This year's London Bike Show saw a wide variety of brands showcase their newest wares to the public, with a pleasant focus on road bikes and some innovative new offerings.

One of the biggest stands at the Excel came courtesy of Ribble, who has been renovating its image considerably over the last few years. The brand has invested in e-road offerings in numerous different platforms.

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Image 4 of 77

Most notable perhaps is the new Ribble CGR ALe, which is based on the very successful aluminium gravel range from Ribble.

The 5.4kg Ribble Endurance SL R perhaps drew the most stares, as it was suspended by balloon.

Further along the show, Canyon had an impressive showcase of old and new – displaying Mathieu van der Poel's Canyon Inflite CF SLX.

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Image 42 of 77

Up to 12-speed

Canyon had Sram's 12-speed AXS groupset on its Aeroad, and the groupset was also being shown off on Cervelo and Titici bikes.

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Image 43 of 77

There were also some impressive TT and triathlon options bearing their head, from Canyon, Ribble, Ceeco and Parlee.

In terms of purely good looking bike bits, Fizik and Topeak certainly stood out with a stunning display of shoes and multitools.

Electrification project

Electric seemed to be a theme of the show, from ultra-discrete concealed motor e-road bikes to folding electric solutions.

GoCycle's fully carbon version of the Gocycle GS electric bike was one of the more stylish on display, with a slick carbion weave and a total weight of only 14.9kgs.

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Image 49 of 77

The newly released golding GX is also set to take on the best offerings from Hummingbird and Brompton in the electric folding bike field. While we're roadies at heart, we can't help being impressed by the convenience of a folding electric bike.

Weird and wonderful

As usual, the London Bike Show was an opportunity for small upstarts and kickstarter brands courting the attention of the public.

Two caught our eye. The first was a MotionLab rucksack that was designed not to put any weight whatsoever on the shoulders, instead putting weight tactically on the hips. 

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Image 74 of 77

The bag has been anatomically designed to follow the curvature of the spine and move with the rider.

The second eye-catcher was what looked like a power-drill. The MyoMaster filled us with skepticism at first, but having tried the pulsating massage drillbit on our own quads, it was something of a suprise hit.

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Image 75 of 77

As massage is an area often neglected by amateur cyclists, this could be a brand to watch.

Over the past decade and a half, Specialized's iconic Roubaix has established itself as the bike of choice for those seeking a comfortable, lightweight, endurance road bike with a tall front end.

In doing so, it has evolved considerably from the Spring Classics racing heritage it was originally founded upon – leaving Specialized with something of a dilemma.

‘We had this bike with some really innovative ways of dealing with shock damping and smoothing out the ride, but our pros weren’t keen to use it because quite simply it wasn’t light and fast or aggressive enough for them,' Roubaix product manager John Cordoba told me when we initially spoke about the new design.

The goal with this new version, then, was to pull the Roubaix back into the performance sector – making it more aero, lighter and with geometry much closer to the race-focussed Tarmac – without sacrificing the comfort the Roubaix had become renowned for. An ambitious target indeed.

Shocking results

Since 2017, the headline act in the Roubaix's endurance billing has been Specialized's Future Shock, an active front suspension system consisting of a coil spring beneath the stem.

Developed by Specialized’s Chris D’Aluisio, it was a clever concept in theory. In reality, though, it had its limitations.

The most obvious, from my own experience in testing the old model, was a lack of any damping, which often led to the bike pogoing up and down in an uncontrolled manner on rougher surfaces.

That's not to say it was ineffective at softening the blows over bumpy surfaces. It just lacked a little refinement.

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Image 7 of 26

Enter the new Future Shock 2.0. It retains the same 20mm travel as before (a term Specialized prefers over axial compliance as it relates to actual vertical movement and not fore/aft compliance such as might be created by, say, flex in a fork).

The big difference, though, is the addition of a hydraulic damper controlled by a dial situated on the head tube, which enables you to fine-tune both rebound and compression damping.

It’s a vast improvement on the old system – in fact, functionally it’s night and day, with the added bonus of being sleeker-looking than before, and minimally intrusive.

My initial rides on the Roubaix were quick jaunts around my local lanes, intended merely as an introduction to the bike ahead of something far bigger and gnarlier. Yet the dramatic improvements in the new design were evident from the very first pedal strokes – and the very first turn of that handily located damping adjuster.

With those initial introductions out of the way, it was time to take the Roubaix on a pilgrimage back to the bike's heartland – the cobbled streets of northern France used by the Queen of the Classics, Paris-Roubaix.

Fast and smooth

A single ride lasting more than 10 hours – a good amount of which was on some of northern France’s most iconic cobbled secteurs – provided more than enough time to get to know the Roubaix intimately.

I’ve ridden the official Paris-Roubaix Sportive in the past and finished with my body in a state of ruin – especially my hands, which were left blistered and bloodied – so I'm well aware of the kind of torture the cobbles can dish out.

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Image 9 of 26

And with conditions on the day proving about as bad as they can get – it was blowing a gale and pouring with rain – it proved an extreme test of both the bike's capabilities and my own.

Yet despite my misgivings, at the end of a long day in the saddle spent hitting cobbled sectors at full gas over and over, my hands, arms and the rest of me were still in a surprisingly good state by the end.

It was a hugely telling endorsement of the new Roubaix’s unquestionable – and I’d go so far as to say unmatched, on an equivalent road bike anyway – ability to deal with the full spectrum of bump forces.

And I don’t just mean at the bars. The rear end was impressive too, but I’ll come back to that shortly.

Reducing fatigue and physical damage is one thing, but it’s all too easy for compliance and comfort to come at the expense of an equally vital characteristic on any bike – control.

Yet even on slick and greasy cobbles, I still felt confident pushing hard on the Roubaix.

It’s a simple fact that riding a bike that feels jittery and twitchy on a rough surface makes a rider more likely to back off, especially through corners.

Conversely, then, a bike that feels stable and planted will give you the confidence to ride at higher speeds and take corners faster and with more confidence.

Not only did I feel completely in control on the new Roubaix thanks to not being battered as much, but the feedback through the bike was excellent, letting me know exactly where I stood in terms of grip and road handling at all times.

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Image 22 of 26

I was undoubtedly carrying more speed on the Roubaix S-Works into cobbled turns and sectors, such as the treacherous Trouée d'Arenberg, than I would have on a more rigid, harsh-feeling road bike.

I would certainly concur with Specialized’s tag line, 'smooth is fast'. This bike is without doubt both.

Crucially, though, when I was back on smoother surfaces and wanted to get my head down and up the power, there was no sense of the bike reacting like a wallowy, soft, comfort bike.

A flick of the dial and the Roubaix was instantly capable of delivering a far punchier and more aggressive feel, much more along the lines of – you’ve guessed it – the Tarmac.

It’s certainly faster than the previous Roubaix, and by a good margin too (on the basis that if you can really feel and notice a difference then it’s clearly not a small one).

I certainly have no reason to disbelieve Specialized’s suggestion (based on its own wind-tunnel data) that the new Roubaix is as quick aerodynamically as both the first generation Venge and the current Tarmac SL6.

That’s not to say it's likely to become the die-hard racer’s favourite in Specialized's stable. Those with a purely racing mentality will still be best off on the Tarmac (unless some of that racing is taking place on cobbles, that is).

Road not gravel

On the other hand, the new Roubaix doesn't feel like it is straying too far into gravel bike territory either. Its geometry is simply too aggressive to be a specialist off-road machine, regardless of the active suspension system. Besides, there is only clearance for up to 33mm tyres.

The previous Roubaix was one of the first bikes to utilise the concept of clamping the seatpost much lower down inside the frame to allow the post to flex over more of its length than just the exposed part.

The new Pave seatpost continues on the same vein, and why not? It was an ingenious idea that many other brands have since imitated.

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Image 14 of 26

There’s a palpable downwards and rearward motion on bigger strikes, and although no movement is apparent during normal pedalling, it seems to deal well with diffusing the high frequency buzz from the road surface.

It’s certainly as good as the older CG-R post, and to my mind a much neater-looking package – in truth I've never been a fan of that odd-looking Z-shaped design.

The seatpost plays an important role in helping the Roubaix strike a necessary balance from front to rear. Being superbly sprung just at the front end would feel disjointed if the rear end was, by contrast, still harsh.

Thankfully, Specialized has achieved enough compliance in the rear to manage this aspect well too.

Dial it up

Which brings us to the dial adjustment for the damper, which sits neatly in place of the stem cap, and is really intuitive and easy to use.

Product manager Cordoba said he felt most riders would likely set the dial to either fully on or off, but I’m not so sure I agree.

I regularly found myself trying out various points in the graded scale of damping (the dial clicks with each step of adjustment), and I often found the sweet spot to be somewhere in the middle of the scale, or a few clicks back from full.

I guess this will vary based on the terrain and a rider's weight and riding style, but my point is it’s not as simple as an on/off switch. It’s way more progressive than that, which is a good thing.

I should point out that even when set to maximum, the system is still never fully locked out. It’s always possible to overcome the damper to some degree and achieve some movement.

However, you'll be unlikely to notice it on the road – not if you're anywhere near my (69kg) body weight anyway.

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Image 19 of 26

The groupset on this S-Works model is Sram’s latest Red eTap AXS 12-speed and it makes an ideal partner for this bike.

Not only does the wireless shifting lend the bike a super-clean aesthetic but the clutched rear derailleur proved a noticeable asset on the cobbles. I was genuinely surprised by how quiet the bike was. There was no chain slap or chatter to speak of.

The wheels are equally well suited to the overall package. I’ve reviewed the Roval CLX 32 wheels in the past, and found them to be superb. Roval – Specialized’s in-house wheel brand – has really upped its game and is able to go shoulder-to-shoulder with the big guns these days.

The Roubaix came specced with Specialized’s own cotton Turbo 28mm ‘Hell of the North’ tyres, and I stuck with the supplied inner tubes for my early testing.

However, the wheels are tubeless ready (and are supplied with the valves), which makes the upgrade to tubeless quick and easy. This is an upgrade I fully plan to make in due course, as I feel it could potentially make the bike feel quicker still, and will only add to the overall comfort.

If there's anything I would want to change, it's the handlebars. The riser-bar Specialized fits on the Roubaix as standard isn't for me, but that's a tiny gripe, and easily addressed.

For some, though, it might even be seen as a positive, as it keeps the front end from being overly low and aggressive straight out of the box.

Verdict

Overall, I can’t deny this new Roubaix S-Works has impressed me immensely.

I wouldn't previously have considered myself a potential Roubaix customer, but now I have to reconsider.

Specialized has done an excellent job of drawing on the vast expertise it has gained from building super-fast aero machines like the Venge, not to mention its outright racer, the Tarmac.

And let’s not forget that with its older generations of the Roubaix and its all-road Diverge it knows a thing or two about comfort too.

The new Specialized S-Works Roubaix really feels like a successful convergence of all these platforms.

I can’t see too many downsides, unless you are an outright racer who cares for very little besides saving every possible gram of weight in the pursuit of every last ounce of performance.

If so, the Tarmac will still be the better choice for. But for nearly anyone else, this new Roubaix is going to tick a lot of boxes.

It’s fast and racy when it needs to be, but dial round that damper and the plush feel of the Future Shock comes through, transforming it into a highly capable and versatile beast that you can enjoy going fast on for the long haul.

Although the bike has apparently been used, unspotted, for weeks now by men's and women's professional teams, Specialized has now officially launched its all new Roubaix.

Headline claims include it being lighter than the latest Venge, more aerodynamic than the newest Tarmac and an essential next step in the brand's move away from gender-specific bikes.

Cyclist deputy editor Stu Bowers has had his hands on one for a while, his initial impressions and first ride review can be read here.

'Smoother is faster' but aero is still everything

A history lesson during the presentation of the new Specialized Roubaix takes us back to the launch of the brand's first full suspension mountain bike. Back then, riders were sure that such a smooth ride had to be slower, that comfort must come at the cost of speed.

Heart rate data and timed segments proved then that smoother was faster, but jump ahead a couple of decades and things weren't quite so simple.

The impression that a smoother ride came at the cost of power and speed was expressed by riders in the modern peloton when riding the previous iteration of the Roubaix, and this time wind-tunnel testing proved the riders right: watts were being lost on smooth roads.

This led to the development of the new Roubaix to be at least as aero as the current version of the S-Works Tarmac as a way of ensuring a fast ride on smooth roads as well as rough.

Such a feature is vital for a race like Paris-Roubaix where the peloton will cover 100km before hitting the first set of cobbles, plus riding all the modern roads between each punishing set of cobbles.

The ambition to make the Roubaix as aero as the Tarmac was surpassed, which by extension means this suspension system cobble basher is more aero than the original Venge.

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Image 21 of 26

'Smoother is faster' was a key phrase in the presentation, and was repeated often by each speaker from Specialized. 'Aero is everything' is the company's overarching mantra and while heard more often in relation to the latest S-Works Venge, also cropped up as a reminder that this new Roubaix is far more than simply a bike for ironing out bumps in the road.

New Future Shock

The top end of the new range of bikes on offer under the Roubaix banner will come with Future Shock 2.0. The key element of this is the control it gives riders to set exactly how much of the suspension system they wish to deploy.

During the launch event, while riding cobbles in Flanders and on their more gruelling cousins on the course of Paris-Roubaix, the Future Shock could be opened for the punishment of the pave but then closed off for the tarmac between secteurs.

