carbon road bike

With its direct front end and general firm character the Mendiz RS9.3 is brilliant at going really really fast for a relatively short time.

If you want a comfy all-day ride or a steady sportive plodder then you'll need to look elsewhere. That's not to say the Mendiz can't do those things, far from it, but its talents lie elsewhere.

The stiff, almost brutal at times front triangle, sharp steering and direct power transfer would make it a great race or crit machine, as long as there were no cobbles along the way.

If you've got some serious cash to spend on a hand built Italian carbon fibre superbike the usual suspects of Colnago, De Rosa et al are probably topping your list. But should the Fondriest TFZero be on there too?

The Isaac Kaon is Isaac's entry level road offering - insomuch as a bike costing the better part of two grand can be called that. Mat's 'first look' gives you the whole technical lowdown on the bike, so I'll skip straight through to how it actually rides on the road.