Moda Stretto

The Moda Stretto's classy carbon frameset and decent quality lightweight parts add up to a wonderfully sprightly ride that's hard to fault, but some riders have mixed feelings about the wheel choice.

We've spent a couple of months with this Moda Stretto and we haven't found a lot to gripe about. Even the weather played ball most of the time, allowing a decent mileage to accumulate on frequent rolls across the Somerset Levels then up over the Mendips.

Components & construction

The Stretto's frame and fork are built using a high modulus carbon composite blend and our test bike came specced with a light American Classic Aero 3 wheelset, SRAM's Force gearset and brakes plus a house branded Barelli crankset, seat post, saddle, bar and stem.

There's a strong emphasis on low weight (the web site claims 16.4lb/7.43kg, our 56cm test bike tipped the scales at just a few grams under the 7.5kg mark, before we added pedals) and that becomes an enticing factor in the performance.

Moda is very much an enthusiast, rider-driven company. Their bike ranges are developed in the Peak District and assembled in Derby and most of the range can be built to precisely suit your requirements in terms of componentry and budget, with choices of SRAM, Shimano, Campagnolo or Microshift drivetrain parts and a wide variety of finishing parts and wheels.

Rider opinions on the SRAM Force group seem evenly split: you get used to the shifting quickly but a few racers moan about the fact that shifting quietly is impossible, not great if you're just about to launch a stealthy attack. But the less competitive inclined tend to like the clunk click every shift audio effect.

Apart from on this bike we haven't had a great deal of durability feedback on the Barelli finishing kit fitted to the Stretto. The carbon crankset certainly looks and feels the part, and most riders were happy with the 53/39 tooth 7075 heat treated aluminium ring combo. If you're not, Moda is happy to fit a compact crankset to any bike.

The seat post, stem and short drop carbon handlebar are all well finished but we had a couple of moans about saddle comfort on long rides. If there's anything you don't like your local dealer can use Moda's 'Dream Build' option to change handlebars, stems etc and suppliers Eurobike, who have during this test period been integrated into the Moore Large (B2B) group, can also offer ITM, Deda or Selle Italia finishing kit.

Our test bike was fitted with Schwalbe's Lugano 23c tyres but the standard specification is with Kaliente Pro 23s from Kenda. We're happy to see that as Lugano all-rounders aren't quite up to the performance quality of the rest of the bike.

The ride: confident & well balanced

The ride quality of the Stretto frame and fork is superb, a perfect compromise of stability under pressure and vibration absorption to a level of dulling square edges without losing its pert and squirt feel on rougher roads.

Geometry is a fairly lively 73 degrees at the head, 73.5 at the seat on the 56cm bike and the horizontal top tube length is the same as the extended seat tube. Combined with a regular 45mm fork offset this makes for a confident, well balanced ride with the sort of cornering character that makes you constantly push harder as you get to know the bike and learn the limits of the wheels and tyres.

You do become aware of those limits from time to time though. The deep aero profile rims get a little twitchy in strong cross winds and caused a couple of nervous moments on blowy downhills, and the combination of low weight and the 'two to one' rear wheel spoking pattern means you can't run your rear brake shoes too close to the rim as there's noticeable flex when standing up and climbing, or sprinting.

The plus side of the 18/24 spoked wheel design is, as well as the presumed aero' benefit, that you notice the low wheel weight in acceleration. The frame has room for 25c tyres if you feel the need for more comfort.

Attention to detail

The frame and fork aesthetics are a pleasing mix of aero and oversized, with the slightly sloping top tube producing a semi-compact look with an extended seat tube. The frame is constructed from tubes rather than the main section being moulded in one piece, with reinforcing layers added at all the crucial joins (head tube, seat tube and bottom bracket) for extra strength and stiffness.

The seat tube flares around the rear tyre, keeping the back end short and presumably offering a tiny aero boost. Skinny seat stays appear to add a little extra comfort at the back end and the tapered steerer adds obvious precision and stability in steering.

The fourteen models listed in Moda's road bike range (£749.99 to £3899.99) include some overlap from previous years and an interesting frame materials choice between aluminium, titanium and carbon. The previous Stretto model is now the cheaper (£1999.99) Molto with the new Stretto frame getting some subtle geometry tweaks; its shorter head tube, shorter top tube and shorter back end are said to sharpen up the handling.

We didn't test last year's bike so we can't make the comparisons but no one had any complaints about the handling at high or low speeds. A bottom bracket upgrade to a BB30 press-fit unit plus sheathed (easy to thread) internal cable routing through the top tube and down tube are other notable upgrades that should please most riders.

Finishing detail is mostly excellent. There are two sets of bottle bosses, there is loads of bar/stem height adjustment via the steerer washers, the handlebar tape is good quality stuff and the frame finish seems hard wearing. The raw frames are sanded and painted before the decals are applied then finished in a clear matt lacquer.

The colour scheme is described as 'Smoke, Primer and Chalk': it drew plenty admiring glances and comments at cafe stops. One little moan though: both sets of bottle cage bolts and the Barelli stem bolts were already showing signs of surface rust after a single wet ride.

Verdict

A classy carbon frameset plus decent quality lightweight parts adds up to a wonderfully sprightly ride that's hard to fault, but some riders have mixed feelings about the wheel choice.