It’s a bike that I’ve been keen to test ever since the original Factor O2 burst onto the scene under the AG2R La Mondiale pro team in 2016. But somehow it never happened. I have hardly even seen one in the flesh either, except a fleeting glance of a pro’s bike at a product launch a couple of years ago.

Meanwhile, the Factor O2 has undergone a makeover, while Factor has parted company with AG2R, its bikes are now ridden by the Israel Start-Up Nation pro team.

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Image 3 of 11

New frame tech

That March 2020 makeover updated the O2 and split it into the VAM model that we tested a couple of months ago and the 'standard' O2.

It’s still a premium frameset at over £2,600 for either the disc version or the direct mount rim brake variant. You can buy the O2 frameset-only, or Factor will build a bike to your spec and offers a bike fit as part of the deal.

Buy now from Factor, frameset price starts from £2,650

The O2 rides like a premium bike too and it looks gorgeous, particularly in the Miami Blue colour scheme tested. We spent some time deciding whether the shots did this justice: in the shade the blue looks quite muted but it really pops to a vivid, lustrous mid-blue palette once you’re out in sunny conditions.

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The main difference between the VAM and the standard O2 frameset is the weight. Whereas the size 56cm Factor O2 VAM with Dura-Ace Di2 Disc groupset tipped the scales at 6.6kg, the test size 54cm O2 came in at 7.3kg with Ultegra Di2 Disc and the same Black Inc 30 AR carbon wheelset.

That’s still not bad for a disc equipped bike, with the groupset accounting for around 250g of the difference, but not quite in the flyweight category.

Factor has ported the tech from the VAM to the standard O2, which it says has upped the frame’s comfort and strength over its predecessor. As with the VAM, higher pressure moulding has reduced the amount of resin in the carbon fibre matrix, reducing the frame’s weight from the older version.

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Nice spec options

The O2’s makeover didn’t just split the field into two models though, it also upped the tyre clearance to 30mm. The test bike came with pliant, fast-rolling 28mm Vittoria Corsa tyres. Set up tubeless, the extra width and lower pressure came in handy on the usual bumpy backroads, and it didn’t feel as if it impeded progress either.

Black Inc’s 30 AR wheelset is designed for 28mm-plus tyres and works well with the Vittoria Corsas, with the 21mm internal, 30mm external rim supporting them well.

Buy now from Factor, frameset price starts from £2,650

The wheel depth is a bit less than many carbon clinchers, with all-rounder designs typically coming in around 45mm. Despite their lower profile, they still felt a little twitchy on a gusty day.

The wheelset comes with CeramicSpeed bearings, helping to explain its £1,900 price tag, although at 1,475g claimed for the disc brake version and 1,390g rim brake, its light weight helps to justify that price.

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Factor fits the O2 with a custom Black Inc bar/stem. It suits the bike well. Some complain of the lack of adjustability in a single piece front end, but I found the geometry just right, with a neutral hand position in the drops and plenty of surface area to the tops. That’s helped by the wide range of sizes available, with 19 options from 380 x 90mm all the way up to 440 x 130mm.

That's an unusually large range for a low volume, expensive to manufacture carbon component. There’s a custom out front mount for a Garmin as part of the package. Since there’s a standard width steerer tube, you could instead fit a standard bar and stem if you wanted, although I reckon that would upset the front end aesthetics.

Unlike many brands’ latest high end bikes, Factor hasn’t run the cables fully internally through the bar/stem on the O2. So there’s an external run into the frame and fork in an electronic set-up and a blanking plate in the down tube which lets you run mechanical shift cables if you prefer and means that the O2 is compatible with the full gamut of manufacturers’ groupsets.

Also unlike many of the latest crop of premium bikes, such as the Cannondale SuperSix, Specialized Tarmac and Scott Addict RC, the Factor O2 doesn’t boast any aero flourishes. You get an asymmetric, squarish down tube with a chunky BBright bottom bracket shell and a round seat tube with a round seatpost, although the bar/stem should smooth airflow over the bike’s front end.

But the classic silhouette still looks stylish and sets the O2 apart from the current crop of semi-aero road bikes, which to be honest all look a bit the same.

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Ride-all-day comfort

The Factor O2 is a great ride too, justifying its premium price tag. I was particularly impressed with its handling on fast downhill runs, when its straight line handling was right at the top end of bikes I've ridden, holding a line and maintaining stability when other bikes often become twitchy.

In fact, it’s a bike that feels eager to be ridden fast everywhere, encouraging you to hunker down in the drops and push that bit harder on flat straights. Once you get to a hill, the light weight, grippy tyres and robust power transfer from the chunky bottom bracket encourage you to push for the top.

That’s amplified by the 36x25 lowest gear offered on the test bike. A notch higher than most bikes that come in for review, it was a bit more of a test of my climbing mettle.

The wide tyres help a lot with stability and comfort, while the light weight of the shallow rims adds reactivity. I wondered if the ride quality was down to that combination, but even on 25mm tyres on heavier, deeper section wheels there’s a ride-all-day feel to the O2. There’s plenty of compliance in the frameset, not just the tyres.

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Image 1 of 11

Buy now from Factor, frameset price starts from £2,650

Still a rare sight

Last year on the way back from a launch, a guy from an equally fancy European brand expressed surprise that there weren’t lots of Factors out on the road in the UK. The brand’s scarcity continues though.

In a world where top end bikes from more mainstream brands appear increasingly frequently in the UK’s cycling hotspots, the O2’s rarity is an attraction if you’re looking to ride a premium bike that stands out from the crowd.

Spec

This review was updated after first publication following a pricing update from the brand

All reviews are fully independent and no payments have been made by companies featured in reviews

Bikes are great. I love their simplicity, their democracy, their freedom. However, sometimes I’m less than enamoured with their longevity. If you bought a £10,000 car and the accelerator started squeaking, the gears slipping and it developed play in the steering wheel after just three months, you’d be rightly annoyed.

And yet in bikes it happens far more often than it should, and in part I think the problem lies with manufacturers making overly complex designs.

I don’t mention this to level criticism at the Ridley Helium, but rather as context for praise. Because the frustrations of being on a rattling, mal-tuned bike only serve to highlight just how wonderful it feels when everything is working in harmony. Which is where the Helium comes in.

The Gorilla, GVA and TDG

As an enduring model of the Ridley range, the Helium puts up with a lot. It has been wrestled in sprints by André Greipel and pounded over cobbles by Greg Van Avermaet, and – if pros ever race again this year – stands to be beasted over immense breakaways by Thomas De Gendt.

(Although even lockdown hasn’t given the bike a reprieve, as De Gendt and his Helium were recently neutralised by Zwift for ‘unfair’ power numbers, the Belgian happily sustaining 500W on the virtual racing platform.)

Buy now from Chain Reaction Cycles for €4,399

So I expected a stiff bike, and in that regard was immediately satisfied. I stamped, it surged. What I wasn’t banking on was how effortlessly light it would feel, popping and zinging along the road and tick-tocking up climbs.

The frame weighs a claimed 780g for a medium, which certainly helps, although at 7.6kg overall this is no flyweight. So once again it’s the way stiffness can offset a few extra grams on a climb, although that isn’t the whole story.

