I would never have thought I’d be fond of a road bike with disc brakes, but I am. Very much so, in fact. In my defense, though, the Volagi Liscio is a pretty unique bike, even without the hydraulic disc brakes.

“Liscio” is Italian for “straightforward, simple, smooth and sleek,” and that pretty much sums it up. The bike somehow manages to look like both a basic tool for endurance riding adventures and a stunning piece of high-velocity sculpture.

A lot of the credit for the aesthetics goes to those seatstays, which, as you probably guessed, act as giant leaf springs to damp vibrations from the road. The entire frame appears to be built outward from that gentle arc of the stays–a kind of internal suspension system. Form following function, I tend to love designs with obvious purpose, and Volagi achieves that visual intent here. The lines mean something.

There is, no doubt, a significant number of serious cyclists for whom the Liscio is an affront to all that’s sacred. Eventually, a percentage of these will glance from their Ducatis to their road bikes and warm to the concept, but many never will. At least, not until the weight starts to drop. It’s wise that Volagi is also making their own carbon wheelsets, because all parts need to work together to keep weight down on a disc brake equipped bike. What you add in disc calipers and rotors, you can peel back away elsewhere, but it takes a holistic, system sort of approach to get there.

Given how much time I’ve spent on a Salsa La Cruz, I already understand the advantages of disc brakes and drop bars. While it’s tricky to imagine life without the road bikes I have now (we’ve been through a lot together), I could see making a bike with discs my primary road bike. And I could see the Liscio being this bike. This was one of the best things at the show.