Dutch bike builder Koga probably first caught our attention a few years back when they debuted their drop bar Beachracer. While a fat tire road/cross bike with a 1x road drivetrain for tackling some unique off-road racing might have sounded a bit crazy then (yes, beach racing in Holland is still pretty weird), now that description could probably be applied to dozens of new gravel racers we’ve seen recently. And Koga is on top of the fast gravel segment too. Their new Colmaro prototypes are ready for either fast endurance road riding, or proper fat tire gravel with up to 35mm tires, or even slickly integrated fenders. There’s also a new disc brake version of the carbon road Kimera. Then Koga have even taken that original Beachracer and reworked it as the X-Over with a new bar and new drivetrain to set it loose for some adventure touring…
Colmaro Gravel Racer
The Colmaro is Koga’s new disc brake endurance road racer with disc brakes. Blending the space between their Kimera road bike and fat tire 29er Beachracer, the new bike is based off a light and quick handling aluminum frame. The Colmaro gets smooth alloy welds, a tapered headtube, a PressFit bottom bracket, and internal cable routing. All together it is a stiff structure, that keeps weight to a minimum.
The new frame also gets some nice little details. A round bolt at the end of the toptube makes for a neatly integrated wedge style seatpost clamp.
The Colmaro also gets a stealthy set of fender mounts that you wouldn’t be blamed to have overlooked. The stays for the fenders slide into small holes on the back of the upturned ends of the chainstays, while the rear fender includes its own clips that lock onto the bridgeless seatstays and to the crimps pressed into the chainstays just behind the bottom bracket. The fork mount is a little more apparent with bosses on the inside of the fork legs and a hidden one under the fork crown.
The alloy Colmaro uses the contemporary flat mount disc brake and 12mm thru-axle standards for easy spec compatibility. But is sticks with a carbon 27.2mm seatpost to build in a little comfort.
The standout of the new bike is the Colmaro Gravel Racer build with this mustard yellow paint job and SRAM Rival 1x drivetrain (44t chainring & 11-42 cassette). Fitted with 35mm Schwalbe G-One tires it is designed to move fast over any terrain. The straight seatstays mean there isn’t a lot of extra room for any bigger tires out back, but mud clearance shouldn’t be much of a concern up there without a brake bridge. The bike comes to a stop with Rival1 hydraulic disc brakes and 160/140mm rotors.
Colmaro Endurance Racer
In addition to the gravel racer, Koga will offer the Colmaro in two other endurance racing builds with the same frame.
The first is this black and red Ultegra compact double that sticks with smaller 140mm disc at both ends (Thanks to Shimano IceTech Freeza rotors again.) It gets a Shimano RX31 disc brake wheelset to round out the build and 28mm Schwalbe One tires.
The remaining bike will share the same general endurance road setup, but will swap in a 105 group to bring the price down even more.
All versions of the Colmaro share the same triple butted, triple heat-treated 6061 aluminum frame and come in 5 stock sizes from S-XL.
Kimera Disc
Koga has also added a disc brake version to their road line with the new Kimera Road Premium Disc. Built from their second tier carbon, the new bike adds flat mount discs and thru-axles to the road racer with clearance for 30mm tires, spec’ed with Schwalbe One 28s.
The Kimera Road Premium Disc claims a weight of 8.4kg for the Ultegra compact double bike with a retail price of 3700€. It is available in 6 standard sizes from 50-63cm.
X-Over
The X-Over shares the same frame as the Beachracer, so it keeps the 29er wheels and 2.4″ slick tire clearance. But instead of sand racing slicks the X-Over is meant to head off on adventures off-road, so gets a fast rolling Thunder Burt out back and a more aggressive Racing Ralph on the front.
The X-Over shares the same triple-butted 7005 frame with its straight 1.125″ steerer, post mount brakes, and quick release axles. But the big change is the move to an alt flat bar and a Shimano SLX double drivetrain for better gearing range off-road. Koga’s own Carnero handlebar defines the bike, with a large loop out in front of the regular bar top to provide more hand positions for long days n the saddle, and to help riders get a more aero position with fighting those Dutch headwinds.
Beachracer
The Beachracer gets a few of its own updates for 2017 as well, although mostly in spec. With that comes some new fancy blue ano bits in the matching bar and hubs, as well as a lighter wheel build that drops the weight a few hundred grams to 9.9kg, but raises the price to 1700€.