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There’s something else here that almost defies definition. The bike feels taut, as if the individual components are not just bolted to the frame but somehow inextricably linked.

Other bikes can have this feeling, of course – typically when they are fresh off the assembly line or have super-fancy parts – yet the Helium is possessed of something more. 

While the Ultegra Di2 groupset and in-house finishing kit from Forza are decent quality, they are very much the stuff of serviceable realities rather than dreams.

But there are two other more considered inclusions: DT Swiss 350 hubs, which in my opinion roll as smoothly as 240s but are just slightly heavier, and Vittoria Corsa 2.0 tyres, which I defy anyone to fit and not feel an immediate improvement from. But yet again these are not exotic parts. So what gives?

As unexciting as this explanation will sound, it’s not just any one thing, but a combination of everything that gives the Helium its cohesive feel.

Keep it simple

If I was writing the design brief for the perfect road bike it would go like this: disc brakes; light, preferably close to 7kg; racy geometry; stiff; comfort can come mainly from seatpost and saddle; aerodynamics can come mainly from deep section wheels (under 1,500g please).

It’s not rocket science but it is paying attention to those details, and it is what Ridley engineers have done. It’s the way the Helium’s weight is distributed top to bottom – more pronounced near the bottom bracket and hubs for stability, less concentrated in the top half of the bike for ease of side-to-side movement on climbs or sprints.

Add head tube and bottom bracket stiffness into that mix and climbing suddenly feels that much more floaty. Yet despite its obvious aplomb up hills, the Helium still turns its hand marvellously to sprints.

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Speed in these sprints is aided by the stiff, aero wheels, which while not from a coveted brand do weigh a claimed 1,490g and are 45mm deep. They could do with being tubeless-ready and a touch wider internally (they are 17mm inner, 27mm outer) to offer even better grip from the 25mm tyres, but I’ll let that slide because the handling here is borderline superb.

In the main this comes from the geometry, key measurements being a short (so nimble) 987mm wheelbase and a steep (so sharp) 73.5° head tube angle. But again, without stiffness in the head tube, fork and BB or a light overall weight, this sharpness would be dulled.

The geometry here isn’t groundbreaking, but in a sense it’s this approach to design that makes the Helium so good. Ridley hasn’t tried to reinvent anything, so on paper the Helium looks kind of normal. And it’s this that is the bike’s secret – it has no secret.

Buy now from Chain Reaction Cycles for €4,399

Ridley has just looked to tried and tested methods and ideas and executed them very well. In doing so it has paid the utmost attention to nuance and subtlety, eschewing gimmicks and realising that ‘normal’ is another way of saying ‘it works’. Which is just how I’d describe the Helium, a bike that ‘just works’, and does so in thoroughly rewarding harmony.

Alternatively…

Go wireless

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Image 5 of 6

For £6,369 the Helium SLX can come with Sram Force eTap AXS, which doesn’t make it any more aero since the bike is already fully integrated, but does make travel a cinch.

Keep it classic

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Image 6 of 6

Not everyone wants disc brakes, so if you prefer classic looks and want to save 50g from the frame (and a few quid), the Helium SLX is available with rim brakes for £5,549.

Spec

All reviews are fully independent and no payments have been made by companies featured in reviews

The 2021 Trek Émonda has been launched in what should have been the final few weeks before the Tour de France, where we would have seen the Trek-Segafredo riders aboard this lightweight climbing bike in the high mountains.

With racing postponed, assuming it is to return at all this year, Trek has pushed ahead with the launch of the 2021 Emonda regardless.

Trek’s trio of top tier road race bikes is pretty easy to understand: Domane (pronounced Domané) for comfort, Madone for outright speed and Emonda for lightweight.

For the latest Emonda, now in its third generation, Trek says it has managed to pry just a little bit more of those traits from its siblings while still being the lightest in the line up by a considerable margin.

A quick recap; the first generation of Emonda was launched in Harrogate, Yorkshire, back in 2014, just as the Tour de France rolled into town.

Émonder in French is a verb meaning ‘to prune’, or trim, and nothing could be more fitting for this particular bike. Trek went all out on weight-shedding to create the lightest production bike in the world at the time and, crucially, achieved this without sacrificing ride quality.

At just 4.6kg the top of the range Emonda SLR 10 was indeed an astoundingly light race bike, although it did cost £11k, even six years ago.

The first generation, however, was launched as a rim brake bike, as disc brakes hadn’t taken such a firm stronghold in the road market at that time, so it wasn’t long before a disc brake update was required.

Buy the new Trek Émonda from Trek Bikes from £2,275

A redesign for discs, then, was the obvious catalyst for the second generation of Emonda, for which Trek managed to shave off yet more weight (the top tier SLR disc brake frame was 665g disc frame vs 690g for the equivalent rim brake frame), whilst also claiming to have made the frame stiffer.

So where to go from there? A 665g disc brake frame surely means there’s not much scope to go lighter, so what can we expect from the 2021 Trek Emonda?

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A clean sheet start for the 2021 Trek Émonda

Speaking to Cyclist at the virtual launch, Trek’s head of industrial design for road products, Hans Eckhom, had this to say about the new Emonda.

‘Basically this new Emonda was a request from the Trek-Segafredo team. The riders love having the option to race on our various platforms [Madone, Émonda, Domane] but weight is such a tangible thing, and such a focus for elite athletes, so often the racers want the lightest, which of course the Emonda is, but they felt that versus some of the other bikes in the pro peloton it was well behind on aerodynamics.

Buy the new Trek Émonda from Trek Bikes from £2,275

‘We had exposed cables, less integration and the frame was not fully optimised for aero. So the big push for this new bike was to keep the weight low, maintain the ride characteristics that the Emonda is known for and that the team riders really love, but push towards the aero gains we have learned from the Madone.’

Trek’s aero guru, John Davis, takes up the conversation. ‘We didn’t want to just end up designing something close to the Madone, but a bit lighter. We went with a clean sheet start. The focus was to really study the balance of weight versus aero drag on an incline, for which we chose the average gradient of Alpe d’Huez, 8.1%, as the benchmark.

‘HEEDS [Hierarchical Evolutionary Engineering Design System] optimisation software allowed us to track the ideal blend between weight and aero, but also consider "unsteady aerodynamics".

'That is to say, aerodynamics where speeds are much slower and the bike is moving a lot side to side, such as when climbing. It’s a different solution than for, say, our SpeedConcept TT bike, where we need to optimise for going faster when there is less tangential movement of the bike and it’s going in mostly straight lines.

‘Most areas of opportunity for aero gains are at the front, before airflow gets messed up by the legs,' continues Davis. ‘We spent a lot of time on headtube, downtube and bar/stem shapes. The meat of the design process happens in CFD, as it’s simply much more time efficient.

'We can plug new things in and try new things that you can’t do in a wind tunnel. But the wind tunnel is still the authority on whether something is faster in the real world so we still did full wind tunnel tests on this Emonda.’

And the result? Trek claims the 2021 Emonda SLR has 180g less drag than its predecessor. In real-world terms that equates to around an 18W power saving, which Trek has calculated to be 60 seconds per hour faster on flat roads and 18 seconds per hour faster up Alpe d’Huez.

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Thanks to a brand new grade of carbon too, nudging Trek’s OCLV nomenclature up from 700 to 800, the frame comes in at a smidgen under 700g.

