The disc-equipped Classics ride wins Cycling Plus’ highly acclaimed ‘Bike of the Year’ award
The Granfondo was originally developed with the BMC Racing Team to tackle the gruelling Spring Classics but its design attributes made for the perfect ride for any discerning long-distance cyclist. Cycling Plus hailed BMC for “redefining the road bike” and being “astonishingly accomplished in more than one realm of riding.”
The GF truly is the ‘Gran Turismo’ of cycling; harmoniously designed to offer unparalleled comfort with effortless speed. The Granfondo was the perfect chassis for a high-end disc equipped road bike and BMC’s engineers have married the two for uncompromised braking power and modulation on almost any road condition.
The bike topped a prestigious shortlist, pipping the Trek Domane, Cannondale Synapse Ultegra Disc, GT Grade and Giant Defy to the number one spot. Altogether some thirty five bikes priced between £1,500 – £2,500 were pitted against each other during an exhaustive testing period by Cycling Plus’ experts.
To those who may be surprised by the groupset level of the test winner, Cycling Plus’ senior technical editor Warren Rossiter would say that ’yes, for the same money the Synapse has better gears but the BMC’s frame is the same as that on the £7600 range-topper’ and that there was no noticeable difference in terms of weight or functionality when put to the test on the Spanish hills climbs of la Manga.
The 2015 test was described as their most difficult to date, concluding that: “The BMC Granfondo GF01 climbs beautifully, its race-developed frame means that not an ounce of effort is wasted.’ Its geometry and excellent disc brakes also allow, if not encourage, courageous descending. It is for these reasons and its overall versatility Cycling Plus crowned it the 2015 Bike of the Year.
Watch Bike Radar’s video verdict of how the test was won:
Available from our website here