Kovert FX-Pro

Kovert's top of the range FX-Pro is pitched at what is probably the most hotly contested bike battle of 2012 – the one to be the best affordable electronic shifting bike. Launched at the 2011 Cycle Show, Kovert's ethos is to bring race bikes to the market at affordable prices. The brand's racing commitment is underlined by the Kovert Elite Racing Team who are already bringing in the early season results using the FX-Pro frameset. Affordability, well it's not the cheapest out there but, full carbon frameset, carbon/alloy wheels and Ultegra Di2 for a penny under £3k – I'll let you decide.

Firstly let's take a look at the 12k unidirectional carbon frame. As you'd expect the FX-Pro is designed for racing with our 54cm model having steep head and seat angles of 72.5° and 74° respectively. An oversized triangular downtube (with the flat side pointing at the ground) keeps things tight, also thanks to the tapered headtube and the oversize bottom bracket area. Put the hammer down and you aren't going to feel any waste of power. The back end follows much the same mantra, curved chunky seat and chainstays harness everything you put through the pedals.

The fork is also UD carbon for the legs and steerer. The top of the fork legs are allowed a large cross sectional area thanks to the smooth blend into the oversize headtube which should see the steering stay tight under load.

The FX-Pro frame is designed for electronic shifting only so internal routing for the Ultegra Di2 wires keeps it looking clean as they disappear into the headtube, reappearing next to the mechs. There is also internal routing for the rear brake cable travelling through the toptube, thankfully without any irritating noise from road buzz or vibration.

The finishing kit is mostly Kovert's in house Fluid brand which covers the handlebars, stem, seatpost, saddle, brakeset and wheels. The handlebars are 31.8mm diameter alloy as is the matching stem, they both look pretty standard affairs, in a getting the job done kind of way. The 31.6mm diameter seatpost is full carbon with zero layback, a simple two bolt clamp design attaching the cromoly (production models get titanium) saddle rails to the alloy cradle.

The Mercurial dual pivot callipers come with Swiss Stop pads which always give confident stopping power in the wet and dry. The black finish ties in well with the frame colour as well.

The show stoppers though are the carbon/aluminium deep section wheels. These Fluid Aqueous wheels are 50mm deep, a mixture of alloy braking surface and carbon aero fairing should see them shift on the flat when in that all important lone break. The Fluid hubs are mated to DT Swiss aero-bladed spokes, 20 at the front and 24 at the rear. The lacquered weave and showy logos certainly look the part.

Of couse the big selling point of the FX-Pro though is the Ultegra Di2 shifters and mechs, Dave and Mat have already written a piece on the ins and outs of the technology of it so I won't go into too many details here. A quick look at the key points and then I'll let you what it's like to live with.

In terms of layout the shifters are much the same as the mechanical versions. The hoods are narrower though thanks to removing all the bolts, springs etc and replacing them with whatever makes Di2 shifting works. You'll find the shifter buttons positioned in much the same place as where you'd push the brake lever and paddle and a simple click springs the motors into life to change gear. Once things are set up you shouldn't need to touch the set up again thanks to the self trimming and preset mech positions. If things do go a little awry there is a button on the battery monitoring box which allows tweaking.

Speaking of battery monitoring, the burn time of it is always the biggest concern judging by the fact that it is the first question anyone asks. Well, to put your mind at rest I clocked up over 600 miles with the majority of them below freezing and the monitor was still showing green, >50%. If things do go pear shaped and you run out of electricity shifting at the front mech will stop first allowing you to have the option of shifting at the cassette to get you home. A quick charge for 90 minutes sees you topped up to full capacity again.

If you do happen to crash, the rear mech automatically tucks itself inwards to minimise damage as soon as it detects an impact. Waterproofing is said to have been improved over Dura Ace Di2 and certainly over the test period our FX-Pro saw plenty of rain, mud, salt and general grime without a single murmur of complaint.

Odd as it may seem Kovert's standard spec for the FX-Pro is with an FSA Energy compact (50-34) chainset. A sign of the times possibly highlighting the fact that most top end race bikes these days are bought for sportives and general fitness riding around the lanes. Kovert will tweak the spec at the time of purchase though if you require if you fancy a more traditional 53-39 setup.

With the amount of bikes we've tested lately sporting BB30 it almost seems odd here to see FSA's MegaExo bottom bracket cups screwed into the frame. There has never been any issue with them so no reason to be changed just for the sake of it.

All this is assembled here in the UK by Kovert's mechanics so quality can be monitored before the bikes can reach their new owners.

