Van Nicholas Skeiron

Named after the Greek god of the northwest wind, the Skeiron is the brand new road bike from titanium specialist Van Nicholas and it absolutely flies; riding it feels like you're being pushed along by that same wind. If you want a high performance, disc brake-equipped road bike with a frame that'll probably last a lifetime then the Skeiron really needs to be on your wishlist. It's competitively priced too; high, but competitive.

A bike built around a good titanium alloy frame is almost always an absolute joy to ride and that is completely true of this new Van Nicholas, even if it is one of the stiffest options out there. In their search for all-out performance the designers may have sacrificed a bit of that velvety smooth feeling you expect from titanium, but what you are left with is a bike that absolutely devours the miles beneath you in relative comfort.

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The balance of speed, handling and comfort is a masterstroke as you never feel like you are compromising one to achieve the other.

The average speed of my rides was impressive on the Skeiron compared with the other bikes I've been knocking about on, including the Simplon Pavo Granfondo Disc, for example, and that one was no slouch. The really amazing thing about the Van Nicholas, though, is that you never really feel like you are in that much of a hurry on it.

A 52-mile relatively flattish out and back saw me return home with an average speed of 22mph, a speed I haven't achieved even on some of the full peloton-ready race bikes I've tested. It wasn't a one-off either, the Skeiron just kept delivering those kind of results.

There is nothing overly aero about the way the Van Nicholas is styled – other than the neat integration of the fork and head tube – so apart from awesome power transfer, the bulk of Skeiron's speed comes from the fact that you are so damn comfortable thanks to the geometry and how Van Nicholas has used the material.

The geometry of the frame sits somewhere in the middle of what you'd expect to see for a race bike and an endurance based machine. With a 563mm top tube and 170mm head tube, this large model meant I was able to get into an aero enough tuck to cut through the wind without any contorting of my body parts and I could sit in this position for hour upon hour. It provides you with a very effective and efficient style of riding.

The 72.5-degree head angle paired to a 43mm fork rake means the handling is nicely balanced, allowing for rapid progress through the bends. The Skeiron never feels twitchy, but there's enough quickness in the steering to be able to give the bar a flick to change your line should you need to.

The geometry certainly worked for me. I always felt like I was sat in exactly the right position, my bodyweight always right where I wanted it. I could lean the Skeiron into the bends bang on point and bank it over from one side to the other with absolute ease. Even on the roughest of road surfaces, the Van Nicholas never felt flustered or panicky, it was so composed.

Performance is what the Skeiron is all about, and it definitely delivers. At the front you get a tapered head tube and fork steerer which increases front end stiffness for tighter steering.

Being a disc brake-only frameset, the fork has been beefed up from the dropouts to resist the forces from the hydraulic disc brake. The 12mm thru-axle helps keep the wheel pointed where you want it to go.

Front end braking feels very positive on the Skeiron and gives you the confidence to go in deep to the corners at a much higher speed than is probably sensible.

A large press-fit bottom bracket shell and oversized down tube keeps the bottom half of the frame in check, and while this is no sprinter's machine, acceleration is very impressive indeed. I could barely detect any flex at all when really going for it to latch on to the back of traffic or trying to beat the lights.

This benefits climbing too, as even on the toughest slopes the Van Nicholas had no trouble with flex. Our test model came with a compact 50/34 chainset and 11-32t cassette which also helped a fair bit too, plus an all-up weight of 8.8kg means it is no bloater.

All of the finishing kit is Van Nicholas' own brand and it's good quality stuff that is easy to set up and live with. I wouldn't say I was that big a fan of the saddle, finding it a little firm, but the Skeiron's comfort levels made it bearable for me; if it was my bike, the seat is the one and only thing I'd change.

Frame and fork

The 3Al/2.5V (3% aluminium/2.5% vanadium) titanium alloy used for the frame has its own natural 'give' to it, which is what provides that renowned ride feel. A little bit of a softer edge to it than a carbon or aluminium alloy frame, without the feeling of losing any performance, is one attribute of achieving a good comfort balance.

Van Nicholas has also gone for slender seatstays to promote flex and, as there is no rim brake, it has omitted the brake bridge. With the two seatstays no longer being braced to each other there can be more movement; it's very minimal but it all adds up.

Our bike also came with an upgraded titanium seatpost, which again has a tiny bit of natural flex.

Van Nicholas offers a lifetime frame warranty on the Skeiron – a pretty good show that it's confident in its handiwork.

The neat welds and attention to detail certainly give an indication of a quality frame, especially for one that costs €2,099 (£1,875) including the the full-carbon fork and headset.

There is full internal routing for cables, wires and hoses, with a cool entry port on the head tube. The only criticism I'd make is that as neat as the cabling looked with our Euro brake setup (front brake on the left), the cable bend for the rear mech may be a little tight with a UK setup if you were to go for a mechanical option.

Both the fork and frame use flat mounts for the disc brake callipers, which gives a neat and clean look even for those who aren't massive fans of disc brakes.

Disc brakes are the only option, as the Skeiron won't be offered in a rim brake version. You do get a decent range of build choices, though, starting with a Shimano 105 hydro/mechanical setup at €3,599 (£3,215). This rises to €3,899 (£3,483) for a bike fitted with SRAM Force (with a single or double chainset) or Shimano Ultegra mechanical.

Ultegra Di2 builds start at €4,799 (£4,288), but – as with each of the models – you can choose some upgrades – as ours has. On our Ultegra Di2 test model the Shimano wheels have been swapped out for carbon fibre FFWDs and the Schwalbe Durano tyres changed to the same company's excellent Ones in a 28mm width, the widest tyres you can fit to the Skeiron. Including the titanium seatpost mentioned earlier, this build costs €6,876 (£6,142).

You can go higher in standard builds with a Shimano Dura-Ace Mechanical setup for €5,199 (£4,644), SRAM Red model for €5,299 (£4734), or Dura-Ace Di2 at €6,499 (£5,806).

The component choice on the test model was excellent. The Ultegra Di2 shifting really complements the riding style of the Skeiron, and being easily able to change gear at the same time as braking really lets you set the bike up to exit high speed corners, ready for the next one.

Shimano's hydraulic brakes are a joy to use as well. I like the way they are very responsive even if you only apply a small amount of pressure to the lever, whereas with SRAM I find you need to give them a bit of a harder squeeze to get them going.

Looking at all of this in terms of value means that even though the Van Nicholas looks a little pricey, when placed against the competition things are pretty good.

Taking a look at frameset prices (a lot of titanium bikes come as frameset options only): the Kinesis GF_Ti, a massive favourite of ours at road.cc, costs £1,799.99, or another excellent model, the Pretorius Outeniqua Disc that we tested a few years back but is still available, costs £2,390. The Pretorius is a very similar proposition to the Skeiron, a performance bike with disc brake capability.

Even if you look away from titanium and think about carbon fibre, the aforementioned Simplon Pavo, another very quick mile-muncher, comes in at £4,699 in an Ultegra Di2 build with alloy wheels; the Skeiron, as I said, is £4,288 in that standard guise, exchange rate permitting.

All of which means the Van Nicholas has pretty much got all of the bases covered for everybody who wants a very fast, comfortable, good looking bike with impeccable manners. In fact I'd say its only pitfall is that it can't be raced at the moment because of the discs.

Verdict

A titanium masterpiece; a racer for the non-racer