New Bike - Onix Azzuro

Here's a first peep at my new wheels I picked up this morning from UK on-line bike retailer Onix.  

Onix is the brainchild of entrepreneur Craig Middleton, who resides in the Preston area of the North West of England.  I'd heard of the brand before as they appeared on my list of road bike manufacturers, but confess to not knowing much about them.  

It was only a week ago that I chatted to the MD of the agent that imports Bioracer kit - Ken Jones of Onimpex - and he extolled the virtues of the frame, it's stiffness and race handling, claiming it's one of the best bikes he's ever ridden.  

Ken is a road racing vet of over 25 years and was riding the Paris-Roubaix last Saturday with Sean Kelly, so that was praise indeed and it stirred my interest in the brand, particularly given they are based here in the North West of England.  The bike had a great write up from Road Cycling UK.

I got hold of Craig the next day on Twitter and here I am a week later with one of his bikes.  The speed of business nowadays eh.

So Why Another Bike?

I'd been thinking of another bike for a few months.  Primarily, I wanted to have a bike with a standard chainring on the front.  My Dolan Ares has a compact and as I get faster, I'd like to see what top end speeds I can achieve.  Opting for a full Ultegra groupie on this one with 53/39 front ring, I'll use this bike for the flatter sportives like the Cheshire 100 and the Ares for the hillier stuff.  

First Impressions

The paint job is lovely.  The photo's on the web don't really do it justice.  The black parts of the frame are glorious Toray T1000 carbon weave and are beautifully offset in the high gloss white, think the bike would look awesome just in black on its own with that finish. 

Build quality is good, it's got a large oversize bottom bracket and an interesting flared rear left chainstay, which Onix claim is the secret to the stiffness of the overall frameset.  I'll get a proper review up when I've got some miles in on it.

The overall look of the bike is really nice and I think a real contender if you're in the second bike - £1500 budget category upwards.  As Onix only sell on-line, they demonstrate excellent value as you get more bang for you buck and you can put better components on a very good carbon frame.

I'm really happy as I prefer to support niche bike brands, particularly if they are UK businesses.  Like pretty much all bikes nowadays, the manfucturing for Onix is out in the Far East, with the design and build being done locally here in the UK.  I wish more roadies would consider supporting start-ups and smaller brands, businesses like Onix, deserve our support.