The premium-ist!
Wouldn't say they are big though. I've only ever seen a few others on the road. One other guy in our club has one, even though I've only seen it a few times. That was partly the reason I got one, as they seemed different to 'another Cervelo, Pinarello etc etc'
Didn't pay 19k for mine though!!
Haha wouldn't say that premium... Sorry mate!
See just as many of them here as Cervelo, Pinarello, Madone, Bianchi and 3T... Maybe only the SL8 see a few more of compared to other 'top' bikes. Certainly here (but not exactly an affluent area for top end bike sales) but really the 2 owners with them I know of, would be riders previous years who where riding Tarmacs/Aethos/Strada/F10 - so always riding 'top' bikes. Just Factor seems 'rare' as really hasn't been a mainstream bike brand for long compared to the others... We get quite diluted when spotting an S-Works or Cervelo S series don't we... As although they might be an SL6 or an S3, they're still a 'top' bike. Just might be 10 years old. So when we see a newer S5, or SL8 it's just 'more of the same just newer' isn't it, only the learned eye notices?
So really as we don't see any Factors from 5+ years ago, maybe even less, the name isn't around as much to be as recognised. Throw in the non-S-Works versions of a Tarmac, or things like the Pinarello Prince and the lower range brand penetration brands like Trek and Specialized due to their wide ranges over many years, the brands can seem to be 'everywhere', but really look closely... How many of those are an early S-Works Venge/Tarmac (Specialized are a 'bad' example as the S-Works Tarmac is branded differently to the standard Specialized Tarmac), how many of those Pinarello's are an F11/F12. But you get my point... Maybe
This was probably about 4 years ago but I seem to remember that it came with no parking cameras and only rear parking sensors. All the stuff like seat adjustment was mechanical. There was just a lot of things that much much cheaper cars came with as standard or at least at very little extra cost and the Audis were adding a lot for it.
Was your A3 brand new?
The silly thing about a lot of "car tech" is that its been around for decades. It was just on more expensive cars and now its far more standard. I just really wasn't impressed by the value proposition for new Audis.
Nope A3 wasn't new, was a 2006 so quite a bit mechanical like seats and such, did have parking sensors, but I guess back then (nearly 20 years ago!) parking sensors where not even standard. I guess I wouldn't call a parking camera standard... Would totally agree about 'extras' costing so much, but that's not a new thing exactly is it with cars... Always dealerships trying to sweeten the deal (I've never owned a 'brand new' car!)
Got a guy at work here paid £6k more on a Tourag for the 4WD version, then 6 months after owning it discovered it hadn't got it (while stuck in snow!), the garage (VAG dealership) then giving him a bunch of (what I'd call mostly) 'cosmetic' upgrades and the difference back to keep it (like fitting leather electric seats & alloys). Crazy. But I'm also very out of the loop - my Fiesta is from 2010 (although I've got a '60 plate on it) and a Zetec S not exactly 'standard' it still has things I'm surprised about on what I'd call a 'small car'. Things like automatic wipers, automatic lights, steering wheel controls, electric folding mirrors and parking sensors are extra things I don't consider a standard car to have. But guess I am 'old' (45)! Most (all?) of my cars have cost less than a 'flagship' top end race bike
Now my newest car is touching on 19 years old and I don’t care if I drive it into a wall (as I did yesterday)
Haha I think thats the thing isn't it. When you have an 'old' car (lets be honest traditionally anything over 10 years old and 100k miles) you're generally keeping it long term. With that comes the 'don't really care' about the odd bump and prang which are just cosmetic
Psh you girls with your boring cars..
Fast gravel bikes, fast cars.
S2000? Isn't that considered a classic car these days?
Great choice though, not sure why but you've made it look like a Z4 with the front grille, bonnet and spoiler. Love the Plate!
I was reading the drag factor figures published by tour magazine and they had the Ostro Vam as the fastest without a rider (because, erm that’s important right?) but the SL8 fastest with a rider on board (although on podcast I listen to they claim Tour Mag have tested the new Cervello S5 and its the fastest of the lot but this is only a week or so back)
That shop I linked above sells the SL8 as well and there basically is no difference in price with the Factors or the S Works. The Factors don't win tour stages and the S Works would have better resale value but if I was about to shell out that kind of coin I'd get a custom Factor every day of the week.
Oh don't get me wrong, they're very good bikes and certainly have a 'pedigree' but when you're comparing them to an S5 or SL8 (or any modern top end bike) they're all 'much of a muchness' when it comes to aero features and looks aren't they. The differences for mere mortals like us are going to be so marginal. You end up with weird things like the Madone seat wedge or S5 handlebar to stand out from the crowd. So that Ostro VAM has a very similar profile 'look' to something like the SL8 without something to set it apart. Oh they do custom paint? Sold. Well has theirs been ridden to Olympic and World championship wins? Hate to say it, I'd rather look like Remco than Froomey (jokes)
