While the Czech workshop, or dílna, of Festka is more widely known for their stainless steel and titanium frames, their catalog is actually spearheaded by a carbon offering. Currently, it’s the One series, but previously, the headliner was the lugged Zero.
This is Brodie’s new Festka Zero, which he bought as a frameset and obsessively selected the components for. Brodie currently resides in Singapore, and has been personally testing the worthiness of Festka’s in-house carbon construction.
Festka make all of their frames at their Prague factory, including their carbon flagships. They work closely with Compotech, a Czech leader in, well, composite technology, to develop their individual tubing layups.
Brodie states the disclaimer that he’s no bike mechanic, but he gave us this description of Festka’s carbon frames: “Festka takes a unique approach when it comes to their tubing layup; basically there’s two tube profiles — an outer and inner shell within each other — and placed between these two tubes is a Kevlar honeycomb-shaped buffer which, supposedly, increases the stiffness considerably, but at the same time offers excellent ride dampening properties. All in all, I think the frameset looks great and the attention to detail and finishing is immaculate.”
The parts list makes for a solid and dependable road whip: a custom painted 3T Rigid fork is joined to the frame with a Chris King headset, topped with a Thomson cockpit mounted by the Ultegra Di2 computer. The battery is integrated into the seat post.
Brodie complemented the modern frame by selecting Rotor’s uber-tech 3d+ cranks, and between them is a ceramic Rotor bottom bracket. There’s nothing classic about this Festka, and it’s suitably rolling on a pair of Fulcrum Racing Nite wheels.
The final weight is not impressive by weight-weenie standards, but Brodie loves it, describing it as “an all-round top bike”. 2015 was a big year for Festka, and we can expect to see much more from the Czech shop over the next year.
Special thanks to Brodie for the fantastic photos.
Festka Website | Facebook | Instagram
