NEW 2024 FOCUS IZALCO MAX 9.8: Give Me Speed! // Buyer’s Guide

#cyclinginsider #focusizalcomax

Hello friends!
In this episode, I bring you the buyer’s guide for the 2024 Focus Izalco Max 9.8 road bike.
It’s light, stiff and fast. The FOCUS IZALCO MAX is a modern, fast road bike that will be fun for anyone who loves high-speed action.
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Links from the video:
Focus Izalco Max 9.8: https://www.focus-bikes.com/de_en/1078745-izalco-max-9-8?color_combo=126132&pim_itemgenderframe=86443&pim_itemframesizecode=

DT Swiss carbon wheels: https://www.dtswiss.com/en/wheels/wheels-road/endurance/erc-1400-dicut
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Thumbnail photo credit: Focus Bikes
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Thank you for watching.
Cheers!

This is the latest greatest Focus isalo Max for the 2024 season and in this episode I will give you the buyer’s guide for this bike and also at the end I will tell you should you just go ahead and buy it or should you just consider it so Hello friends and welcome to

Another episode of cycling Insider and in this episode we have a very special bike in my opinion so focus is a German bike brand which has just announced their newest latest greatest focus is Alco Max lineup I was always a huge fan of focus bikes specifically you know

Focus is Alco Max lineup because I think they really go do an excellent job in providing you with this type of the racing bike so in a sentence if I need to summarize this bike I would just say give give me speed this bike is all about speed and going as fast as

Possible so as you see you know Focus has updated a little bit their carbon fiber frame and the fork everything is a bit more aerodynamically optimized also handlebar stem seat post Wheels but the whole purpose of this bike is to be light to be stiff and to be really fast

So if you are in the market for this type of the bike you should definitely check out the new Focus isalo max range specifically in this episode I will give you the buyer guide for the focus isalo Max 9.8 you also have the eight series of

The bikes which uses a second tier of their carbon fiber frame so this nine series of the focus bike uses the top level creme de La Creme carbon fiber frames okay so we can now discuss first the paint Scheme on this bike as you see there is only one one Pensky on offer

For this 9.8 model and this is this beautiful combination of white with a kind of hint of creamy color gray color it has a minimum kind of focus decals on the bike which is a new I would say direction for the focus bikes some people might might like it some people

Not but I think it’s a very clean and nice design again when we consider consider the retail price of this bike I would mention that I wish that focus is offering at least another paint scheme to choose from but this kind of white creamy paint Scheme looks very very

Classy and Beautiful on this bike when it comes to you know who is this bike for as I was mentioning if you are interested in the stiff bike light bike and also you know fast bike then definitely you should consider this focus is Alco Max

9.8 bike okay now we can dive into the specifications of this bike and really see what are you getting for your hard-earned money I have to mention here that uh the retail price of this bike is € 6,800 which is you know definitely not a

Cheap uh price for the bike it’s one of those ey watering prices but you will see when we dive into the specifications what is really included in this bike so okay as always we can kick off with the frame and the fork so the frame in this

Iteration is the nine series Max carbon fiber frame and also Max carbon fiber Fork this Frame of course internal internal cable routing press fit bb86 bottom bracket and you’ll have 12 mm through axles front and the back with the flat Mount disc brakes as I was

Saying this uh nine series of the bikes comes with the topof the line creme de la crem carbon fiber frame from Focus these are their Max technology frames and anytime I had any experience with Focus roid bikes or Mountain Bikes their carbon frames are truly topnotch and

Also surprisingly light when it comes to the warranty I still believe that you get a six years warranty on carbon fiber frames and forks from Focus which is you know a decent warranty of course it can always be a bit better if they would move onto a lifetime warranty I have to

Mention here that absolutely there is no complains from me about this Max carbon fiber frame and the fork Top Notch creme de la crem now let’s talk about the group set on this bike so the shifters front Mech and the rear Mech you will get everything from Shimano alra di2

Group set so this is the 12sp electronic group set it is an absolutely stunning group set no complaints here and I can just mention here a few small little details that when you look at the the cassette and the crank set so crank set Shimano zra 12-speed crank set 5236