This will prove vital for pro teams in this year's race (although look out for some Bora-Hansgrohe riders using Venges for the first 100km or so).

At the lower end, the bikes will come with Future Shock 1.5, an improvement on the old version but crucially without the option of locking out the shock.

Beyond gender

'We've learned that there's likely more difference between two male cyclists than between a male and female,' says Todd Carver, head of human performance at Specialized. 'This means that gender alone doesn't provide nearly enough data to specialise.

'It means that separating bikes by male or female is arbitary and outdated. It means it's time to go beyond gender.'

Eseentially the crux of Specialized's approach is 'not making a difference where there isn't one' because 'performance is performance'.

This approach is informed by the vast amounts of data the brand has access to through it's Retul fit system. Using the stats from riders all around the world confirmed the theory that 'women's specific' bikes weren't necessary.

What's more, Specialized is also using its platform and new line of thinking as a way of applying pressure on race organisers to do more to address gender imbalances.

As a closing line to one part of the presentation a video with voiceover suggested that now the bike of the same name is equally for men and women why can't the race be too: 'The Roubaix is no longer just for men, the race shouldn't be either.'

Venge vs Tarmac vs Roubaix

When the newest Tarmac and Venge models were launched in fairly quick succession, the aero gains of the former and the weight drop of the latter had some of questioning how long it'll be before one of bike can do everything and the other becomes redundant.

Now into that mix is the new Roubaix, which as mentioned above is more aero than the current Tarmac. For a professional rider at Boels-Dolmans, Bora-Hansgrohe or Deceuninck-QuickStep, it's easy to choose which bike to ride on any given day with each model at their disposal.

However, for the everyday customer a choice will have to be made. The difficulty of that choice is something brand ambassador and retired Classics champion Johan Museeuw touched on during the launch.

'For me, the Roubaix is between the Venge and the Tarmac,' he explained. 'With this bike it's agressive, good for sportives and you have some comfort if you want.

'At the back, especially, it's very aggressive and that's an advantage over the other Roubaix. The older Roubaix was all comfort but was a little bit too slow. This bike has speed, it's aggressive, and has a lot of comfort.

'This bike is the bike you need for Roubaix, but this bike is not just for Roubaix.'

Pondering the choice of machine he's go to for a weekend ride, Museeuw added: 'It's very difficult to make the choice between the Tarmac and the Roubaix.

'If you ride cobbles then it's the Roubaix, but the Tarmac is really a top bike so it's difficult to say which bike is better.'

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Image 25 of 26

There are 11 frame sizes starting at 44cm and including the pro-geometry framesets. Regardless of the bike's level, as detailed with prices below, each will come with the S-Works Roubaix seatpost.

Specialized Roubaix: UK prices

Specialized Roubaix S-Works eTap: £9,500.00
Specialized Roubaix Expert Dura-Ace Di2: £9,500.00
Specialized Roubaix Pro SRAM Force eTap: £6,400.00
Specialized Roubaix Expter Ultegra Di2: £5,400.00
Specialized Roubaix Comp Ultegra Di2: £4,400.00
Specialized Roubaix Comp: £3,400.00
Specialized Roubaix Sport: £2,600.00
Specialized Roubaix S-Works frameset: £3500.00
Specialized Roubaix S-Works Team frameset: TBC (MY20 launch)
Specialized Roubaix S-Works Di2 Sagan: £10,000.00
Specialized Roubaix S-Works Di2 Sagan frameset: £3,500.00
Specialized Roubaix Comp Sagan: £3,400.00

This article was originally published in issue 84 of Cyclist magazine

Look has always been a pioneering brand. As well as launching the first clipless pedals in 1984, the French company also lays claim to creating the first carbon road bike frame, as used by Greg LeMond in 1986 (albeit with aluminium lugs).

More recently, Look has become known for producing some of the most distinctive bikes on the market, often sporting innovative bespoke components.

One example was this bike’s predecessor, the 795 Aerolight. It had a dramatically sloped top tube that blended seamlessly into the stem, plus a V-style front brake housed within the fork legs.

It also came with Look’s unique carbon Zed cranks, made as a single piece for stiffness and lightness.

The first thing that struck me about the 795 Blade RS, then, was that Look has backtracked towards something a bit more, well… normal.

Product manager Frédéric Caron explains that the company took this course after accepting that there were some (mostly mechanical) complexities with the Aerolight that were off-putting to some.

‘Shop mechanics were not keen to work on it, so we had to develop the 795 Blade RS with much more sympathy to the consumer,’ he admits.

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Image 2 of 7

To that end, fancy integrated brakes and the Zed crank have been replaced by stock hardware: Shimano’s flagship Dura-Ace mechanical kit.

The top tube is now pitched closer to horizontal, giving this new frame a more typical silhouette, and although it’s still obviously an integrated aero affair, the 795 Blade RS is ostensibly less complicated than past models.

There’s a ‘but’…

Despite Look’s good intentions, when this test bike arrived with the brakes Euro-style, requiring me to switch them, I found myself battling some tricky (and frankly overly complex) cabling foibles inside Look’s own aero handlebar.

A few vexing hours later, brakes finally sorted and at last out on the road, I was faced with another issue.

The seatpost slipped no matter how hard I tried with my multitool to tighten it, leaving me having to procure some gaffer tape from road workers to get home.

Initially I gave Look the benefit of the doubt (as slipping posts are not uncommon), so before my next ride I simply made sure to add some grip paste and re-check the bolt.

But the post slipped again.

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Image 3 of 7

In desperation I resorted to taking the post out at the roadside and smearing it with grit, trying to add friction.

When this failed my final bodge was to jam foliage into the seat tube in an effort to wedge the post. Laughably, it worked.

Not the best of starts, then. But things can only get better, right? Not entirely.

It was early December when I began testing the Blade, with its full-carbon Corima 47 WS1 clincher wheels, which alone cost close to £2k, and for which Corima insists on supplying cork brake pads.

Cork is perfect for stopping wine bottles but highly ineffectual at slowing – let alone stopping – road bikes in anything other than bone-dry conditions.

As for the tyres, Vittoria’s cheapo, steel-beaded Zaffiro Pro Slicks have no place on a bike that would cost £7k as specced. They simply don’t provide the refined feel of top-level rubber.

And while I’m about it, I might point out that a range-topping rim brake bike being over 8kg has to be labelled as a bit of a porker in the current market. Clearly Look had some explaining to do.

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Image 4 of 7

Problems solved

Caron was understanding as we talked through my grievances. Starting with the seatpost, he instructed me to clean all surfaces thoroughly to remove all traces of grip paste (and soil, ahem), grease the bolt threads and tighten to 10-15Nm.

That did feel rather extreme, as that’s a lot of torque for a small bolt (5-7Nm is more common on bikes), but he assured me Look had tested it and indeed the post did then subsequently hold firm.

And what of the bars, wheels and tyres? Caron assured me there are already updated versions of both the wheels and handlebars available.

That was welcome news, but did rather beg the question why a company would send a bike for testing with products that are knowingly already superseded.

But here’s the thing: it doesn’t matter anyway. If you’re buying a Blade in the UK, it’s only available as a frameset (£2,900 including fork, headset and seatpost; add the stem for £115), which means the spec is entirely your choosing.

As an aside, this also means the bike might appeal as a TT or triathlon build as its adjustable seatpost head facilitates (relative) seat tube angles from 71.8° to 78.4°.

This throws my review a little into disarray. On the one hand, I’m obliged to tell as I find, and based on this build the 795 Blade RS plainly did not win my favour.

But my gripes were with the components, not the frame (once the seatpost issue was solved). The frame itself actually has a lot of merits.

Those chunky aero tubes are, as expected, resolutely stiff laterally, resisting any undesirable flex, but overall the 795 Blade RS doesn’t feel unwieldy or overly harsh.

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Image 5 of 7

The modicum of compliance offered by the bowed seatstays and fork legs makes it a little more accommodating on a rough road than a good number of its aero competitors I’ve tested.

And, credit where it’s due, this Look is unquestionably fast. When I swapped the wheels for Zipp 404 NSWs fitted with Vittoria’s top-end Corsa tyres (ditching the cork), the experience was immediately more positive, hinting at what the 795 Blade RS would be capable of with a more refined spec.

Despite my initial reservations, the 795 Blade RS ultimately proved itself to be an accomplished aero racer. But it still has a big problem – the sheer strength of the competition.

The Blade sits in a class that includes bikes such as the Cannondale SystemSix, Trek Madone and Specialized Venge, and it doesn’t match up to those bikes.

I can’t help but feel that Look’s strongest asset was its individuality – the bikes were like no others on the market.

By making its latest model more like everything else, Look has lost a little bit of its magic. Since when was standing out from the crowd a bad thing?

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Image 6 of 7

Spec

Artists collaborating on bicycles is nothing new. American street artist Keith Haring painted his ‘dancing men’ on the disc wheels of a Cinelli Laser, and graffiti artist Futura 2000 put polka dots on a Colnago Master Pista.

Even the late master framebuilder Dario Pegoretti could be considered an artist himself. 

Adding butterflies is no original concept either. Damien Hirst lacquered hundreds of real butterfly wings onto Lance Armstrong’s Trek Madone for the final stage of the 2009 Tour de France.

(Somewhat comically, U2’s Bono put Hirst onto Armstrong, saying he was ‘the greatest sportsman the world has ever known after Ali’, although at least the bike later raised $500,000 for charity.)

Yet a small, relatively new framebuilder from Brighton’s North Laine collaborating with a deceased artist through the medium of custom steel? Now that’s a story worth some investigation.

Let us introduce Spoon Customs’ most elaborate work to date, MC Escher and the metamorphosis of the steel bicycle.

If you can’t make ’em

Andy Carr did that thing so many of us would love to do. First, he ‘ran away’ to foreign lands. Second, he started making bikes.

‘About five years ago I decided to leave my job and I went to live in the mountains in France,’ he says. ‘There I decided I wanted to start a bike company.

‘I thought about importing titanium or steel frames, but the more I looked into it the more I realised I needed to learn about bike engineering and framebuilding, and that eventually led me to The Bicycle Academy [a framebuilding school in Frome].

‘I built a bike there, and tried to build a second one. But I’ve got a bit of a tremour in my left hand, so it became apparent that I would never be able to build frames to the level I envisaged.’

For some the dream would have ended there, but from his vantage point in Montgenevre, on the French-Italian border, Carr spied a third way – working with an established fabricator in northern Italy.

‘If you draw a horizontal line directly from Montgenevre you end up in Veneto, that golden triangle of the Italian bike industry. I must have visited 10 or 12 framebuilders there before I came across the one I work with now.

‘I brought my first frame with me and explained what I wanted to do. They thought I was this weird English guy but they also thought it was pretty cool, and really got what I was trying to do.’

While Carr says he doesn’t keep the name of the framebuilders a secret – he would tell any customer who asks – it’s not a fact he’d like widely publicised, so all we’ll say is that Cyclist has visited them and they are really rather good.

In Carr’s words, ‘If you’re not holding the torch yourself you’d better make sure you’ve done your homework.’

Art of the bike

This frame is designed by Carr and made in Columbus steel, a material that is the cornerstone of the Spoon enterprise and which in its own way presented an opportunity for the stunning MC Escher paintwork, executed by Cole Coatings.

‘Steel can be reactive and responsive in a way a race bike should be, but it can be compliant and offer an unmatched ride quality,’ says Carr.

‘It’s why Escher’s work seemed to fit so well for this bike. It serves as a metaphor for the transformational properties of steel, which change depending on how you build a frame and what tubes you use.’

A Dutch graphic artist prolific in the 1950s, MC Escher was famous for his mathematically inspired pieces, which often concerned impossible objects, such as Klimmen en Dalen’s infinitely ascending or descending staircases, or tessellating objects whose forms often borrowed from the natural world.

‘The artwork here is transposed from an original Escher piece of tessellating, abstract objects – as on the fork – unfolding into butterflies along the frame.

‘We worked with the MC Escher Foundation, so this bike is an official Escher piece. In fact, it’s one of two. We’re working on a second bike that will be painted white with UV-paint butterflies, which will be invisible in normal light.

‘It will be housed at the foundation’s gallery and lit by moving UV lights so the bike will have a dynamic feel, as if the butterflies are flying.’

A national gallery is a fine place to end up for a company just three years old, but it’s testament to Carr’s vision, conviction and attention to detail.

Yet one question remains – where did the Spoon name come from?

‘Well, normally you would use your surname, but mine doesn’t really fit for a bike! Spoon was my nickname when I was a kid. I used to work in a chippy and I’d spend ages stirring the gravy.

‘People used to think I was skiving, but I was just obsessed with making sure there were no lumps. So they called me “Spoon” because they said I loved spoons. But now it has come full circle, because I really do love Spoons.’

To my ears, metal bikes go tink-ping, endurance bikes smooosh and aero bikes whoompf. But my favourite sound of all is the scud.

It occurs when certain bikes encounter uneven ground through fast corners, and I think it’s a mixture of tyres fighting for grip as bike and rider slice the air with concurrent fizz.

If you’ve never heard a scud, I can only liken it to sitting inside a car while its windows are sprayed with a pressure hose. 

It’s also not a sound I come across too often when riding. It takes a certain tackiness of tyre tread and a certain quality of road surface.

But above all else it takes a certain type of bike. One with just the right amount of flex to track the road, yet stiff enough still to dance across miniature peaks of uneven macadam.

It takes a bike with absolute poise and balance. It takes an Argonaut.

