De Rosa Milanino

The Milanino is De Rosa's cheapest road bike but with its 'handmade in Italy' frame there is very little 'entry level' about it. It has a snappy ride, great handling and decent equipment. The only downside is a slightly basic pair of wheels.

Aluminium still has a lot to bring to the table as a viable alternative to carbon fibre, as the Cannondale CAAD 10 and Canyon Ultimate show. £1699 is still quite a high price for an alloy framed bike so, what do you get for your money and is it worth it?

Frame

Constructed by hand out of custom-drawn, triple-butted aluminium tubing at De Rosa's factory in Cusano Milanino, the Milanino (see what they did there) is finished off with smooth welds and a choice of either black or 'azurra' blue paint.

It's a semi compact design so De Rosa can get away with making just four size options (S-XL) as most fitting tweaks can be sorted out with a change of stem and seatpost. The overall look of the tubing is quite classical in traditional race bike style. There's no hydroforming or aero sections here and the only deviation from round tubes is the square profile chain stays.

Our medium size has a 54cm top tube and with a combination of 40cm seat stays and a 74° seat tube angle we're looking at a speed machine, the rear wheel tucked right in against the seat tube. The front end continues the theme with a short 137mm head tube.

The overall build quality is very high and goes a long way to justifying the price tag.

The Mizuno carbon fork has a 1 1/8in non-tapered steerer and the legs look pretty beefy as they leave the crown which should translate into a stiff front end when pushed. The straight legs also provide a platform for a couple more De Rosa stickers.Oh how the Italians love a logo!

The frameset is also available on its own for £699 which includes the frame, fork and seatpost.

Groupset

A De Rosa just looks right with Campagnolo on it and the Centaur group is a great performer. It may be Campagnolo's fifth groupset from the top, but that does it an injustice; you'll be hard pressed to notice the difference between this and Athena or Chorus in the real world without counting the number of shifts.

The shifting is precise and solid every time as the chain moves across the 12-25 10-speed cassette (higher Campagnolo groups have 11 sprockets). Once set up, the front and rear mechs stayed spot on with no adjustment needed throughout the test period.

The Milanino comes with the carbon wrapped versions of the alloy shifters, they're only a few grams heavier but look loads better than the standard alloy ones.

Being able to move three sprockets on the up shift with one sweep of the lever is also of great benefit when you're riding in unfamiliar terrain or quick acceleration.

Breaking from the Centaur is the Fulcrum Racing Torq R carbon chainset which uses Campagnolo's Ultra Torque axle, a great design that uses interlocking teeth to connect drive and non drive side together. (Fulcrum is a subsidiary of Campagnolo so its still kind of a full groupset.)

It's a compact (50-34) which seems to be the norm these days but should still provide you with enough top end gears for everything except all out racing.

Thats the 'going' sorted so what about the 'slowing'? The Centaur dual pivot brakes have great modulation and plenty of power. Set up is easy and the pad compound is soft enough to grip without wearing too quickly.

Finishing kit

The front end is supplied by 3T: Ergosum Pro bars and ARX-Pro stem. Both alloy and oversized diameter at 31.8mm and the bars are safe for attaching tri-bars if you fancy a go at 'the race of truth'.

The alloy seatpost is provided by FSA and it's a good tight fit in the frame. The only downside to this is that moving it up and down has removed most of the lacquer, making it look pretty shabby.

Keeping the white theme going, matching the bar tape and cable outers is the Prologo saddle. It's the Zero model with titanium rails and its certainly stiff giving you a bit of kicking until it beds in a bit.

Fulcrum's entry level wheels, the 7's, are an obvious downgrade to bring the bike in on price. From previous experience they're a decent performer but at around 1900g a pair they aren't what you'd call a race wheelset even with Continental's Grand Prix tyres wrapped around them.

Ride

Thankfully the Milanino rides as well as it looks. A combination of the frame's stiffness and that tight geometry sees it accelerate and change direction the instant you ask it to, which gives the rider huge confidence when faced with technical road sections. The steering is quick, as quick as you'd want it without it becoming twitchy and it weights up nicely when the speed increases.

The stiffness of the frame doesn't transfer to an unpleasant ride. It can get a bit bumpy on poor road surfaces but the bars and stem have enough flex to take out the majority of the road buzz plus the compact frame design leaves a lot of exposed seatpost which also provides a bit of give. The lack of any seriously oversized tube diameters also comes into play here and can see vibration resonating through the frame.

Get into the hills and you still won't find anything to ruin your mood. Yes, the climbing is a bit muted thanks to the weight of the Fulcrum 7 wheels. That's mostly only noticeable when the gradient really ramps up; on shallower gradients and short power climbs though the De Rosa flies.

Come back down the other side and the Milanino is beautifully balanced. Get low at the front end and let the bike do the work as everything comes together, the quick steering, stiff frame and fork plus the Centaur brakes control the speed excellently without fear of locking up.

On the up side the wheels are pretty bombproof. They are still running true and the hubs are smooth.

The Grand Prix tyres are very grippy and seem to be wearing well. The test miles have covered everything the British summer had to offer and the tyre surface is devoid of cuts or visits from the puncture fairy. Dry grip is very good giving lots of feedback as to what is going on while in the wet there was very little of the usual Continental skittishness.

So, 10/10 for the Milanino then? Well not quite, the Prologo saddle is pretty harsh. It does get better as you put more miles in but it is still going to test you on longer rides. The wheels, as I've said are heavy and the Milanino really deserves a lighter set of hoops to get the best out of the frame. Other than those two minor quibbles there is very little to spoil the party.

Overall

The Milanino goes a long way to highlight that frame material is largely irrelevant if you know what you are doing with it. It looks the business and rides like a race bike should, everything you put into the pedals you're going to see coming out as forward motion.

It'll happily be ridden all day as well, depending how you get on with the saddle. It's comfortable and not at all harsh as some alloy frames can be. In fact the ride is just as comfortable and forgiving as many carbon frames.

The Centaur kit is plenty good enough but if you wanted to upgrade it the frame will easily match the performance of Chorus or Record no problem.

With regards to price, it sits bang in the middle of Cannondale's CAAD10 105 and Ultegra versions so it's pretty much spot on regarding its competition. Saying that though, even paying the full rrp of £699 for the frameset, with a bit of internet shopping I could buy the parts to build the same spec for at least £100 less than the £1699.99 asking price.

If you're pretty good with a spanner that might be an option worth exploring, it'll also free up an extra hundred quid or so towards a decent lighter set of wheels.

Verdict

Bellissimo, a top frame and decent finishing kit. Treat it to some lighter wheels though.