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EB17: 10 key bike updates from Koga – popular Beachracer, Colmaro all road, custom Worldtravellers & more!

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For 2018 Dutch bike maker Koga has a huge number of bike updates coming from both their Race bike family and Touring/Trekking families. We picked out the 10 bikes that we found most interesting, including updates to the unique & popular sand dune Beachracer, the four different versions of the Colmaro all road/gravel prototype we saw last year, and their expansion of the custom Grandtourer and Worldtraveller line-ups. And it would be a Eurobike feature without a few e-bikes thrown in for good measure….

Beachracer alloy sand specific fat tire gravel/road bike

Designed for the unique long hardpack sand racing along the Dutch coast, the alloy Beachracer is probably the bike that made Koga pop up on our radar years back. The fat 29″/700c Schwalbe Big One tires remain as does the wide flared dropbar.

The new 1800€ bike gets an updated triple butted 6061 alloy frame that moves to thru-axles, but sticks with post mount brakes, and moves the 1x specific routing with full-length housing under the downtube. At the same time, the Beachracer features a new carbon fork  that offers a lot more clearance to fit around a 2.35″ knobby tire if you plan to go more off-road.

Colmaro Allroad alloy mixed surface endurance gravel/road bike

The Colmaro looks a lot like the prototype we saw last year, down to the paint job. But  Koga did make a few refinements as the bike went to production. The same triple butted 6061 frame available across three different types of endurance road builds, the Comaro carries over the stealthy fender mounts on the back of the dropouts & inside of the fork legs. The production bike does drop the integrated wedge-style seatpost clamp in favor of a less finicky collar clamp. The 1900€ Colmaro Allroad gets a SRAM Rival 1 build and tubeless ready Novatec wheels wrapped in the small round knobbed Schwalbe G-Ones, plus a carbon bar & split carbon seatpost for a claimed weight of 9.1kg in its five size XS-XL range.

Colmaro Race alloy mixed surface endurance gravel/road bike

The Colmaro Race throws a classic road double on in either Ultegra (2300€) or 105 builds with a road going set of 28mm Schwalbe One tubeless tires. The bike shares the same alloy frame with tapered headtube and carbon fork, so you still get clearance for 35mm tires, while shedding around 300g off the complete build.

Colmaro Sport alloy mixed surface endurance gravel/road bike

The Colmaro Sport gets a more relaxed and upright build with a flat, but dramatically backswept bar. At 1400€ in this build it gets a wide Tiagra triple and wide but not tubeless ready Conti road tires.

Colmaro Sport Lady alloy mixed surface endurance gravel/road bike

For the same price there is also a mixte frame version called the Colamro Sport Lady. It shares the same Tiagra triple build with a step through frame. The bikes don’t come standard with the full coverage fenders, but any of the four versions can buy these separately.

Kimera Pro lightweight disc brake carbon race road bike

The Kimera Pro is another new bike casually hiding in the lineup with its higher 7500€ pricetag. Koga already had a pro-level spec of their carbon rim brake road racer, and a mid-level carbon disc brake version. Now the Kimera Pro goes with disc brakes, getting the top-end 40T hi-mod carbon frame construction and a Dura-Ace Di2 group to go with it. With new 35mm deep carbon DT Swiss PRC 1400 tubeless ready wheels and 25mm Schwalbe One tubeless tires, you end up with a 6.9kg bike looking to go fast.

Grandtourer, customizable alloy do-it-all trekking/bikepacking bike

The standard Grandtourer is pretty much what you think about a generic hybrid city commuting bike. Seen trekking the bike paths and around town all over Europe, the 1800€ bike is all about utility and built to a high level of quality. You gets racks, fenders, comfy bars, a built-in rear wheel lock, solid kickstand, Magura hydraulic rim brakes, just not a lot of inspiration to the more sportive rider. But…

Koga is expanding their custom build options with their S – Signature line into even sportier builds. The Grandtourer S has lots of options and with hydraulic disc brakes, a wide-ranging 105 compact groupset, a dramatically flared drop bar, and a suite of Ortlieb waterproof bags it cleans up as a nice bikepacking bike. The base frame and fork doesn’t really need to change much with its already generous gravel tire friendly clearance and stable geometry ready for any terrain.

