Standert is a young brand that, in 12 years, has gained a lot of followers, not just on Instagram but in the original sense of the word. Starting as hip Berlin scenesters, Standert now has fans and devotees globally who see them as the standard bearers for a new generation of metal bikes: the German company offers an irresistible formula that appeals to people who love classic looks, straight tubes and traditional materials but want modern components, integration and contemporary but tasteful paint jobs. Let’s be honest – who doesn’t want all those things in one bike? I know I do.
So, where does the Pfadfinder fit in? Those models named after saws are race bikes for road, gravel and cyclo-cross, but the mellower-sounding Pfadfinder is Standert’s all-road endurance bike. The brand’s head of product, Maxe Faschina, explains how it started: “We used to ride our cyclo-cross bikes for long weekend rides in the winter with 33mm tyres and cantilever brakes. We didn’t have a Standert bike for this, and we realised something was missing. So we planned the first Pfadfinder – about seven years ago – as an all-road bike.
“What I was looking for was a bike to enjoy riding, to enjoy going on long rides. Maybe adventurous, but not too adventurous. I still want to cover distance and have a destination, but you’re not always sure where it takes you. I want to be covered for every eventuality, not like river crossings, but sometimes a shortcut that takes you through a forest, and you’re comfortable riding it through there. If you go long distance and you don't know every road.”
Gravel origins
The original Pfadfinder was a success but not exactly for the right reasons, says Faschina. “The reasons were that since it was our only bike that had road geometry but was off-road capable tyre-wise [38mm clearance], we used it to go gravel racing when gravel racing just started. I won this gravel race on the Pfadfinder, and then we did an all-road campaign, but it basically just showed us riding it like a CX bike because it was that capable. In retrospect, we marketed it as a gravel bike before there was gravel, so when we had a specific gravel bike, people went for that instead of the Pfadfinder. So when it came to the third edition, two years ago, we kept everything the same as it was a great bike, but we just put some higher-volume slick tyres on it, and it was popular again.”
And that was the basis for this latest model, launched earlier this year, explains Faschina, but post-Covid, the brand decided to make some key changes. “We experienced all the difficulties in the supply chain, the issues we had with Taiwan and quality control, and also we had more time to think about things like environmental impact, social responsibility… so reshoring was the chatter in the industry back then, reshoring, reshoring. Everybody was on board, but a year later, nobody did anything because Taiwan started functioning again. Sales were good, so why change the system? But we really wanted to do it, set everything in motion, wanted to have it produced in Europe.” But Standert now faced a new set of problems…
Size matters
Faschina explains how size matters in the industry: as a small-scale manufacturer, Standert has what he calls a “weird size”. He continues: “Either you’re small, and you do boutique bikes, or you have big quantities where you can go to the big factories. We are in between, and there was really no place in the industry and no infrastructure in Europe to cater for our needs. However, we found a framebuilding factory in the Czech Republic that we had known for years, but after the decline of metal framebuilding in the 2000s, they went into the cargo bike business and hadn’t made performance road bikes in a while. While we were looking for a partner, they were going through a restructuring with new ownership, which is a cool story. The factory was acquired by a young guy whose dad is still working in the company as a welder. He had grown up working student jobs and summer jobs in the factory, then went on to work in the automotive industry and came back as an adult, bought the company and wanted to reposition it. That’s when we came in and said, hey, we want to build quality performance road bikes with steel because we believe in metal bikes. And he was like, oh yeah, that’s exactly what we want to do in the future.”
Standert wanted to include technical upgrades in the new Pfadfinder such as integrated cable routing, a new T47 threaded bottom bracket shell to make the routing easier, the UDH universal derailleur hanger system and rear dropouts that would be 3D printed with inlays to accommodate Di2 wiring.
“We came with our ideas, and it was like waking up the sleeping beauty. This company used to have a race team, but they were building cargo and utility bikes, which is cool but doesn’t have the passion. I feel like we all helped rediscover the passion, and they’re on a new trajectory now.”