Out on the road the Kovert has a very subtle ride, it'll happily munch miles and miles with very little problem. For a race machine it's also very well behaved at slower speeds with no twitchiness of the steering or harshness over rough surfaces. Give the pedals a prod though and the FX-Pro really comes alive. The feedback from the frame and fork is very good, a very solid feel yet it manages to absorb the road buzz. Once up to speed the aero wheels cut through the air and are easy to keep rolling, the 145mm headtube allows you to get a good low position in the drops keeping things spinning along.

Acceleration is brisk, quicker than its 7.8kg would suggest thanks to the stiffness of the frame. The oversize downtube and rear triangle do their jobs resisting the forces as the power goes down. There is some flex in the wheels side to side when out of the saddle, enough that I had to back off the brake pads an extra couple of millimetres to avoid rub.

Point the FX-Pro downhill and that race geometry distributes your weight to keep the bike perfectly balanced. The handling is sharp and cornering lines are easily controlled using just a shift in body weight to either side of the stiff handlebars. The braking surface on the Fluid wheels working nicely with the Swiss Stop pads, much more feel than the grabby nature of full carbon rims.

Uphill the flex in the wheels again detract from the great work the frame is doing, the noise of the spokes rubbing on the carbon as they enter the rim drives you insane on long climbs. Other than the wheels though climbing is a joy. The position is spot on in or out of the saddle and that stiffness shines through again. The weight is well balanced so there is no irritating rear wheel spin or lifting of the front wheel on steeper sections. Even the compact chainset isn't required here – the Kovert climbs that well. The 11-25 cassette and 50 ring provides enough gears to get up virtually anything. Indeed the minimal amount of use the front mech got is probably why the battery lasted so well on the Di2.

The Aqueous wheels roll well thanks to the Fluid hubs and stayed true throughout the testing. The flex at the rims though is annoying, the evidence of the spokes rubbing on the carbon was quite marked and the squeaking noise as it did so makes your teeth itch. The front rim must have had a slight high point as you could feel it grabbing under hard braking causing some fork judder. The Michelin Lithion tyres were pretty good, okay for grip but not the fastest rolling. The Aqueous rims have a pressure limit of 125psi, the same as the max pressure of the tyres so that's possibly the deciding factor of them being spec'd.

All the rest of the finishing kit works well, the saddle has more padding than I'd normally ride but it was more than comfortable for long hours on the bike. The bars and stem were more than stiff enough whether sprinting or climbing and the seatpost was a good tight fit in the frame so no slippage problems.

The FSA chainset, while completely under geared shifted well and ran smooth on the outboard bearings. The red logo did look at odds with the blue and white colour way of the frameset, to me at least, but that's just nit picking.

The benefits of the Ultegra Di2 shifting are felt everywhere. I personally didn't get the whole electronic revolution thing when Dura Ace Di2 was released, what could motors bring to gear changing that cables could not? Consistency, that is the main advantage. While the shift is not necessarily any better than a perfectly set up mechanical system it remains that way. Without the mechanical foibles of cable stretch, awkward cable routing issues and cable degradation you get perfect shifting every time. This makes it perfectly suited to all weather commuting, maybe not right now as the cost is prohibitive for most people but certainly as the technology trickles down. The shift is quicker and lighter as well, both these add up to less fatigue in your wrists and hands plus the issue of being in the wrong gear is no longer a problem as the shift is still effortless even under huge load and low cadences.

The shift buttons are easily pressed even with thick gloves on and as I mentioned above the narrower hoods are much more comfortable. The levers are reach adjustable so even those with small hands will have no problem reaching the brakes.

It's not all rosy though. I still think the mechs look ugly and clumpy with the massive motors on them, the front especially. The battery positioning on the FX-Pro looks out of place as well, having to use a cable tie to secure it alongside Shimano's own bottle cage bolt mounted bracket just looks a little tacky, especially after all the hard work that's gone in to the internal cable routing to keep the frame looking clean.

I understand that Di2 takes user serviceability away but thanks to Shimano releasing their latest diagnostics to LBS's if it does go wrong it shouldn't be too difficult to fix.

Overall the Kovert FX-Pro is a great bike slightly let down by the wheels. It's not the cheapest Ui2 bike out there but real thought and quality has gone into the frame and how it's going to ride and I think the price reflects that. The Kovert is a race ready machine that is just at home with the fitness or club rider and will certainly flatter your riding. It looks great and the paintjob is top notch giving a real top end feel to the frameset as do the finishing touches like the anodized bottle cage bolts.

The Ultegra Di2 gears worked brilliantly and I'd happily use electronic full time it's that good. The aesthetics are a small price to pay for constant clean shifting plus a recharge every 1000 miles.

Verdict

A well thought out, designed and built bike with loads of feedback and a comfortable ride. The frame is great plus sensible level components complete the package. The wheel flex was a bit of a fly in the ointment but you do get some payback on the flat sections from the aero benefits. The FX-Pro is also available as a frameset for £1299 if you fancy building it up to your own spec.