Data and facts about the Factor One Dura Ace
| Weight | 7.38 kg |
| Drivetrain | Shimano Dura Ace Di2 |
| Front brake | Shimano Dura Ace |
| Wheelset | Black Inc Sixty Two |
| Front tire | Continental Grand Prix 5000TT TR 28-622 |
We saw the bike for the first time as a prototype at last year's Tour de France. It already served a purpose there, namely to attract attention. In the monotony of the mostly similar ingredients of fast bikes, the One stands out with its massive fork, whose blades are 125 millimetres apart. This is the opposite of what almost everyone else does, which is to position the forks as close as possible to the front wheel.
Copied from track cycling
Hope started with this trick. The Brits designed the track bikes for the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo and, for the first time, designed the frame and fork in such a way that they influence and utilise the human body and its flow characteristics. Wide fork blades are designed to be positioned in front of the legs - which reduces the frontal area of the overall system, but also organises the air in front of the legs. The Hope Original recipe also includes widely flared seat stays, which are intended to calm air turbulence in the legs. Factor only hints at this feature; the stays are only 110 millimetres apart at the top. The price for the wide fork blades somewhat counteracts the efforts to achieve a smaller silhouette: the fork crown has to be massive in order to make the fork sufficiently stiff. The head tube, or rather the flat nose of the frame, tapers to a width of just 22 millimetres with a depth of 153 millimetres between the bearing points of the bayonet steering.
Watt values in the wind tunnel
In the wind tunnel, the One performs on a par with other well-known designs (Canyon Aeroad, Cervélo S5), but cannot clearly set itself apart. This is a slight disappointment. The unusual shape offers no measurable advantage. Nevertheless, the bike is very fast in absolute terms and can still be accelerated with better tyres: As a test, we put a set of DT Swiss ARC 1100 65 tyres with the slim Conti Aero 111 in 26 millimetre width on the bike. The Factor One broke through the 200 watt threshold and landed at 198.2 watts. Without the front derailleur, which we removed for the experiment, the bike pushes itself to 196.8 watts - where it belongs according to the design language.
Price and further details
The unfamiliar style is also visible from the rider's point of view and is very appealing. The One is not a bike for creeping around on. Long and slow? Not really. Looking down says: step on the gas! And that's a lot of fun. The bike sits firmly on the piste and the steering is balanced - as long as the complicated hinged steering doesn't have too much friction, as it did on our first ride. The frame is hard as a rock in terms of measurements, but the 28 mm Conti TT tyres are effectively 31 mm wide on the Black Inc wheels; this allows you to reduce the tyre pressure a little and then the fast rubber bounces properly, which takes the edge off the ride.
The stiffness values are in the green zone, and at 7380 grams, the bike is also acceptably light for an aero specialist with sweeping shapes, especially as a full 2x12 drivetrain is fitted. The curved handlebars sit comfortably in the hand and are not ultra-narrow: the slightly angled grips are 340 millimetres apart and the handlebars are 410 millimetres apart - almost wide by today's standards and UCI-compliant. A variety of cockpits are available to customise the bike to the rider despite only five frame sizes, which is part of the sales process. That's a good thing, because at 15,099 euros it should go without saying that the bike fits. Ice cream parlour or race track? The Factor One scores in both disciplines, depending on the rider's preference.
