So earlier, i had written an article about why your first road bike should be a gravel bike. Of course, while writing that, I was acutely aware that my 2 bikes at the time were a Specialized Venge and a Cervelo R5: both of them fantastic bikes but neither really designed for being ridden off-road.
My wife and I take our bikes on cycling vacations - some are to places with great roads and others, to places where the roads can vary a lot. One particularly favorite cycling destination is Bhutan - which has some lovely climbs on great tarmac, but also some very interesting jeep trails going into secluded valleys and forests. While the Venge was my tarmac speed-machine, for my second bike, it made more sense for me to get a bike that would let me ride a wider range of roads. And thus, with a very heavy heart, I decided to sell my Cervelo R5 frameset (one of the nicest bikes I have ever ridden - Hambini is an idiot), and replace it with a gravel bike.
Gravel bikes come in a wide variety of styles, and while I wanted to have the option to go off-road, my primary riding was still going to be on tarmac of all types. So I needed a gravel bike that was more road/race oriented. My initial list had bikes like the Trek Domane, Trek Checkpoint, Look 695 RS, Open UP, 3T Explore and Cervelo Aspero. If Cervelo had a distributor in India who knew their ass from their elbow, I would have likely purchased the Aspero - but they showed zero interest in selling me a bike and with the others, availability and pricing were issues.
Then, as luck would have it, Factor announced the release of their LS gravel bike - a sub-1000gm frame weight, Factor's reputation for quality and something off the beaten track: that got me interested and Vivek Bhateja of Mastermind Bikes got me a very competitive price on it, and thus deal was done.
THE BUILD
The bike arrived in early September. My plan was to carry over most of the parts from the Cervelo onto the LS, but at the last minute, I decided to and try a Power2Max unit, sourced from the good folks of Happy Earth, as a change of pace from my usual Quarqs.
Power2Max powermeter - trying something new after a decade of using Quarqs,
That led to the first delay - I needed a BBRight to M30 bottom bracket. Happy Earth ordered one but Customs did its thing and the package was delayed for nearly a month, reaching me only around mid-October. No worries - now that I had all the bits and bobs, I dropped the bike off to Pro Bikers to get it built. And then the second delay happend: two days later, I get a call from them, telling me that there was a problem with the seatpost clamp. Apparently, the "Small Parts Box" that came with the frameset had the incorrect seatpost clamp. An understandable mistake, given that this is a new model but I I really, really wanted to take this bike for a riding camp in Kodaikanal in 10 days time - and it would have been an absolute disappointment if that did not happen.
A frantic call to Mastermind led to a instant escalation with Factor - who responded like champs, and send the part over to me by DHL the very next day. There was a small issue with an incorrect-entered pin code for my address, which led to an additional delay of 1-2 days, but I received the part well in time to have the bike built up. Kudos to both Mastermind and Factor for solving the problem quickly.
The final build:
- Groupset: Shimano Ultegra Di2
- Cranks: Power2max Powermeter, 50/34 with 172.5mm Praxis Zayante carbon arms
- Handlebars: 3T Superergo 440mm
- Stem: Zipp Sprint SL 100mm
- Seatpost: Controltech 0 setback
- Pedals: Speedplay Zero, stainless steel
- Wheels: Roval CL50
- Cassette: 11-32
- Rotors: 160mm front, 140mm rear
- Tires: Specialized RapidAir 2Bliss 26mm, run tubeless
- Saddle: Generic carbon jobbie off Ali Express
I have avoided all integrated/concealed cabling. I have that on my Venge, it is brilliant to look at and concealing the cables is obviously going to make me win all the races I enter now - but it is also a pain in the ass to travel with. In fact, that was one of the reasons I wanted a second bike: something with a more traditional cockpit, for ease of dismantling for travel.
This above incarnation is my road-oriented guise of the bike, although I plan to replace the RapidAirs once they are done with 28-30mm tires for even more plush. I also plan to put a pair of thicker, treaded tires on a pair of Lightbicycle AR36 wheels for more off-road/gravel usage, although I still have to decide what those tires are going to be: am leaning towards a pair of Conti Terra Speeds or similar. For now, that wheelset has a pair of S-Works Turbo 26 wheels on it.
Pictured here with Lightbicycle 36mm wheels with S-Works Turbo tires
The frame came in 1086gm for a size 56, and the fork added 457gm to the build. The bike, as built - with bottle cages but no bottles - clocked in at a little under 7.8kg. With the lighter AR36 wheels, it is under 7.7kg. For a serious lightweight, road-focused build, you can shave 200gm off the wheelset quite easily, 150gm by using lighter tires/tubes and perhaps another 150gm with a lighter stem and cassette. That's without geting into exotic parts or even Dura Ace territory - damn impressive for a gravel bike.
RIDE QUALITY - FIRST IMPRESSIONS
While I bought the frame with certain expectations based on Factor's reputation as well as the race-oriented focus of the bike, the fact that it was so new meant that there were literally no reviews of the bike on the market. I have to admit, I was a little concerned about how this bike would ride.
One of the most critical attributes I look for in a bike is BB stiffness - a bike with some flex there may not actually be slower on the road (case in point - my old titanium Lynskey, which felt flexy but on which I have done some of my fastest rides ever), but I don't like how it rides. The Cervelo R5 was one of the stiffest bikes I have ridden in terms of efficiency - pushing down on the pedals felt like pushing off a wall: zero give. And it matched that with very good comfort as well, making for a ride that was plush without being boring.
Now, comparing a gravel bike to a Pro Tour level frameset is not a fair comparison - but hey, since I sold the latter to get the former, the Factor was going to undergo that comparison. I built up the bike in time to get in a short test ride and then head to the afore-mentioned cycling camp in Kodaicanal for a long weekend.
