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Cycling Weekly

Sport

Simon Fellows

Standert Kreissäge RS review: high-end aluminium crit bike

Simon Fellows aluminium Future Shimano DT Fizik Ultegra Zipp Berlin

Standert Kreissage side on in country lane.

The Kreissäge RS is Standert’s most aggressive race bike, an uncompromising machine that, like all the German brand’s bikes, features a frame crafted from metal. Standert has never made a carbon frame, and I doubt it ever will, it’s just not them. Kreissäge, pronounced ‘Kri-sah-ger’ translates from German as ‘circular saw’, a reference to cutting through crit circuits.

The Kreissäge RS is particularly intriguing because it’s made from aluminium, a metal that rarely gets a good press these days, and one that most of us now associate with budget frames. At €1,949 for the frameset alone, the Kreissäge RS is not super-expensive but it’s hardly pin money. The question bound to eat away at anyone considering this bike is: ‘Am I just paying for the name?’

Happy Cat logo on the top tube waving a 'Kreissäge' disc. The English translation is circular saw. (Image credit: Future/Simon Fellows)

Rightly or wrongly, Standert has become an influencers’ favourite in recent years. Founded in 2012 in Berlin - a city celebrated for its young, alternative, arty scene - it quickly evolved from bike shop and café to a brand making aesthetically pleasing aluminium and steel performance road and gravel bikes.

Since then, it’s become a successful brand that, despite outgrowing its cult status, has never lost its edgy, urban appeal. Unfortunately, posting a ‘posing with my Standert’ reel has become a thing right now, so it’s only natural to question whether Standert bikes are a triumph of form over function. Let’s find out.

The frame

Scandium periodic table sticker. It's a rare earth element that strengthen's aluminium. (Image credit: Future/Simon Fellows)

The Kreissäge RS is a crit racer, a bike designed to excel at 90 minutes or less of all-out efforts over short, tight courses with more corners than a myriagon. A discipline where acceleration, deceleration and pin-sharp handling count for everything. Where, if there can only be one winner, stiffness for power transfer trumps compliance for comfort.

So, as it turns out, aluminium, a metal notorious for being resolutely stiff and unyielding, is a great choice for a crit bike, demonstrated by the number of ally Specialized Allez Sprint framesets you’re sure to find jostling for position at any start line.

The frame is built by Dedacciai in Italy (Image credit: Future/Simon Fellows)

Standert’s claimed weight for a size 54 frame is 1,470g plus 430g for the carbon fork, which isn’t bad but a slightly larger size 56 Allez Sprint frameset weighs in at 2.18kg, so there’s really not much in it.

The frame, which is built by Dedacciai in Italy, has a horizontal top tube more on the level than Mother Theresa. It looks super traditional; you won’t find any dropped stays or 3D-printed tube junctions here. Even the front derailleur is band-on, which looks a bit fussy and antiquated, but perhaps the thin-walled tubing isn’t robust enough for a braze-on plate. Welding is neat and tidy throughout - overall, the beads are straight and regular with little excess material.

Geo is aggressive, as you’d expect from a race bike, but not crazy hardcore. Visually, the Kreissäge is defined by its short wheelbase, long top tube, shortish head tube, and low front end, and the figures bear this out. For comparison, I’ve added the Allez Sprint’s metrics in brackets. For a size 56, the wheelbase is 986mm (992mm), chainstays 410mm (410mm), stack 560mm (558mm), reach 390 (398mm), head tube angle 73.5° (73.5°) and seat tube angle 73.5° (73.5°).

Build

All Standerts are highly configurable via the brand's website. Our review bike was fitted with an Ultegra drivetrain but Sram options are available too. (Image credit: Future/Simon Fellows)

The Kreissäge RS is highly customisable at point of sale using Standert’s online configurator. The base model, which features a Shimano 105 Di2, groupset, aluminium DT Swiss AR 1600 wheels, a Fizik Vento Argo R1 saddle and carbon Deda Superzero RS bars retails for €4,799 but whoever specced our sample bike was rather more click-happy with the options list. A 12-speed Ultegra Di2 groupset, 50mm carbon DT Swiss ARC 1400 Dicut wheels, 28mm Vittoria Corsa Pro tyres, Zipp SL Speed seatpost and a pair of Arundel Stainless Steel cages inflates the price to €6819.01. If you’re a UK customer you’ll have to pay €170 shipping plus VAT and import duty, bringing the total to around €7,848, or £6,499. Standert is not currently shipping to the US.

