Turas Poggio 105 road bike

“Turas? never heard of ’em!” That’s a response you’re going to have to get used to if you ride the Poggio anywhere near another cyclist. If they keep knocking out machines with this level of performance though it won’t be that way for much longer.

So who are they? Turas Bikes are based in Co. Galway, Ireland and launched last year with just two frames. This year has seen this grow to eight with all but one being carbon fibre. Head honcho Mark McKeigue explains the main focus is about creating the best package available for a particular budget rather than the stiffest or the lightest.

They’ve had a bit of success on the domestic scene too with 32 race wins in 2013 helped by the sponsoring of Nicolas Roche’s junior team.

The Poggio is the entry level carbon machine coming in either this Shimano 105 build for £1249 or for £1650 you can go for Ultegra 11-speed At 8.84kg (19.4lb) it is a similar weight to the KTM and Mekk 1.5 we’ve recently tested, both of which are carbon framed and 105 equipped.

The Irish designed, Italian built and painted frame is made from Toray T800 high modulus carbon fibre as are the fork legs. Chunky would be a good description especially when you look at the size of that downtube/bottom bracket/chainstay junction, even before throwing your leg over you know the Poggio should lay down the power.

The underlying theme of the Turas is one of stiffness which comes from a feeling of solidity rather than harshness. Considering the huge profiles of the lower half of the frame, the ride shows some consideration has been put into the lay-up of the carbon to get a bit of comfort out of it.

Turas describe the Poggio as the perfect machine for long days in the saddle and I happily put in some decent 4-5 hour rides on it. It’s very easy to ride with good manners and neutral steering and the frame happily soaks up the bumps, well the small ones anyway. Larger sections of washboard Tarmac had the tubes resonating a bit as the tyres bounced between the peaks and troughs.

It’s the shorter harder stuff though where the Poggio is really in its element as that’s where the stiff, planted feel of the frame gives the most back to the rider.

The handling sharpens up once you give it a bit of a dig and the stiffness around the bottom bracket area really makes it respond as soon as you push hard on the pedals. Hills were attacked whether they were being ascended or descended and the Turas just seemed happy to push on.

It’s not the most exciting bike to ride though. There is feedback from the frame in terms of what it’s up to but it’s not the one I’d grab out of the shed to just go for a ride on. Some bikes are like this though, the Storck Fenomolist was the same, ride them hard and you’re repaid in the speed and handling department but on more sedate jaunts rider and bike never quite seem to gel.

The Vision Team 25s (so called due to their 25mm profile) are decent wheels on a bike at this price point providing plenty of rigidity descending or honking out of the saddle. Acceleration was pretty brisk too. Wrapped around the Visions were Michelin’s Dynamic Sport 700x23 tyres which considering you can pick them up for around a tenner each proved to be very good indeed. A softish compound provided plenty of grip in the wet or dry and they were pretty robust to boot.

Shimano 105 is about what you’d expect at this price and it matches the frame well. Shimano’s clinical feel ties in with the solidity of the Poggio. It’s not quite a full groupset as the cassette is a Tiagra unit while the compact chainset and brakes are non-series but they are of the same quality and colour coded to match the black mechs and shifters. It all performs as well as it normally does, dependable and easy to use without really being exciting.

Tying in with the Italian frame is the Deda finishing kit. It’s an all alloy set up that looks good but is very stiff, the 31.6mm seatpost not doing much to take the sting out of the ride.

Overall the Turas Poggio is a good value racer with the budget being split sensibly between frameset, finishing kit and wheels. It’s definitely for the rider who puts performance over passion though.

Turas bikes are available to the public direct from the company and the e-commerce part of their website should be up and running very soon.

Verdict

Good value, punchy, direct speed machine gets the power down; feels a bit ‘clinical’ though