also an Ultegra build (£2,250) Dura Ace (£3,500) or if SRAM tickles your fancy there are Force and Red builds for £2,300 & £3,500 respectively. You can even go your own way with a frame & fork option for £1,250. On the face of it, it all looks pretty good value for money as the frame is well built with plenty of neat little touches. It'll take both mechanical and electronic groupsets thanks to tidy internal cabling and no redundant cable stops and you also get a replaceable gear hanger which in my eyes is a must on any expensive frame. To finish things off you can have the Speed painted in any colour you want at the factory and the orange highlights on ours look smart and well finished.

The Hersh Speed is one for the club chain ganger or weekend racer as it loves to be ridden hard and will respond to whatever you ask of it. You need to be the type of rider that can take a bit of rattling about over the potholes. This is exactly what Hersh set out to create though: a thoroughly ruthless speed machine that puts out what you put in.

It can be a little lacking in communication sometimes like a lot of ultra stiff carbon bikes but the balance of sensible geometry and a calm rear triangle means the Hersh won't put you into any sort of trouble that can't be gotten out of easily.

This 105 build is a good starting point though a change to a lighter set of wheels will pay dividends and completely changes the climbing abilities of the Speed.

If you're intrigued Hersh will be displaying their bikes at the Cycle Show next month.

Verdict

Stiff, ruthless race machine that delivers the power at a sensible price; can be a bit on the harsh side