Trek’s director of road product, Jordan Roessingh, gives us the low-down on the all new frame material.

‘OCLV 800 had about a two year development cycle and we’ve broken over 250 frames on the way to working out how best to leverage the benefits of this new carbon,' he says. ‘We used the race team throughout the development process. With riders like Vincenzo Nibali blind testing on prototypes and so on.

‘Usually going to more aero tube shapes means frames get heavier, but the OCLV 800 is 30% stronger, meaning we could use less of it, which resulted in a 60g weight saving versus OCLV 700, and we were still able to hit all our stiffness and strength test criteria.

'We set ourselves this sub 700g target, and so new materials and new processes were the only way to hit that goal. Which we did. Just. A size medium is 698g.'

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The 2021 Trek Émonda is bucking some recent trends

Got any questions? Well, actually yes, we did...

Trek states the maximum tyre clearance for the new Emonda SLR and SL models as 28mm, and all bikes come supplied with 25mm rubber. That seemed curious to us, given the trend in almost all Trek’s competitors has been to push for wider clearance for up to 32mm tyres.

We posed this question to Roessingh, who responded by saying, ‘We still believe 25mm tyres to be the fastest set-up aerodynamically, and whilst 28mm tyres do have benefits in other aspects of the ride quality, this bike was about race-level performance.’

Another trend Trek has eschewed is the move to dropped seatstays, something that many brands have claimed is a proven aero benefit.

Again in response, Roessingh said, ‘We did a lot of investigation, but we found that having the seatstays higher up the seat tube is still the structurally most efficient way for us to make the frame. We would agree that there are some aero gains [to dropped seatstays] but it would add weight, and we would not be able to hit the sub 700g target.'

Finally, will there be a rim brake version? Categorically, no. Trek has gone all in on disc brakes for the new frames.

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Émonda, the sum of its parts

But there’s more to the story than just the frame alone. Trek, like most brands, now recognises that a bike’s performance relies on the sum of its parts, a system of components that all need to work together.

‘To optimise speed you simply have to include things like wheels and the handlebar and stem combo’, says Roessingh. ‘We took the same approach with our new Bontrager Aeolus RSL bar-stem system as we did for the frame; to balance weight versus stiffness and aero performance.'

The result is the new Aeolus RSL bar-stem is 160g lighter than the one Trek produced for the Madone.

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Image 9 of 34

‘But we also considered practicality and serviceability too. We realise that more integration does make it harder for mechanics to work on stuff and swap components so we have given that a lot of consideration. You can swap out this bar-stem combo without having to disconnect any cables, and you can fit a standard aftermarket stem too.’

While we are on the subject of practicality, it’s interesting to note that Trek has moved away from its own BB90 bottom bracket standard on this new Emonda frame.

Buy the new Trek Émonda from Trek Bikes from £2,275

Instead the Emonda uses a threaded T47 bottom bracket. ‘We used it on the new Domane last year, and it’s an open standard to the rest of the industry,' says Roessingh. ‘We recognise that press fit is not the best solution. A tooled/threaded interface is definitely an improvement. It also means the frame is now compatible with all spindle and crank systems.

'Crucially, though, the T47 bottom bracket shell still allows us to have the same wide down tube stance width.’

Wheels are a huge piece of the aerodynamic pie and as such you’ll find brand new Bontrager Aeolus wheels on the new Emonda SLR and SL models too, as product manager, Claude Drehfal, explains.

‘The new top-end Aeolus RSL 37 wheels are just 1350g per set, which is 55g lighter than our previous best Aeolus XXX2 wheels. The new rim shape is significantly faster too, with around 17% less drag, which means this 37mm rim profile almost matches Bontrager’s 47mm deep Aeolus XXX4 wheels in wind tunnel tests, but offers greater versatility for more use in more varied conditions.

‘The new DT Swiss 240 hubs are not just very light but also a little wider across the flanges which increases the bracing angle to improve stiffness, which in turn meant we could take a bit of material out of the rim and still keep the wheels strong and stiff,' says Drehfal.

There are actually three new wheelsets being launched alongside the new Trek Emonda SLR and SL range, to cater for all the price points. The Aeolus RSL 37 sits at the top of the tree, with the Aeolus Pro 37 (using a lower level DT Swiss hub) and then Aeolus Elite 35 (a lower grade carbon rim) making up the trio.

All three new wheels are tubeless compatible and are covered by a lifetime warranty and two year crash replacement.

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Fit to drop

Alongside all of the new features, Trek has also tweaked the geometry to modify the fit of the latest Emonda SLR and SL models. It calls the new fit H1.5.

As anyone familiar with Trek’s previous geometry and fit offerings (H1 and H2) will be able to guess, the new H1.5 fit sits halfway between them. This is great news as often the H1 fit was just too aggressive for us mere mortals to cope with, while the more endurance focussed H2 fit was significantly more relaxed. This halfway house, then, should be spot on.

Trek still describes it as a ‘race fit’, as it says the set up can still be very aggressive, but also allows it to be just that bit more attainable for regular riders too.

Buy the new Trek Émonda from Trek Bikes from £2,275

While we are on the subject of geometry there will be no women-specific models. Trek now sees the fit as ‘gender neutral’ and across all its Emonda SLR and SL models the only changes are shorter cranks, stems and narrower handlebars on the smaller frame sizes.

Directly linked to the fit is, of course comfort and in this regard Trek has not gone down the route of adding the IsoSpeed concept, as seen on its latest Domané and Madone bikes.

This was presumably to avoid any additional weight, but also Trek already claims its seatmast design is already significantly more vertically compliant that a standard seat post, and so comfort should not be an issue.

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Project One

Trek’s Project One customisation programme is growing in its vastness of available options you can personalise.

Essentially the scope is now huge, to not just make sure the bike you buy fits you precisely – you can tailor things like crank length, bar width and so on – but also to select from 49 different custom paint schemes.

Project One Ultimate is a new offering and takes things a level further. This includes dedicated time with one of Trek’s graphic designers for, and we quote, ‘No holds barred’ levels of paint customisation.

You might not feel the need, however, with some pretty fancy new stock colour schemes, which Trek calls Icon, one of which even contains real 22 carat gold leaf flakes in the paint.

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Trek Émonda SL

Joining the top end SLR models in the Emonda family are a host of new SL models too.

Trek says the SL frame is identical in every way to the SLR, with the only concession being it’s created using Trek’s lower tier OCLV 500 carbon. As such it weighs more – around 1100g – but as for the ride qualities and aero benefits, Trek’s engineers claim they have ensured these have all been retained.

One obvious omission from the spec of the SL models too is a one-piece Aeolus RSL bar/stem. All SL models are all specced with traditional bar and stem set-ups.

Trek Émonda SLR and SL 2021

Browse the entire Émonda range at Trek Bikes here

Trek Émonda SLR

Émonda SLR 6 - £5,450
Émonda SLR 7 - £5,900
Émonda SLR 7 eTap - £6,850
Émonda SLR 9 - £9,700
Émonda SLR 9 eTap - £9,700

Trek Émonda SL

Émonda SL 5 - £2,275
Émonda SL 6 - £2,900
Émonda SL 6 Pro - £3,350
Émonda SL 7 - £4,850
Émonda SL 7 eTap - £5,250

The bikes are available to buy immediately

The bikes that helped turn a small shop in northern Italy into a global Grand Tour-conquering force

Words James Spender Photography Mike Massaro

Life was tough for Giovanni ‘Nani’ Pinarello in the 1940s. One of a dozen brothers, Nani scraped a living in the professional cycling ranks for several years until his team, Bottechia, bought him out of contract in 1952 for 100,000 lire.

