THE BIKE THAT STARTED EVERYTHING...
This bike test appeared in the UK magazine CycleSport in Spring 2002. We were the first European journalists to ride the Serotta Ottrott in December 2001. We flew to San Diego that xmas specifically to test and photograph this beautiful bike. The experienced changed us forever. Myself and Julian had witnessed how well bikes could be made in a parallel universe where quality and integrity meant everything. Perfection, both technological and biomechanical were achievable goals if enough care and attention was lavished on every individual. This was the last bike review we ever wrote. No longer were we neutral - we were now partisan and biased. We formed CycleFit and the rest is our little slice of history....

SEROTTA OTTROTT 56CM


SEROTTA INC.
Ben Serotta has been pedaling bespoke excellence to the rich, the famous and the pedantic for nearly thirty years. In the same way that the most exclusive clubs and restaurants hide behind the most inconspicuous little doors; so the unassuming Serotta name hides a racing CV that is stuffed with both national and international successat the highest level.

Many times Ben’s bikes have even achieved greatness on the world’s biggest stages (including TDF) bearing the moniker of other companies. But the truth will always out to those who really need to know, right? In a sense Serotta’s very select customers are not so much investing their trust in a man who will deliver perfection, but rather in an ideal whose mandate for existence is to chase the whole concept of ‘perfection’ – regardless of effort or cost.

FRAME
The Serotta sizing policy encompasses the company’s whole philosophy to a degree that a meagre $200 saving on an off-the-peg frame seems to be an utterly senseless proposition. The exhaustive seven-step fit policy can easily take half a day, and is undertaken by a Serotta Factory Design Team trained in-store technician (there are shops in the US where you have to book two weeks in advance for an appointment and $250 per session). I personally witnessed an ever attentive shop-assistant in San Diego range prairie-wide in his enquiry with a clearly obsessional customer, encompassing: diet, flexibility, build, and even future cycling aspiration, before a leg was swung over Serotta’s infinitely adjustable funky sizing jig.

As an interloper in town I only rate an off-the–peg 56cm stock Ottrott (‘Ottrott’ is a small town in France where six years ago Ben Serotta had a moment of personal epiphany on a rainy training ride). Six years research into the specific application of carbon composites for cycle-frames has persuaded Ben Serotta that the best way to use the material’s inherent properties was to integrate carbon with titanium’s already well-proven longevity, lightness and pleasing ‘feel’. But where most manufacturers are clamouring to bolt a bit of carbon onto the back-end of their high-end alloy frames to add a bit of class to an increasingly generic material - Serotta are exploiting carbon’s real tuneability to alter the ride characteristics of the front-triangle. Serotta’s proprietary ‘Concept’ carbon-composite downtube and toptube are internally butted for lightness but also programmed to add stiffness to the titanium structure that surrounds them (up 20% torsionally more rigid than the comparable Serotta Legend titanium tubes). But the real advantage is that the Concept Carbon tubes can be tuned to each individual customer’s: weight, size and riding style. A six foot three, eighteen-stone criterium addict will get a set of the stiffest Concept Carbon tubes known to man; where a five foot nothing, seven stone slip of a wee thing will get the lightest and most compliant tubes available (my test bike was equipped with ‘medium’ stiffness tubes).

The two carbon tubes are held in residence by the most exquisite examples of almost forgotten cycle architecture – lugs (who?). Updated for the 21st century, these are beautifully crafted from 3Al/2.5V titanium, and shaped to distribute stresses away from the jointed area. The carbon tubes are mitered to within fractions of a millimeter before bonding with some particularly sticky and durable aerospace epoxies.

Elsewhere the Ottrott borrows exclusively from Serotta’s recently deposed range-topping Legend Ti frame. Some would argue that the Legend Ti is still the only genuinely (read internally) fully double-butted titanium frameset available – whatever - it was undeniably a revolution when it was released in 1993. The Ottrott titanium rear triangle displays a bewildering medley of craftsmanship and artisan dexterity – from the double-tapered and butted seatstays through to the art-house 3D XL dropouts. Every tube is lavished individual attention to help it become ‘the very best that it can be’. The seattube for example, is continually tapered from the junction of the toptube towards the bottom-bracket junction, and butted from 0.9mm to 0.7mm and back to 0.8mm. Even the heavily tapered chainstays are internally butted. The beading on the welds appear to have been measured with a micrometer – there are clearly people at work here that Freud would have much to say about. Flawless. The rumour I heard repeated is that Serrota’s specifications are so exacting and finicky, that his tube suppliers have to work on tiny margins to keep the prestigious contract – allegedly.
My 56cm test-bike was square and symmetrical with 56cm top and seattubes (center to center both) and 73 degree head and seat angles. The 1 1/8th headtube is long (nearly 18cm), as a result of the feedback from the Serotta Fit System – that tells a story of squadrons of us wannabee quasi-Boardmans limited by the spine and pelvic flexibility of Quasimodo.

