Factor Rider Stories: Stuart Clapp’s ViSTA

Stuart Clapp, Desire Editor of Rouleur magazine, writes about his journey of discovery with Factor Bikes

I remember the first time I saw a Factor. Not in a magazine, but actually in real life. It was at the Smithfield Nocturne. I remember the bike, the year less so. I’m going for 2010. I can’t recall the first time I saw many bikes.

As Desire editor at Rouleur magazine, I see a lot of them, but choosing one for myself was so hard. Pick a handful of them for the next issue, no problem. I wrote about my struggles in last year’s Desire special. I wanted something different. I’m not an aero bike guy, not anymore, neither am I ready for steel.

What I didn’t know was, until I rode one, was I wanted a Factor O2. I bought one in the end, one of the CHPT3 ONEMORELAP versions, which also quenched my (ahem) desire for having something a little different. It looks and feels custom. It feels special. Black Inc Thirty wheels. Dura Ace Di2. Rim brake (no, they’re not dead).

Anyway, so last year, I got invited to the unveiling of the ViSTA. I went out with Adam Blythe and David Millar into the New Forest and it was the most fun I’d had on a bike for ages – just a bunch of mates ragging it about in the woods. We weren’t chasing an average speed or looking at a power meter. Feels a bit odd saying it, and maybe a bit cliché, but sod it, isn’t this the reason we ride bikes? It’s childlike.

But, this is where it got interesting, and I confess, I didn’t actually consider it all that much at the time.

Millar put his hand up, “I’ve punctured. How far is it back to base?” I think the answer came back that it was about 5kms. “Who wants a game of race the puncture?” and with that Millar hopped onto the asphalt and shot off down the road like he’d been shot out of a cannon. This resulted in an impromptu team time trial to make it back before all the remaining air had gone from his front tyre.

I got back to meet the other press invitees and one of them was suggesting that you didn’t need an all-road bike, just a road bike and a mountain bike. This, I told him, was missing the point and explained the fun we’d just had off-road and on the way back. Penny dropped.

I now have a ViSTA. I visited the Customer Experience Centre and had, believe it or not, my first proper bike fit. It turns out my saddle height was a little way off and I have freakishly long femurs. Cyclists would call it rangy. Non-cyclists would probably call it something less flattering.

After a year of coveting a Factor ViSTA, I now have one. Shimano GRX 1X. Black Inc. Thirty. It’s my n-2 (yes, minus 2).

We beat the puncture.

Stuart’s Factor ViSTA appears in Rouleur 20.1.