Despite this, during that time Nani had become something of a household name amongst the tifosi on account of being the last rider to win the maglia nera in 1951, a ceremonial black jersey awarded for finishing dead last in the Giro d’Italia, but which race organisers ceased awarding the following year. So leveraging this odd popularity and armed with his buyout money, Nani decided to set up a bike shop on a piazza in the north Italian town of Treviso in 1953.

Today that bike shop remains, but instead of someone else’s bike hanging in the window, a Dogma F12 with Lightweight wheels, diamante-encrusted stem cap and €20,000 pricetag hangs proudly on display. And whose name is it on that frame (and, ostentatiously, the top cap as well)?

Fausto Pinarello, Nani’s canny son, who with his late father helped grow Pinarello into one of the most coveted and successful marques in road cycling. So when Cyclist met with Fausto at his Treviso headquarters some years back and discovered what was hiding in his factory’s eaves, we just knew we had to return one day, with a camera, to get the full story.

Fortunately for us, Fausto was on hand and only too happy to tell it.

Espada Hour Record, 1994

‘Forget about Bradley or anyone. Miguel is Miguel. Bradley is amazing, but for his Hour it was maybe six months’ preparation, but with Miguel, he won the Tour de France in the summer of 1994, then one month later he took the record d’ora,’ says Fausto Pinarello.

At 6ft 2in and 80kg, with a resting heart rate of 28bpm and lung capacity of 7.8 litres (a comparable male is around 60bpm and 5 litres), Indurain was the perfect specimen for the Hour record. But the perfect specimen demanded the perfect bike and, as he was with Bradley Wiggins, Fausto Pinarello duly obliged.

‘There was a guy from Florence University who worked with Lamborghini, and he sent me a letter saying, “Do you want to try the wind-tunnel and talk aerodynamics,” and I said, “Yes, why not?” I knew nothing of aerodynamics back then. Or carbon fibre. We made a frame in aluminium, went to the wind-tunnel with Miguel, did tests, then went away and designed the mould with a guy who made carbon fibre parts for Bugatti in Torino.

‘We finished the bikes in July, went to the track with Miguel to test in August – you know how hard that was? Everyone in Italy goes on holiday in August – and in September he made the attempt. At the time Lamborghini had the Espada car, and Espada is Spanish for “sword”. It was the perfect name.’

At 9.25kg this bike wasn’t especially light, and it’s interesting that the ‘bars [from ITM] are unpainted to save weight’ while the rest of the bike has been treated to all manner of paint and graphics. It also cost €50,000 just for the mould and only two bikes came from it, making it a substantial outlay for the brand. But as Fausto remarks, ‘The cost is no problem, because we are interested only in development. This is my philosophy.’ 

Prologo, 1989

‘This was the time-trial bike of Franco Chioccioli in the late 1980s. Francesco Moser had this shape of bike before us, with a 700c rear wheel and 650b front, so this bike design was not new, but it was beautiful. We shaped all the tubes, the curves, ourselves, but the tubes are from Columbus. The lugs have “GPT” engraved on them – Giovanni Pinarello, Treviso, the name of my father. We won the 1991 Giro d’Italia with Franco. He had tried many times before but in 1991 he did it with us.’

Riding for Del Tongo, Chioccioli had one sixth place and two fifth places in the three years prior to 1991. The most agonising must have come in 1988, when the young Italian, poised for victory, surrendered the maglia rosa to Andy Hampsten on the now infamous Stage 14, which saw riders battling some of the worst weather ever to hit a Grand Tour.

The Gavia was set upon by a fierce blizzard and few but Hampsten’s 7-Eleven team had brought sufficient kit, so while Hampsten got ski gloves, glasses, woolly hat, extra layers and even a hot drink, Chioccioli got armwarmers and a headband. Even then, Hampsten rode with ice on his bare shins and was a shivering wreck at the line, so it was no surprise when Chioccioli limped home nearly five minutes later.

He could hardly have blamed the Colnago he was riding that day, but equally he might well have had much to thank the Pinarello Prologo for, having used a descendent of this bike to scoop three stages on his way to finally being crowned Giro d’Italia champion.

Parigina, 1996

An evolution of Miguel Indurain’s Hour record Espada, but one amputation away from pretty much being the bike thrown by Bjarne Riis in 1997 (see overleaf), this Parigina belonged to Andrea Collinelli, who rode it at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, USA.

‘We sponsored the Italian track team, and they rode with these Graeme Obree-style bars,’ says Fausto, referring to the outstretched ‘Superman’ position the Scot had pioneered and used to great effect to beat none other than Collinelli at the 1995 Track World Championships.

‘It was therefore little surprise to see the Italian adopt the same position in 1996 and go on to take not only gold in the 4,000m individual pursuit but also the world record previously held by Obree, completing the distance in 4min 19.699sec. Their bikes could not have been more different, however – Obree’s was steel and homemade, while Collinelli’s was the absolute cutting edge of its day.

‘When we used the Paragina for Riis, the UCI ordered us to cut off the tail over the rear wheel to make the bike legal for road cycling. Of course a road bike needs a brake too, so Riis’s time-trial bike had to have a normal fork, but here there is a fairing over the front wheel.’

In fact, such are the aero lengths Pinarello went to that this Parigina has textured ‘trip strips’ running down the outside-front of the fork legs to help smooth airflow. It’s something you may have spotted before on older versions of the Ridley Noah. Not that Fausto will hear any of it.

‘Who had this on their bikes? When was that? Don’t ask me to say something, I can only say that it is my job to make the best bike, and this bike was 1996, and by 1998 the position and the frame style was illegal.’ 

Parigina, 1997

‘In 1997, in the last time-trial of the Tour de France, Bjarne Riis [riding for Team Telekom] takes this bike and throws it like a butterfly,’ says Fausto with a wry smile. Indeed a clip can be found online of a distraught Riis tossing his Parigina – Italian for ‘Parisian’ – like a discus after two mechanicals in a row, first a puncture and then a dropped chain.

‘I know the reason. Riis [the defending champion] was nervous because the young guys were coming through: Jan Ullrich [Telekom] and Abraham Olano [Banesto]. By the last time-trial the Tour was already over for him, but he wanted the stage. He was obsessed with weight, and he said the bike was too heavy so he wanted to lose one of the chainrings and the front derailleur.

‘We all suggested he did not, but he did, and without the derailleur the vibrations from the road meant the chain came off. But the thing is, the same day Ullrich won and Olano came second on a Parigina [Pinarello sponsored both Telekom and Banesto].

‘The Parigina is based on the Italian track team bike from the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Commentators say it is for the lady because it has no top tube, and when the UCI saw Riis with it at the Danish National Championships they told us we had to cut the tail off if we wanted to take it to the Tour.