Ultimate experience

If you want you can save yourself the time of reading the rest of this review by stopping at the end of this paragraph: the Argonaut Road Bike is very, very good.

I can’t say it’s the best bike in the world (I haven’t tested all the bikes in the world), but it’s certainly in my top one.

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Image 2 of 7

That might seem strange given it comes not from a brand pouring hundred of thousands into R&D for each new project, but instead from an independent framebuilder in Bend, Oregon, that produces little more than 100 framesets a year.

That’s not to do the Argonaut down in any way. For one, it’s desperately pretty, its paint lustrous and shiny, its silhouette an agreeable mix of elegance and intent. But beyond that it lacks the hallmarks of the modern top-end racer.

There are no dropped seatstays, covertly kammtailed down tubes or bow-legged forks here. It even has a few cables on show. Yet the Argonaut is about as far from simple as the Hook of Holland is from Istanbul.

However, before we get on to what makes this bike tick, I should tell you how it feels to ride, and that is absolutely scudding fantastic.

From the first cruisy pedal strokes the Argonaut presented that wonderful feeling of newness and difference, yet it also felt familiar. Less like I’d ridden it before, more like it knew how I wanted it to ride.

Often I’ll get on a test bike and the change in handling will take at least a few kilometres to get used to.

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Image 3 of 7

That’s testament to the fact that I think geometry is quietly being played around with more than we might realise thanks to things such as wider tyres, disc brakes and the advent of the multi-terrain bike.

On paper those geometric tweaks are little more than millimetres here, fractions of degrees there, but they’re enough to make a significant difference. The Specialized Tarmac today, for example, rides nothing like one from two years ago (it is significantly better).

So without boring you with the numbers, the Argonaut’s geometry lends the bike fantastically fast, precise handling at lower speeds that gets progressively more stable at higher speeds while still remaining responsive enough.

I PBed my go-to twisting descent not once but twice, all the while feeling totally in control, each run thrillingly rapid but never reckless.

It’s on such descents that the Argonaut really stands apart. Its brakes give it confidence, of course, so too the tyres (at some point Dura-Ace discs and Vittoria Corsa G+s will be usurped, but today is not that day), however it’s the frame that ties these things together, making everything more than the sum of its parts.

Within that frame there is less a balance and more a conversation between stiffness and flex – stiffness to pedal effectively, flex to move sympathetically with the road surface.

Hit a long, bumpy corner fast, give it some lean and you can feel the frame working beneath you to accommodate the imperfections, tyres feeling evenly loaded with force throughout the arc, as opposed to suffering the stutter of a too-stiff bike or the slight bob of one too flexy.

The Argonaut excels when it comes to sprinting, climbing and straight-line speed, too. To be super nit-picky maybe it could shed a few grams on the climbs, but otherwise it’s snappy and reactive to ascend, punchy to sprint on and beautifully smooth in every other instance.

I even hit a few gravelly trails, and the bike lapped it up.

The custom element

So, how has Argonaut arrived at this point? It’s a custom bike company set up by Ben Farver, a framebuilder who cut his teeth in steel before switching to carbon fibre, having become ‘frustrated with my lack of ability to control the materials’.

That frustration led Farver into the more malleable world of composite materials.

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Image 4 of 7

Yet while most custom carbon fibre framebuilders work in the tube-to-tube method, Farver makes what he describes as ‘modified monocoque construction’ frames.

In essence this is what the big guns do, moulding sections of a frame, such as the head tube with partial down tube and top tube, in single pieces before bonding them all together.

Building in this way means fibres flow continuously across high-stress areas such the tube junctions, meaning less material is needed to ensure strength.

Moreover it gives a designer like Farver wider scope to play around with the carbon fibre layup, as each section is made from dozens of individually specified plies. Thus far more of the frame can be tuned to serve certain characteristics.

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Image 5 of 7

Unlike large-scale manufacturers, who must play a game of best fit since a handful of sizes and layups must suit all their customers, being a custom builder means Farver is able to design to a specific customer’s needs.

He creates each layup to suit each client, such that no two Argonaut’s geometries or layups are the same.

People will contest the idea that a mass-produced monocoque bike can’t rival a custom one, and indeed bikes such as the latest Tarmac, Trek Madone and BMC Teammachine are certainly very fine.

But having ridden those bikes, I feel the Argonaut just has an extra modicum of tailored refinement that elevates it above anything I’ve tested thus far.

It really is that good. Stop whispering at the back about the price.

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Image 6 of 7

Spec

Pinarello’s Dogma series is arguably the most well-recognised range of bikes in the last decade so any update tends to make people sit up and take notice.

The latest revisions, the Pinarello Dogma F12 and F12 Disk, see the frame become moreshapely than the F8 and F10 editions of the design, harking back to the wavy fork and seatstays of earlier Dogmas, such as the 65.1 that Sir Bradley Wiggins famously rode to Tour de France victory in 2012.

Pinarello says the changes in tube profiles through the frame have had the cumulative effect of making the F12 faster. The Italian bike maker is claiming a drag reduction of 7.3%, which apparently translates into a saving of 8 watts at 40kmh.

The Dogma has never been known as lacking in the efficiency stakes but Pinarello claims further stiffness improvements over previous models, courtesy of a substantial redesign of the chainstays.

‘The new cross section in combination with Torayca 1100 1K, the best carbon fibre available, ensures an improvement in lateral stiffness by 10%,’ the brand says.

Notably the new Pinarello Dogma F12 also incorporates fully internally routed cables, which is a trend introduced by many competitors subsequent to the launch of Pinarello’s last F10 design in order to improve aerodynamics. In fact the cockpit has undergone a host of changes in serviceability, ergonomics and performance.

‘The PinaLab developed a specific handlebar and headset design that enables correct cable functionality and allows integration of all possible brake & gear combinations (disc or rim; mechanical or electronic),' the brand explains.

‘The new integrated handlebar, the Most Talon Ultra, is 10.3% lighter, 8.6% stiffer and 5% more aerodynamically efficient compared to the Most Talon Aero, the bar combo currently used by Team Sky,’ Pinarello adds.

Team Sky will race the bikes for the first time at the Tour de Yorkshire under their new guise of Team Ineos, and obviously key riders (Chris Froome among them) have been recorded as being full of praise for the new design.

A sample of the F12 is on its way to Cyclist as we write this, so look out for further coverage of the new bike online soon and a full review in Cyclist, which you can subscribe to here.

Ketones have been lauded as the new secret weapon in pro cycling, with rumours circulating for years of top teams using ketones in races at a cost of thousands per bottle. With the supplement coming into the mainstream and down in price, though, some now consider it a key necessity for high-end competition.

Dutch website Sporza reported today that an advisor for Deceuninck-Quick Step, Professor Peter Hespel, has claimed that ketones were ‘a piece of the puzzle’ in Quick-Steps fantastic success last year.

He went on to claim, ‘I think there are very few endurance athletes who don't know that something is happening with ketones and are already experimenting.’

This is not the first insider from the sport to discuss ketones, as ex-Team Sky member Greg Henderson discussed their suspected use in the team.  He subsequently trialled the supplement and claimed enormous physiological gains. 

While it would seem that ketones are becoming an open secret in pro cycling, and necessary to compete at elite level, first we need to clarify exactly what they are.

What are Ketones? 

‘A ketone is another energy source,’ explains Kieran Clarke, Professor of Physiological Biochemistry at Oxford University, and inventor of the first ketone-based drink DeltaG. 

A ketone is normally metabolized by the body to create energy, and originates from fats. ‘It's produced normally when you haven’t eaten or when you're on a kesogenic diet,’ Clarke explains.

‘The research was originally funded by the research arm of the US army,’ she says. ‘They wanted somebody to invent a really efficient food and we said we could do that.’

The drink created by Clarke means that you can put ketones straight into your body that can be turned into energy. ‘It has similar effects to glucose and it works in the same way as glucose drinks, it provides energy for your muscles.’

Crucially, though, it has no discernable advantages over glucose. The main advantage, Clarke argues, is topping up your energy as your glycogen levels become depleted. ‘Things that last 5 or 6 hours it will probably be the best use for it. But I think it depends on the individual, and it also depends how efficient they are at using their various substrates.’

Marginal or massive gains?

Their inventor, Professor Kieran Clarke, sees no real advantages for the average athlete over glucose supplements and drinks. 

‘If you have glucose by itself or ketones by itself, it’s not superior. It’s exactly the same – it’s just providing energy. For sprints glucose is better actually, because you need something that’s anaerobic,’ she says. 

In response to rumours that athletes enjoy a 10% instant advantage at threshold pace when drinking a ketone ester, Clarke responds with restrained laughter: ‘No, I don’t think so! I think anyone who thinks that is having themselves on.’

However, ignoring claims of immediate threshold gains, the supplementation of ketones for an athlete with low fat and who has maxed out on carbohydrate and glucose intake in a race could be significant.

‘Once your glycogen is depleted you can't do anything about it,’ explains Clarke. ‘Your constantly topping up on glycogen when you're exercising. What they do mostly in the Tour de France is burning mainly fat, and glucose which they take in from drinks and gels.’

Eating enough to keep fat and carbohydrates in reserve is a better option in pure psychological terms, but the demands of racing mean that eating enough during competition isn’t always possible, or efficient. 

It seems that if any pro teams are using ketone supplements, then, the gains are likely to be noticeable improvements in energy over longer stages, which in turn extends to speeding up the recovery.

Will ketone supplements become standard amongst amateurs too, then?

Amateur hour

With the interaction of glucose, carbohydrates and ketones in mind, the use of ketones will only offer an advantage if an athletes glucose and carbohydrate strategy is already perfected, which is a downside for those of us dying between food stops on a sportive.

For amateur enthusiasts, it’s also worth being extremely diligent about which ketones we buy. Raspberry ketones, for instance, are cheap and widely available but have a big downside. 

‘Raspberry ketones which are not metabolised by the body,’ explains Clarke. Because they come from raspberries, they are only useful if you happen to be a raspberry.

This feature was produced in association with Argon 18 and first appeared in issue 82 of Cyclist magazine

Words James Spender Photography and videography George Marshall

‘In the end, it’s a recipe, like making a cake. The cake can have too much sugar, it can be too heavy, too crumbly. If you don’t have the right recipe, the right ingredients and the right chefs, it won’t work.’

As expositions on manufacturing composite bikes go, it’s a well-worn analogy. Yet there’s something in the way the owner of Argon 18 says it that makes it sound original.

The thick French accent certainly helps, and indeed the name: Gervais Rioux, the surname pronounced like the Michelin-starred father and son.

But beyond that, it just makes sense.

You can’t determine the recipe or ingredients of a cake from eating it any more than you can determine the precise carbon fibre layup in a bike just from riding it.

It’s why Rioux challenges anyone to ride an Argon 18 and feel the difference.

But it’s also why we’ve been invited here, to find out exactly what’s happening beneath the paint.

French connection

Argon 18 is based in Montreal, Quebec, a province colonised in the 17th century by the French.

That explains Rioux’s accent, and that of his 40-plus staff.

It also goes some way to explaining how Argon 18 managed to establish itself as a drop-bar bike company in the midst of the mountain bike craze sweeping North America in the 1990s.

‘The French love road cycling,’ says Rioux. ‘I have always loved it too.

‘I started racing bikes at 12, I got my first job in a bike shop by 14, working all summer so I could afford to buy better bike parts.

‘At 16 I saw the thing that would change my life. It was 1976 and the Olympics were being held in Montreal.

‘I went to see the bike racing and that’s when I decided I would go to the Olympics one day.’

The beginning of that journey – which would see Rioux represent Canada at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul – started with a bike made by Montreal’s most revered framebuilder at the time, Giuseppe Marinoni.

‘I went to see him for a new bike. He was a funny guy.

‘He tried to discourage me from racing, saying, “This sport is extremely hard. You should do other things.”

‘But I got my first custom bike, and also in a sense my last, because the last team I raced for – Evian-Miko – rode bikes made by Marinoni for our shop sponsor, “Argon 18”.

‘I retired in 1990 and in the fall that year the opportunity came up to buy the Argon 18 shop.

‘It was in financial difficulty, but within 48 hours of the owners coming to me, I had decided to buy it.’

Rioux still has his last race bike, which sits alongside Argon 18’s crop of current race machines in the showroom.

Incongruously metal in a sea of carbon fibre, it encapsulates the tradition and experience Rioux sees as integral to his bike company.

‘The name Argon 18 comes from the periodic table.

‘Argon is the gas they used to use to weld frames and 18 is its atomic number. So basically if you did not have argon 18, you had no bike.

‘Of course we do not use argon gas in carbon bike frame construction, but I still like this bike.

‘It reminds us that we mustn’t get lost in the future and forget what we have learned in the past.’

Much like the 16-year-old boy at the Olympics, Rioux set his sights on a seemingly impossible dream – to make Argon 18 a global bike brand with a Tour de France team. And although progress might not have been meteoric, it was nevertheless steady.

By 2002 Argon 18 had gone from selling 150 rebranded steel bikes a year to debuting its first Rioux-designed carbon road bike.

By 2008 its E114 triathlon bike had taken second in the women’s and third in the men’s races at Ironman Hawaii.

By 2015 the company had taken over NetApp-Endura to form Bora-Argon 18, claiming its first Tour de France podium that year when German rider Emanuel Buchmann took third on Stage 11.

In 2017, Argon 18 switched to supplying bikes for WorldTour team Astana. 

