Focus Cayo Evo LTD Review

Focus was born from its roots as a cyclocross bike manufacturer in Germany. The company was founded in 1992 by Mike Kluge, three-time cyclocross World Champion. After producing mountain and touring bikes, in 2003 they expanded into making racing bikes.

In 2009 Focus sponsored their first World Tour team, Team Milram. I had one of these team issue bikes and I rode it to some of my best memories as a cyclist here in Australia.

Jumping ahead to 2013, Focus has partnered with many high profile teams including Katusha, Acqua & Sapone, NetApp and currently sponsors Ag2r and Jelly Belly (Rodriguez just won the US National Championships on his Cayo) and Focus is still deeply embedded in the cyclocross scene.

Before the ride

The courier dropped the bike off a couple weeks ago in a big cardboard box, and when I went to lift it up the stairs I thought they forgot to put the wheels in. It was that light.

The bike was brand new and needed assembly. It only took me about 20 minutes as it was mostly put together. I just needed to take off the packing and put the regular bits in the right places.

Specs:

Frame - Cayo Evo - Ltd paint scheme
Fork - 3T Rigida LTD
Stem - Tune Stem
Bars - Schmolke SL handlebars
Seatpost - Schmolke SL post
Saddle - Tune saddle
Cranks - Tune cranks
Wheels - Lightweight - Tubular<
Tyres - Schwalbe
Brakes - Fibula
Levers - SRAM Red 10
Rear Der - SRAM Red
Front Der - SRAM red
Chain - SRAM Red
Cassette - SRAM Red

After putting it all together I brought out the scale to see just how light this thing was. 5.5kgs as it turns out. The one component that I noticed more than anything when putting the bike together was the saddle and seatpost weight. Together they weighed about 150 grams and I couldn’t believe what I was holding in my hand. I’m familiar with the sensation of picking up Lightweight wheels but they never cease to amaze me when I lift them.

The frame is a limited edition matt black paintjob which weighs approximately ~950 grams (54cm size). The fork is, depending on steerer length, around 290 - 300g. It’s the exact same Cayo EVO frame you’ll get on their more affordable models with a different paint scheme and slightly different fork. Paint itself can add up to a surprising amount of weight, so I imagine that choosing matt black for this model is one of those one-percenters which adds up to shave off those precious grams.

Geometry

The Cayo frame comes in five different sizes. This differs from Focus’ top end Izalco framesets which have seven different sizes (often the cost difference comes from the price of building more expensive moulds).

You can also see that the fork rake of the Cayo is less than the Izalco’s, but has a similar headtube angle. This equates to more trail (a product of head angle and fork rake) which creates slower steering (i.e. more input required to turn the bike - which isn’t necessarily a good thing or a bad thing - it’s a matter of preference).

More trail is good at high speeds, but at slower speeds it can mean that you need more input to steer the bike. In the end, the Cayo has more trail than the Izalco which in theory makes it a better bike than the Izalco for cornering at high speeds.

Read more about how to interpret these geometry charts in this Geometry of Bike Handling article.

After the ride

I took the bike out for a 40km ride down Beach Road and while it’s not exactly the territory that will allow this bike to shine, it’s enough to get a good feel for it. Let’s not beat around the bush. The theme of this bike is “weight”. It’s light, and that’s exactly what it’s trying to be.

Even though it’s only about 1.5kg lighter than the UCI legal weight of 6.8kg which doesn’t sound like much (that’s about 2 bidons, or a set of wheels) there’s an incredible sensation to riding a bike this light. It makes you feel like you’re floating and it accelerates with remarkable ease.

Of course there’s far less material on a bike like this to soak up the vibrations, so the compromise is a comfortable and plush feel to the ride that a heavier bike would have. However, the Cayo frame spec’d on this bike is the same one you’ll find on any of the Evo models.

Built up with a more forgiving set of wheels (Lightweights are an incredibly stiff wheel, sometimes too stiff), a more comfortable saddle, and more hefty groupset you’ll get a more comfortable ride and save about $7k. However, it you’re a weight weenie looking to see what you can do on a relatively modest budget, this is a bike to consider.

The frame itself has a comfortable geometry and steers a little less quickly than the Izalco which I’ve owned a few of. The overriding characteristic of the geometry is “neutral”, which is more or less similar to the Izalco. It doesn’t venture to the extremes of stiffness or handling (this can be said about many mass produced bikes these days).