‘So we did. It had so much material that we just took the same bike and cut off the tail with a saw and repainted it. In fact, it had so much material that the brake under the bottom bracket actually worked quite well because there was no flexing!’

Dogma FP, 2006

‘Oscar Pereiro won the Tour in 2006 on this bike. Well he lost, then he won, because of that American guy on Phonak – what was his name?’

It’s a ruefully rhetorical question, but the answer is Floyd Landis, who was stripped of the 2006 Tour a year after the fact, handing a retrospective win to Pereiro and making this the last metal bike to win the Tour. Because, while the seatstays and fork are carbon, most of the Dogma FP is something else entirely – magnesium alloy.

‘For me magnesium is the best material in the world. It is not lighter than carbon but it is lighter than aluminium, and because the wall thickness and diameter is bigger [than aluminium for the same weight], magnesium bikes are stiffer but more comfortable as there is more material to absorb vibrations.

‘But it was hard to work with, very flammable, so when you work it there is always one guy who has to stand with a fire extinguisher. And while I love the material, carbon fibre was higher performance, so we made the carbon monocoque F4:13 in 2006.

‘For this bike FSA created the Mega Exo standard [the first oversized BB for 30mm crank spindles] just for me – I wanted a bigger BB shell for more stiffness. You know our components brand, MOST? That name comes from this BB, meaning Movimento Oversized and ST meaning ‘first’. We did it for three years, but it is no good. You get noises, and the bearings need changing every six months.’

Galileo, 2000

‘See these ridges here? The tube is wider at the base and gets thinner as it goes up. It’s the same for the down tube and the seat tube. These ridges look like a telescope, and you know who invented the telescope? So the down tube tapers from something like 42mm at the bottom bracket to 36mm at the head tube.’

True enough, stiffness was the aim with this bike given that it belonged to German powerhouse Jan Ullrich, who would famously turn heavy gears with mock-nonchalance to psych out rivals on climbs. To that extent, all the tubes intersecting with the bottom bracket shell have been drawn as wide as possible – so wide in fact that some of the welding bead has had to be ground off when facing the shell.

‘However despite the large frame size, burly appearance of the aluminium tubing and those early deep-section Campagnolo Bora wheels, total weight with pedals is a remarkable 8.45kg.

‘The seatstays are carbon, made for Pinarello by Time in France. But Time, they use two screws, but we just glue the top of the stays to the frame. Dedacciai made the tubing, it is hydroformed to make the shapes, so to glue in the stays the aluminium had to be perfect.

‘The chainstays are my design too, called “Dyna”, like “dynamic”. I have a patent for the way that they twist and flare towards the BB, for rigidity. This bike was painted by Giancarlo. He started one year before me, 1978, and he still works here. But he will retire in a few months. He is even older than me!’

Espada carbon TT, 1995

While Pedro Delgado kicked off Tour de France success for Pinarello in 1988 under the auspices of the Reynolds team, it was another Spaniard who would propel the brand into the Grande Boucle’s history books.

‘Miguel Indurain won the Tour de France with us from 1992 to 1995. This is the second bike like this of Miguel’s. The first was the one for the Hour record on the track. Six months after that we made this time-trial bike for the road, and Miguel won the 1995 Tour de France with it.’

For the sport, that 1995 edition of the Tour may be seen as a mixed bag. By winning it, Indurain equalled Anquetil, Merckx and Hinault’s record of five wins, and would only be eclipsed in consecutive wins by Lance Armstrong several years later (interestingly, once stripped of his wins, the 1995 Tour would end up being Armstrong’s highest officially recognised finish – 36th). But the 1995 Tour was also marred by tragedy, when a helmetless Fabio Casartelli crashed on Stage 15 and died from head injuries.

Yet as tragic as this was, there’s no question that images of Big Mig in that edition remain some of the most iconic of the time, an era-defining rider aboard an era-defining machine, never to be repeated.

By 2000, the UCI had banned such frame shapes and the mismatched wheel sizes, and by 2003, after the death of another rider, Andrey Kivilev, from head injuries, the iconic images of casquette-wearing riders such as Indurain had been consigned to the history books by the mandatory introduction of helmets.

Banesto, 1995

‘This is the one, written here – number two,’ says Fausto, peering at numbers stamped on the underside of the BB on this Banesto-branded Pinarello. ‘Miguel had five bikes in a season. Number one was for training at home, number two for racing, then two for the two support cars, and one spare. For Geraint Thomas or Chris Froome we make two race bikes: one for the Giro, one for the Tour. Miguel used the same one.’ And in 1995, this was that bike.

With four Tours under his belt, Indurain did what no one had done before and added a fifth consecutive Tour to his palmarès, with the footnote that this would be the last time a steel bike would win the Tour de France.

‘The tubing is by Oria, a Venetian company that is gone now. At the time it was considered oversized! The top tube is lowered to keep the triangle stiff but the seat tube and head tube stick up above it to give Miguel the position. He rode the same sized bike with us for 20 years: 59cm x 59cm, then 180mm x 180mm. That means the cranks were 180mm long and the [horizontal] distance between the bottom bracket and the top of the seat tube was 180mm. He also always rode Selle Italia Turbomatic saddles.

‘Miguel has a collection of all the bikes he ever won on. Erik Zabel [whom Pinarello sponsored at Team Telekom] also has a similar museum. We would give these guys their bikes. I know Team Ineos are different and they usually ask riders to buy their bikes, unless they know for sure they are going to keep them as souvenirs.’

Telekom TT, 1996

The forerunner to the Parigina, Bjarne Riis’s steel Team Telekom time-trial bike was only around for a season, but what a season it was for the Dane. For Pinarello too.

Having sponsored Pedro Delgado’s Reynolds team in the late 1980s, Pinarello found itself usurped by Spanish brand Raseza after Spanish bank Banesto took over Reynolds in 1990 (Indurain won his first Tour in 1991 aboard a Raseza branded bike). That left Pinarello sponsoring only one team, Del Tongo-MG Boys, but success still came when Franco Chioccioli took the Giro in 1991. Pinarello’s future was looking bright, but then the unthinkable happened.

‘Sometimes you lose a team because you lose a team; sometimes you lose a team because someone steals it from you,’ says Fausto cryptically. ‘At the end of 1991 a new sponsor came on board with Del Tongo – Energie – and it brought with it Bianchi. Nobody knew! That’s not how you do business.

‘I heard the bike company sponsoring Banesto was about to go bust, so I did my first team deal, with Banesto, in 1991, aged 29. It was a huge amount of money, my dad says, “Ohh,” but we made history with Miguel.

‘In 1995, Bjarne Riis was trying to win the Tour riding a Bianchi [at Gewiss-Ballan], but we won with Miguel! The same weekend a guy came to me from Telekom and asked if I was interested in sponsoring them. They were with Eddy Merckx bikes, so I called Eddy and said, “Is this OK?” I never steal a team. He said, “Yes, go, go, go.” Three months later Bjarne signs with Team Telekom and he wins the Tour – riding a Pinarello.’

The 2020 Specialized S-Works Roubaix is the latest in a long line of the Specialized Roubaix family. Over a decade and a half it has established itself as the bike of choice for those seeking a comfortable, lightweight, endurance road bike with a tall front end.

