Test Koga Colmaro Allroad: Road-Disc frame set and Gravel components – this results in an unusual sports bike that works on both asphalt and natural paths, without presenting the user with a complex fundamental decision due to over-specialization.
Digital cameras, smartphones, cars – we are surrounded by technical devices whose potential we only use to a small extent. It's hardly any different in the cycling world: Long-travel mountain bikes are ridden on forest roads, while adventure-ready gravel bikes are sometimes fitted with a mudguard to prevent splashing when commuting. It's actually a pity, because riding a bike that is perfectly suited to its purpose is a nice feeling. The Koga Colmaro Allroad is a bike that can neither do too much nor too little. The olive-green racing machine doesn't really fit into any category: With disc brakes, 1×11 gears and a huge cassette, it deviates from the classic racing bike; On the other hand, their 35 tires and the relatively sporty sitting position don't really look like gravel bikes.
Koga Colmaro Allroad: Between the chairs or a direct hit?
You get closer to the answer if you look at it from the user's perspective. Because many people are interested in racing bikes, but do not need the strong specialization. A wheel that allows tires up to 28mm wide is largely tied to smooth tarmac; a gravel bike, on the other hand, is very off-road and touring. The typical heavily profiled tires up to 40 mm wide for normal use on the road, on paved paths and dirt roads are already very far away from the racing bike feeling.
The Koga Colmaro Allroad is right in between. Its 35 mm wide tires with a "fine pearly" profile roll lightly on asphalt on the one hand, but offer a good deal of grip and traction on gravel and coarse, gravel forest paths on the other. The Koga owes these “off-road” skills to the tubeless variant of the Schwalbe G-One Speed and the correspondingly designed rims, and of course we took the opportunity to quickly convert to tubeless – the Colmaro rider only needs tubeless rim tape (or the excellent Tubeless Rim Strips from Bontrager), valve inserts and some sealant. The reward for the conversion is a weight reduction of around 200 grams and the option of reducing tire pressure to just over 2 bar, depending on body weight and riding ability. And that greatly expands the Colmaro's off-road capabilities; Even larger stones and roots are swallowed up by the tires without fear of a puncture.
However, this does not make the bike a real cross bike. The Koga Colmaro Allroad shares the frame and fork with the "Race" models, disc racing bikes with a sporty seat geometry that is nevertheless suitable for long-distance trips. It goes without saying that such a bike does not have the typical crosser tire clearance; in muddy cross-country use, the fork and rear end would clog up too quickly. But there are enough specialists for this type of cycling – even if they don't come from Koga.
Koga Colmaro Allroad: Enormous gear range with 11-42 Sram Rival
Pure cross or gravel completes the Koga Colmaro Allroad. Koga uses a complete SRAM Rival combined with an 11-42 cassette. With a 44 mono chainring, there is an enormous range of gear ratios, which of course comes at the expense of a fine gradation. Depending on the terrain and riding style, it may be worth upgrading: If you don't ride extra steep climbs, you might only need an 11-32 ring gear; where there is never a high-speed descent, a 38 sprocket at the front is sufficient. In any case, you can get pretty far with the eleven gears of this drive.
For people who have not had much to do with racing bikes before, the Koga Colmaro owes a considerable part of its charm to this circuit. The beginner's question "Should I shift gears front or rear?" (or, as is so often necessary, front and rear at the same time) is superfluous here - the Rival is as easy to understand as a hub gear and also has the functional principle of the DoubleTap lever you quickly understood. Anyone who rarely sits on a racing bike and is therefore not calibrated to a narrow cadence range will get along well with the gradation described. The Rival disc brakes are also suitable for novice racing handlebars thanks to their good controllability, although they bite down hard if necessary.
In terms of geometry, the Colmaro is balanced and not overly sporty. The top tube isn't particularly long; it's noticeable that the seat length ("reach") is identical for the three smaller frame sizes – here, adjustment must be made via the stem length. The steering is quite agile, but is somewhat hampered by the heavy wheelset – the front wheel alone weighs over 1.500 grams, thus counteracting light-footed steering. Overall, however, the Koga Colmaro Allroad is lively to steer over roads and forest paths. This is also thanks to its extremely short wheelbase, which even in size L is only 994 mm and thus identical to sizes S and M. Even for a purebred road bike, this is quite short, and since the chainstays can hardly be pushed below a certain minimum length (otherwise the rear tire would hit the seat tube), the front end has to be shortened. In the case of the Colmaro, this is so short that the front wheel can collide with the tip of your foot when turning sharply. For road bike novices, this takes some getting used to, to say the least, especially when riding with clipless pedals and your foot can't simply move out of the way. This is where the concept of equipping a road disc frame with 35-inch tires reaches its limits.
Koga Colmaro Allroad: A beautifully finished frame set
But once you get used to it, tours on the Koga Colmaro Allroad are pure joy. With an air pressure of around 3 bar in the tubeless tires, Koga's all-rounder still rolls very easily on asphalt and offers enough cushioning comfort on bumpy roads - plus high puncture resistance on both surfaces. In addition, the Colmaro is a real eye-catcher: olive green is a rare color in the bike industry, but it is universally popular; Also, the frame is really nice. The welds on the main frame are so carefully ground that you think you are looking at a carbon frame; The brake line and gear cable disappear together on the left side of the down tube, which makes for nice, wide curves. For this purpose, the brake lines emerge from the chainstay or fork leg just before the respective caliper. In addition, Koga has given the Colmaro various threaded holes, and a mudguard can be attached to the fork – but only if you mount a narrower tire.
Without pedals, the Koga Colmaro Allroad weighs an acceptable 9,33 kg, or 9,18 kg after converting to tubeless. The fact that the wheelset with the large sprocket cassette alone weighs 3.870 grams makes the lightweight construction options of the off-road all-rounder clear - with lighter wheels from cross-country bikes, the Colmaro can be brought down to less than nine kilos with pedals. Another plus point for the Koga is the comparatively low price of 1.899 euros - also given the fact that Koga is rightly considered a premium brand. In the end, we only found one hair in the soup (apart from the handlebar tape, which was wrapped too loosely and slipped at the top link bend): the simple thru axles, whose stiff clamping levers make quick wheel installation difficult. But apart from that, the Koga Colmaro Allroad has a lot of potential - and that can be fully exploited.
