Sensa Giulia G2 Ultegra

Sensa has updated its Guilia road bike. We tested the last version in 2013 and the latest incarnation, the Giulia G2, is an improvement. It's a bit lighter and a bit more comfortable without sacrificing any of its race-ready stiffness, and the design has been tweaked with some aero touches. It's a good racing all-rounder.

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The ride: firm, fast

"Perhaps the most significant move is the attempt to tune the comfort aspects of the Giulia," Sensa says of the new frame. "Some riders and testers have commented that the previous Giulia was a bit on the firm side at the rear. The new Giulia sees slimmed down seat stays to introduce a bit of give at the back. The tyre clearance on the frame and the fork has been increased to better allow for new generation 25mm tyres."

Has it worked? Yes. Yes, it has. The new frame is a fair bit lighter – 960g as opposed to 1100g – with the fork gaining 25g. Overall that's a 115g saving. We like percentages round here. That's about 8%.

Is it 8% more comfortable? That's a lot more difficult to objectively measure. As a whole, the bike feels smoother over rough tarmac, but how much of that is down to the frame and how much to the fact that you can now fit (and it comes equipped with) 25mm tyres as opposed to 23mm is hard to say. By way of a test I pumped the tyres up to Stu Kerton levels of hard (140psi) when I'd normally run them at 95. That made the bike a touch more skittery over broken tarmac but actually it wasn't bad, especially considering there are some deep sections in the frame and the 31.6mm seatpost won't be bending as much as a slimmer one would. Watch Sensa's video here. 

Overall the bike is more comfortable than the last incarnation, anyway. That's a product of all the design choices, tyre width included. It's a firm, racy feel, though, with a very direct front end. There was just a touch of lift-off from the front when descending at speed, meaning it didn't always feel perfectly planted, but overall the steering response and the tracking was very good. There weren't any scary moments.

Putting the power down to haul yourself up the other side of a dip revealed that there's no loss of stiffness in the G2 from the loss of weight. It's a very rigid platform and you never feel like you're wrestling the bike forward or wasting energy. Stamp on the pedals and you get some go. It's a simple equation.

The G2 has more nods to aero styling than the last frameset. The headset area is deeper and the fork crown and headset integrate into the head tube for smooth lines at the front. The down tube is less of a box and more of a teardrop, and the fork legs have been redesigned for better aerodynamics as well. It's not a fully-fledged aero bike – Sensa has the Calabria for that – and it doesn't make any specific claims for the G2 as regards power saving. It'll probably save you a few watts when you're going fast, though. And every little helps.

The build: quality transmission, decent finishing kit

Shimano's 11-speed Ultegra 6800 groupset (tested here) probably needs no introduction, but suffice to say that even though it's a few years old now it's right up there with the very best mechanical transmissions, mostly losing out to top-tier stuff like Dura-Ace and SRAM Red on weight rather than performance. Sensa specs the Giulia G2 with a 52/36 semi-compact chainset and an 11-28 cassette; that's what many of the pros use these days, so that's you out of excuses. It's the full groupset too: no skimping on the brakes or the chain or the cassette, you get the whole lot. And given that this bike retails for £1,699 and is usually 10% less than that on the Merlin website, it's a lot of bike for the money.

What you don't get for your £1,699 (or less) is the Supra RCA55 wheelset: that costs an extra £400. But that's okay, because you probably don't want it. The G2 normally comes specced with basic-but-upgradeable Supra RA Pro alloy wheels. If you're looking to race (or look as if you might) then it's a racy enough frame to throw some decent aero wheels at. The RCA55s are just a bit ordinary, though. They're fairly heavy at just under 2kg, and they're not especially stiff. I swapped them out for a set of Swiss Side Hadron 485s (another quick check to make sure I've spelt 'Hadron' right) which are a fair bit lighter and more predictable in sidewinds. Unsurprisingly, they were an improvement. If you want aero wheels then best get the bike with the basic ones, keep them for training or the turbo, and save your pennies for something nice. The £400 won't buy you a set of Hadrons, but it'll get you nearly half way there.

> Check out our guide to the best sportive and endurance bikes

Supra supplies the finishing kit. It's all alloy, and it's all fine. The handlebar is a shallow drop that gives you an easily accessible lower position. Our 61cm test bike has a 20.5cm head tube and a stack-to-reach ratio of 1.5. The higher that number is, the more upright the position, and 1.5 is pretty relaxed for a race bike; the smaller sizes are progressively lower in terms of that metric. I slammed the stem on our G2 (that's 'removed all the spacers') and still could have coped with a deeper drop than the one specced. It's not a bike that feels particularly upright, though.

The bar tape is nice and comfy and the Selle San Marco Aspide saddle, although not one of my favourites, is a quality model.

Overall: Great value sportive bike or entry-level racer

Specced as Merlin sells the bike on its website, with alloy wheels as opposed to the deeper section ones we have here, the Sensa Giulia G2 is a really good value option for the sportivist or privateer racer. The bike is responsive and quick, and the comfort is improved from the previous version. The Ultegra transmission is faultless in operation and the alloy finishing kit is dependable and upgradeable. Just add a set of race hoops and pin a number on your back (or ziptie one to your bar) and you're good to go.

Verdict

Very good sportive or race-day bike with a fast feel and aero touches