On the afternoon of Sunday 14th April 2019, Philippe Gilbert and I had something in common. As Paris-Roubaix reached its climax, we were both riding the same brand new Specialized S-Works Roubaix at more than 50kmh.

Where we differed was that Gilbert was on his way to adding a fourth Monument to his palmarès in northern France while I, according to Strava, was on my way to an unremarkable 891st place on some random segment as I descended from the mountains in Mallorca.

Gilbert was not the only one riding the Roubaix bike at Roubaix. There were three in the top five: Gilbert’s Deceuninck-QuickStep teammate Yves Lampaert in third and Peter Sagan in fifth.

In fact, there were five inside the top eight – the stuff of dreams for Specialized, which had only launched the bike to the public a few days prior. For me, though, that didn’t come as a huge shock.

Buy the Specialized S-Works Roubaix Di2 from Rutland Cycles for £9,499

It is about the bike

Having had a month or so road-testing the new S-Works Roubaix prior to its launch – including a week in Mallorca as well as riding it over much of the Roubaix race route a few weeks earlier – I was already convinced it would provide a significant advantage in the Queen of the Classics.

By Specialized’s own admission the old Roubaix had morphed into a bike far removed from the nature of the race it was originally built for.

‘We had this bike that had these really innovative ways to deal with shock dampening and smooth out the ride, but our pros never wanted to race on it because, quite simply, it wasn’t light, fast or aggressive enough for them,’ says product manager John Cordoba.

This new version, then, was about pulling the Roubaix back into the performance sector – more aero, lighter and with geometry closer to the Tarmac – but somehow without sacrificing the comfort it had become renowned for.

I watched the final part of this year’s Paris-Roubaix in a cafe in Mallorca. The place was chock-full of cyclists, and despite many of them chattering about Gilbert’s new bike, when the race was over and people started leaving, not one of them noticed this test bike leaning against the railings outside.

My guess is that most mistook it for a Tarmac. That’s entirely understandable. By virtue of engineers targeting a racier fit and a reduction in both aero drag and weight, the Roubaix’s new aero tube profiles are almost identical to its thoroughbred sibling, but also Specialized has packaged the all-new Future Shock 2.0 suspension unit extremely neatly.

For starters, it’s barely noticeable beneath the smooth rubber cover. What is immediately perceptible on the road, though, aside from the significantly more aggressive riding position, is the improvement in the shock’s performance compared to its predecessor.

Shocking results

The original Future Shock – a spring at the top of the steerer, beneath the stem, which first appeared on the Roubaix in 2017 – felt somewhat too bouncy and frequently bottomed out as it had no damping whatsoever.

That’s been remedied, and while it is principally the same coil-sprung core with 20mm travel, there’s now an adjustable hydraulic damper to control both rebound and compression strokes.

A half-turn of the dial on the stem cap is all that’s required to alter the ride characteristics dramatically. The dial is easy to reach and use, even when bumping over cobbles. If you watch footage from Paris-Roubaix you can even see Gilbert doing this.

Turning anti-clockwise opens the damper for the springiest ride feel, while clockwise stiffens it back up.

It’s not a complete lockout – the shock can still be compressed if you use a large enough force – but it’s sufficient that even when I was hauling on the bars in full sprint mode I couldn’t notice that it was sapping my speed in any way.

In terms of responsiveness and solidity the S-Works Roubaix feels every bit the race bike. What’s more, at 7.27kg it’s firmly in race bike territory, only 470g over the UCI weight limit despite the shock and disc brakes.

It certainly never felt lacking when I attacked long climbs such as Mallorca’s famed Sa Calobra. With the shock in ‘open’ mode the effect on comfort is profound. The movement feels refined and progressive, noticeably absorbing the force of sizable impacts.

But beyond just making the ride comfier, it undoubtedly helps reduce fatigue and enhances control too, as my own 10-hour ride around Roubaix demonstrated. I was able to carry more speed on the cobbles, feeling assured that I wasn’t about to get bucked into a ditch.

The shock’s benefits extend beyond the cobbles too. It’s sensitive enough to soak up high-frequency road buzz, and hence I still found plenty to be gained on my local lanes. It’s hard to see a downside when it takes just a fraction of a second to switch the settings on the go.

Comfort at the rear is taken care of by a new, slicker D-sectioned Pavé aero post, replacing the old (and in my opinion rather ugly) C-GR post.

Here too Specialized has managed to balance the conflicting demands of aerodynamics and compliance with enough comfort provided by the post to ensure the bike feels balanced to ride.

The post is clamped 65mm lower down inside the seat tube, resulting in plenty of flex to soak up bumps in the road. Crucially, though, there’s no tangible movement during normal pedalling.

Smooth and fast

Don’t be misled. Just because the new Roubaix has an active suspension system it is not straying into gravel bike territory. Its geometry is too aggressive for that. Besides, there is only clearance for up to 33mm tyres, which limits it in that regard as well.

Compared to its predecessor, this new Roubaix feels a good deal faster. I can’t verify the data, but I’m prepared to believe Specialized when it says this bike is now a match aerodynamically for the Tarmac and faster than the original Venge.

All told, Specialized has taken lessons learned from the old Roubaix, combined them with the best bits of the Venge and Tarmac, and the result has impressed me immensely. In the past I definitely would not have considered myself a Roubaix customer, but now I’d have to reconsider.

Buy the Specialized S-Works Roubaix Di2 from Rutland Cycles for £9,499

Spec

All reviews are fully independent and no payments have been made by companies featured in reviews

First ride review: The all-new Specialized S-Works Roubaix

Stu Bowers

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.

Buy the Specialized Roubaix from Sigma Sports

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 32

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 32

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.

Buy the Specialized Roubaix from Sigma Sports

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 32

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 32

Like what you see? Fancy riding the new Roubaix? Come to the Cyclist Track Days where you will get the chance to ride the world's best bike, including the all-new S-Works Roubaix.

Tickets are available here.

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 32

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.

Buy the Specialized Roubaix from Sigma Sports

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.

All reviews are fully independent and no payments have been made by companies featured in reviews

Manufacturers are becoming so experienced at manipulating the black stuff that they are now able to satisfy seemingly conflicting demands. Need a bike that is stiff one way but flexible in another? No problem. Fancy some aerodynamic efficiency but at a light weight? Sure thing.

However, while sophisticated fabrication can go a long way, brands are increasingly now also choosing to deploy mechanical devices within the frame design to further augment certain characteristics. Most often this is to help boost comfort and is particularly prevalent in endurance road and gravel bikes.

Such designs have taken the form of decoupled seat tubes (Trek Domane) and suspension cartridges in steerer tubes (Specialized Roubaix). Not to be outdone, Rose has built a few engineering tricks into its new Reveal too. 

Buy the Rose Reveal Four from Rose here.

Quiet at the back

The Reveal is Rose’s endurance model, made specifically for long rides in relative comfort, as opposed to its X-Lite model, which is the more race-oriented bike.

To help with that comfort is a black plastic sleeve that houses the seatpost at the top of the seat tube and acts as a dampener between frame and post. The back of the seat tube has been cut away above the seatstays, and so the seatpost is secured down by the junction with the seatstays.

And because the plastic sleeve isn’t structural, the seatpost is free to flex backwards from that point instead of being pinned 100mm higher up where the top tube and seat tube meet.

