The Primo is the flagship road machine from British brand Mekk. Its main focus is as a pure race machine, though with this special 6.2 edition the firm has aimed to make the bike a much more compelling proposition to the sportive rider.
- Highs: Fast ride with a racy position and brilliant wheels
- Lows: Stiff bar lets down the overall smoothness
- Buy if: You want a race-cum-sportive machine that’s good to go straight out of the shop
Aero was taken into account in the design of the Primo frameset, from out front designing a deeply bladed yet narrow frontal area pair of forks with a contoured crown that mates seamlessly into the bulb shaped head tube and aero profile down tube. The top tube is kept minimal and is joined to the down tube and oversized press-fit compatible bottom bracket shell by an aero bladed seat tube. It’s topped by a dedicated aero post (with a forward positioned wedge clamp). All of the cable routing is kept internal and the bike has a clean overall look.
The 6.2’s aero credentials are further enhanced by the inclusion of a pair of Saturae C50 carbon clincher wheels. The full carbon rims follow the latest wide and blunt design, being 50mm deep with a rim width of 22mm. The deep rims' blunted leading edges help greatly with side-wind stability and the specially treated braking surface offers great brake performance in the dry, and while wet weather performance isn’t as good as the best all carbon rims around, it’s a leap ahead of most older designs. At 1678g a pair they aren't the lightest around though the speed gains are well worth the extra 100g or so over a standard set of alloy wheels usually found on bikes at this price.
The Primo's tube profiles reveal its aero credentials
Getting out and riding the Primo, it's obvious this design was penned by a racer, the 982.9mm wheelbase is tight for a 59cm bike and the head angle is a steep 73.5°. The 6.2 is a truly impressive handling machine with quick yet balanced steering response. It’s rare to find a race bike that’s as composed as this when on the attack, yet feels so ‘normal’ when you’re just coasting along.
On flat or rolling terrain the C50 clinchers really come into their own – acceleration is good rather than great, but they way they hold onto speed once you’ve achieved it is addictive, every time we got the opportunity to wind up the 6.2 we took it. Hit the hills and the wide gearing of the 11-28 block matched to the 50/34 upfront meant hills we’re never a chore and the performance of the complete 105 11-speed groupset was never less than spot-on.
The all-alloy Saturae cockpit is nicely finished and the bars are well shaped. We did their diameter a little narrow on the tops and the stiffness of the bar did let a little road buzz through to your hands too – when we tested the standard 6.0 Primo the bike came equipped with a higher grade set of Ritchey bars and 25c rubber, both of which helped smooth up the front end.
Don’t let that put you off the 6.2, however – this package simply brims with value, the high-grade frame and ride character are ever present and adding in a quality carbon wheelset is another major bonus. It’s not uncommon to see £2,000 bikes running hoops that cost a tenth of that, so what Mekk has achieved here is truly impressive.
