My name is Andrew Binks. I live in Harrogate, in the UK. My cycling background was originally mountain biking… I didn’t ride a bike for 20 years, and when we had the Grand Depart in Harrogate, I started riding road bikes again. 

I ride 150-200 miles a week regularly with two or three clubs. I own quite a lot of different bikes… A lot of road bikes, gravel bikes, mountain bikes… And almost everything is carbon.

So basically, I just fancied something a little bit different. 

I wanted something that was going to be quite memorable. Something special and unique. Something that there wouldn’t be many of in the area where I ride. Something that was going to be a one-off and a real special treat. 

And also, I wanted something that was going to be super smooth and super comfortable. 

So, the key for my Power+ EVO was really something different… Steel, custom, comfort.

Dealing with the guys with Battaglin has been fantastic. From getting the drawings sent over to discussing colors to discussing the file spec to meeting Alex and Giovanni and being fitted by an absolute legend. You can’t talk about a much better service than that.

It’s been a fabulous experience and a great excuse to come out to this part of Italy and ride the bike.

 I run SRAM on every other road bike, and it was a real toss-up for me in my head whether to go with Campag or SRAM. I felt I maybe needed to add some Italian groupset to this wonderful Italian steel bike… But I love the simplicity of the eTap system, and that was what went up in the end.

I chose the Campag wheels because they’re great-running wheels. I love the bearings… And being a bit vain, the Ultra color works great with the color scheme of the bike!

The first ride yesterday was up Monte Grappa, which is quite the climb and quite the descent. Yorkshire is renowned for very short, steep climbs… But they aren’t anything like the Grappa. 

The bike was absolutely superb. In particular descending, just so smooth. It gave me a lot of confidence in descending into the switchbacks and pushing out of them. 

When you hit little potholes on carbon bikes, there’s a kind of constant rattling. Not with the Power+ EVO. It just felt different. 

Carbon bikes are great… But if you want something super smooth and super comfortable, you need one of these.