‘Our proudest moment was seeing Fabio Aru riding in yellow last year,’ says Rioux, who has also managed to appropriate Aru’s Gallium Pro to adorn the showroom.

Yet he is not about to rest on the company laurels, and says the future is about controlling the process.

Remote control

While Argon 18 designs its own bikes in Montreal, those designs are, like so many in the industry, produced by a contract factory in the Far East.

But as Rioux explains on our way to the testing lab, Argon 18 is very different to its rivals.

Rioux hands us over to Argon 18’s composite materials specialist, Joffrey Renaud, who elaborates.

‘Most brands just send a design to the factory and it makes the frame,’ says Renaud, who previously worked in the aerospace sector.

‘The brand designs the geometry and requests the stiffness, weight and comfort.

‘The factory has its own layup schedule, and essentially the brand hopes it gets back the frame that it wants.’

By ‘layup schedule’, Renaud means the process by which pieces of carbon fibre are cut into shapes and layered up in the moulds that comprise various parts of a bike frame.

The layup is the ‘recipe’ Rioux described, and it dictates aspects such as stiffness and weight.

It is also, says Renaud, a closely guarded secret by the factories, so not something a bike brand typically gets involved in.

‘We still have this approach with our entry-level frames. If you work with a good factory there’s nothing wrong with this model,’ says Renaud.

‘But when we’re talking high-end frames, where you are trying to save every gram and push every boundary, we realised we needed more control of the processes.

‘Otherwise it doesn’t matter how good your ideas are.

‘You’re at the mercy of the factory as to whether or not it will execute them, and to what standard.’

Redefining the approach

Argon 18 has a dual strategy for navigating the murky waters of manufacture.

First, it tests its frames in a way it believes factories in Asia don’t, can’t or won’t. Second, it creates and tests new layups with the help of the Composite Development Centre of Quebec, an independent R&D institution.

Armed with these bits of information, Argon 18 can see how a frame is performing and take steps to redesign it in areas it sees as lacking.

It can then go to a factory to make its case.

It’s this data that allows the company to influence and control the manufacturing process in a way many brands can’t.

To illustrate this, Renaud shows us a bike covered in strain gauges that has clearly been ridden outdoors, and then points towards a second bike loaded with weights on the handlebars and saddle and sitting on what might best be described as a vibrating table.

‘We used to use a rolling road but we found it wasn’t quite right, so we built this table using the same equipment used in 4D cinemas to make the seats vibrate,’ says Renaud.

‘The idea is that we can use the first bike to record the stresses and strains on a bike under real riding conditions and can then use that data to simulate those conditions in the lab.

‘We then measure the acceleration on the saddle and stem using accelerometers, and the deformation of parts of the bike such as the handlebars and seatpost.

‘Less power recorded at those contact points means less vibration – so more comfort for the rider.

‘When you compare this to the power that’s going in from the vibration of the wheels, you can see what a frame is doing in terms of comfort.

‘Simply observing a seat tube flexing more than last year’s model does not translate into your bike being more comfortable. Vertical compliance is linked to comfort, but it is in no way directly proportional.’

It’s by putting frames through such tests that Argon 18 is able to build up a detailed, scientific picture of how a carbon fibre frame performs beyond basic fatigue tests – flexing a frame tens of thousands of times before it fails or exceeds test standards.

‘Right now the limit, for example the absolute lightest frame you can make, is defined by the factories in Asia,’ says Renaud.

‘But this doesn’t mean that what they can make is the absolute lightest possible, and the reason is simply that although they have a huge amount of knowledge of frame fabrication, a lot of it is from experience, not science, and a lot of that is driven by what a factory sees as possible for mass producing frames.

‘We are now challenging those limitations, and our factory is listening.’

Appliance of science

Our tour concludes with a visit to the Composite Development Centre of Quebec – or CDCQ – on the outskirts of Montreal.

We’re led into a clean room, into which is wheeled a familiar-looking block of steel on a trolley.

‘This is one of the moulds we called back from our Asian factory to experiment with,’ says Renaud.

‘It’s from a frame we made in 2008. Back when this mould was in production it was making frames that were 1,200g.

‘We convinced the factory to share its original layup with us, and through our research have been able to optimise their layup to produce a frame with better characteristics but that weighs 760g.’

The equipment on show here is somewhat different to what a factory would use – the front triangle mould, for example, is too large for the heat presses at the CDCQ, so Renaud and his team have devised a way of applying heat via dozens of cylindrical heating elements inserted into holes in the mould.

For reasons such as this, creating a frame in Montreal takes Argon 18 around a week, compared to one day in its Asian factory.

Nonetheless, the processes are similar enough that if Renaud can do it here, it gives Argon 18 strong enough ground on which to start controlling – if not dictating – materials, methods and layups previously decided upon by its factory.

Renaud is tight-lipped as to precisely how he’s shaved more than 400g from a frame just by tweaking materials and layup, although he does point out that ‘a pre-preg carbon fibre ply is around 0.075mm and the thinnest tube wall on this frame is 0.4mm, so a front triangle like this has around 300 individual pieces of pre-preg to play with.’

However, he is more open about the system in which Argon 18 is working – and trying to work smarter in.

‘What it really comes down to is this: we are fighting the old model, where we would go to a factory and say, “Hey, this limit here, you can skip that and go higher,” and they reply, “It is not possible,” and we just have to accept it.

‘Instead we are now in a position where we can demonstrate – and prove – what is possible.

‘It means we can convince the factory to push the limits, and that means we can make better bikes.’

Back at company headquarters, Rioux has one more thing to show us.

It’s a track bike for the Danish Olympic squad as ridden at the Olympics in Rio two years ago, and it was designed from the ground up by Argon 18.

Since then, other countries’ Olympic cycling teams have approached Argon 18 for bikes, with Rioux reckoning on ‘four or five’ partnerships in the offing.

‘Track bikes are a great form of advertisement. The camera follows them round and round, the logos are big. But still it is a bit sad for us,’ Rioux says wistfully.

‘You cannot see inside our frames. Instead people just see the shape, the paint, the components, and the brands that stand out – they have the bright colours, the gimmicks.

‘But I didn’t set out to be a marketing company that sells bikes. I set out to make the best bikes for bike riders.

‘We didn’t invent the bike, but we can offer the best solutions.’

Visit Argon 18 to find out more about the brand's bikes and manufacturing processes

Elemental Argon

Three of Argon 18’s finest creations

Dark Matter

The Dark Matter benefits from Argon 18’s new design approach.

An increased understanding of tube shapes and layups helped produce a bike the company claims is at once aggressive and exceptionally robust and comfortable, thanks in part to a highly raked fork and seatstays designed to flex and dissipate shocks.

Electron

‘It’s important for me that Argon 18 has a presence in track and triathlon, not just road,’ says Gervais Rioux.

‘The Electron was designed for the Danish track team, which rode it in the 2016 Rio Olympics [where it garnered two bronze medals]. For the next Olympics maybe five teams will be on our track bikes.’

Gallium Pro

Argon 18’s stripped-down flagship racer weighs just 759g (frame, claimed) and features a proprietary 3D fit system that affords three head tube heights per size without the need for spacers.

The bottom bracket is lower than most (75mm drop vs 68mm), which Rioux says makes this bike exceptionally stable.

Visit Argon 18 to find out more about the brand's bikes and manufacturing processes

When reviewing a bike or product, its quality and performance can often dictate the format and narrative that the write-up takes on. If something is mediocre but not glaringly terrible in any way, then a walk through of its pros, cons and key features will likely follow a fairly linear pattern.

When presented with something that is generally amazing it can be difficult to know what to shout about first. But then, what if a bike is good - almost free of criticism - except for one unignorable flaw?

The quandary then is whether to announce the negative first and get it out the way, leave it until the very end, or chuck it in the middle somewhere in between more positive features.

Starting with the negative

In this case, I'm going to highlight the KTM Revelator Master's unfortunate weakness first, in the hope of comprehensively covering it off before moving onto the rest of the bike, with the intention of not unduly prejudicing the remainer of the review.

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Image 9 of 9

Brakes simply should not be under bottom brackets

In no way have I ridden every model from every brand that thinks positioning the rear brake under the bottom bracket is a good idea, but of the several I've used not one has worked particularly well and that's very much the case with the KTM.

Repeating a bad idea does not eventually make it a good idea.

The difficult route the cable has to take from lever to caliper, bending and twisting its way through the handlebar, down the tubes and out near the chainset sucks the efficiency from the Shimano Ultegra direct mount brake.

When pulling the lever you can hear the cable fighting against the inside of the down tube as it works to slow the rear wheel, Shimano's usual braking precision and power lost to friction.

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Image 4 of 9

The argument for putting a brake down there tends to centre upon aerodynamics. Airflow through the seat stays and over the rear wheel is cleaner and so you should ride along faster. With this bike, it is also the case that its aesthetics are boosted by the clean lines afforded by the lack of mounting points for a caliper.

KTM's frames are begging for disc brakes

KTM has recently revealed two new high-end performance machines, and each comes with disc brakes. Unlike Specialized, there hasn't been a definitive statement of intent to move all its top-end range to disc only, but such a move could be revelatory for KTM.

The current frame design across the brand and clear eagerness to avoid having a brake bridge in the standard place below the saddle is all possible with disc brakes but also means none of the compromise detailed above. Such a move could see this bike go from the 3.5* it scores here to potentially pushing 5.

All speculative, of course, and any new model would have to be taken on its own merits, but certainly a point worth considering.

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Image 2 of 9

The ride

With that howler covered I can talk about the rest of the bike and, importantly, how it rides. The first thing you notice when riding is the stiffness of the frameset and the resulting efficiency of power transfer when pedalling.

This is particularly obvious on the flat, even if the frame isn't the most aerodynamically profiled. It is also a welcome feature when climbing. Anything this bike might give away in weight is almost cancelled out by its eagerness to move forward even on steeper inclines - and this is with a rider made more for the cobbles than the climbs.

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Image 6 of 9

Components

The groupset is the excellent-as-always Shimano Ultegra Di2. With the transmission tuned and the mech hanger straightened out, the shifting was just as good as we've all come to expect from the Japanese behemoth.

The wheels are the ever-reliable Mavic Cosmic Elite UST, which ride excellently without much fuss. However, the retina damaging colour scheme cannot be overlooked. This is a custom appearance for KTM and not how Mavic would normally sell the wheels.

I get that the wheels' orange and black colouring matches the frameset, and it works for the latter, but a sleek design of black-on-black rims would give the bike a much better overall look.

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Image 1 of 9

Conclusion

This is an excellent bike but, as clearly stated, with one hurdle that it's hard to get over. I enjoyed riding it, particularly on climbs where it performed well but also meant the need to brake was reduced.

If this frameset is released in a hydraulic disc brake version then I'd be at the front of the queue to try it. Move that rear brake back to where it belongs or move wholesale to disc brakes and this is a bike that will flourish as it realises its full potential.

If Matthew Sowter were a footballer he’d probably have won any number of Ballons d’Or by now, and multiple Players’ Player of the Year titles too.

His resumé boasts an array of industry accolades, and ask any framebuilder who they admire and Sowter’s name comes up time and again.

The South African came to the UK to pursue a dream of making frames, but when a series of jobs left him feeling let down by the UK framebuilding industry (one manufacturer ‘imported most of their stock frames from China’) he struck out alone under the banner of Saffron Frameworks in 2012.

Since then his frames have gone from beautifully crafted custom steel to appearing in the Commonwealth Games under Dan Craven, to this, arguably the most elaborate Saffron bike to date: Julian’s mixed-material single speed.

‘We started talking about this five years ago,’ says Sowter.

‘In between I’ve actually built the customer another bike, which he’s used to race cyclocross, but the original request here was, “I’d like a town bike and for it to be wooden.”

‘That kind of evolved into the bike we have here, which is to use in winter  so he can train for cyclocross.’

Depending on what kind of riding and what kind of weather your winters comprise, the idea of this bike being a winter trainer might seem strange.

But as Sowter points out, it is eminently adaptable from single speed to 1x gearing, it has disc brakes, and the materials from which it’s made are innately comfortable and very robust.

‘The Columbus head tube and HSS HX-profile down tube – probably the biggest-diameter tube you can get in steel – and Reynolds 853 chainstays are super-stiff, and the partial steel top tube is another Reynolds tube usually used as the supporting brace to minimise flex in a tandem,’ says Sowter.

‘The carbon seat tube was made for us by Enve, the dropouts are stainless steel from Paragon Machine Works. Then there’s the wood.’

Wood-be racer

While framebuilders regularly work closely with their material suppliers to specify wall thickness or tube profiles, it’s not often a supplier has to work up its material entirely from scratch.

Enve Composites isn’t drilling for oil to make its carbon fibre.

But in this Saffron creation, Sowter worked with furniture designer and maker Sebastian Cox, who does things a little bit differently.

‘Seb has a woodland in Kent and they grow a lot of the wood they use in the furniture there, including this ash,’ says Sowter of the single bow-like structure running from top tube to dropouts.

‘He chose ash because of its lightness, strength and elongation – it’s a very flexible, malleable wood. He took a blank sheet of wood and cut the profile out. Then it was steamed, put into a jig, then hand shaped to get this profile.’

To call this aspect of the frame a work of master craftsmanship would not an overstatement, nor would be calling the frame that the ash ties together a work of art. But it has taken some serious work and careful consideration on Sowter’s part to incorporate it into Julian’s bike.

‘Because the wood has so much spring to it we’ve had to cover ourselves by making the top tube extra wide to resist sideways movement.

