Real Bike Reviews – CKT 368 – Carbon Racer
Posted July 18, 2011
If we’re being perfectly honest, we knew next to nothing about CKT before this bike arrived at Daily Cycle’s testing HQ. CKT are a French brand who have been making bikes since 2001. The brand has harnessed the expertise of 7 time Tour de France mountains classification winner Richard Virenque to help them fine tune their bikes, as well as using the latest in bike testing technologies to hone their machines. We had CKT’s 368 model which features an integrated seat mast, Ultegra and Stronglight groupset and DT Swiss -1900 wheels.
We logged around 220km on the CKT 368, on courses ranging from flat out and fast to a rolling 10 mile TT and several bigger and more testing climbs. It was immediately obvious from our early rides that this is a bike built to race, the ride is very stiff, with no flex being evident even under full out sprint – granted we’re no Mark Cavendish or Mario Cipollini, but we try!
Pictures
The Ride
Despite its stiffness, the 1160g large frame didn’t provide for a harsh ride, proving to be surprisingly comfortable. The frame is compact in size, a large was a good fit for us even though we normally ride a 56cm medium. The aero tube shaping on the seat tube made us feel like we had to push the bike and we found it hard to curb out enthusiasm when presented with a 2 mile downhill, clocking some serious speed.
We found the handling to be well controlled but sharp, this instilled confidence in us which grew with every ride, allowing us to really go knee down in some of the tight corners on descents; although the New Forest and Bournemouth areas where the majority of testing was carried out doesn’t feature any very long climbs, we’ve got a few steep sections that the bike flew on. Our favourite climb is based in the New Forest near Brockenhurst and features a 2.5 mile climb followed by a short, sharp descent and then 500m uphill sprint at 8% gradient. The 368 made light work of this, providing that it’s climbing ability befits that of it’s design consultant, Virenque.
The Gear
Shimano’s second tier Ultegra groupset provides dependable and accurate shifting for the CKT. The Ultegra cassette and shifters are completed by the addition of a Stronglight crankset and chain rings; a nice feature of these is that the cranks feature inserts to alter the crank length anywhere from 170mm to 175mm allowing for easy fitment of the bike. The carbon cranks compliment the bikes stiffness and massive bottom bracket (BB) making for fantastic power transfer and good acceleration.
Elsewhere the CKT features a proprietary CKT stem, FSA’s dependable Wing Pro Alu bars, Selle’s XO Saddle and DT Swiss-1900 wheels. We’re a big fan of DT Swiss’ wheels; they look great and perform well. At 1900g for the set these aren’t the lightest on the market, but they spin up to speed well and allow for confident cornering and good performance while remaining reliable.
Our second ride features a short section of dirt road, only around 800m, but the wheels and Continental Grand Prix tyres passed the test on the way out and the way back with flying colours!
The Verdict
Now for the verdict: we loved the light and stiff frame and the Stronglight cranks; things we weren’t so keen on were the Selle Saddle (saddles are very much a personal thing and easy to change though!), and the fact we simply couldn’t take an easy ride on the CKT as the temptation to sprint for the next traffic sign became too great!
Overall we really liked this bike, it’s handling and stiff yet not jarring ride is an impressive combination at this price point. We give the bike a solid 9.0 out of 10, good work CKT!
The Price
The bike retails at £2700 and we feel features some standout points over the competition at this price point.
More Info
Check out www.ckt-carbon.com for more.