Longer tubes naturally flex more, so by creating such an extraordinary amount of exposed seatpost without resorting to weird frame geometries, Rose has given the Reveal’s back end an uncanny ability to absorb bumps.

And it works well. During my tests, whether it was the chatter of a rough road surface or the one-off thumps of bigger holes, the rear did a stirling job of dulling the impacts, making the bike a very comfortable place to sit.

The ingenuity of the design doesn’t stop there. The seatpost has 25mm of setback to better promote rearward flex, but the seat tube angle is a steep 74° so the rider isn’t placed too far behind the bottom bracket. The seatpost is also D-shaped in cross-section, with its flat surface at the rear, where more of the post is exposed.

The flat surface encourages rearwards flex, while the rounded front face discourages any rebound forwards, so there was never a time when I felt like I was being pogoed around by the seatpost.

The feature is pretty simple compared to the hi-tech comfort-boosting solutions from other brands, but it’s certainly effective.

Buy the Rose Reveal Four from Rose here.

Similar tactics are at play at the front of the bike. The fork steerer is tapered from 11/2in to 11/8in as you’d expect, however the top headset bearing hasn’t been reduced to accommodate the slimmer tube diameter. Instead Rose has used a second 11/2in bearing.

This has opened up space between the bearing and fork steerer through which, with the help of special spacers, Rose has routed the brake and gear cables into the frame. A second sleeve takes up the remaining space so the steerer fits securely.

It’s another smart move if, as is the case here, weight isn’t top priority. The bigger head tube is heavier, but it also helps to make the frame stiffer and keeps the front end looking clean and free of clutter. I’m convinced the sleeve also helps filter vibrations coming up from the front of the bike too.

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Image 2 of 7

During my test rides, the two comfort-promoting devices created a peculiarly pleasant ride quality in what is otherwise a very stiff frameset. When I was accelerating, I got nothing but race bike sensations in terms of rigidity. Yet those features turned off the vibrations that were surely on their way to my hands and backside like breakers in an electrical circuit.

Cherry on top

Rose has a direct-to-consumer business model similar to Canyon, cutting out the distributor and retailer, meaning its bikes are typically pretty good in terms of value, and at just over £3,220 with Ultegra Di2 Disc, this Rose Reveal is no different.

However, one area I felt the Reveal’s comparatively low retail price was evident was in the wheels. Rose’s own R Thirty Disc wheels are underwhelming in comparison to the frameset and other components, slightly dulling the excitement of the ride by being a little weighty and sluggish.

Still, with the money you’d save buying a Reveal Four Disc compared to an equivalent-quality bike from many other brands, you could still splash out on a wheel upgrade, and in this instance it would most certainly be worth it. After that you’d really be all set to enjoy some long, comfortable miles on a truly accomplished endurance machine.

Alternatively…

Top flight

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Image 6 of 7

For almost double your money, Rose claims its Reveal Six Disc at £5,898.29 (specced with Sram Red eTap AXS) saves around a kilo in weight compared to our test model. Only available in black, though.

No charging required

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Image 7 of 7

Rose’s most affordable Reveal Four Disc saves more than £1,000 over our test bike. The only concession is a swap to Shimano’s mechanical 105 Disc groupset, which is hardly a disadvantage.

Spec

All reviews are fully independent and no payments have been made by companies featured in reviews

There aren’t many bike brands that can trace their ancestry back to the 19th century. Fuji is one of them, having been born in 1899. By the 1920s it was Japan’s biggest bike brand, and nearly a century later (and now Taiwanese-US-owned) it produced its first aero road bike, the Transonic. That was in 2014, and six years further on we have our hands on the new model, which promises to be faster and more versatile.

Compared to the 2014 version, the update is undeniably neater – more angular and pared back. Gone are the curves and teardrop tube profiles, replaced by truncated kamm-tail tube shapes that theoretically offer structural strength advantages alongside more pure speed and better stability in crosswinds.

Integration has moved to the next stage too, with cables concealed at the front and disc brakes and callipers carefully shielded from the wind.

‘We’ve used an integrated carbon “shroud” on the front brake to help smooth airflow over the disc calliper,’ says Mar Vanek, Fuji’s director of product and branding.

The shroud is effectively a section of carbon over the calliper. ‘Similarly, the rear chainstay has a semi-integrated shroud to aid airflow over the rear brake.’

Add in reshaped areas around the bottom bracket and chainrings to smooth the airflow under the rider and the manufacturer believes the resulting aero gains have been sizeable.

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Image 4 of 7

Fuji claims a 28.7% reduction in drag compared to the 2014 version of the bike when the wind is at a 10° angle to the driveside. Admittedly that’s a pretty specific angle, but the company still reckons the bike saves 6.2% in drag overall.

It’s not just a purebred speed-hunting Strava machine, though. One of the most interesting updates has been tyre clearance, which has increased to accept up to 32mm tyres.

That’s wide even by modern aero road bike standards, and makes the Transonic a very versatile beast. This is supported by a slightly higher stack height than before, making it a far cry from the 23mm-tyred, slammed-stem aero bikes of yesteryear.

Lookin’ good

The Transonic looks and feels like a world-class aero bike. Most of the time I spent with it was during the Covid-19 lockdown, and so most of my rides were much shorter than usual.

That was fitting, as the bike lends itself well to short blasts and I enjoyed skipping along at speed on long, flat stretches. What surprised me most, though, was how well it performed when riding over cracked tarmac and rough ground, where it didn’t feel like an aero bike at all.

It was always so smooth it just seemed to cruise. Usually I would put that down to a bike having wide, tubeless tyres, for example, but this bike came specced with 25mm Vittoria Rubino Pros, so the lack of harshness must also be credited to the frame.

The ride felt so assured that I even found myself veering onto gravel tracks, and I could see how this bike would be able to tackle some very challenging trails if fitted with a set of 32mm tyres. It was only when comparing the Fuji to the absolute best bikes out there that I could find flaws.

Buy the Fuji Transonic 2.1 from Wiggle here

During my time with the Transonic I was also testing the new 2021 Giant TCR Advanced SL0, which did highlight some limitations of the Fuji. It lacked the immediate stiffness of the Giant, and the Oval wheelset didn’t quite deliver the quick accelerations of the TCR’s Cadex carbon wheels.

While the Transonic delivered more flat-out speed, it couldn’t match the ultra-sharp descending confidence of top race bikes such as the TCR, Cannondale SuperSix or Specialized Venge.

Similarly, while the Transonic doesn’t feel heavy, its 8kg weight is higher than many competitors and does create a tiny bit of extra drag when climbing and accelerating.

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Image 5 of 7

However, those comparisons are perhaps unfair, as the TCR I tested costs £9,499. By contrast, I have seen this version of the Transonic 2.1 retail in some places for £4,800.

That makes it around half the price of the TCR and also about £400 cheaper than the Trek Madone SL 7, which has an almost identical spec, and considerably cheaper than an equivalently specced Specialized Venge.

With that in mind, as an overall build and package, I think the Transonic holds its own against the best aero bikes at this price range. If I had to pay the full RRP of £5,999, however, I might think twice.

Buy the Fuji Transonic 2.1 from Wiggle here

Ultimately, the most critical thing I can say about the Fuji is that it struggles to stand out in a very competitive market. It fulfils all the requirements of a modern aero bike, but I’m not sure that I could recommend it above the best of its rivals.

