Being Aero and Comfortable at 6'4

'It’s like riding my TT bike but sitting in a lounge chair.'

After recently purchasing my new Aerfast 4 Walter Rohrl Storck road bike which is a glamour design, my first visual impression was of concern given the slammed look of the bike and forward attacking front end. Upon closer inspection however the frame geometry is merely rolled, and along with an XXL frame to suit my 6’4” frame, and the integrated handlebar + stem set, it has been extraordinarily comfortable and as the lads from Storck Australia would say RIDE-iculously Fast!

The past 8 weeks I have been riding around the Northern Beaches of Sydney, combining flats and climbing in and around the Ku-ring-gai National Park. I’m enjoying the bike immensely and everything feels fast on this bike - Fast, without much effort. You can tell they have spent an immense amount of time in wind tunnels testing and perfecting this bike and typically on the XXL frames the felx is noticeable, however on this bike I feel the power is being transferred to the rear wheel increasing the efficiencies of acceleration and out of the saddle climbing. 

Last weekend I "went long" A ride from the Northern beaches of Sydney to Wollongong which is 100km south of Sydney. The ride included some flat, chopping off with some awesome crew, some beach hopping climbing in and out of Bondi up short and some what steep hills and then through the National Park for some longer seated climbing. I enjoyed all aspects of bike over the 165km journey and I can say that it surprised me that an aero bike such is this for a big guy like me I was still very comfortable as we rolled into the "Gong". 

We were met with a very strong head wind down the gorgeous coast line from Stanwell Tops and over the famous Sea Cliff Bridge and down through Scarborough and I felt this is where the bike again showed me its aero awesomeness. It just seems to slice through the wind and nearly feels like I am pedalling easier than the smaller frames, both of bike and rider who are slogging into the breeze alongside me.  

Its a weapon of a bike that is comfortable and a design team has certainly delivered a bike that is fast. I can’t wait to move further away from my recent holiday, engage a training program and put some serious watts through this bike. 

Bravo to the Storck team for spending the time designing and launching the Aerfast series. An absolute winner and a good looking one at that.

Written by: Hamish 'Hamo' McLean

Bike: Storck Aerfast.4 Walter Rohl Size XXL SRAM Red - Zeitjeager Carbon Wheels. 

Height: 6 foot 4 Inches or 193cm

Build: Former Running Winger Rugby player and 108kgs of beast mode