Back in March around the time of the Berlin Bike Show, Polish cycling blog turned clothing company turned road bike travel company Podia shared with us a collaboration project that they had worked out with British bikemaker Genesis to outfit their Eastern Europe tours with steel road bikes. That first pairing saw them custom paint a stainless steel Volare 931 in their own deep purple with orange and white accents. Now that Podia has just gotten back from their first Roadventures trip of 2017 into the Tatra Mountains, they’ve sent over photos of the second bike for their ride leaders. This time it is the more affordable Genesis Volare in Reynolds 853 steel, with an even more striking design leaning more heavily on Podia’s signature orange and built-up with a black Campagnolo Potenza 11 groupset & Shamal Ultra wheels. Get a closer look at the special edition bike after the break…
The Genesis Volare 853 shares a very similar premium steel ride as the 931 model (and the same claimed weight), but for £900 or about half the price for the frameset, it offers a lot of value. The more affordable steel is also a tad less stiff, offering a ride that some actually prefer over the 931.
This second collabo bike is once again the product of the British painter Doktor Bobby of Colourburn Studio. While the primarily orange & black color scheme makes for a much different looking bike than the 931, the Podia colors and striped design are very similar making for an interesting pair for the leaders of Podia’s Roadventures trips.
The Podia team seem to be pretty enamored with the Potenza gruppo. And while we personally prefer the aluminum group in shiny silver, its performance really does put it really close to Campy’s much more expensive carbon groupsets. The lightweight aluminum Shamal Ultra wheels even made Podia question their desire for carbon Boras. We know why. We loved the tubular version of the rim brake wheels and are looking forward to getting on a set of the tubeless-ready, disc brake version when they make it to retailers this coming fall.
The rest of Podia’s custom Volare 853 build gets rounded out with Challenge Elite clincher tires and a Brooks Cambium C13 saddle.
As for Podia’s Roadventures your this year, there are no more slots available for the next trip into the Tatra (like the shot above from last week), but looks like there is still availability for an upcoming trip to the Julian Alps on the borders of Slovenia, Austria & Italy scheduled for early fall, with 2018 trips soon to come online via Podia’s Travel page.