New dimension
The 3D-printed dropouts, says Faschina, have their own story. “We wanted to go UDH, and this was a decision we made as soon as UDH for road was on the horizon three years ago. Gravel bikes, UDH for sure, and we thought OK, let's put it on every bike because it’s such a hassle with hangers. You might change the design, have a different hanger, and how many times has someone texted me from Mallorca with one of our bikes to ask if I have a hanger… it’s nice that you can save someone’s holiday, but even nicer if they can just go to the next bike shop.
“So we had to redesign the dropout anyway, and then we thought of additive manufacturing – we don't have the quantities to make casting an option. CNC’ing was an option, but it was expensive and heavy. So we went to the University of Ostrava [in the Czech Republic, near Standert’s partner factory], we prototyped there, and interestingly, to this day, they’re still produced there. They like some funding for their institute, and so they still produce our dropouts.”
With the new Pfadfinder prototyped and tested, it was time for Faschina and Standert to give it an outing of the sort it was designed for. “The maiden voyage for this bike after prototyping was when we shot the content piece [on Standert’s website]. I had to visit the factory. and we wanted to tell the story of European manufacturing. I was like, it’s an endurance bike, let me just ride it to the factory. We are in Berlin, the factory is in the Czech Republic [in Litomyšl]. If our international customers think you can ride there in a day, then it must be in the neighbourhood, it must be manufactured in the same place. So it rode. It was 470 kilometres. I got going at 3am and arrived at 10pm. We did some shooting in between so there were some hours spent in production… I think it’s still my longest ride on Strava. I knew I wanted to get there in a day. I knew it was possible without a sleepover. I'm still a competitive guy, and I like the challenge, but the caveat was it was in February. It was cold as fuck, 2°C or something. I had to go across the mountains, there was snow, and the tarmac was bad, but it was OK, there was no problem. I was comfortable the whole ride. When we visited the factory, since I was already halfway to Budapest where my wife was – she is Hungarian and took our child there while I was gone – I thought spontaneously OK, I might as well just carry on and ride another 430 kilometres. And I did that. Two days, 900 kilometres, and it just felt like an extended weekend ride. I took any road, whether it was good or bad tarmac, a saddlepack with a little bit of food in it, not like crazy bikepacking, and this is what the Pfadfinder is for. If you’re looking for solitude in some rides or credit card touring, this is awesome. Not for the tent or the tarp, just take a top tube bag, have your charger in there, have a gilet and whatever… this is what it’s for.”
Love never rusts
It’s clear that Faschina is extremely happy with every bit of the Pfadfinder and my final question to him about what he considers to be a highlight seems somehow redundant now, but I go ahead with it anyway and the answer is quite unexpected.
“We really thought about how we could make it last as long as possible, so we came up with a cool idea with the factory where we basically powder coat the inside of the frame. We built a device that powder coats the chainstays from the inside to make them very corrosion-resistant. It adds a bit of weight, but I think it’s worth it. The lower half of the Pfadfinder is powder-coated on the inside. There’s a zinc primer to seal it, and then you powder coat on top of it. We say love never rusts.”
The build
The Pfandfinder I collected from London’s VIA Atelier is in the ‘Sage Salida’ paint – it also comes in Midnight Marauder or LTD IV (light and dark blue). I’m with Ben Chapman of Fusion, Standert’s PR agency in the UK. The first thing we both say at the same time when we first see it is, “nice colour!” and then laugh self-consciously.
Each Pfadfinder is built to order, so you can choose your spec through Standert’s website. My test bike came with SRAM Force AXS, Deda SuperBox DCR stem and Deda Zero2 handlebar, Scope R3.A wheels with Vittoria Corsa Pro Control tyres, a Zipp Service Course SL seatpost and a Fizik Tempo Argo saddle. I’m not sure why it came with a zero-setback seatpost, but you can choose a 20mm version when ordering, which I would have done.
The frame has mudguard eyes and three bottle cage mounts, as you'd expect of an all-road, all-season, endurance bike.
The base price of a Pfadfinder full build starts at €4,799, but mine upgrades the groupset from Shimano 105 Di2 and the wheels from DT Swiss ER 1600 wheels for €600 and €900 supplements, respectively, and it ends up at €6,399.99 (approximately £5,350).
