Festka Scalatore: My Dream Bike Build

To be truthful, it is difficult for an amateur to distinguish between the ride quality of bikes with certainty. Statements like stiffer ride, faster bike etc. etc. seem far too difficult to distinguish without access to objective data. I have been riding a Scott Addict 10 until recently. It was an excellent bike and I thoroughly enjoyed it for about two years. After the build, when the time came for the first ride of the Festka, I had doubts about my ability to distinguish between the two. What if I can't make out the difference between a very reasonably priced Scott Addict and an expensive, custom Festka? My concerns were thankfully unfounded. As I pedaled through my block street, the first thing that struck me almost immediately was the complete weightlessness of the Festka, in comparison with the Scott. This is despite the fact that the Scott was no heavy weight either, with a manufacturer advertised weight of 7.7kg without pedals. The all in weight of the Scott was about 8.3kg,

The Frame Arrives   In what seemed like an endless wait, I finally received an email from Prashant the owner at Cobbled Climbs and Bike Gallery in Mumbai. As you might remember, they are also the representatives of Festka in India. The email included an attachment with the final images of my bike glowing resplendently in its mummy colours. This was it. My wait was nearing its culmination. The moment of truth was fast approaching. I called up Prashant and checked the timeline for the dispatch, receipt at their end and onward movement to my place. A couple of months prior to the completion of the order, I had also made a request for a Festka t-shirt with signatures of everyone involved with the production of the frame. In addition, I wanted two 10th Anniversary Festka bidons. They matched perfectly with my bike. I was very keen to have some kind of association with all those involved with the production of my dream bike. The idea of a custom bike, unlike  a mass produced frame, included