Focus will likely be coming out with a new top-end road bike soon. Spotted by an intrepid reader during a vacation to Lake Garda, Italy, this ultralight Focus Izalco Max road model has an alleged frame weight of less than 800g, firmly establishing the German company as a bona fide player in the weight wars.
The new Izalco Max is a visual departure from the current Izalco Pro with predominantly round-profile and very oversized tubing, external cable routing (at least on the early sample we've seen) with molded-in housing stops, a carbon fiber front derailleur mount, and very compact carbon fiber rear dropouts instead of the looped setup used on the current model – all of which signals a predominantly engineering-centric approach to the frame's design that we also expect to yield excellent overall stiffness.
Internal cable routing is foregone for light and heavily tapered stays
Up front is a new '6th Element' carbon fork with a tapered steerer and legs that very abruptly taper down in size from the crown and gently arc forward before reaching back at the dropouts. Trek and Cannondale have used similar dropout treatments in the past so it's possible that Focus has done so to help soften the ride of what we otherwise anticipate will be a pretty firm feel.
Down below is a PF30 bottom bracket shell while up above is an oversized seatpost – we're guessing 30.9mm.
Official details are scant at the moment, as Focus may launch the bike around the Tour de France. But even just judging by appearances, this new model looks very promising.