Volagi are a small US based firm with a clear and simple focus - creating products designed specifically for the endurance cyclist. Recently, new UK distributor Hoops Velo popped in to the BikeRadar office with Volagi's two current disc-only road bikes. We take a closer look at each of them below.
Volagi Liscio - endurance road ride
The carbon fork gets a trick colourscheme
In 2011 BikeRadar reviewed the previous generation of Volagi's Liscio. Back then the endurance road model stood out like a sore thumb, mostly because it used disc brakes. In reality the Volagi was a forward thinking machine and as a result Volagi now have three years of invaluable experience in building disc-only road machines.
Volagi choose not to release a new bike for every model year, instead models are revised whenever the company sees it necessary. That time has come for the Liscio and now the carbon frame has seen refinements that bring it bang up to date.
Electronic transmissions are now fully supported, with options to externally mount both Shimano's Di2 and Campagnolo's EPS batteries. The seat tube can also accomodate a Di2 battery internally. Cable routing is now internal for both the transmission and either mechanical or hydraulic brakes.
There's still the LongBow seatstays, with a flattened profile that arcs past the seat tube and joins directly to the top tube for more rear-end flex. The BB30 bottom bracket shell also remains but the rear end has now been beefed up to accept a 135mm rear hub. That new hub spacing combined with a new carbon layup is said to have improved down tube stiffness, especially on larger frames. Talking sizing, there's a new 47cm option to please the vertically challenged, plus five other sizes stretching up to 60cm.
The Liscio also holds two sets of bottle mounts and is ready for guards and even a three point pannier rack. The above test build tipped the BikeRadar scales at 9.22kg/20.32lbs. A frameset consisting of the fork, frame and carbon post arrives for £1,595/$2,295.
Viaje XL - steel adventure frame
Volagi Viaje XL
The Viaje XL aims to offer comfort, versatility and efficiency in a package that's ideal for the adventurer. The distinctive and unique Taiwanese-made frameset consists of custom drawn chromoly tubes.
Comfort comes in the form of those LongBow stays, similar to the ones used in the Liscio, these swoopy seatstays make for love it or hate it styling but also include the same flexy function as on the carbon sister bike.
Versatility comes through the enormous tyre clearance and finishing details. There's room for up to 42mm of rubber and all the rack and mudguard mounts you could ever want.
Lastly the efficiency box gets ticked through a serious effort to keep things stiff where desired. For example the carbon fork lives in a tapered head tube and there's even a BB386 bottom bracket shell - most unusual for a chromoly frame.
The cables of the Viaje aren't housed internally and the same goes for the carbon fork. Like the Liscio it's designed for disc brakes - be those hydraulic or mechanical models. The build featured here drops in at 10.7kg/23.59lbs and £949/$1,295 will secure you the frameset.
