Baum Corretto Review

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Sailinbum
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2015 11:25 pm

by Sailinbum

Here goes. I've always found these reviews of bikes online so subjective. Everybody has different experiences of their bike frames, and that is completely dependent on component choice, training, and overall riding preference and fitness. A little bit about myself, I've been riding and racing at the elite level now for over 10 years on the road as well as cyclo cross and mountain. I prefer a climbs, but really am an overall rider. Love stage racing, but mostly love the adventure of riding my bike in new places. I am 65kg at race weight and 1.8m tall. So far Ithis year I have logged 12,500 km with 260,000m elevation gain. Mostly road distance. I primarily ride and race a 2014 Wilier zero.7 with di2 dura ace, but also have over 10 years of experience on a seven titanium cyclocross and road bikes. Before this I have owned numerous carbon fiber road bike from Wilier, specialized, van Dessel, and have extensively ridden on other carton frame makers as well as mixed materials such as a carbon and titanium Serotta. I don't claim to be an authority on any of this, as I mentioned before it really is all just subjective.

I first started noticing Baum frames online about two years ago and peaked my interest in Road going titanium frames. Great reviews from people that I trust as well as a trip down to Melbourne from San Francisco, peaked my interest in their bikes. I love my seven titanium cyclocross bike, which has couplers and I travel with quite often so I knew the ride characteristics of Ti intimately. Let me also start this review by saying that titanium is completely different from carbon. All good materials have their qualities, and in talented hands, can really achieve anything that you want. The reason why wanted to go with titanium for my next bike was custom fit and geometry, as well as a heirloom quality build. I would highly recommend Baum for those who have at least a few years of experience writing lots of miles on the road. Custom geometry is something that you really want to get right, and it takes a while to get accustomed to what you prefer on the bike terms of positioning, as well as type of riding that you like to do. Also you must look into how long the builder has been making titanium frames. There are a lot of pop up titanium printmakers the middle necessarily have the expertise and welding, which is the most important part of the equation when working with such a material.

When talking road racing all out power transfer is what you're looking for in a race bike. All of the tag words and reviews that you see online in the cheesy bike magazines is somewhat true. You want light and ridiculously stiff. These don't necessarily apply for a bike that you are looking to ride for 4-6 hours and want to be comfortable on and after a ride to enjoy the sensations. Being a diehard carbon advocate for racing I didn't believe that Ti could be built as stiff and efficient as I needed it to be. I was wrong. One of the most important things about this custom process is the back-and-forth that you have with the designers at Baum. It took me four months of back-and-forth to talk about things from for fork rake to seat tube angle and performance characteristics of what I like and my ride. Ryan was very humble and explained every part of the design and performance process with me. These conversations got me away from the pop trend of 44mm head tube with tapered steerer, and I'm glad for making the decision now looking back. The steering is so incredibly precise, and as Ryan said, the stiffness of the steering really is based on the fork dynamics and not necessarily the width of the HT. Enve straight steerer forks are plenty stiff and I am never left hoping for anything stiffer when descending, and I descend Very aggressively.

In terms of ride quality and efficiency there is a telepathic nature that comes about this bike. It just screams at you to get up out of the saddle and pedal super hard out of each turn. This maybe attributed to the butting and shaping process of their tubes. The chain stays are so amazingly shaped that I feel no discernible flex when pounding out of the saddle. I am primarily a seated climber or so stiffness from the bike, while in the saddle, was very important to me. They hit the nail on the head here too. On any local climb over 20minutes I see my times within one minute of my 750gr Carbon comparison, at the same power output. As a point of reference, the Baum Corretto is just right around 1080gr for the frame in a 55cm. Of course each frame is different dependent on not to size but ride characteristics and tube butting. While descending I find my times freakishly fast and beating any time that I've ever had on any of my carbon and bikes. This is really where the Baum shines. I've never felt more confident on any bike. The materials as well as the geometry really is made for my body and ride characteristics. It fits like a glove or a custom made suit. The harder you push the faster it goes into and out of corners. At the end of long rides I still feel fresh with no discomfort in my back and arms that I would regularly feel on my carbon bike, with both bikes having identical positioning.

You can read that titanium has a description of a nonlinear modulus. I would have to agree here in that the more you put into it, it tends to predictably give back to you. The bike doesn't have that hollow feeling of wood that carbon tends to have. Weather riding over washboard sections of suboptimal pavement, or just putting power to the pedals or steering, you get out of this machine what you put into it and it's sublime. No other bike that I have ridden is so enjoyable. Is the extra 300g of bicycle frame as noticeable? Probably on longer climbs, but you forget about it all on the duration of an entire ride. The two materials really are incomparable except for the objective nature of weight. It's like trying to compare and Enzo Ferrari to a classic Aston Martin. There's absolutely nothing that I would change about this bike, as well as would go through the same waiting process of over a year from deposit to delivery.

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Calnago
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by Calnago

Great review! But there's one glaring thing missing. I don't think I need to say what it is. But I read every word all the while resisting fast forwarding to the end for a quick glimpse of what I was reading about.... :)
Colnago C64 - The Naked Build; Colnago C60 - PR99; Trek Koppenberg - Where Emonda and Domane Meet;
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by Weenie


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Sailinbum
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2015 11:25 pm

by Sailinbum

Last edited by Sailinbum on Mon Nov 02, 2015 2:40 am, edited 2 times in total.

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HammerTime2
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Joined: Thu May 04, 2006 4:43 pm
Location: Wherever there's a mountain beckoning to be climbed

by HammerTime2

Sailinbum wrote:The steering is so incredibly precise, and as Ryan said, the stiffness of the steering really is based on the fork dynamics and not necessarily the width of the HT. Enve straight steerer forks are plenty stiff and I am never left hoping for anything stiffer when descending, and I descend Very aggressively.

...
While descending I find my times freakishly fast and beating any time that I've ever had on any of my carbon and bikes. This is really where the Baum shines. I've never felt more confident on any bike. ... The harder you push the faster it goes into and out of corners.
Nice review, but to clarify, there's just one thing I really want to know: Does it handle corners like a prostitute?

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