Sabbath's Mondays Child is a distinctive looking bike. In a world of carbon race machines, its curves and polished finish are a breath of fresh air. And it is very much a racer: its geometry is aggressive, the wheelbase is short and the riding position low and long. Titanium isn’t the obvious choice perhaps, but it’s fairly light and very tough, so it’ll take the knocks – plus, the frame is backed with a lifetime guarantee.
- Highs: Frame finish, aggressive ride
- Lows: Divisive looks, bigger-volume rubber would be an advantage
The frame is built using custom-drawn, double-butted tubing. Butting a tube (making the wall thickness thinner towards the centre) reduces weight while maintaining strength at the tube ends to reinforce welds.
The outlandishly shaped down tube starts out tall and slim at the head-tube junction and transforms, through a gentle S-bend, into a wider, flatter shape in its bottom third, creating a wide junction with the bottom bracket shell for added strength. The shell is machined from a solid billet of titanium, as is the head-tube, which Sabbath claims adds stiffness and torsional resistance – just what you want from a race machine.
The down tube has a large diameter and a gentle S-bend profile
The non-drive side chainstay is butted while the drive side is plain gauge – and significantly stiffer – to counter pedal forces. The dropouts are also machined from solid titanium and a replaceable derailleur hanger is used, so it bends or breaks in the event of a crash rather than your expensive frame.
Does the Mondays Child have a polished ride to match its polished looks? Well, it is noticeably stiff, far more so than we’d have expected from a titanium bike, so Sabbath’s construction tweaks have worked. The upwardly arced seatstays and large 31.6mm diameter seatpost keep the back end of the bike firmly planted; though it never feels harsh at the back, and does a reasonable job of countering the buzz you get from poor road surfaces, it still feels more solid than plush.
Shiny! Even the Sabbath’s seatpost is made of titanium
Up front, the Dedacciai Black Fin fork is rock solid, with no flex under sprints and through hard cornering. You do get road buzz through the alloy cockpit, though, which can be wearing. Switching to a carbon bar would help, as would more broken surface-friendly boots: the Ksyrium Elite S wheels are excellent companions to the frameset but the Yksion rubber is slim for its 23mm stated width; the casings are soft and flexible, but the low volume of air just doesn’t provide enough cushioning on poor tarmac.
For a plush-riding sportive bike, look elsewhere (Sabbath’s Silk series, perhaps), but if you want a high-quality race bike that’s a little different from the norm, you could certainly do worse.