Our size 58 Kreissäge RS review bike, including stainless steel cages, tipped the scales at 8.66kg, which is not porky but also no featherweight.

The ride

Shimano Ultegra 52-36 chainring up front, which is married to a 11-30t cassette at the rear. (Image credit: Future/Simon Fellows)

First things first, I’ve got to admit that I don’t like the ‘Get it Green’ colour of our review bike. The flat, dark green paintwork works fine on an old Jag - British Racing Green and all that - but it looks dated here. The gold decals add a bit of bling, but the pink lettering simply jars. Similarly, the stainless-steel cages are at odds with the gold.

The other available paint options, to my eye at least, really pop. Why didn’t they send us one in See Ya Silver, Peel Off Orange or Team Pink? Admittedly, aesthetic choices are completely personal, so I accept that my criticism is utterly meaningless.

The headtube is relatively compact for a large bike, reflected in the low stack height. (Image credit: Future/Simon Fellows)

During a quick pre-ride chat, Maxe Faschina, Standert’s head of product, cautioned me about the Kreissäge RS’ ride. “It’s an aluminium race bike,” said Faschina, “built specifically for short, intense crit races, it’s not supposed to be comfortable.”

Certainly, the bike is super stiff and very direct. Putting the power down results in instant acceleration, and the smallest of inputs to the Superzero RS bars results in an immediate change of course. It really is that reactive, yet it’s also beautifully balanced. I found myself wishing for long, sweeping bends to go on forever, unable to resist the voice in my head that urged “faster, faster…”

Tight bends and sudden changes in direction don’t phase the Kreissäge RS either; as you’d expect of a crit bike, it’s in its element chopping and changing, weaving and darting. As I’ve already established, it’s no featherweight, but its stiffness does compensate. I’ve no idea how efficient the drivetrain and frameset combo is, but when climbing or sprinting, it felt like most of the watts I was putting through the pedals were reaching the back wheel. Which was reassuring.

Narrow 38cm (c-c) are perfect for a bike of this character. (Image credit: Future/Simon Fellows)

The contact points are top-notch. I’ve long been a fan of the short-nosed Fizik Vento Argo R1, a saddle that allows you to comfortably ride ‘on the rivet’ for an extended period. The Deda Superzero RS bars are new to me, but I found them similarly satisfying, and they suit the character of the bike with their aero-inspired deep flat tops and large RS branding.

Was Faschina right about the ride quality? Not exactly. Yes, the frame is stiff, but the Deda bars and Zipp carbon seat post subdued road chatter and added a decent amount of compliance. The glorious wheel and tyre combination probably made the most significant impact – the beautifully supple cotton Corsa Pros, pumped to 70 psi, never cease to impress - so much so that I’d love to try the lesser-specced base model as a comparison. The Kreissäge RS is no feather mattress endurance bike, but it’s versatile enough to conquer some long rides in relative comfort.

I suspect much of the ride feel can be attributed to the fantastic 50mm DT Swiss ARC 1400 Dicut wheels and supple Vittoria Corsa Pro cotton tyres (Image credit: Future/Simon Fellows)

Value and conclusions

The Kreissäge RS is a versatile race bike that remains comfortable enough for long, pleasurable rides (Image credit: Future/Simon Fellows)

Speccing the correct cockpit, seat stem, wheels and tyres is the key to unlocking the Kreissäge RS’ full potential, and this is the rub. Attack Standert’s configurator with too much enthusiastic abandon and the law of diminishing returns dictates it’s easy to end up with an expensive bike that won’t be significantly better than cheaper competition from the likes of Specialized.

It’s hard to ignore that a similarly-specced Allez Sprint Comp costs a whopping £1,400 less than the base Kreissäge RS. Same Shimano 105 groupset, similar alloy wheels and an aluminium frame. Some of that money can be accounted for - the Standert has desirable scandium tubing, a better cockpit and a nicer saddle. The rest? It must be in the Italian manufacturing, which rightly or wrongly, holds more allure than a factory-finished product from the Far East.