Factor launches Monza as an aero race bike for the masses
New Factor road bike retains many of the features of the Ostro VAM, but with simplified construction
Just 24 hours after images were leaked to Cyclingnews, Factor has made official its latest new bike, the Monza.
It is based on Factor’s top-spec Ostro VAM aero all-rounder race bike, ridden by the Israel-Premier Tech men’s and Human Powered Health women’s pro teams.
Factor has simplified some aspects of the construction to lower costs though, resulting in full builds with its new Black Inc 45 wheelset and a SRAM Force AXS (with a power meter) or Shimano Ultegra groupset that come in at £6,599 / $6,999 / €8,299 and £6,399 / $6,799 / €7,999 respectively.
When we reviewed the Factor Ostro VAM, our only quibble was that we had to give it back, and it performed well in our wind tunnel test of 11 superbikes, where it came out as the most aero on test when averaging the results from the various conditions, beating a field that included some all-out aero bikes.
User-friendly features for the non-pro
Factor’s director of engineering, Graham Shrive, points out that non-pros are often racing and training on the same bike, so Factor has added features to suit amateur riders, including in-frame storage and front and rear removable GoPro mounts for a light, a radar or an action cam.
Shrive says that keeping spares in the frame rather than in a saddle pack can save up to six watts in aero drag. There’s a sleeve to fit inside the cavity and stop items from rattling.
Shrive adds that while pros often get to race on newly-laid tarmac, everyday riders have to take what they’re given, so the new Monza has 34mm tyre clearance, keeping abreast of current trends towards wider road tyres.
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Key geometry figures, including the head tube angle, fork offset, chainstay length and wheelbase, are identical to the Ostro VAM, so Factor says that the bike has similar handling and stiffness characteristics and a similar ride feel.
At the same time, Factor has increased the stack and shortened the reach a little, for a less aggressive ride position. In a size 56cm frame, that amounts to a 9mm increase in stack and a 3mm shorter reach.
The reach is shortened further by the new Black Inc HB04 integrated bar/stem. This has a 5mm greater backsweep than the HB02 bar/stem fitted to the Ostro VAM. It also has a new profile, which Shrive claims is more comfortable and easier to grip for riders with smaller hands.
As with the HB02, the Monza’s HB04 offers full cable integration, but it interfaces with the Monza fork’s round steerer, which replaces the Ostro VAM’s D-shaped steerer.
While the Ostro VAM has fancy CeramicSpeed SLT headset bearings in 1-⅛” top and 1-⅜” bottom sizes, the Monza’s headset turns on industry-standard 1-½” bearings top and bottom. The oversized top bearing allows Factor to route the brake hoses into the head tube between the bearings and the steerer tube, which it says simplifies build and maintenance.
The larger bearings also point to another design change between the Ostro VAM and the Monza – the latter is slightly less narrow in frontal profile, both at the front and the rear.
That’s allowed Factor to use the same wider seatpost profile as in the first-generation Ostro VAM, in place of the new Ostro VAM’s ultra-skinny seatpost.
In turn, the Di2 battery can be housed in the seatpost, again simplifying assembly over the Ostro VAM’s seat tube battery, which is accessed from behind the bottom bracket.
The seatpost is still clamped from the rear, but Factor says its new two-bolt clamp design should be easier to maintain and grease, reducing the risk of it freezing.
Factor has, in addition, simplified the lower junction between the fork and the headset, which is now a straight line, in place of the Ostro VAM’s curved shape.
Maintenance and part replacement should be made easier with a T47 bottom bracket and a UDH derailleur hanger, although Factor says that it has a mini-UDH hanger in the works that will save weight over the standard design.
Finally, there’s a new Black Inc 45 wheelset for the Monza, which Shrive says is built to be robust, with standard bearings and steel spokes as well as a rim designed to support wider tyres.
The Factor Monza is available in sizes 49, 52, 54, 56, 58 and 61, one fewer than the Ostro VAM, which is also sold in size 45.
There are three stock colour options: Solar Blue, Steel Green, Pearl White. These are available in full builds or as a frameset-only for £3,799 / $3,999 / €4,699.
Complete builds are available with either SRAM Force with a power meter at £6,599 / $6,999 / €8,299; or with Shimano Ultegra Di2 (no power meter) at £6,399 / $6,799 / €7,999.
Paul has been on two wheels since he was in his teens and he's spent much of the time since writing about bikes and the associated tech. He's a road cyclist at heart but his adventurous curiosity means Paul has been riding gravel since well before it was cool, adapting his cyclo-cross bike to ride all-day off-road epics and putting road kit to the ultimate test along the way. Paul has contributed to Cyclingnews' tech coverage for a few years, helping to maintain the freshness of our buying guides and deals content, as well as writing a number of our voucher code pages.
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