‘Then to build the bike I had to build basically a straightforward steel main triangle, then cut out the seat tube and top tube and replace them with the carbon ISP and the ash.

‘Getting the alignment was difficult, because the stays are asymmetric to fit the flat-mount disc brakes, and there was no supporting structure in terms of the seatstays to work off, as they came later.’

Crucially, though, Sowter had to accommodate one thing that his usual material choice of steel does not suffer from – structural changes over time.

‘We’re not 100% sure what the wood is going to do as the years pass – dry out, shrink, expand, whatever,’ he says.

‘To minimise that effect we’ve used special flexible epoxy resin around the carbon ISP-wood join, so the resin can elongate and flex along with the wood if necessary.’

Irresistible lines

Sowter’s steel and wood bike is both a masterpiece of design and an object of beauty, but it does throw up a couple of questions.

Isn’t it kind of heavy? And how much did it cost?

‘I thought it was going to be quite heavy, yes. But using Columbus Zona tubes instead of the wood has only 70g difference.

‘It’s not a light bike, but that’s mainly down to the integrated head tube and the BB shell, which houses an eccentric bottom bracket so you can adjust the chain tension for single speed without using horizontal dropouts. That shell weighs a tonne.

‘The frame cost about £6,500, which is probably too little, but I’ve taken the hit because it was a really fun project. And if the customer likes it, I’d like to offer it as an option in the future.’

As this last remark suggests, at the time of our meeting the bike was so new Sowter had yet to pass it on to its owner. In fact, he had yet to paint the steel (which ended up a dark metallic grey).

However, Sowter has since spoken to its owner, who proffered the following: ‘It rides like a dream. I cannot express adequately how thrilled I am by it.’

Time to place your orders now, and get some more ash trees planted in the Kent countryside.

Scientists have been puzzling over what makes a bicycle balance since the days of ye olde penny farthing. Many experts suggested those spinning hoops make the bicycle behave like a gyroscope, but it’s not that simple. A group of engineers from Nottingham University identified 25 separate variables that affect a bicycle’s motion, citing that, ‘A simple explanation does not seem possible because the lean and steer are coupled by a combination of effects, including gyroscopic precession, lateral ground-reaction forces at the front wheel, ground contact point trailing behind the steering axis, gravity and inertial reactions…’

What is known is that as long as a bike is moving at a speed of around 14kmh (9mph), it can remain upright without the presence of a rider. But again, scientists can’t explain why.

Against that backdrop, throw in the added dimension of a bend and calculating the angle that you can lean while cornering before you hit the tarmac is clearly a complex affair. In the right conditions it’s possible to see angles of 45°, but how do we get to that point?

‘We know there are three real forces acting on the bike and rider,’ says Rhett Allain, keen cyclist and associate professor of physics at Southeastern Louisiana University in the US.

‘There’s the gravitational force pushing the bike and rider down; there’s the road pushing up, which we call “normal” force, and there’s a frictional force pushing the bike towards the centre of the circular path that it’s moving in.’

The fake force

There’s also centrifugal force. ‘This does have an impact but it’s a fake force,’ says Allain. Many physicists argue that centrifugal force doesn’t exist and is simply a lack of centripetal force – an inward-pulling force that ensures the bike moves in a circle similar to gravity pulling inward on a satellite to keep it in orbit.

It’s calculated via the equation F = mv²/r, where F is the centripetal force (Newtons), m is mass of bike and rider (kg), v is velocity (m/s) and r is the radius of the corner in metres.

‘The physics of riding a turn is that you do it by accelerating radially inwards, which is down to centripetal force,’ says David Wilson, emeritus professor of engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

‘The force has to come from the tyres. The bike has to lean so that the combination of the reaction from the tyre and the radial force is in line with the resulting force of the bike plus rider.’

Also key to how far you can lean is the coefficient of friction, which is the ratio of the force of friction between two bodies and the force applied on them – in this case the tyre and tarmac.

Most dry materials have friction values between 0.3 and 0.6, whereas rubber in contact with tarmac can produce a figure of between one and two. When the surfaces are moving relative to each other – as per cycling – this figure decreases slightly.

For the bike to remain upright, the side force (centripetal) must equal the coefficient of friction, and this figure can be surprisingly large. For instance, a 70kg rider on a 10kg bike speeding at 20mph around a curve with a radius of 20m experiences a centripetal force of 316 Newtons.

This force has to be generated by the tyres, and if the force didn’t exist, the bike and rider would simply carry on in a straight line.

Using some impressive trigonometric calculations that would fill a whole book, the coefficient of friction is equal to the tangent function of the maximum lean angle.

‘The wheel will slip when the coefficient of friction is exceeded,’ says Marco Arkesteijn, lecturer in sport science at Aberystwyth University. ‘This can be due to friction force increasing [due to tightening the line through a corner for example] or normal force decreasing [due to, say, a depression in the road].’

The coefficient of friction can also change due to a change in surface. That’s why cornering on a white line can be perilous. ‘This is especially true in the wet,’ says Arkesteijn. ‘Paint is less porous so the water doesn’t disperse.’

Rider weight

To complicate matters further is the issue of rider weight. ‘Physics-wise, smaller guys should be able to lean more,’ says Arkesteijn. ‘They’re also usually more agile, which helps.’

Allain is not quite as definite, suggesting that while rider weight matters a ‘little bit’, of greater importance is the rider-plus-bike’s centre of mass.

‘Ultimately, that’s the most important factor,’ he says. Heavier riders tend to be taller riders, especially in the pro peloton, meaning their frame sizes are larger and their centre of mass is higher. You also need to factor in road conditions. If you’re at the limit, a bump in the road can lead to a loss of traction and a fall.

UK roads are sometimes grippier than those of our mainland European cousins because they’re more porous to absorb rain and prevent a slippery surface. That’s why our roads are coarser. But they’re often bumpier and in worse condition because of frost damage, hence why cycling and driving in France is an absolute joy when it’s dry.

After all that, what is the maximum lean angle? For mechanical and engineering professor Jim Papadopoulos, that can’t be answered until you throw in one final factor – trail.

This is an imaginary line that’s projected down the steerer tube to the ground. If this point is in front of the wheel contact point with the ground, it’s deemed ‘positive’ and is more stable. Behind and the bike is more likely to tip over. Trail reduces the more you lean.

‘Cyclists tend to stay in the positive trail region and don’t exceed 45° of lean,’ he says. ‘It’s usually less, though when the turn is greater than 5m radius, you can reach 45°. That’s because trail becomes less of an issue – then we return to the issue of traction.’

So 45° is possible on a fast, wide, well-surfaced turn, but with so many variables at play, there is, unfortunately, no definitive answer. How far you can lean is a case of trial and (hopefully not too painful) error.

WordsPeter StuartPhotography George Marshall

The 2019 Giro d'Italia will return to the famous slopes of the Gavia Pass, weather permitting. For more information on next year's Giro course, click here.

If roads had memories, the Mortirolo Pass could tell you some stories about 1994. It was during that year’s Giro d’Italia that Italy’s favourite son, Marco Pantani, chased Miguel Indurain up its punishingly steep inclines. Pantani flew up the road, bridging to the Spaniard before dropping both him and race leader Evgeni Berzin to take the victory on the stage.

His was the fastest-ever ascent of the Mortirolo (although it would be beaten two years later by Ivan Gotti) and had the tifosi in a frenzy.

Even watching it today on a grainy YouTube video, his ability to dance up the 20% slopes is a unique spectacle, and explains why the Italian had such enigmatic appeal.

A stone statue of Pantani, accompanied by a poem, now sits near the summit and stares down at riders with a mischievous smile.

Today, on a fresh autumn morning, there are no epic battles to be fought on the Mortirolo – just us, grinding away on its vertiginous inclines.

With me is Chris, a friend from home, and we are accompanied by Daniele Schena, who owns Hotel Funivia in Bormio and is by all accounts a monster (and a gentleman) on the bike.

While we are all climbing at a fraction of Pantani’s speed, I truly believe we may be suffering as much as he did. We are still many kilometres short of his statue, hauling our bikes from side to side in a feeble attempt to keep upright.

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Image 3 of 21

Ahead of us is a long day with two gigantic climbs, including the Gavia Pass that will greet us immediately after we’ve tackled the Mortirolo.

My mind drifts back to a more carefree time when I was fresh-faced and relaxed, sipping an espresso – about an hour ago.

Fall and rise

The Mortirolo was supposedly discovered by the cycling world after the famous Giro of 1988, when a snow blizzard created a dramatic and treacherous ascent of the Gavia (more on that later).

The organisers found the Mortirolo as an alternative pass over the ridge of mountains for future years, should the same adverse weather strike.

We’re spared any such snowy drama as we set off from Bormio into a cool autumn morning. The sun is beaming, but our initial descent sees temperatures of around 6°C.

Although it’s cold, we enjoy a beautiful ride through the Valtellina valley, where distant snow-capped peaks lure us onwards. By the time we reach the town of Grosio, the chill has convinced us it’s time to grab a coffee and warm up.

Grosio is an historic town peppered with medieval buildings, with the ironically named Castello Nuovo dating back to the 14th century. We pull into a cafe and Daniele winces with embarrassment when I ask for a cappuccino.

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Image 4 of 21

He quickly corrects the barista: ‘Tre espresso!’ He tells me discreetly that it is 10am, and so already too late to order a coffee with any milk.

Aside from the Italian tradition, Daniele points out that I’m in violation of the Velominati Rules so often mentioned in this very magazine.

‘You know Rule #56? Espresso or macchiato only,’ he says. Beneath Daniele’s hotel is a cycling cafe plastered with tributes to The Rules, as well as dozens of World Champion or leaders jerseys given to him by top pros. Many of them ride here and know him well.

He reiterates how challenging the Mortirolo will be – Lance Armstrong described it as the hardest climb he’d ever done. Daniele doesn’t hesitate in berating me for bringing a standard chainset rather than a compact.

With a mixture of caffeine and anxiety in my system, it feels about time to jump back on the bike. From Grosio we have a 5km roll to the base of the Mortirolo at Mazzo di Valtellina, and as the mountain creeps ever closer I can make out the road cutting viciously into the steep green incline.

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Image 5 of 21

When we hit the first ramp of the 11.5km climb I stand up to meet the 15% gradient. I heave on the bars, only to realise that there won’t be respite enough to sit down again at this pace.

I slow down, sit down and jab at my Di2 button in search of a smaller gear, but I’ve long-since shifted into my easiest 39/28.

Pantani’s peak

There are four routes up the Mortirolo. We chose to start from Mazzo di Valtellina, but we could have begun the climb from Grosio for a shallower and longer ascent.

Equally, the climb can start from Edolo, where it lasts 17.2km at 7%. The other option is a similar ascent to ours, beginning from Tovo di Sant’Agata and with different opening kilometres, but every bit as steep.

The early slopes are covered with trees, which on a warmer day shields riders from the summer sun. On a day like this it means we can’t appreciate our elevation gain.

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Image 7 of 21

The road simply extends into a dark forest, with a certain sinister mystery. As we climb, I find myself rocking in the saddle so I can get enough leverage on the cranks to keep moving.

There aren’t many climbs where only 3km in I find myself wondering if I’ll make it to the fourth.

Daniele, for whom these roads are the local loop of choice, doesn’t seem to be finding it hard. In fact, he’s treating us to a rolling oral history of the area.

‘You see these old stone houses,’ he says pointing at the dilapidated structures that sit alongside the ascent. ‘These are old medieval farmhouses.

They used to keep the cattle in the stables below the home to generate heat,’ he says. Chris valiantly grunts in response between deep gulps of air, while I stare fixedly at my stem and struggle to keep traction on the back wheel.

The Mortirolo is a cruel climb. Indeed even its name has a morbid subtext – morte in Italian means death.

In the first 5km, stretches of 12% and higher are unrelenting, with each kilometre marked by a sign showing the average as well as the maximum. Several kilometres average 14%, with spikes of close to 20% for hundreds of metres.

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Image 9 of 21

Chris and I enter a silent treaty not to push on any harder than we need to in order not to topple over, while Daniele continues his slightly intimidating, albeit fascinating, tour of the local history.

We leave the forest for a moment and emerge onto a wide open face of the mountainside, revealing views of the intricate maze of villages on the opposite side of the valley.

The town of Grosio, where we stopped for coffee, now seems an awfully long way away.

We arrive at a corner that’s signposted to inform us that there are 11 more hairpins, and as we round it we are greeted by Pantani’s stone monument.

I take this as the perfect excuse to stop for a breather.

Next to his statue sits an inscription, which reads, ‘A voi Ciclista! Chiedo solo un piccolo gesto, un piccolo saluto, un piccolo pensiero.’

It means, ‘To you Cyclist! I ask only a small gesture, a small greeting, a little thought.’

As we stand, another rider overtakes us. He’s an Italian who lifts himself from a red-faced effort to look at the monument and nod. ‘Pantani!’ he mutters as he passes.

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Image 10 of 21

After the statue, the climb becomes a little easier – possibly because we’ve been imbued with the spirit of the legendary climber, but mostly because the gradient is significantly easier.

The climb continues to pull at our heartstrings, and live up to its grisly name when we see ‘Ciao Michele’ imprinted on the road, in tribute to the sadly departed Michele Scarponi. Daniele says he knew him well.

The final hairpins boast back-to-back 16% ramps, and after the last of them I decide to collect my final shreds of energy for a sprint for the summit.

