OSTRO VAM: Total Race Performance

Cycling is all about forward progress. If you are not moving, you are falling over. Bikes are never made simply to hang on a wall, no matter how beautiful they might be. The OSTRO VAM is one of those bikes that looks good enough to hang in a gallery, but its natural habitat is the road, fighting for position in the peloton, scaling the toughest cols, and slicing down serpentine descents.

The Factor OSTRO VAM sits proudly at the top of world class all-round racing bikes. Super efficient aerodynamics, exceptionally lightweight for long climbs, and superbly sharp handling define the OSTRO VAM and explain how the bike has been ridden to victory on terrain as wildly different as the cobblestones of northern France and the Puy Dome.

Pro peloton approved

The OSTRO VAM has been ridden at the highest level of the sport in both men’s and women’s peloton since it was first released. For 2026, Factor will again have multiple teams racing on the OSTRO VAM, most notably Human Powered Health in the Women’s WorldTour, Modern Adventure Pro Cycling in the men’s ProTour as well as Factor Racing in the men’s Continental Tour.

And already in the 2026 season, Human Powered Health’s Maggie Coles-Lyster has taken an impressive win aboard the OSTRO VAM. She won the reduced bunch sprint at the Santos Tour Down Under - Women's One Day Race in January. Finding her winning ways again after coming back from Iliac artery surgery in 2025, Coles-Lyster was able to make use of the OSTRO VAM’s sharp handling and low weight to get an advantage over her competitors in the hectic, false-flat run up to the finish line: “⁠I knew the final kilometre was just going to be a game of being in good position. We had talked it through as a team that I needed to be top 10 there and that’s where my teammates got me. After that it was a game of patience,” she explained immediately after the event.

“The finish stretch kicked about 1-2% so I didn’t want to jump too early. I felt in such a flow state the last 500m and was easily moving myself into the position I needed to be in to start the sprint. I didn’t plan to initiate first but after I did all my thoughts were “holy shit the line is so close and I’m still the first rider. Go go go!!”

Though all our teams will have access to the entire range of Factor road bikes, they will most often turn to the OSTRO VAM on race day thanks to the all-around excellence of the frame, lightweight enough to help their climbers crest the cols first, aero enough to be an advantage on long-range attacks, and agile enough to facilitate negotiating their way through the peloton.

These benefits are not only appreciated by the pros; they are what make the OSTRO VAM a favourite among committed hobby cyclists as well. Even ex-pros like Caleb Ewen can appreciate the OSTRO VAM’s attributes. After a career of riding some of the most recognised brands in the industry, his new OSTRO VAM has impressed him and encouraged him to test his sprinting legs at every opportunity.

Engineered for versatility

If there is one overarching impression one gets of France when watching the Tour, it’s the huge variety of roads and terrain that the riders must face every single day. Tour de France riders tackle at high speed everything from narrow, technical passages through picturesque little towns to sweeping fast descents through forests. 

This is the optimum use case scenario for which the Factor OSTRO VAM was created. Named the fastest road bike in the world in third-party independent testing, the OSTRO VAM is a high performance bike that feels at home on the flats, over cobbles, and in the mountains.

The first iteration of the OSTRO was initially created to fill the gap between exclusively aerodynamic and hyper lightweight climbing bikes. Our engineers saw the need for something that could be super slippery in the wind, but still light and nimble enough to scale alpine climbs with relative ease. The resulting bike became a huge asset for our sponsored teams. But our engineers realised improvements could be made, weight could be reduced, aerodynamics enhanced, and rigidity increased without losing the sharp handling. With the release of the second generation OSTRO VAM, what already felt like the fastest bike in the peloton got faster, lighter, more nimble. That’s because not only does the frame weigh nearly 300 grams less than the first generation OSTRO, but the slimmed-down frame design saves 7 watts compared to the original OSTRO.

Though the improvements enhanced what was already a magical ride, there is no sorcery involved. Rather our engineers and designers have harnessed the unparalleled expertise of the carbon layup crew at Factor’s own factories to create the frames that use the most advanced materials available, including TeXtreme, Toray, and Nippon Graphite Pitch-Based Fiber. But it’s not just using these aerospace grade materials; it’s knowing how and where to use them.

Tops wind tunnel tests

In August of 2024, cyclingnews.com took 11 of the most advanced super bikes into a wind tunnel to test them head-to-head. The cyclingnews team conducted the tests according to a tight protocol intended to make it as repeatable as possible. The intention was to ensure they were comparing apples with apples, to discover which bike was the fastest.

After all their efforts, they discovered that the OSTRO VAM came out on top. As the most aero and nearly lightest in the selection, the OSTRO VAM tested by cyclingnews reconfirmed the results we had found in our own internal testing.

As proud as we are to have been third-party-tested to be the fastest all-around bike in the peloton, wind tunnel tests can feel too abstract and far removed from the every day activity of riding your bike. Fortunately, the OSTRO VAM has consistently been tested by expert tech journalists to be among the best bikes available.

They have found the strength of the OSTRO VAM to be in its aero performance, low weight for climbing and remarkably sharp handling. It is a racing bike made for cyclists who demand the most from themselves and their equipment. It’s meant to combine fast and fun.

Designs meant to stand out

The OSTRO VAM is currently available in four distinct graphic designs:

• Geometric

• White Chrome

• Icon Blue

• Black

Each one has its own personality that looks as special as the ride feels.

Factor OSTRO VAM

The OSTRO VAM offers the perfect option for the sprinter who wants an aero bike without a weight penalty. For the climber, it is a super-light bike with aerodynamic advantages. The OSTRO VAM does it all in one bike.