The Nerissimo is the base model frameset from Dedacciai, but base doesn’t mean cheap. The frame and fork retail for £1,119.99 (Deda don't list any US distributors), so a complete bike at this price is pretty impressive.
The frame uses the company's signature squared-off tubeset, with box section, beefed up chainstays, slim, square seatstays and a massive down tube paired with a slim top tube. Weight just creeps over the kilo mark, at 1,150g.
Up front Deda have used their Streem fork, which features on their pricier framesets too. It’s impressively stiff, especially when you consider its light 400g weight, helped by full-carbon dropouts.
Compared to other bikes at around the same price, the Deda appears a little underspecced with its Campagnolo Veloce gearing. That’s no reason to dismiss it though, as it offers a remarkably good ride. The meat of your money is going into the chassis with this package – and what a chassis.
The Nerissimo manages the rare feat of being both brutally efficient and impressively comfortable. The way its taut frame responds to changes of direction and pedal inputs never failed to put a smile on our faces. The Deda simply revels in speed, be it on the flat, downhill or through the curves.
The lowly groupset and Campagnolo Khamsin wheel package are undoubted downgrades, though. These are both items we’d be happy with on a bike around the £1,200 mark, but at close to two grand we’d expect more. The Deda finishing kit and Selle Italia saddle are decent, but the sluggish Vittoria Rubino tyres always felt like they were holding back the bike’s true potential.
We tried switching out the wheels for a set of lightweight carbon clinchers and the Deda started to really come alive. The Nerissimo is a frameset we’d highly recommend, but this complete package is too compromised to be a true contender for the Bike of the Year title.
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This bike was tested as part of Cycling Plus magazine’s 2012 Bike Of The Year feature – read the full results in issue 260, on sale Friday 2 March.