Great roads and a lot of climbing!
This included pretty much entirely of climbing (2300m on one day) and descending, with only 1 4km stretch that was flat - all of which gave me a good idea of the ride quality of the bike.
So let's get the big question out of the way: was the BB/drivetrain as stiff as the Cervelo? No, not really - it lacked that sense of implacable lack of give that greeted every pedal stroke on the R5. But that's a hard ask of any bike (even my Venge doesn't achieve that). By any other standard, it's certainly very stiff and responsive. On the climbs, when your legs are tired, BB flex feels as though the bike is sucking the energy away. That was not the case here. Put the power down, and the bike surges forward in a very satisfying manner - not once did I feel a sense of mushiness when pedaling.
We got rained on during an extended descent - cold hands, pouring rain and steep hairpin curves on dirty/broken made for a very bad combo. While I definitely was not going all out on the descents, I did choose to take some sharp lines when it was safe to do so, and the bike rewarded that with very confident and deliberate steering/handling. There was no hint of wobble, no feeling of oversteer/understeer - all I had to do was pick my line and the Factor LS followed. Very confidence-inspiring!
And on broken patches, even with road tires, the bike did a great job of attenuating the impact of that initial hit. No, it was not as cushy as my steel bike, but it was surprisingly comfortable - there were a few times when I was bracing myself for a pretty serious jolt coming to my arms, but the actual impact was a lot less than I expected.
In short, this is pretty much what you would expect from a bike that is designed for riding on rough roads: racy stiff but balanced with comfort: perfect for an all-rounder. And speaking of "designed for rough roads", the handling is surprisingly agile for a bike with a slacker head tube - the short chainstays and wheelbase help, I imagine. As far as a trade-off between agility and stability goes, I never felt myself noticing one (or missing the other) more - which would make the Factor LS very balanced in terms of how it handles.
Cranks and valves not aligned, bottles still present, chimney.... this shot wouldnt make the Bike Vault!
In fact, balanced is the perfect way to describe the bike: it is a very good mix of stiff in the right areas and comfortable in others (the dreaded "laterally stiff / vertically compliant" phrase comes to mind), and also balances agility vs stability, as mentioned earlier. At no point during the ride did I ever find it lacking in any area - and that overall competence is what makes the Factor LS a very versatile bike.
What about the negatives? There are a couple of minor ones, as it turns out.
The frame comes with mounting points for fenders and a bento box on the top tube. Each of these holes are concealed by rubber plugs. And these plugs get lost very easily. In the time I have had it, the bike has been in the car a lot - to/from the bike shop to get built, to Kodi and back and also in a van each day to/from the start/end point of the day's ride. In that time, I have managed to lose 3 of the 4 rubber plugs, leaving each screw hole exposed. It is hardly the end of the world and perhaps for people who don't travel a lot with their bike, this may not be an issue - but I gotta say, seeing the gaping holes there affects my Roadie OCD something fierce. I have asked Mastermind to see if Factor can send in a few more plugs - given how good Factor's service has been so far, I expect this won't be an issue. But I will always be hoping I don't lose those replacements in the future! Perhaps a less fussy alternative on the next iteration of the bike? Or, of course, you could do what most normal people would do and just put regular bolts in there.
I have, since, replaced the missing plug with a bolt, but it still bothers my OCD
The second is that initially, attaching the rear through axle was initially very finicky. The RD hanger was moving a little and you need to push it just so, in order to be able to thread the TA easily. Upon follow up with Factor - who were super-responsive, as always - it turned out to have been user error when the bike was built: the mechanic simply did not tighten the through axle enough. So this negative is not on Factor.
SUMMARY
So far, I am very pleased with the bike indeed (and no, it isn't just the new bike honeymoon phase).
Like all right-thinking roadies, how a bike looks is almost as important as other attributes. And if you are only going to sell a particular model in one color, some combo of black, white and red is always the safest (looking at you, Cannondale: "I want a bike in taupe" said no roadie, ever). Factor obviously pays attention to the Tao of Guadzilla, as this raw/black/white colorway shows.
Truth be told, I would have preferred a custom paint option, as Factor offers with their other bikes, but apparently they were unable to do so in 2020 due to excessive demand. Fair enough. And my desire for a different paint is mainly because I already have a fully-blacked out Venge, and so wanted something different. I was considering getting the bike re-painted and bidding goodbye to the warranty - however, the exposed-carbon paint with a glossy clearcoat looks very sharp and now that I have it, I no longer feel any urgency to get it repainted.
The Factor also clocks in lighter than most gravel bikes out there, including far more expensive models from Trek, Specialized and others, including versions with trims like S-Works, SLR, EVO, CLX and such: all of which are priced a fair bit more than the LS. While bike weight really doesn't matter that much from a performance point of view, let's face it - there is something very cool/fun about having a light bike. Even an aero geek like me gets warm fuzzies at seeing a low number on the scale. Another big point to the Factor LS.
As far as performance goes, this is a fantastic all-rounder and for me, the perfect complement to the aggressive Venge. This is a bike I can smash out long rides in (included 5.5 hours a few days ago) without getting beaten up and while still retaining that agile, racy feel.
Not all days are hammerfests - sometimes, you want to celebrate a lovely ride in the mountains with food and great views
So to recap: a bike with top-tier performance, a price that is lot lower than comparable options elsewhere, the ability to build it up exactly the way you want, pricing that is comparable with international levels and great service, both locally and from the manufacturer. If you are looking for a road bike that can do it all - fast rides, long endurance efforts and off-road - the Factor LS should definitely be on your list.
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