Partly it’s simply to get the climb over with, and partly to redeem my feeble speeds on the lower slopes.

Quite remarkably, Daniele seems to not even notice, and rolls alongside me continuing to use one hand to point out and describe surrounding oddities. Chris takes up the challenge and pips me to the summit.

‘That’s another Rule,’ Daniele smiles, in appreciation of our sprinting efforts. While I feel as though we did the ascent at a respectable pace, my time of 70 minutes seems rather pitiful compared to Pantani’s 42 minute 40 second ascent in 1994.

Once we reach the summit, the road adds insult to injury by flattening out and robbing us of a view of the valley below. There will be plenty of views ahead, though, as a grander and more famous climb awaits us.

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Image 11 of 21

The great Gavia

The descent from the Mortirolo to Monno is steep and a little nerve-wracking. Daniele shoots down like a gliding bird, while Chris and I try to stay in sight of his rear wheel.

By the time we reach the town of Monno, the road flattens out only momentarily before we’re climbing again.

The Gavia Pass proper begins at Ponte di Legno, but the ascent begins all the way back in Edolo, and offers 40km of uninterrupted incline.

The Gavia is not much like the Mortirolo but is more similar to its close neighbour the Stelvio, winding through forest and latterly onto a bare mountaintop moonscape.

However both of today’s climbs do share very similar elevations, with the Gavia Pass rising 1,363m to the Mortirolo’s 1,278m. The extra 4km of distance does at least make the Gavia a much kinder incline, although it isn’t without its unique challenges.

We’re straight into a 9% ramp out of the town, which to be honest feels virtually flat compared to the road up the Mortirolo.

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Image 13 of 21

After about 20 minutes we reach a set of widely spaced hairpins, with each corner offering a more scenic view of snow capped mountains than the last.

The Gavia has a colourful history in pro cycling, and specifically in the Giro. In 1988 it hosted one of the race’s most dramatic encounters, as Andy Hampsten won his now famous Giro victory in a snowstorm of epic proportions.

Hampsten entered the stage in fifth place, riding for Team 7-Eleven. His directeur sportif, Gianni Motta, allegedly told him that the Italians had no idea how tough the ascent would be, and so he was to empty himself on the climb to make his bid for victory. And that he did.

Freezing rain turned to snow halfway up the Gavia, and Hampsten launched an attack that left race leader Franco Chioccioli and the peloton in sludgy snow-covered roads that brought the race convoy to a stop. It won Hampsten the maglia rosa, and effectively the Giro.

Tunnel vision

We’re nearing the halfway point, and the wide smooth highway has given way to a cracked single-lane track, which ramps up to 10% for 3km.

It makes for a punishing 15 minutes, but the clear view of the road ahead makes it oddly more bearable than the Mortirolo this morning.

The trees begin to disappear, giving way to barren stone and moss. We’re at around 2,300m now, 500m higher than the summit of the Mortirolo, and we’re staring at a hole in the mountain – a long tunnel that will take us most of the way to the top.

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Image 12 of 21

We roll into it, and in the darkness the sound of heavy breathing echoes against the stone walls. I swear I can almost make out the faint noise of a heartbeat.

Beyond the tunnel, we can see the first of the Gavia’s two mythical lakes. Lago Nero and Lago Bianco carry the legend of two ill-fated lovers, a shepherd and an orphan girl, who were cursed by an evil uncle.

The uncle enlisted the help of the devil, who chased the lovers to the top of the Gavia Pass. To escape the devil, the shepherd and orphan girl turned into lakes, now impervious to the devil’s powers, although separated by the Gavia’s peak.

A kilometre at 10% pulls us up above Lago Nero, which quickly disappears from view behind us, and then we’re at the summit, tapping towards the Rifugio Bonetta mountain cabin.

It would be a good place for a coffee, if it were open, but with the temperatures beginning to drop in the early evening, we decide not to linger here long.

On the other side of the summit we’re introduced to Lago Nero’s ill-fated lover, the Lago Bianco, glittering purple and orange in the evening light. With a 22km descent to come, we calculate that we have about as many minutes to get down before it’s pitch black.

Fortunately the descent from the Gavia is nothing like the Mortirolo. Sweeping bends and clear views ahead allow us to stay off the brakes and flow downhill. The road is empty and our only interruption comes after about 8km when we reach a closed barrier.

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Image 16 of 21

Daniele explains there are roadworks ahead. Lifting our bikes over the barrier, I give him a pained look as I shiver, to which he says with a smile, ‘I believe that’s another Rule. Number five, if I’m not mistaken.’

Our chilly and dramatic descent seems only fitting after a day of cycling mythology. It was on this very descent that Hampsten won the Giro.

The stage leader Johan van der Velde had only a cotton cap for warmth and became so cold that in a confused state he dismounted his bike and began to walk down the incline.

Hampsten swept past and went on to win the stage and the leader’s pink jersey.

When the lights of Bormio come into view, I feel glad to know that we won’t suffer a similar fate. We pull into Daniele’s cafe and open a beer to rinse the battery acid from our legs.

As we relax, I think back to Pantani’s statue and wonder if his myth will endure as long as Lago Nero and Bianca. Perhaps many years from now, guides will tell of the playful, petrified spirit of cycling who mocks hapless English climbers with weak legs and cursed gear ratios.

Double jeopardy

Follow Cyclist’s route up two mythical beasts of the Giro 

To download this route, go to cyclist.co.uk/74gavia. Beginning in Bormio, descend the SS38 south toward Grosio.

At the town of Mazzo di Valtellina, come off the main road and follow signs for the Mortirolo Pass. Climb the Mortirolo (good luck) and descend directly over the pass down to Monno.

Here, turn left onto the SS42 towards Ponte di Legno, turning off the main road just after Pontagna to cut through Ponte de Legno. Continue onto the SP29, which is the Gavia Pass, over the summit and back down into Bormio.

The rider’s ride

Factor O2 Dura-Ace Di2, £7,750, factorbikes.com

I was under no illusions about the challenges of taking on these two peaks back-to-back, and I wanted a true climber’s bike. The Factor O2 was ideal, with a 740g frame and a super-light build kit headed by Shimano Dura-Ace Di2.

Sure enough, the bike that is Romain Bardet’s weapon of choice for the Grand Tours is a natural climber, with a stiff rear end that preserves the power efficiency that’s so vital while climbing.

I can’t say that I thank Factor for supplying me with a standard chainset (53/39) that made me plunge deep into the red, but to the bike’s credit it never seemed to wince beneath me.

Descending was accurate and predictable, and on pristine Italian roads the O2’s stiffness was perfectly pitched to give a feel for the road without disturbing the smoothness of the ride.

I’ve heard complaints that the one-piece bar/stem generates a little flex at the front, and if you wrench the bars up and down that’s true. But even during my biggest exertions I didn’t get the sense this really affected overall rigidity.

How we did it

Travel

We flew to Milan Malpensa and drove the three-hour stretch to Bormio. Public bus links are available but a car really is a must in this part of Italy.

Milan Bergamo airport is considerably closer geographically, but takes about as long to drive to. Daniele Schena of Hotel Funivia can also arrange transfers for guests.

Accommodation

Cyclist stayed at the excellent Hotel Funivia (hotelfunivia.it). Owner Daniele Schena is a fanatical cyclist, who can recall any one of the Velominati Rules on command and has built a cycling-themed cafe below his hotel.

That’s accompanied by a workshop and a fleet of Pinarello Dogma rental bikes. Prices start at around £90 per night.

Thanks

Many thanks to Silvia Pasolini of the Bici Amore Mio cycling group for helping us arrange our trip. Bici Amore Mio (biciamoremio.it) has cycling hotels positioned all over Italy, and offers numerous multi-day packages.

A huge thank you to Daniele for accommodation and ride support, and thanks also to his mechanic, Paolo, who managed to fix my Di2 after I carelessly tore through a cable.

Famous time machines have often proved troublesome.

Dr Who’s Tardis has always required a kick to get it working properly.

The DeLorean was forever running out of plutonium, and Bill and Ted’s phone booth accidentally brought Napoleon back from the past.

BMC’s original Timemachine TMR01 was similarly a wonder of science and physics, but had a few glitches.

It was in essence a time-trial bike repurposed for the road.

That meant it was blisteringly fast, but it was so rigid that at times it was impractical for longer rides.

It was a fantastic bike nonetheless, and has remained unchanged in BMC’s line for several years, so this redesign and rebirth of the model had me intrigued.

‘The new Timemachine Road carries over some design cues, but it has basically been redesigned from the ground up,’ says Stefano Gennaioli, BMC’s product marketing manager.

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Image 2 of 7

The most important facet of that redesign has been the introduction of disc brakes, and BMC has committed to them to such an extent that there is no rim brake alternative.

‘We wanted to deliver a solution that would improve the bike’s aerodynamic performance in side winds while also improving the level of functionality for riders,’ Gennaioli says.

‘The idea most riders have about aero bikes is that they’re difficult to ride and uncomfortable, reducing the distance that can be ridden at a high pace.’

It’s a line of thinking that has cropped up at numerous brands, which now target comfort even with their fastest bikes.

Take the Trek Madone, which now has an adjustable IsoSpeed decoupler, or the Specialized Venge that’s specced with 26mm width tyres as standard.

With the new Timemachine, BMC hasn’t used any innovative suspension systems, but has built the bike around wider tyres and a system BMC calls ‘Tuned Compliance Concept’.

That means compliance is designed into the stem, seatstays and fork, where tube shapes and carbon layup work together to filter out road vibrations.

Adding to the considerations for the more practical cyclist is the ‘Aero Module’.

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Image 3 of 7

This is the box that sits between the bottle cages and is integrated into the frame (but removable).

As well as providing a small amount of storage space, BMC claims it offers three watts of aerodynamic savings at zero yaw and a whopping 18 watts at 15° of yaw compared to standard bottle cages.

Back to the future

At first glance I was very excited by this bike. The rear triangle, top tube junction and even the fork bear a close resemblance to the original TMR01.

It makes for an edgy and almost space-age aesthetic, and seems to scream out that the bike will be fast, rigid and nimble.

My first impression on riding the bike, though, was that it’s very different to the TMR01.

The Timemachine Road is certainly fast – it slices through the air with ease at higher speeds, making it almost glide – yet it doesn’t have the same stiff rebound from the road as the TMR01, which was very unforgiving.

In that sense it reminds me more of BMC’s all-rounder, the Teammachine, which does a great job of juggling comfort and speed.

In terms of practicality, the disc brakes are far simpler than the aero rim brake offerings of yesteryear.

Previously, BMC concealed the front brakes within a structural fairing and placed the rear brake behind the bottom bracket.

I drove myself near-insane trying to adjust them.

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Image 4 of 7

The disc brakes and concealed hydraulic cabling are a big step forward and on a par with the best of the competition.

That said, the tiny plastic fairing in front of the front brake calliper is a little fiddly.

Similarly, the Aero Module may help with aerodynamics but it’s not particularly useful as storage space (it was a struggle to fit much more than an inner tube inside) and it feels a little bit flimsy and plasticky.

Losing the spark

While the Timemachine Road is undoubtedly rapid at top speed, I still got the impression that it lacked a little spark.

Some road bikes seem to just take off, as if propelled by a concealed motor.

The Timemachine took a little coaxing to get up to speed, and often felt a touch lacklustre and almost soft.

At first I couldn’t decide why.

I considered whether it might have something to do with weight.

At 7.99kg the Timemachine is a little chunky compared to some top-end aero bikes on the market (although still fractionally lighter than others such as the Look Blade RS on the previous pages).

However, whenever I was climbing on the BMC its weight was only really noticeable on the steepest of inclines, and I scored some great times on middling climbs.

I decided that the culprit was an unusually large level of flex from the aero handlebars.

That may have been caused by the steerer tube, which has chamfered sides to accommodate the internal cabling.

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Image 5 of 7

A reduced stem height may have helped, but it probably wouldn’t have solved the problem as a certain amount of the flex came from the slim profile of the stem and handlebar.

At any rate, hauling on the bars produced a lot of flex, which took the edge off full-on sprinting or accelerating quickly from a standing start.

Perhaps it’s a fair penalty for the aero gains, but I felt it sapped the sense of speed from the bike.

Added to that, the Timemachine Road has a fairly long wheelbase of 1,004mm for a 56cm frame, which typically increases stability while reducing the responsiveness in handling.

Sure enough, the Timemachine felt planted when cornering and descending, but not as nimble as other race-oriented bikes I’ve tested recently.

Again, the front end flex played a part in this.

Despite all this nitpicking, there’s no doubt this an extremely fast bike that’s significantly more comfortable than its predecessor, and which will leave any rider well-equipped for a chain gang, race or big solo effort.

All-told, the new BMC Timemachine does most things very well and looks stunning, but if I’m honest it didn’t live up to my expectations.

For that I blame BMC for setting the expectation levels so very high in the first place.

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Image 6 of 7

Spec

Until around three years ago, endurance bikes were considered the ‘soft’ option and bore no resemblance to most brands’ race bike designs.

Then along came BMC’s Roadmachine. It was as slick looking as the brand’s Teammachine race platform, its geometry wasn’t too far removed and it was nearly as aero.

It triggered a rethink in the industry and brands repositioned the key attributes of endurance bikes - as a result, today most brands’ endurance offerings mirror their race bike designs far more closely and endurance bikes are increasing.

While the original Roachmachine set the standard back then, bike development never fails to move forward apace so more recent releases from BMC’s competitors have trumped the features of the first design.

