This Sunday we had the special treat of having Phil Anderson come out on a ride with SPR.  He was there with Gary from Malvern Star to promote the new range of Oppy bikes that Phil has helped design.

Phil’s star power helped drag out a few extra riders, which meant wehad over 70 bikes ready to take on the hills with the pro!

I had the pleasure of taking one of the new C6’s out for a spin.  Gary was on hand to swap over pedals, and adjust the bike to fit my measurements etc.  I was impressed with his ability to remove my left pedal – I destroyed a pedal spanner earlier in the year trying to get it off.  Could of used a mechanic back then I guess.

Pete recruited Paul O and myself to look after the Intermediate group for the day.  Instructions were issues and the transitional group set off.  The Intermediate group set off shortly after, about 30 strong, and the calibre of the group was imediately elevated by the presence of the big man himself.  No, not Pete – Phil.

The first little hiccup came at the Canning lights where most of the group got through except for Phil, Pete, Paul and Dan B.  I called out for the peleton to ease up, but I was reasonably confident the pro level gruppetto wouldn’t have a big issue with closing the gap.  They didnt and we were soon back together.

After a few minutes on the Great Eastern we picked up the transitional group which almost doubled our numbers on the road.  A few more minutes along and we picked up Nicole – instantly classing up the whole scene.

The pace was relatively high through the Swan, perhaps a few guys trying to impress the big man.  It wasnt long till we farewelled the transitional group and began out climb up Darlington.

The climb starting interestingly for me.  Meg dropped her chain about 50m into the climb, which unfortunately resulted in her losing too much momentum and she gracefully landed on the bituman right in front of Ronny Phil and myself. I stopped briefly to help but Pete was already on the scene and looked to have everything under control.  So I set off again, just in time to see Phil disappear from view.

This was my first chance to give the C6 a good test.  I put my head down and started tapping out a rhythm.  The first thing I noticed about the bike was the Ultegra groupset is flawless.  As you would expect.  Changing through the cassette looking for the smallest gear was easy, even under full strain.  The standard FSA bars are nice and comfy on the top which is great for when you are chewing stem.

I started picking up a few riders on the climb.  Unfortunately the first one was Jamie who had also dropped his chain.  Probably a bit of a lesson here for the less expereienced riders – get out of the big ring before you need to.  There is nothing worse then throwing the chain off in the middle of the climb – good way to lose your nuts too!

Speaking of losing your nuts – Pete’s ride finished at the bottom of Darlington.  After stoppin to help Meg he remounted only to be met by a falling pedal stroke and a loud crunch.   Someone had done their own maintenace and not tightened up their chainring nuts properly.  When disaster struck only 1of the 5 nuts remained.  Result – damaged chainring and end of ride.  Pete is lucky to have Kate for emergency pickups.

Anyway,  I didnt stop for Jamie, Ive already put his chain on once in recent weeks, so I left him to do it himself.  I got my rhythm back and kept tapping the Oppy and picking up a few more riders.  I managed to get up to Lenny, and nearly caught Mino before the top – but alas he beat me.  There is an internal battle going between us – I think now its about 3-3.

At the top we stopped to regroup.  A few of the guys had a nature stop – including Phil.  I needed to go too, but I was afraid of getting pro-induced stage fright!  Over the top? Out the leg? How do the pro’s do it?  Too much pressure.

The Advanced group met us at the top and we sorted ourselves out.  The Intermediate group headed up to Greenmount towards the Great Eastern for the fast descent home.

This is where the Oppy C6 really started to show its class.  It was fast on the descent.  I mean really fast.  I started the descent last, threw the Ultegra into the biggest gear and started winding it up.  It wasn’t long before I started catching the riders.  I’m still think about this descent guys.  The Oppy was just so smooth and stable on the way down.  I think it’s a combination of the geometry, the over-sized bearing in the headset and the carbon soaking up the bumps.   Whatever it is, I kept spinning the machine all the way down easily catching and passing everybody before the bottom of the climb.  I was disappointed I didnt have a computer on board – I think I would have set a personal max speed record. Maybe 90km/hr.

A quick regroup  in Midland and we set off for home.  It was a quick return home down Guilford Rd.  The guys turned it up on the undulations and we dropped a few people as a result.  By the time we got back to the foreshore there was around 8 of us left.  The normal coffee places where full so a few of us had a coffee at the Boatshed at the Coode Street car park – had to kill some time before handing the bike back to Gary.

So thoughts on the bike….

Well to start with this was the Malvern Start Oppy C6 with Ultegra 6700 and Mavic Ksyrium Equipe wheelset.

The frame whole rig weighs in at 7.8kg. The C7 with Durace and a better wheelset trims another kilo off that.

The things I liked about this bike was the responsiveness of the machine when you stood on the pedals.  It was nice and snappy under power and seemed to love being thrown from side to side when sprinting.  It was also comfortable when cruising and performed well on the climb.

What I loved about the bike though was how it performed on the descent.  It was seriously that good.  Stable, fast and just felt extremely well balanced.  Exactly what ‘s needed when breaking the speed limit on the downhills.

There was only two small things I didnt like about it.  The first was the bars.  Although they are great on top, I found the drops to be a bit too shallow for my liking.  The other thing was the rear bottle cage.  I kept hitting it with my right calve, which was annoying.  Both of these problems could be really easily sorted with a couple of aftermarket changes.  The problem with the cage was probably my fault and due to my massive awesome calves.

Overall, for the price the bike is going to be pretty hard to beat.  Malvern Star and Phil have done a good job, and after just 60km I’m giving it some serious consideration myself.  I’m told that TBE in Belmont are doing it for just under $3000 which is good value in my book. 

I also like the fact that this is an Aussie bike.  That definately goes in my pro column.

If anyone has questions about it I would be happy to answer them.  See you on the road.