Favorit BigBoss
Price £1,890, favorit.cz, delivery about 6 weeks
Frame carbon
Gears Alfine 8
Weight 9kg
Brakes Shimano disc
If you were born after the 1980s you’ll struggle to find Skoda jokes funny. To be honest, most of us did, even then. Either way, the laughter petered out when the failing Czech company, bought by VW, was given a new lease of life and reborn as a world-respected brand. Now another struggling Czech firm is attempting a similar second coming. This time it’s the country’s historic bicycle company that’s hoping to resurrect itself.
Favorit dates back to 1922, when three businessmen, Swetlik, Kastrup and Hering, set up shop. The firm really got into gear in the 1950s, when it started supplying frames to the national cycling team and won Olympic medals in Melbourne, Tokyo and Moscow. Favorit went from strength to strength and sold its millionth bike in 1978. But a decade after that milestone, the Velvet Revolution swept through the country and a slow decline followed. Then, in 2011, another businessman appeared on the scene. This time it was the charismatic Richard Galovič – the country’s answer to Richard Branson – who “took up the legend once longed for by every boy in Czechoslovakia and returned it to the sun”.
He has now totally reinvented and relaunched the company. There are four Favorits on offer: the Aviator, BigBoss, Cronos and Diamante. All, however, share just one specification and come with a grease-free silicon belt instead, low-maintenance hub gears, built-in lights and a saddle and matching handlebar grips made with genuine leather. Galovič assures us this is the “highest equipment level”. In a market of mind-boggling variety, there is something compellingly confident about being offered less choice. You do, however, get to pick the colour – as long as it’s blue, green, red or white.
Given that cycling has such a long history (last year it celebrated its 200th anniversary), it amazes me that so many of today’s makers fight shy of embracing the past. But not Favorit. Its four frames are slim and elegant. They look sleek, sharing the same aesthetics as the classic steel beauties of the 60s and 70s. But they are actually made of ultralight carbon, with all the benefits of lightness, comfort and ridability that brings.
The bikes are built in Rokycany, an hour west of Prague. But Favorit has international ambitions. Order a bike online and it will be shipped anywhere in the world. The website raises a few chuckles. I test rode the BigBoss (almost impossible not to say in a thick Eastern European accent) and it is described as being for “sport-racing in a substantial bend”. You’ll also find a most unusual price promise: “Favorit has always cost approximately twice the average monthly wage,” says the website. “The price of our new Favorit bike is set at a similar level. The customer is thus sure they will get a high-end, high-value bike.”
When your Favorit arrives, you’ll find a presentation stand in its box. This is because Galovič believes the bikes are so attractive you’ll want to display them in your sitting room, like a work of art. I think he might be right.
Tour de farce
ITV’s cycling commentator Ned Boulting returns with an all-new production of Tour de Ned, built with wobbly precision on the edifice of the greatest bike race on earth. Take a seat and relive the gut-wrenching moments and best memories from the wonky perspective of a man who is paid to shout out riders’ names as they climb, crash, stop for a poo and attack each other. Prepare for an autumn evening of summer heat as the Tour de France is re-animated, drug busts and all, on a stage near you… For more information and to book tickets, go to nedboulting.com
Cool kit
Keep your toes warm on chilly winter rides in these cosy and colourful socks. dhb thermal bike socks, £8, wiggle.co.uk
Email Martin at martin.love@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @MartinLove166