Ride impressions
As Faschina said, the Pfadfinder has road geometry (as opposed to the slacker angles of gravel), and even despite its all-road endurance categorisation, it’s closer in dimensions to a classic race bike than a modern endurance bike from the mainstream brands. The stack/reach ratio of the size 56 works out at 1.48 – much more aggressive than the Canyon Endurace’s 1.56 and the 1.55 of the Specialized Roubaix. A WorldTour race bike has a ratio of around 1.43. For more competitive riders, those two bikes can be too upright with their tall head tubes and short top tubes, but for me, the Pfadfinder gets it exactly right.
With a 73.5° seat tube angle and 73.25° head angle it feels like a classic race bike. The wheelbase is slightly longer at 1,001mm to allow for maximum 38mm tyres (it comes with 34mm Corsa Pro Controls that have loads of clearance) but apart from that it has traditional racing geometry and is not too low, not too high.
Der Elefant im Raum, as they might say in Berlin, is of course the weight. A higher weight is something that inevitably comes with a steel bike compared to a carbon one – though the fork is carbon – and the Pfadfinder comes in at 9.5kg. I’ve been riding the likes of the Canyon Aeroad CFR, Van Rysel RCR Pro and Factor Ostro VAM this year, so it was a bit of a shock to the system to lift it off the ground for the first time, but when rolling along the road the extra couple of kilos really becomes inconsequential as long as you’re not trying to win a Tour stage on Mont Ventoux. In old money, the Pfadfinder's 9.5kg equates to just under 21lb, which was a very respectable weight for a pro race bike back when they were all made from steel. It is by no means elephantine.
I’m not going to pretend I gave it the same sort of shakedown as Faschina – and the total mileage of the weeks I had the Pfadfinder was nowhere near his two-day total – but my experience was similar. The smooth ride is the standout impression – but not so smooth as to be soft. The steel frame and 34mm tyres are absolutely sublime together. Undoubtedly, the extra weight compared to a carbon race bike contributes positively to a beautifully classy ride quality.
Does it go fast? That’s the other bit no one has talked about yet. And the answer is yes, it does. I took it on an extended version of my regular test loop to take in some sections of unsurfaced farm track – aka UK gravel – and averaged 19.6mph without consciously pressing on. It feels efficient and responsive, rolling resistance feels low, and aerodynamically the fact that the tubes are round rather than teardrop-shaped doesn’t make much difference at this speed. But, crucially, the rider position is very close to that of a race bike, so I’m not giving away watts by sitting up into the wind.
The TIG-welded Columbus Spirit tubing is stiff as you’d expect from the oversized profiles, and although it might not be as fast on steep climbs because of the overall weight, power transfer is excellent. On descents, it’s incredible – it’s stable like a motorcycle.
I was sad to flick up cowshit onto the Sage Salida paint, but, beautiful as the Standert is to look at, it’s designed to be ridden here.
My final journey on the Pfadfinder was a 22-mile commute into central London, where I would give it back to Ben. It handled the streets, stopping and starting at traffic lights, accelerating, darting between traffic and braking just as deftly as it did the hills, country lanes and farm tracks in Surrey. As with a race bike, there’s some toe overlap, but if you’re unconsciously accustomed to it – as anyone who rides fast bikes is – there’s no issue here. As with the countryside riding, the average speed was decent – 18mph.
Verdict
The Pfadfinder is an incredibly versatile bike that’s exciting yet reliable, traditional yet modern. Every small detail has been carefully considered from the 3D-printed dropouts to painting the frame on the inside to ensure years of service. And Standert has to be applauded for reshoring production to Europe for this model.
The Pfadfinder's price with the SRAM Force/Scope wheels build of €6,399.99 (approximately £5,350) is competitive next to similarly specced carbon endurance brands from the big brands. The Specialized Roubaix SL8 Pro is priced at £8,000, while the Canyon Endurace CF SLX AXS Aero just undercuts it at £5,149.
While realistically, steel probably has had its day as a material for race bikes, for endurance bikes, it’s as relevant as ever and, when it’s made into a modern bike like the Pfadfinder, is unbeatable. Standert says the Pfadfinder is its definition of the endurance bike – it might just be the definition.
For more information go to Standert’s website.
