Earlier this week we finally built up the 2018 Aventa Matteo because they finally sent a review bike And if you haven't seen that video yet you can go ahead and pop on over there So you can get a baseline of what I think about the Matteo So without further ado let's take its Aventa Matteo out for its maiden voyage So how does the 2018 Aventa Matteo ride? Today I did a 25-ish mile ride with it Number one, it's super stiff, number two, my thighs are sore So that tube being with all of its exotic shapes and tapers actually makes the bike pretty dang stiff And whether stiffness actually makes a bike faster is one of the most hotly contested issues So I will say that it's stiff but I will not say that it is faster because of it What I can say though does make the bike faster is it's gear ratio It's 48-15 and that's why my thighs hurt And this gear ratio doesn't seem like the most practical for street riding Which most people who buy this bike are going to be doing Even here in Sacramento where it's almost entirely flat I felt that 48-15 was just too big The extent of the climbing that I did was just some rolling hills along the trail on the river And even then it felt like a slog getting the bike up some of those hills with the 48-15 ratio So I can't really imagine how you would even deal with the stock ratio if you actually have real hills And mountains where you live The event of Matero's stiffness is definitely going to take some time for me to get used to On my initial ride every pedal stroke when I was sprinting would jolt the bike back and forth And I consciously had to counteract how much it was jolting And of course the front end is pretty stiff as well It does have a tapered head tube and tapered fork So because of that you can really swing and sway the bike back and forth when you're sprinting with the handlebars And of course those handlebars are 31.8mm which indeed are stiffer I personally don't like super stiff bikes and it's going to take some time for me to adjust Right now it feels like I have to fight the bike when I'm riding it And the movements don't really feel natural to me It's kind of like riding a bucking wild horse You can go fast on it for sure but it's going to be one bumpy ride All that stiffness makes the Matero really chattery on rough pavements And railroad tracks, curbs or speed bumps are super jolting Today I did about 25 miles on mostly smooth pavement on a really nice bike trail that just goes along the river Even then I felt like the bike was too stiff And for the very first time my back muscles feel like they are worn out after that ride Of course I personally just don't like super stiff bikes but a lot of you do And if you're looking for that the Matero will definitely be stiff enough As for the crankset it is 144 BCD but that doesn't automatically make it a good crankset It feels very similar to most of the other cranksets that I've tried that come stock on complete bikes It may be marginally stiffer With that said I've had no issues with pedal strike even with extra large toe clips And you can take hard corners but for me I just had to really consciously lean into them As for comfort the riding position is actually surprisingly upright on the Matero It does have a 7 degree stem and I might just flip that over to negative 7 to see If that makes it ride more aggressively but because it is so upright and it has compact drops It's pretty comfortable to stay in the drops for the majority of your ride And as always with saddles there hit or miss this one happens to work for me It has the perinium cut out which tends to make saddles more comfortable for a lot of people And one of the things I really set this bike apart for me was that C clamp and that Aero seat post I did have some worries about it whether the seat post would slip And it initially did slip but that was my fault That was because I didn't sufficiently tighten it But once I did I didn't have any issues with it Although the Matero does come stock with ACNC cog which should run smoother than stamped cogs The entire drivetrain when it comes together didn't exactly feel the smoothest In particular I think it's the chain ring that is causing some friction in the drivetrain It's not the smoothest in the world but it's totally rideable And who knows I might just need to like break in it a little bit and it'll smoothen out over time So far the spec sheet that I was really excited about hasn't disappointed me and that all the components are just really high quality It's just that the Matero is a bit too stiff for me and I haven't adjusted to it yet But in addition to just having really solid components for the price What surprised me is eventin's attention to detail when assembling these bikes Firstly the cog is C&C most bikes come with stamped cogs And a C&C cog will be smoother and more durable Also the cog and lock ring were properly greased and tightened Which is very rare for complete bikes And of course the chain is as short as possible so you can slam that rear wheel in the seat tube cut out And on top of that there's some other little nice things like that textured faux leather bar tape The tire logos are centered over the valve stems And they're centering markers on the handlebars to help you to easily install them All of these small things separately don't really make or break the bike But when you add them all up together it does make a difference And overall it just makes the bike feel like it's a lot higher quality And of course this isn't definitive but overall I would say if you're looking for a stiff aluminum Fix your bike the eventin's material is pretty good for the money Of course that may change for the full review And if you want to see the full review for the eventin material be sure to hit that subscribe button And while the eventin material is definitely going to take some time for me to get used to A bike that just felt right to me right off the bat was provided by the channel sponsor Wabi Cycles and that is my new daily bike the Wabi Special Out of all the bikes that I've written and reviewed Wabi's have been my favorite because they're made out of lightweight top shelf steel That gives the bikes a springy and lively ride quality While still maintaining the right amount of stiffness Pretty much Wabi's are hands down the nicest riding bikes that I've written Wabi's are also spec'd with no nonsense but high quality components Where nothing really needs to be replaced out of the box Which can't be said for a lot of other complete bikes To put how nice Wabi's are in perspective The eventin material that I wrote today with a carbon fork A carbon seat post and an aluminum frame set weighs in at 19 pounds Which is certainly respectable My new Wabi Special on the other hand is a full steel frame set And has no carbon components and weighs in at 17.5 pounds That's 1.5 pounds lighter than an aluminum bike with a carbon fork It sounds too good to be true but it's not Wabi leaves very little to be desired when it comes to bikes So if you're looking for your end all be all steel fixed gear for street riding Be sure to check out Wabi Cycles at the link at the top of the description And if you haven't written your bike today whether that's an event here in over Wabi or anything else Stop watching me right now because life is short but don't make it shorter So ride your bike every day to be reasonably dangerous