Condor Leggero SL Disc
Classic in appearance, brilliant in performance
Ever wondered why suits are traditionally black? I have it on good authority from a clothselling acquaintance that it all comes down to status. Once upon a time, black was one of the most expensive colours for cloth, because to make cloth dark took a lot of dye. Dye was costly and thus any respectable gentleman would choose a suit that demonstrated he was a man of means.
Now, have you ever wondered why so many bikes are black? I’ve asked all the acquaintances I know in that field too, and the answer I get is generally, ‘Well, customers want black bikes so we make black bikes.’ Maybe it’s making black bikes that makes customers want black bikes, but there came a point a few years ago where it felt like we’d reached peak black, and I for one grew increasingly underwhelmed.
Then, as if by magic, fluoro accents started to emerge from the sea of darkness, rubbing their puffy red eyes after having been asleep since around 1991, and now we are almost back to full technicolor bikes – alongside black, of course. I’m happy about this, and so I never thought I’d ever be enamoured with a black bike again. Then I encountered the Leggero SL.
Light Super Light
‘We had a model called the Montileggero back in the 1970s, which was an ultralight steel frame,’
says Condor’s Claire Beaumont. ‘We started the new models in 2000, and in 2007 when we launched Rapha Condor we had the riders use the Leggero and help develop it over the years.’
Sadly Rapha Condor is no more, having folded in the guise of JLT Condor last month, but the Leggero has gone from strength to strength, morphing through six iterations and now including disc and super-light versions. There are four bikes currently available under the Leggero name (which means ‘light’ in Italian): the aero Leggero rim and disc version, the SL rim brake model and this, the Leggero SL Disc.
The SL bit pertains to the fact this is Condor’s lightest-ever frameset, a claimed 850g for the frame and 330g for the fork – impressive for a disc bike. But what struck from the off is just how much like a ‘normal’ race bike this feels. Light, yes, but more than that, responsive. And the reason is that it has identical geometry to its racy rim brake brethren, because unlike many disc bikes, the Leggero’s chainstays haven’t been lengthened to accommodate the wider disc spacing at the rear. As such, its wheelbase remains quite short, and the bike retains all the pluck and snap of a sharphandling race bike, but does so with powerful all-weather braking.
That braking is provided by Campagnolo’s Record H11 disc groupset, of which I’m a big fan. The ability to thunk through five sprockets on one lever sweep as you wind up in a sprint or drop onto a descent is a thing of pure joy. In typical Campagnolo fashion, the H11 gruppo is aesthetically and ergonomically pleasing too, with neat lever hoods and elegant rotors that have a nicely bevelled, gold-tinted edge.
Adding this groupset to the Leggero SL has produced a bike that excels in almost every way, but perhaps so much so that sometimes it almost feels a little dull, in that there is so little disparity between crucial areas it doesn’t feel exceptional in any one area.
If a bike is really stiff but also vertically uncompliant then the stiffness feels amplified. If a bike is heavy but aero, the aero nature shines that much more brightly on the flat. The Leggero SL, though, does everything quite beautifully, and is a bike that helps harmonise the rider to
The bike retains all the pluck and snap of a sharp-handling race bike, but with all-weather braking
The frame is plenty stiff and the rider position it offers is aggressive but not back-breaking
the road. I hate to use the cliché, but it’s a bike that disappears beneath you.
As a result of the disc brakes, fitting 28mm tyres is easy, which only adds to an already comfortable bike; the loads under braking feel balanced and assured, aided again by extra tyre rubber; the frame is plenty stiff and the rider position it naturally offers is aggressive but not back-breaking.
This all adds up to one the best descending bikes I’ve tested this year, and easily the secondmost pleasurable to ride after the Fiftyone (see issue 75), but then that was custom made to fit me – which leads me nicely to the overriding sense of this Leggero SL.
This is a bike that feels like a custom bike, yet it isn’t. I reckon that’s because like most custom carbon bikes the Leggero is round tubed and tube-to-tube constructed, things that give a bike a noticeably sweeter feel to monocoque frames. It’s even made for Condor by an Italian contractor that deals in super high-end custom bikes itself.
Yet the Leggero isn’t the best bike going. We’ve had the S-works Venge and Tarmac through the office recently (both disc bikes) and they have reminded me why you would want an aero bike or an ultra-light monocoque racer.
The Venge is flat-out, Tt-bike rapid, but rides pretty much like a ‘normal’, if somewhat firm, road bike. It’s cable-free and has an edgy look that will appeal. The Tarmac is fantastically balanced and nimble, weighs just 6.83kg and though slower than the Venge is a more comfortable all-rounder.
I could throw in others such as the BMC Teammachine or Trek Émonda. It would be difficult for me to choose between them in performance terms, in the same way I’d be hard-pressed to say the Leggero is better or worse than those bikes mentioned.
Rather, it all serves as a reminder that there is still variety in character at the top end of race bikes, even if the gaps in performance continue to get narrower, and that bike choice is as much about taste as objectivity, because in this day and age there’s so little in it.
The Leggero SL also reminded me that I do rather like black bikes after all. But only if they are this beautifully balanced and finessed.