You would probably order your Ottrott with a Serotta fork (maybe an all-carbon F1 - £445), my test-bike I was ‘disappointed’ to discover was issued with a Reynolds Ouzo Pro carbon fork with a de-rigour 1 1/8th carbon steerer. And I had no problems with that.

WHEELS, GROUPSET & COMPONENTS
The guys at Bike USA were apparently up half the night getting the bike ready with the very best kit available. And they did a stunning job under very difficult circumstances (thank you and good luck with all the changes).

A set of 2002 Shimano Dura Ace 7700 wheels started things rolling nicely – with 30mm aerodynamic rims, bead-blasted side-walls titanium free-hub body, 32 spokes between them and an all up weight of 1640 grams (930g rear, 710g front). For symmetry’s sake the Dura-Ace theme was continued throughout the entire bike - the only substitutions being a Chris King threadless headset and a Thompson seatpost (0° layback). I loved the finishing kit – 3T Zepp 44cm bars and 110mm stem matched me to the frame perfectly as well as being current personal favourites. Similarly the Flite Gel saddle is second only to my own sofa in terms of intimacy of acquaintance.

I was sent out the door into 70° of sun booted with a set of Continental Ultra Gator Skins (23c) because "its winter in San Diego right now" – I’m still not sure whether this was an example of West-Coast irony.

The bike finally swings on the scales at 17.6lbs (frame 3lbs), which is respectable without being revolutionary.

RIDE
My neurosis about conspicuous wealth quickly dissipated as I headed out of La Jolla (say La Hoya dahling) up the Pacific Coast Highway – every bugger was aboard something precious and rare - carbon and titanium only being outdone by a ubiquity of silicon and Porches.

A perfect set-up and Dura-Ace’s usual invisible excellence left my senses free to roam the rest of the ride. Since the Ottrott is probably a once in a lifetime purchase, it would be unreasonable to expect it to deliver all of its potential utility on one glorious ride. But the promise is there, no question. After getting myself lost I tagged on to a handy local, who relished showing me his obviously honed crit-riding skills down a steep, damp and pothole infested descent to the ocean. And the Ottrott was sublime – both beautifully balanced and resonant without being harsh or nervous. The legendary titanium ride plays host to a carbon influence that has been specially bred for stiffness and speed, resulting in a plot which provides possibly the most intuitive ride I have ever experienced. Like many others, I basked for a while in the myth that my tremendous 1/3rd horse-power (on a good day) required grounding with all the stiffness that space-race technology could muster. But I was wrong – what I actually want is a cocktail of: lightness, comfort and control – because speed over distance requires all these elements. When you climb on a bike like the Ottrott is all seems blindingly obvious that I want a bike with the spring and life of steel with the weight of aluminium; because that tiny little bit of ‘give’ in the Ottrott’s chassis is actually where so much of a rider’s comfort and control resides. The handling of the Serotta is so utterly neutral and predictable that you quite naturally find yourself riding with the properties of the frame rather than riding around them. This level of confidence says you can carve deeper and faster into a series of rutted switchbacks, and arrive at the bottom soaked in adrenalin rather than tooth-enamel.

Lodged somewhere between the subjective and objective is the Serotta’s real strength; that indefinable feeling of quality and rightness that permeates the entire ride. No rattles, no road-buzz, not a blemish or mark to distract you from the quiet enjoyment of the road ahead and the pursuit of the horizon.

CONCLUSION
You should seriously contemplate a Serotta if the following criteria apply: cycling is an activity that gives you a good deal of pleasure, you have a reasonable disposable income and you are attracted to the process of having a bike hand-made around your own personal physiology and lifestyle. And assuming all of the above, it would be totally unfair to criticize the Serotta for being too expensive, because I can’t think of any other company that is working so hard to perfect the process of fitting bikes to individuals to bikes, rather than the other way round.

SPEC
FRAME – TITANIUM / CARBON
FORK – REYNOLDS OUZO PRO CARBON 1 1/8TH"
BARS – 3T ZEPP XL 44CM
STEM – ZEPP XL 110CM
HEADSET – CHRIS KING THREADLESS 1 1/8TH
SEATPOST – THOMPSON 0-LAYBACK
SADDLE – FLITE GENUINE GEL
SHIFTERS/BRAKE LEVERS – SHIMANO 7400 DURA-ACE STI
CRANKSET - SHIMANO 7400 DURA-ACE (172.5 / 53/39)
CALIPERS - SHIMANO 7400 DURA-ACE
REAR DERAILLEUR – SHIMANO 7400 DURA-ACE
FRONT DERAILLEUR - SHIMANO 7400 DURA-ACE
CASSETTE - SHIMANO 7400 DURA-ACE (12-23)
WHEELS - SHIMANO 7400 DURA-ACE 2002 7700
TYRES - CONTINENTAL ULTRA GATOR SKIN 23C
TUBES – CONTINENTAL
BAR-TAPE CINELLI CORK
WEIGHT – 17.6lbs
Price: £4150 frame only (Custom – Serotta Fit System may be charged for separately)
Price (Bike) - £5750 - £6000 approx
Website: www.serotta.com
UK Distributor Cyclefit - call us on 020 7430 0083