Worldtraveller, customizable alloy do-it-all loaded touring bike

The Signature line continues over to the loaded touring Worldtraveller as well. Koga has been offering their custom program on these two aluminum touring bikes already, but limited in choice. Now they are expanding options for the new year. You pick rim brakes or disc brakes, standard road or mountain bike derailleur drivetrains or even a Rohloff internally geared hub, then a chain or Gates belt drive.

E-Worldtraveller, customizable alloy do-it-all loaded touring e-bike

Then, on top of that the fully loaded touring bike gets a Bosch CX powered e-bike version as well. An E-Worldtraveller from 4000€ gets you a one battery setup on the rack & fender equipped bike with a 160km range per charge.

If a geared e-touring bike doesn’t sound practical enough for you, now Koga is expanding the custom S line here too. The E-Worldtraveller S adds a Gates belt-drive & Rohloff to the Bosch Performance CX motor, so all you have to do is remember to charge your battery out on tour.

Prototype integrated commuter e-bikes

Lastly, this e-Supermetro is one of three urban concept e-bikes that Koga had kicking around. In their current line-up all of Koga’s e-bikes tend to be very utilitarian. But the positive success of their Race range is fueling more development to blur the boundary between utility and racier styling. Like many companies Koga is looking at how to better integrate stock e-bike drive systems & batteries. And these prototypes do a good job with custom cowls to blend an oversized downtube & battery into the Shimano motor. Disc brakes, thru-axles, fat urban tires, and tiny or full coverage fenders add enough versatility to make for cool commuters.

All of the new bikes are officially 2018, so are all slate for availability by the start of next year. That said, actual availability dates vary from model to model. In fact, the Colmaras are up on Koga’s website today, as is the new disc Kimera Pro. Others are expected to go live in the next week or two. Keep an eye on Koga.com for updates.

Koga.com

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James Fryer
6 years ago

What is the benefit of a hydraulic rim brake over a mechanical linear pull brake? Or mechanical disc? Or hydraulic disc? Just seems like a relic from the ‘90s.

myke2241
myke2241
6 years ago
Reply to  James Fryer

my experience from the 90’s was hydraulic rim brakes are much more powerful. so much so they could wreck your seat stays or crush your rim if not setup properly. they also modulated pretty well back then… at least for my needs. today i am guessing they are a bit more refine in the relation to modulation and power application.

Ripnshread
Ripnshread
6 years ago
Reply to  myke2241

They are still super powered. So much so that you need to follow a recommended rims list. The power is needed for heavy loaded touring. And you’ll still more likely to crush your rims, break your fork or stays or wear the pads to dust than not stop. 🙂

Smallwood
Smallwood
6 years ago
Reply to  James Fryer

-maintains all the simplicity of rim brakes while being more weather/contamination resistant.
-works well on longer or more circuitous runs on tandems, workcycles,etc.
-does not require the frame/hub/ modifications of discs.
-does not reduce spoke bracing angle of the hub by squeezing in a disc rotor.
-consistent lever pull and self adjustment of hydraulics.
-a simple, light, effective relic of the past.

typevertigo
typevertigo
6 years ago
Reply to  James Fryer

Perhaps so, but it was a relic SRAM thought warranted their own crack at it sometime in 2014/2015. That said, I haven’t heard a lot of buzz about their HydroR rim brakes after launch, especially since they were introduced almost simultaneously with ther first-generation HydroR disc brakes (which were soon recalled, redesigned, and relaunched the next year). Adoption might have been low.

ChrisL
ChrisL
6 years ago

It’s the largest possible rotor you can have.

TomM
TomM
6 years ago

Sand specific bike? That is slicing the market very very finely.

Volsung
Volsung
6 years ago
Reply to  TomM

Beach racing is a big thing over there. If they dropped the BB it’d be an awesome everything bike.

typevertigo
typevertigo
6 years ago
Reply to  TomM

As strange as it sounds, this is actually the second generation of the Beachracer. If it sells and finds buyers (which I guess it does), well…more power to them.

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