Cycling Plus First Ride, Pg28 Issue May 2010
As Millook is the name of a climb in the Verenti Cornwall Tour Sportive, there’s no mistake who this bike is aimed at. As the middle-prices model in Internet retailer Wiggle’s three-bike own-brand Verenti range, the price is carefully targeted too, as £1200.
It’s certainly got the looks with white decals on smart black paint, and red detailing that’s matched by red brake hoods and excellent performing red Gore Ride-On cables – both of which come with the SRAM Rival drivetrain. Finishing kit is shiny black Wiggle own-brand, with the Me3 bar, stem and seatpost all made from 6061 aluminium. They all do their job well, adding to the efficient but always comfortably firm quality of the ride.
A closer look at the spec sheet shows some clever mixing and matching of materials and components in this build. Take the still aluminium bar and stem combo, which wastes little precious upper body effort through flex, while still managing to isolate your hands from uncomfortable road vibration with added gel padding under the bar tape. Likewise a first glance at the elegant but uncompromising-looking 31.8mm alloy seatpost might worry you about ride comfort. But the high-modulus carbon fibre seatstays and chainstays must be working together well, because despite the rewardingly direct power transfer for climbing and all-out sprints, the ride is still easily plush enough for you to be seated all day.
The triple-butted main frame triangle is working just as hard, as there’s no noticeable flex when sprinting, nor fore and aft frame flex in high-cadence seated sprints. Wiggle’s Paul Bolwell says the company looked hard for a frame material to reproduce the qualities of scandium Kiron bikes last year, and is more than happy with this 7046 aluminium tubing. The 7000 series allow is claimed to be 16 percent stronger than commonly used 7005, so less is needed for the tubing and weight is reduced by 12 per cent. Bold claims, but the Millook is surprisingly light, efficient to pedal and comfortable – suggesting this tubing and what Bolwell calls “a fortune on tooling” has let engineers put the right amount of metal in the right places, with the right results.
Despite the relatively low weight, the the Millook is wonderfully stable – sit up and take your hands off the bar and it’ll keep going straight, even through potholes (an accidental test – don’t try this at home!). Best of all, the extra tall head-tube – 45mm taller than the same sized Focus Cayo – combines with the shallow drop bar to give you a wonderfully commanding posture on the bike. Descending and fast cornering is a joy as you can easily reach the drops without throwing your weight forward onto the bar. It’s all very well saying that’s what you should do on every bike, but with this higher front end, it comes naturally.
It’s surprising how often comfort seems overlooked on ‘racing’ bikes. Surely anyone can go faster, for longer, when their body isn’t being beaten up or contorted?
“This setup is for people like me,”
says Bolwell,
“who don’t want to be bent double all day. Above all, it had to be great for descending”.
And it is. You get a head’s up riding position on the drops, one-finger braking capability with the competent Me3 dual-pivot brakes, confidence-inspiring steering from the all carbon-fibre fork and stiff, reliable Mavic Aksium wheels, not to mention superbly grippy Vittoria Diamante Pro tyres. The Millook is certainly not backwards in going forwards up mountains – but it positively begs to be hammered down the other side.
So how do you know if the Millook is for you? Well, if your current bike is unexciting, has a huge stack of spacers under a stem which is already flipped skywards – and you still can’t enjoy descending on the drops like a bat out of hell, then it is.
In conclusion...
Fast, comfortable, fun, dashing looks and good value too!
Rating: 9/10
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