Chain Rings paired with the Shimano zra cassette of course it’s a 12-speed cassette and the ratio is 1130 so immediately you see with this 1130 cassette and the 5236 chain Rings this is definitely designed to go as fast as possible so if you are climbing some really steep mountains then maybe this

1130 cassette is not going to be enough maybe you need to switch to for example 1134 cassette but again no cutting Corners Shimano Willa cassette and also shimano’s Ultra cranks it now when we come to the chain the chain on the bike is the Shimano XT chain 12-speed chain

So this is very interesting this is the shimano’s XT chain from the mountain bike offering it’s a superb racing chain and it’s very interesting to see that they are using an XT chain not some kind of you know Shimano algra chain this could be some kind of supply issues but

In the future you can use any 12-speed compatible chain from the shimano’s mountain bike groups or shimano’s Road group sets Okay when we look at the Press fit bottom bracket bb86 I’m not expecting any creaking noises here because as I said this is crem de la CR

Of focus frames so the quality control should be top of the line handlebar and the stem good thing here is that all of these pieces are separate nothing so proprietary so you have a handlebar from Easton Easton ec70 aerodynamically optimized handlebar which is again perfectly fine carbon fiber handlebar

Paired with the focus on stem aluminium stem so as I was saying uh nothing proprietary here easy to replace the handlebar in the future easy to adjust your position on the bike and also this uh handlebar and the stem of course comes with the mount for your Garmin or vaho comp

Computers when you look at the seat post and the sadle the seat post Focus aerodynamically optimized carbon fiber seat post which is a d-shaped seat post and the settle from phys physique physique vento Argo R5 all of these choices are excellent in my opinion and again carbon fiber seat posts are a must

In my opinion just because they’re going to soak up some of the really small Road bumps breaking system on the Bike Shimano will take a hydraulic Disc break front and the back absolutely no cutting Corners here and I believe that breaking rotors are 160 mm front and 140 mm at

The back well you know my opinion about this small breaking Rotor at the back this would probably be probably be one of the things I would change uh to a 160 mm breaking Rotor at the back ultimately you want good heat dissipation you want good stopping power so in my book these

Tiny 140 mm breaking rotors shouldn’t be on the bikes now let’s talk about on the wheel set about this bike and in my opinion another highlight here so this is the DT Swiss ERC 16 wheel set so this um is a very interesting offering from DT Swiss

Because you can’t buy this wheel set directly from D Swiss so I’m guessing this is some kind of OEM production it is probably based on the DT Swiss ERC 1,400 VI set so a carbon fiber wheel set from DT Swiss if you would buy it on the open market probably around

$2,400 us or €250 so Absolut you know stunning carbon fiber ve set which uses DT Swiss 240 hubs with the ratchet exp 36 system 45 mm Rema height D Swiss Arrow Spokes and I will just mention here that the rim with uh internally is 22 mm total weight of this wheel set approximately

1,600 G and um just here to double check as I said I believe this wheel set uses the DT Swiss 240 hubs but it might happen that it uses a DT swis 350 hubs personally in my opinion I wouldn’t be so bothered both of these hubs are

Stunning and excellent but maybe just to check with your focus bike dealer which exactly hub are on this wheel set okay the tires uh are the Victoria Corsa next tubeless ready 28 mm tires superb tires from Victoria no complaints here and in the future I would definitely advise you

To use 28 mm tires or you can even fit 30 mm tires on this carbon frame and the fork which is excellent you know the wider the tire more air volume and definitely the smoother the bike ride also I’m glad here that Focus gives the total bike weight at 7.75 kg for the

Size medium or size 56 which I believe is is totally acceptable with the pedals uh ready to ride this bike is 8 kg and U when you compare it to the competition on these levels of the prices of course and these levels of the carbon fiber frame in the fork this is totally

Acceptable in my book so in a summary what would I advise you to do with this Focus isalo Max 9.8 bike because the retail price is ,800 well I definitely believe you need to short list this bike like seriously short list this bike in the top three

Bikes if you want to get yourself a light stiff and really fast bike I think it’s an very good offering from focus and I think they’ve made a good decision in up dating the focus isalo max range for the 2024 season so this is going to

Be it for today I hope you like what I’m doing if you do keep on watching keep on liking and as always I will see you soon in the next episode cheers