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Image 3 of 9

According to Mart Otten, senior product manager at BMC, this coupled with a change in how cyclists ride was the stimulus to refresh the Roadmachine.

‘Road cyclists are riding further, longer, and to higher elevations than ever before. And, many endurance riders are travelling great distances to different regions and countries to participate in epic-size events which entail all-day adventures.

At the same time, those events get more extreme by navigating varying road styles and conditions, longer distances and often more climbing. We wanted to meet those demands with a new design.’

The new Roadmachine has all the hallmarks of an updated design: according to BMC it is lighter, stiffer, comfier and has wider tyre clearances.

The frame is put together using BMC’s ‘Tuned Compliance Concept’, whereby the carbon is laid up to promote compliance but not sacrifice pedalling efficiency. It is the new way of saying ‘laterally stiff, vertically compliant.’

BMC says thanks to the use of some ‘advanced computer modelling’ it has achieved a more effective scheduling of the carbon in the frame’s construction.

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Image 2 of 9

Tube shapes have considerably changed in several places, the D-shaped seat post has been slimmed down and the seatstays have been dropped a further 10mm.

This all means bottom bracket stiffness has gone up by 5% and the torsional stiffness of the front end has been improved by 20%.

A new, asymmetric fork is 10% stiffer, yet total front end compliance is up by 25% over the previous generation bike. BMC says these improvements have all occurred in the context of a 25g drop in frame weight.

BMC’s ‘Integrated Cockpit System’ has been a successful inclusion on both its Teammachine and Timemachine Road designs so it has been carried forward on to the new Roadmachine as well.

‘ICS’ offers a variety of stem dimensions while maintaining integrated aero cable routing via cover underneath the stem.

BMC says the feature ‘allows stack and reach adjustability via a dedicated split spacer system for easy fit adjustment without stem removal and hydraulic hose disconnection.’

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Image 8 of 9

While the versatility of the new Roadmachine stops short of the requirements necessary for proper gravel riding, BMC suggests the new bike is an ‘all-road’ machine, thanks to its capability to take tyres up to 33c.

‘We wanted to create an endurance bike that is not only good for riding all types of road surfaces, from smooth tarmac to rougher roads or cobbles, but also one that also shines when roads point uphill,’ says Otten.

Time will tell if these claims hold true as Cyclist is due to test the new design in the near future. Check back for our take on BMC’s Roadmachine soon.

The lightweight Scott Addict, the Yates brothers’ bike of choice/sponsorship based obligation has received a complete overhaul. With its already minimalist weight further whittled down, Scott has also gone after improved stiffness (at a claimed 14.5% increase in key areas), along with greater compliance, better looks, and slippier aerodynamics.

However, most instantly noticeable is the total lack of visible cabling. Improving both the bike’s looks and smoothing airflow over it, it brings the Addict’s silhouette right up to date.

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Image 3 of 12

Using a one-piece carbon fibre cockpit designed by Syncros, no cables are visible at any point until they emerge beside their respective calliper or derailleur.

To achieve this space has had to be found between the headtube and fork steerer. This is achieved via something dubbed an ‘eccentric bicycle fork shaft’.

According to Scott, ‘The core of this innovation is that the rotational axis at the upper headset bearing has an offset of 3mm towards the rotational axis at the lower headset bearing. This combination of a 3mm offset 1¼” fork steerer shaft inside a 1.5” top bearing provides enough space in front of the steerer to guide both shifting wires and hydraulic hoses internally.’

Available across the entire Addict range, unusually, it's a system that’s supposed to work just as well with mechanical shifting as electronic. Finishing of the streamlined look, the stem’s integrated magnetic top cap means no bolts are visible there either.

While news of this kind might be welcomed by those who obsess about their bike’s aesthetics, it’s often less popular with mechanics. However, on this occasion, Scott claims it’s designed this new cable routing specifically with mechanics in mind.

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Image 7 of 12

Despite being billed as the brand’s mountain climber, the Addict’s tube profiles have had an aerodynamic makeover, pinching the design found on Scott’s Foil bicycle. Chasing the same aim, the Addict’s seat stays have also been dropped to reduce turbulence.

Available at various price points, the RC version will feature the sort of low and aggressive geometry favoured by both pro riders and flexible and fast amateurs.

Likey to see service underneath Adam Yates as he bids to win the upcoming Tour de France, further details of the top Scott Addict RC Pro model will be released closer to the start of the event.

Dear Frank

These days road bikes come with disc brakes, wide tyres, even suspension units. At what point does it cease to be a road bike?

Alan, via email

Dear Alan

My brother sent me a photo of him proudly riding his new gravel bike. It has a Lefty suspension fork, big tyre clearance, a tall riding position and a 1x drivetrain. In other words, it’s idiotic.

Don’t get me wrong, I love riding gravel. I’ve been doing it for something like forever. I love riding on the road too. It’s my daily redemption – how I feed the good wolf, so to speak. The rhythm in my legs and breathing of my lungs coax me into a restorative meditation as I hover just above the ground like a bird in flight.

But unless you’re lucky enough to live in the country and can ride on deserted roads, traffic and intersections are a constant interruption stirring you from the harmony of the ride.

Mountain biking takes you away from the roads and into the seclusion of the wilderness, but the off-road nature of riding over rocks and roots robs the sport of the rhythm we find on the road.

Harmony

Which is where gravel riding finds its niche – it combines the harmony of road riding with the serenity of mountain biking. Combined with the rise in distracted driving, it’s no small wonder people are starting to turn to deserted gravel roads to enjoy cycling.

I’ve ridden some rough roads on my road bike. The cobblestones of northern France and Belgium come to mind, as does the Mount Tamalpais gravel climb in Marin County, California.

The pavé of France is particularly brutal, to the point where it hurts to pee after you finish the route of Paris-Roubaix. In the 60s and 70s, the pros raced these roads on 23mm tyres. It was only in the most recent millennium that they began to experiment with wider tyres. I rode them in ‘comfort’ on 25mm tubulars.

Some friends of mine did ‘The Cowboy Ride’ across Western Washington state this past August. This is a ride across the Eastern Washington desert into the Western Washington rain forest – epic to say the least.

The roads and trails are largely unmaintained and pass through remote regions far from the reaches of a phone tower. People ‘bike pack’ the trail on mountain bikes and fat bikes. My friends did it on road bikes whose only concession to the rough roads was to fit some 27mm clincher tyres.

The point is, a road bike can handle much rougher terrain than we give it credit for.

And, if you’ve managed to develop some bike handling skills along the way and you can manoeuvre around a pothole or two and over a few rocks, you’d be amazed where a set of skinny tyres can take you.

There are limits

Road tyres do start to show their limits in a few specialised applications, however. Sand and mud are particular weaknesses – the sort of conditions in which cyclocross races are held. Which is why a cyclocross bike tuned to a road position is everything anyone should ever need when riding gravel.

Yet an entire industry has been built around the concept of a ‘gravel’ bike. These bikes frequently have suspension, wide tyres and 1x drivetrains. 1x drivetrains. Don’t get me started. A cyclist should always seek a fluid pedal stroke, and a fluid pedal stroke comes by fine-tuning your gear selection to account for the conditions.

The cyclist considers the weather and topography of the ride and chooses a cassette whose gearing is clustered as closely together as possible to offer as many gear choices as possible within the minimum required range.

A 1x drivetrain by definition does the opposite. It provides the widest possible range with minimum clustering. By necessity, the gears are spaced further away from each other so as to accommodate a wider range of gear ratios.

I think we can all agree we’re not talking about road bikes anymore. A road bike doesn’t have wide tyres and it doesn’t have suspension. It might have disc brakes, although I don’t see the necessity for them.

I’m not exactly sure at exactly which point a road bike stops being a road bike, but I am sure about this: a road bike is an elegant machine from a more civilised time.

The Cannondale SuperSix Evo has always, to the favour of many, maintained a very traditional aesthetic with its predominantly round tubing and horizontal top tube. But whilst it remained a perennial favourite amongst racers it was undeniably lagging far behind some of its competitors in the pro peloton with regards to its aero credentials. But no longer.

The challenge facing design engineer and leading aerodynamicist Nathan Barry – the man behind the creation of Cannondale’s speed weapon, the SystemSix - was to create a new family of tubes that reduced aero drag but kept as much of the classic look as possible.

Inevitably, though, such is the need to make certain changes if you want to make a super fast road bike these days, the new Cannondale SuperSix Evo has a very different style, look and feel to its predecessor. That does mean it has lost some of its individualism, joining the ever-increasing group of go-fast, super-light race machines that all have very similar silhouettes. But that’s surely a small price to pay for speed.

Jump to

Cannondale SuperSix Evo 2020 models and prices  
Cannondale SuperSix Evo 2020: First ride review  

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Image 21 of 24

Old habits

Cannondale launched the SuperSix Evo back in 2008 as an out-and-out race bike and ostensibly it’s only had minimal tweaks to its design in the 11 years since.

A new version in 2011 claimed to have the sought after improved comfort alongside the mandatory low weight and high stiffness traits the pros demanded, but the development was mostly around the carbon lay-up and so its appearance remained practically unchanged.

Drag reduction was a consideration for the 2nd generation SuperSix Evo, launched in 2015, and as such there were some altered tube profiles but still the model stood its ground by eschewing growing trends for aero tube shaping.

Finally though, the SuperSix Evo has had to concede its traditional look in order to keep up with the fastest road bikes on the planet. As Barry reminds us, even at just 15kmh aero drag equates to 50% of the total resistance we experience on a bike, so it’s a very worthwhile sacrifice, in terms of performance.

To that end Cannondale’s engineers developed a low-aspect, truncated aerofoil tubeset which Barry says has 30% less drag than the same diameter round tube but adds 10% stiffness, for no additional weight.

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Image 16 of 24

Years in the making

Cannondale claims this new SuperSix Evo has been three to four years in development, and it’s clear to see the influences from what Cannondale has learned from the development of the SystemSix, and indeed product director, David Devine, admits this really was the jumping off point for changing its iconic road racer.

‘This new SuperSix Evo aims to appeal to a wider audience’, he tells Cyclist at the launch. ‘The modern road rider has altered. Group rides and friends riding together still want to ride fast, and race each other. Lowering the bike’s aero drag really does deliver discernable benefits, its quantifiably faster.’

And, according to the wind tunnel data, not just faster than its predecessor but also faster than the competition. How much faster? A saving of 9 watts (based on Yaw weighted drag) at 48.3kmh/30mph versus the Specialized Tarmac, and more than 40 watts saved over Trek’s Emonda, are the figures Cannondale presents.

Interestingly, too, Cannondale also pitched the new SuperSix Evo against the Scott Foil (one of the most highly regarded out-and-out aero road bikes, fitted with 60mm wheels – so more of a competitor to the SystemSix than SuperSix Evo) in the same wind tunnel test. The result? A touch slower, yes, but only around 2 watts, something Barry described as a ‘negligible difference’.

Aero performance then is patently at the core of the new design, but low weight was also a priority as it’s something the SuperSix Evo has always been known for. Claimed weight for the new top end Hi-Mod disc frame, then, is 866g (56cm), but importantly the standard-mod frame still comes in under 1kg, keeping the SuperSix Evo svelte across all price points.

Devine says the biggest engineering challenge was to achieve this low weight whilst also improving comfort, but most critically, with no detriment to the handling the SuperSix platform of the past was also so well-known for.

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Image 14 of 24

Integration

As we have come to expect - and just as Cannondale demonstrated with its SystemSix - product integration is a key part of the package. Of particular importance are the handlebar and stem, and again Cannondale has used its own Knot and Save components to good effect. The Save bar and Knot stem combo fitted to the top models of SuperSix Evo, Cannondale claims, are worth around a 9w saving over a traditional cockpit.

Cannondale made a decent amount of fuss over its 25.4mm seat post in the past, suggesting it’s skinny diameter not only saved weight but also increased comfort. That’s now gone, replaced by a new aero D-profile seat post and a new integrated seat binder.

The combined new system weight, Cannondale says, is marginally less than the previous 25.4mm post and external clamp, whilst comfort has been maintained by a new carbon lay-up.

It’s impossible not to notice the new Knot wheelset too – Knot Hollowgram 45 SL – which is slightly shallower than the 64mm Knot wheelset used on the SystemSix, but Barry claims is only a fraction slower, but clearly more usable in varied wind conditions.

Like the 64mm deep rims though they are still super-wide at 32mm and Cannondale’s wind tunnel data suggests this new wheelset has 2.6w lower drag compared to Zipp’s 303 Firecrest wheels.

For tyres there’s room for 30mm rubber, a figure that Devine says is ‘actually fairly conservative’, and there’s likely room for wider depending on the specific tyre and rim combo. This bolsters the SuperSix’s versatility, something which again Cannondale sees as what the modern road rider wants.

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Image 22 of 24

Proportional response

The geometry and fit is less aggressive than the SystemSix, with a stack and reach sitting directly in the middle of SystemSix and Synapse, with what Cannondale refers to as ‘proportional response’ tube shapes ensuring that across all sizes the ride feels remains the same.

New technology that Cannondale launched recently for its Topstone Carbon gravel bike, also finds its way usefully into the SuperSix Evo platform. Things like the easily serviceable tube-within-tube cabling and speed release thru-axles, plus the wheel sensor that pairs to an app to store ride data, service history and more. There’s also some nice, subtle, reflective detailing built into the frame graphics.

