Not so long ago, fast bikes came in one flavor: painful. As in, painful to ride for anything longer than an hour at a time. Super-steep head angles, sprawling top tubes, and a spine-rattling ride quality were the norm. Those traits might be fine for a rare few, but for the rest of us? We’re not all sadists.
Well, the Century is an entirely different flavor of fast — the kind that’s actually enjoyable. Diamondback carefully blended high- and low-modulus carbon fiber and obsessed over the lay-up of those carbon plies to create a bike that is still light and blazingly quick, but also impressively smooth in the saddle. The Century 5C is well-appointed on the component side of the equation as well. Shimano’s 105 2x11 drivetrain delivers crisp shifts and their hydraulic disc brakes have a well-earned reputation for power and reliability.
Fast doesn’t have to mean “painful.” With the Century 5C, fast is simply, well, fast.