WRAP-UP

Spry

This one's for you weight weenies who want the sensation of riding on a magic carpet. At only 5.5kg, it's tough to get much lighter at this price point. It's the sum of the parts (saddle/seatpost, brakes, cranks, and wheels) that make this bike a featherweight and the bike is spec'd with the same Cayo Evo frameset that their other Cayo models use. RRP: $11,999 Weight: 5.5kg

GOOD STUFF

Incredibly light and nimble
Uses the exact same frame as on lower end models, so this bike can be gradually built up for those on a budget
Comfortable geometry for a racey looking bike
Corners nicely

BAD STUFF

Sacrifices feel and comfort for feather-weight
I wouldn't want to do a long ride on that saddle
Even though a $12k pricetag is good for the parts it's spec'd with, if you don't have the budget it's hard to justify thousands more for marginal weight gains.

CTECH RATING

8.0

Performance

9.0

Presentation

8.0

Value for money

7.0

Handling

8.0

WANT IT

Full Disclosure: I would like to thank the guys at Focus Australia (Derby Cycle in Adelaide) for sending this bike over and giving us the opportunity to review it. Focus is currently advertising with CyclingTips for the month of July, 2013 when this review was written.

slartiblartfast

I happen to have that saddle (also known as tune concord or becker saddle) on my bike. This was purchased second hand with another bike. It is quite comfortable for an hour or two as a race saddle then gets progressively less comfortable - stage one of Tour of Bright was just about the limit! It is also quite fiddly to securely attach to the seatpost as it does not have proper saddle rails. I swap out the saddle/seatpost together to a more conventional setup for normal riding.
- Rich
  
  It’s actually a newer model in the Tune range called the ‘Komm Vor’ - it’s very much like a normal saddle to install, and really quite comfortable to ride. I’ve done rides of 200km+ on Komm Vor saddles and get on with them quite well.
Reuben Dupre

Strange… from the US if you look for the Cayo LTD on http://focus-bikes.com/ , you’ll find a bike with a completely different frame than both the Cayo Evo and the Izalco (see pic). Not surprisingly though, the bike you’ve reviewed here is seemingly not available in the US, but I didn’t really expect it to be. Apparently in some other countries Focus sells direct? They’re exclusively through LBS here.

Ordered an Izalco last week, can’t wait for it! I’ve really grown a soft spot for Focus.
- Mark
  
  Hi Reuben, This one pictured above is a Cayo LTD, the bike in this review is a Cayo “EVO” Ltd. As per every Focus subsidiary the bikes are available but it is the choice of the country what they bring in (Australia said yes to these) . No focus subsidary sells direct to the public they only can be purchased through Focus stores
  - Reuben Dupre
    
    Thank you for clarifying, Mark.
    - foobar
      
      Do be concerned as I’m not convinced this bike is really a product, at least for the 2013 year.
      
      Look across their International and Australian websites or search the Focus domain from Google and, like me, you won’t find anything pertaining to this particular model, nor even simpler queries such as “lightweight and cayo”.
      
      A new marketing technique where you hide your halo models and reveal them to only a select customer base? heh
      - Focus
        
        Hi Reuben, The Cayo Evo Ltd was a late addition to the 2013 offering. It is in very limited numbers and not available in every country. Focus bikes Australia has all frame sizes currently in stock.
Notso Swift

Schmolke, Tune, THM, it really is a weight weenie wet dream
Greg Beliera

I have a comment for the photographer. What camera and lens are you using in your bike shots in the bike reviews? I like the photography because it’s more art than the typical bike and bike parts shots you see out there on other well known websites. I look at all the shots in your bike review from the past months. I’m and avid cyclist and photographer and love the pictures you take of the bikes. Looking at the shots and I’m thinking you shoot in aperture mode for the most part. Thanks for any info you provide.
- http://www.cyclingTipsBlog.com cyclingTips
  
  Thanks for the kind words Greg!
jules

out of curiosity, does the fork have a carbon, steel or aluminium steerer? i’m guessing carbon?
Robert Merkel

Did any of the other weight weenie bits impose significant compromises?
brent

Thanks for the quick review. I like reading quick reviews as i would prefer lots of quick reviews to one “in depth review” and you can pretty much get a snapshot at the quick review.

Including the geometry chart on the main page is a great idea. I ride bikes with top tubes (horizontal) of between 58 cm to 61 cm and i have learnt to look straight away at the head tube angles and fork rake. If you steepen the head tube on bigger frames but use the same fork you change the trail and generally the bike is unpleasant to ride in fast corners and downhill and not at all the same experience you find on the smaller frames. To use the same fork across the entire range is pretty cheap on such an expensive bike.
SC

Thanks Cyclingtips for the review.

On a side note, I hope bike manufacturers decide to make 2013 the last time that “got any blacker’ colour is used. Clearly overdone by most bike brands now.
Grammar pedant

I’m sorry to be an annoying grammar pedant but I’ve noticed one particular mistake that you regularly make. In the following sentence, “it’s” should be “its”. “Focus was born from it’s roots as a cyclocross bike manufacturer in Germany.” An easy way to check is if it can’t be read as “it is” then it’s “its”.