Power2Max power meters are again included on top models, but just as Cannondale did with the SystemSix they are deactivated at point of purchase, requiring a €490 charge to activate the unit.

Many felt this was a highly controversial (possibly even underhand) tactic when the SystemSix launched the idea, so it’s interesting to see Cannondale sticking to its guns on this with the SuperSix Evo too. Clearly it doesn’t feel there’s any detriment to sales for having this option included.

And ultimately, why not? If you want to use power to train more effectively then it’s a very neat and cost effective way to add this feature to your bike – there would be considerably higher cost to retrofit a complete dual sided, crank-spider-based, power unit at a later date.

But if you don’t want it, well Cannondale assures you are not paying extra for it in any case – suggesting it has not increased bike prices to allow for the power meter inclusion.

Overall it’s clear Cannondale has left no stone unturned in its mission to bring the SuperSix Evo bang up to date. Fast-light-stiff-comfortable, a group of terms we hear bandied around all the time, but few brands truly pull off a successful marrying of all four.

Has Cannondale? Read my first ride review to find out…

Cannondale SuperSix Evo 2020

Models and prices (high to low)

Hi-Mod Carbon Disc Dura Ace Di2 - £8,999.99
Hi-Mod Carbon Disc Ultegra Di2 - £6,499.99
Hi-Mod Carbon Disc Dura Ace – £5,499.99
Carbon Disc Ultegra Di2 - £5,499.99 (women’s version available)
Carbon Disc Force eTap – £4,799.99
Hi-Mod Carbon Disc Ultegra – £3,999.99
Carbon Disc Ultegra - £2,999.99 (women’s version available)
Carbon Rim brake Ultegra - £2,499.99
Carbon Disc 105 - £2,299.99 (women’s version available)
Carbon Rim brake 105 - £1,999.99 (women’s version available)

Cannondale SuperSix Evo 2020: First ride review

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Image 24 of 24

I got to spend some time blasting the all-new Cannlondale SuperSix Evo Hi-Mod Dura Ace Disc (£5,499.99) around an extremely picturesque part of Vermont at its launch a few weeks ago.

I’ll cut straight to it, I was a real fan of the SuperSix Evo to date. I’d always respected it as being something of a lone wolf in the pack, having stayed devoutly traditional in its design since 2008 and not sporting wide aero tube profiles, dropped seat stays and so on, like so many of its competitors.

So was I slightly saddened to see it finally relent on those traits for this completely new version? Well, yes, I admit, just a little bit.

But equally I have to concede things need to move on. The Cannondale SuperSix Evo has always been one of the most highly regarded (I’d be so bold as to call it a benchmark) race bikes in the peloton, for its superb stiffness to weight, and impeccable handling, but it needed to respond to the glut of slicker and faster race machines moving in on its patch.

My main hope, as I swung my leg over and clipped in for the first time, was that despite having given up its traditional aesthetic that it would not have surrendered any of its superb handling and ride feel.

Different appearance, same ride quality?

Thankfully, it very soon became apparent the new SuperSix Evo felt just like an old friend, only quicker. There was an unmistakable familiarity about the way it rode, which immediately won my favour. This was lucky really, given the first few kilometres from the hotel were steeply downhill, with switchback turns, throwing man and machine straight in at the deep end.

The SuperSix Evo assuredly hit all its marks, though, with a stable and precise demeanour. Pressing on over some of the more rolling roads bisecting the stunning, intensely green landscape around Stowe and Waterbury, my pedalling inputs were met with a pleasing response. Speed came easily, it seemed.

Although its impossible to put any meaningful quantification on that statement, at this stage at least, it was clear to me the new design was a palpable step up from its predecessor – a bike that I ride frequently and so am very well attuned to.

Minor blip

A slipping seat post threatened to thwart my enjoyment on this first foray, but thankfully (as we were being followed by a support vehicle) a mechanic was on hand with a fist-full of carbon grip paste and a torque wrench to set me back on my way. Just a blip.

As with my first impressions of the SystemSix, when I attended its launch in Girona last year, the handlebar-stem and particularly the wheels clearly play a really important part in the success of this bike as a system.

The Knot alloy stem and Save carbon bar combination (it might look like one piece but it’s actually two) on this test bike delivered a feel close to a more traditional bar and stem with regards to shock and vibration dampening. It was certainly an improvement over many of the one-piece oversized/wide aero-profiles I’ve ridden, which often have a tendency to feel harsh.

The Hollowgram Knot 45 wheels are again first-rate – just like the deeper, 64mm, versions I tested on the SystemSix – with excellent lateral rigidity and a very responsive feel. The super-wide rim profile too lends itself ideally to wider tyres.

The 25mm Vittoria Rubino Pro tyres fitted here had a really well rounded profile still well within the confines of the widest part of the rim – crucial for the aero gains Cannondale insists these wheels deliver.

The first of many rides

First impressions then were very much positive. Cannondale has clearly not just developed the SuperSix Evo just for the sake of keeping up with the Joneses. It is, I can say with reasonable certainty, a faster bike than the outgoing model, and as it seems to have not gained much weight, or lost any of what the original SuperSix was heralded for, so what’s not to like?

Well, before I can truly answer that I’ll certainly need to spend a good deal more time testing and really getting to grips with this new Cannondale SuperSix Evo.

After all this is merely a collection of my thoughts after a single ride, which was also curtailed somewhat by a heavy and very chilly rainstorm that resulted in a rush to don jackets and a mad ‘every-man/women-for-themselves’ dash back to the hotel.

But hey, I can also attest, the SuperSix Evo did at least get me back there fast. Watch this space for a full review soon.

The Open WI.DE. is yet another step in Cervelo co-founder Gerard Vroomen’s campaign to redefine the road bike, and there’s no doubt that his latest iteration pushes the boundaries between genres further than ever before.

There’s a huge amount to discuss about Open’s frames, and our review of the Open UP explains much of the premise. Crucially, Vroomen set out to design a bike that handled the same whether it was mounted with a 28mm road tyre on a 700c wheel or a 2.1” mountain bike tyre on a smaller diameter 650B wheel.

Versatility was the key aim, and it clearly worked. The iconic dropped chainstay design was highly successful, and has found its way to numerous competitors. For this bike, Vroomen wanted to make the next step, and did so with the ‘monostay’.

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Image 9 of 15

The monostay is a one-piece extension below the bottom bracket that forms into the lowered chainstays. The benefit is increased stiffness and startlingly wide clearance. The WI.DE. comfortably accepts up to 2.4” tyres on a 650b rim. 

That is a wide tyre indeed. To put it in context, a few years ago it would have been unorthodox to see XC mountain bike tyres this wide. While on 700c wheels, the tyres can be as wide as 46mm. 

Geometry and fork

Aside from the increased tyre clearance, the WI.DE. has a slightly more relaxed geometry, but Vroomen assures us that the ride is essentially the same. ‘The final geometry really handles very similarly with a 2.25" tyre to how the UPPER does with a 2.1” tyre,’ says Vroomen.

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Image 2 of 15

The WI.DE. is also the first showing of Open’s U-turn fork, which uses what the brand calls a SmartMount disc caliper mount. The aim is to do away with brake caliper adapters and instead set the mount in place for a 160mm rotor – reducing adjustment and making for a far cleaner aesthetic.

With a bike diverting so much from the norm as this, the real question is really what it is aiming to do, and what advantages it conceivably brings. For that we took to the road for a 90 minute ride in the mountains of Sun Valley, Idaho.

Off the track

For my ability, I found myself riding happily at 25kmh on the road. Of course the tyres do bring weight with them, and a little more drag, but a wider tyre at lower pressure does often have a supple and responsive feel to it. 

That’s certainly the case with Schwalbe G-One tyres on the Open WI.DE. which felt fast and even slightly roadie on account of the smoother tread. That said, I was a little puzzled at the lack of knobbles for off-road, but I decided to reserve judgement for the trail.

On the road, the WI.DE. largely felt like a normal road bike aside from the tyres. Open has always made its frames impressively stiff, using its patented (albeit tongue in cheek) TRCinTRS™ technology – meaning The Right Carbon in The Right Spot. There’s truth behind the pun, though, and I recall riding the Open UP a few years ago on a set of 28mm tyres really shows how rigid the frame is in terms of power transfer.

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Image 10 of 15

The result is a bike that moves decisively on all impulse and inputs. It feels like a road bike deep down. That said, the combination of the wide tyres, shallow headtube angle and short stem did seem to create some slightly floppy handling at low speeds. 

The bike tended to dive into hard corners when travelling slowly. I wondered whether that was an issue of the enormous tyre wall lacking the stiffness to corner, or something more central to the tweaks in the bike’s geometry. 

Vroomen suggests that given the small geometry tweaks the handling should be much the same as the UP, save for a slight slowing of handling response at very low speeds.

At any rate, once the speed came up the handling was intuitive and sharp – indeed it seemed increasingly in its natural state when above 25kmh. Off-road, though, it all came together very well.

Back on track

Idaho is a huge hub for gravel riding, and we took a short trail into the mountains aboard the WI.DE. Having been riding gravel bikes all week, it was immediately evident how much more confident the bike was on the challenging terrain.

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Image 14 of 15

That’s partly down to the wider 2.4” tyres, but the geometry also seemed to play a part. The front end was lively, darting around rocks and through cracks but never in a way that disturbed the stability of the bike, while on the whole it managed to offer enough agility for handling through technical fire-road descents.

The striking element of the WI.DE. though, was how much it still felt like a road bike. It is uniquely light amongst gravel bikes, with a frame weight of only 1,040g, which made ultra-steep inclines comparatively breezy. 

The other side of that is that it makes trails and challenging terrain harder than on a mountain bike, and in a way more fun. I found myself hugely excited on a trail that would prove mildly boring on a full-suspension mountain bike. At the same time it was doable, where on a gravel bike with 32mm tyres I have a feeling I would have been walking.

In all honesty when I first saw the press release for the new Open WI.DE. I thought it had crossed a line into something too vague, and that it represented the peak of the wide-tyre trend. Having ridden it, though, all I can take away was how much fun I had.

Throughout the ride, I was doing all I could to navigate the clearest route through loose rock and gravel, while at the same time having a little confidence that the tyres would swallow up a mistake here or there. 

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Image 7 of 15

On flatter and clearer segments I was able to really tuck in and churn out a decent speed as if in the middle of a long road ride. Certainly for those racing on gravel, or who just enjoy riding fast, the WI.DE. is happiest when going quickly.

On descents, I was pushing up against the limits of my ability and confidence, and I could easily see customers opting for a dropper posts to try to eke a little more stability and speed out of a steep downhill.

Of course, some may ask whether someone who needs to limit themselves to one bike (possibly on account of city-living) will have access to trails that would warrant this tyre width. A separate road and mountain bike would possibly serve both areas better. 

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Image 3 of 15

The WI.DE. has multiple mounts for endurance riding and bikepacking

However, Open hasn’t lost anything in the ride quality from expanding the tyre clearance, and at the same time it offers a unique riding experience on the right type of trail.

Equally, with multiple mount points for bottles, bikepacking gear and 'anything bags', it will definitely prove a weapon of choice for the likes of the Dirty Reiver and other endurance gravel events.

Ultimately, there’s no denying that Open has absolutely nailed the aesthetics, as despite the WI.DE.’s confused orientation it looks every bit the slick and fast road bike.

The WI.DE. will need a little more riding in a wider variety of terrains to truly determine a verdict, but on first impressions it’s managed the impressive feat of stepping on from what Open offered with the UP and UPPER.

Trek-Segafredo let Cyclist take a sneak peek at their fleet of bikes for the Grand Depart of the 2019 Tour de France in Brussels this weekend, and they certainly had some impressive tech to showcase.

Richie Porte's custom Trek Emonda SLR Disc is certainly kitted out for the intense climbing efforts that the Australian has ahead of him. With Sram's new Red AXS 24-speed groupset, he will have a wide range of gearing to choose from.

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Image 8 of 64

Porte has also opted for the Sram AXS integrated Quarq power meter - a good show of faith in the reliability of the system.

There's no surprise that he's opted for the Trek Emonda ahead of the Madone: with a frame weight of only 665g with a disc brake setup, it will fall well below the UCI minimum weight even with a set of aerodynamic wheels - the Bontrager Aeolus XXX 4. 

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Image 11 of 64

Porte remains conservative in terms of his tyre choice, sticking with tubular tyres. Trek-Segafredo is beginning to experiment with tubeless clincher set-ups, though.

A custom-painted offering of the Emonda also teased us. However it was the custom painted Madone which truly caught our attention.

Custom-paint Madone

Trek were sheepish about revealing the background of the custom-paint, but a closer look reveals that this is being showcased as a Project One offering - which is typically the bespoke customisation option for the brand.

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Image 17 of 64

This bike belongs to Koen de Kort, the 36-year-old Dutch Tour de France veteran. 

The setup is much as we would anticipate for a speed-focused aero bike like the Madone, and sports Vittoria's fast-rolling 25mm tubular tyres.

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Image 34 of 64

Time trial

Trek's SpeedConcept is a little long in the tooth but looks no less cutting edge than the day it was released. This one, used by Giulio Ciccone, caught our attention largely because of the Sram Red 1x setup and neat KMC chain-guide.

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Image 45 of 64

The bike was still only sporting Sram's 11-speed groupset, and we look forward to seeing how the 12-speed AXS update could even better suit a time trial setup.

We'll be looking out for all of Trek's bikes in action this weekend for the Grand Depart, and beyond.