Providing the latest braking options while keeping the classic ride is the point of the Basso Astra Disc Frameset. The geometry and carbon remain the same, with the positioning of the material adjusted to best work with flat-mount disc brakes and thru-axles. Endurance road is an idea as much as a category. Think of it as classic road racing geometry, eschewing short head tubes and a painfully-rigid ride for something that is easier to fit, more comfortable to ride, fast without being twitchy. It’s a bike for long miles and hard riding, but with greater comfort and more stability. This is still very much a race bike. Just one you can slam the stem on, which is a plus for front-end stiffness and steering precision. The bike, despite the cutting-edge production and shaping, rides very much like a classic Basso. The geometry as well as the tubing shapes and carbon plies work together to result in a bike that helps you feel in control whether sprinting out of a sharp corner or zooming down a steep, straight road. The frame is made entirely of carbon, with no aluminum reinforcements anywhere. This saves weight, and with Basso, they more than made up the strength by using three types of carbon fiber placed at three different orientations to maximize the strengths of the material. The bulk of the fiber mix is headlined by Torayca High Modulus Carbon Fiber T700-MR60. They’ve even added 3K plies on the inside of the heat tube and bottom bracket juncture to increase stiffness without adding weight. Several of the frame tubes have been sculpted to slice the wind. They’re slippery, with a bladed head tube and Kamm-tail style downtube, and a slight cutout at the bottom of the seat tube to better shroud the rear wheel and fit larger tires--28mm thanks to the fact that rim brakes aren’t limiting the tire space. But the aerodynamics hasn’t been maximized because they wanted to balance out aero with stiffness and compliance. They aero is here to compliment the rest of the ride. That’s why the downtube flares wide to the BB86 bottom bracket, which also helps keep the chainstays as wide as possible, for better lateral bracing still. But these features aren’t at the expense of road compliance. They’ve flattened and bowed the seat stays to take up road vibrations and chatter. And the included seatpost is round, 31.6mm in diameter, because the shape works better at dealing with bump absorption. The top tube is also designed for compliance, starting big in front, and flattening and narrowing as it travels back to the seat cluster. The bike comes with a 350mm long seatpost possessing 15mm of setback. It also includes a tapered 1 1/8” to 1 ½” headset to match the tapered steerer. They have thrown in a Basso stem and three 5mm Basso stack spacers, which are designed to match the stem and maximize aerodynamics. Whether you’re running mechanical or electronic shifting, the Astra can handle it, with stops and plugs included, allowing you to choose the shifting mode you prefer. The braking is via rotor disc calipers. The max rotor size that fits here is 160mm. The brake standard is flat-mount, the thru-axles are 100x15 in front and 142x12 in back. The Basso Astra Disc is a classic road bike but with disc brakes. Timeless and up-to-date at the same time.