Nevertheless, the bike showcases impressive integration and engineering, and some really intelligent approaches to marrying practicality and performance. It’s fast, fun and far more than just an aero bike.

Pick of the kit

dhb Aeron Lab All Winter Polartec jacket, £180

As spring edges into summer, there are few pieces of kit that can navigate the challenges of our unpredictable weather as well as the Aeron Lab All Winter jacket. It’s a technical marvel – incredibly warm in the cold, yet cool when it’s mild – and able to quickly expel body heat during the hardest of efforts, all while offering great breathability and fluffy comfort.

Alternatively…

The top spec

At £7,999 the Fuji Transonic 1.1 comes at an extra cost, but as well as being a better build (it includes Sram Red eTap AXS) it uses higher grade ‘C15’ carbon, meaning the frame comes in under 900g.

Buy the Fuji Transonic 1.1 from Wiggle now

Half the price

The Transonic 2.5, priced at £2,899, will likely prove the most popular in the range. It has the same frame as the 2.1, but the spec compromises with a Shimano 105 groupset and fairly basic alloy wheels.

Buy the Fuji Transonic 2.5 from Wiggle now

Spec

Its shape may be familiar but the Pinarello Gan Disc is the brand’s starter bike albeit with the distinctive looks of the all-conquering Dogma.

Drop down a notch and the Razha’s even more wavy profile and more rounded tube shapes mirror that of Pinarello’s older generation bikes like the Dogma 2. Not that that bike was any slouch, being Bradley Wiggins’s Tour de France winning bike in 2012.

The Gan inherits its shapes from the Dogma F8 – again a Tour winner under Chris Froome in 2015 and 2016. Pinarello has moved on two generations from the F8 now, with the Dogma F10 getting new aero flourishes mirrored in the Prince, the next step up from the Gan.

The current Dogma F12 increased the level of front end integration for, Pinarello says, even better aerodynamics and yet another Team Ineos Tour win in 2019.

Buy the Pinarello Gan K Disk from Hargroves Cycles 

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Image 4 of 12

Asymmetric design

At the forefront of the Gan Disc’s design are the aero tube profiles developed alongside Jaguar and tested in the car maker’s wind tunnel. The FlatBack truncated aerofoil tube profiles explain the frame’s chunky looks.

There’s some sculpting in the top tube and the head tube has a frontal prominence to help cut through the wind. Those wave forks with their deep section integrate into the front of the frame and bow out bandy-legged from the crown to reduce aerodynamic interference with the front wheel.

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Image 8 of 12

The Gan Disc inherits the Dogma’s asymmetry too. It’s not too obvious until you take a closer look, but the chainstays and seatstays have very different shapes and thicknesses left and right, to cope with the differential forces on the rear triangle from the drivetrain and brakes. They meet in an elegant, slim bridge that melds smoothly into the seat tube.

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Image 5 of 12

As you’d expect, the Gan Disc is made from lower spec carbon fibre than Pinarello’s pricier bikes – in this case Torayca T600. That ups the weight over pricier machines, particularly when building more complex aero frame elements like the Gan Disc’s.

With a bike weight pushing 9kg, that’s something you notice when the road heads up – fortunately the 50/34 chainset and 11-30 cassette give you the gear range to compensate.

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Image 11 of 12

A bumpy ride

When I’ve ridden Dogmas, I’ve always been impressed by how lightly they wear their superbike credentials. Despite being fast, they’re just about compliant enough that you don’t feel beaten up after longer rides. Even after four hours in the saddle, I was ready for another three hour ride the next day the last time I rode a Dogma F12.

Buy the Pinarello Gan K Disk from Hargroves Cycles 

Pinarello’s bikes are built for speed, something that has trickled down to the Gan. It feels properly stiff, with good power transfer meaning that you can make pretty rapid progress on flat roads. Its aero features make for a fast ride feel and it’s very planted and assured on rapid descents.

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Image 9 of 12

But the chunky aero carbon seatpost transmits quite a lot of road buzz through to the Pinarello own brand Most Lynx Aircross saddle. That’s a shorter design at 245mm long and has fairly minimal padding and a large central cut-out. I found it didn't really suit my anatomy so it wasn't the most comfortable place to spend long hours.

In contrast, I found the front end of the Gan Disc pretty compliant. There’s a Most-branded stem and bars with the teardrop shaped carbon headset spacers adding an aero flourish.

The Most Jaguar XA bars have broadened tops. Whether they contribute much to aerodynamics is moot, but they do lead to a comfortable hold and better pressure distribution to the palms of the hands than a round section.

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Image 2 of 12

A sub-par spec

Pinarellos don’t come cheap – witness the Dogma F12’s £10,000-plus price tag. But even so, the Gan Disc must be one of the only Shimano 105-equipped bikes to command a £3,000 sticker price – most brands will offer you Ultegra or better when you’re spending this much.

Shimano 105 is very good and does the same things as Ultegra, but it’s not quite its match in shifting quality and you’re adding around 200g additional weight to the bike too.

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Image 3 of 12

But it’s not so much the groupset as the wheels that let the side down. You can buy a set of Mavic Aksium Disc wheels off the shelf for £245 and they’re a bit of a disappointment in a bike at this price.

They’re a perfectly serviceable pair of wheels for winter use and Mavic’s wheels have a reputation for durability. But there’s no pretension of aerodynamics to the low profile rims, and their 1,900g weight along and the narrow 17mm internal width just don’t complement the aero design and racing bent of the rest of the bike.

The Vittoria Zaffiro Pro Graphene 2.0 tyres come out pretty much exactly at 25mm wide on the Mavic rims. That looks oddly narrow nowadays, with tyre widths trending upwards and even nominally 25mm tyres pushing closer to 28mm on wider rims. Again, they’re serviceable but a bit low budget.

Swapping to deeper section aero wheels with wider internal dimensions helps with ride quality, comfort and speed and matches the rest of the bike much better too. A set of Fulcrum Wind 40 DB tubeless wheels really brought out the Gan Disc’s strengths as a fast aero racer and made for a more comfortable and even ride too, with the lower tubeless tyre pressure and wider section, even with nominally 25mm tyres, helping to smooth out the road.

But an aero carbon wheelset is going to add around £1,000 to the Gan Disc’s price tag, putting it in the same league as some excellent aero competition, like the Cannondale SystemSix and the Trek Madone, which will often already come with a serviceable deep section wheelset.

And that’s where the Gan Disc feels a bit left behind. Being based on a five-year-old frame design, it’s missing out on the latest road bike trends. You can fit 25mm wide tyres in the frame, even on more modern, wider rims, but anything wider would be a push; Pinarello says 25mm is its maximum.

Buy the Pinarello Gan K Disk from Hargroves Cycles 

In contrast, most disc brake framesets, even the Dogma F12, are now built for at least 28mm tyres. That gives you a more comfortable ride – a major consideration for UK-based riders.

If you simply must have a Pinarello, the Gan Disc satisfies that need for the least outlay. But you’d be better off pushing the boat out and heading up the range to get the proper Pinarello race winning feel to your ride, or looking at newer, higher specced aero machines from the competition.

Spec

The first bikes to ever roll off a production line were made of steel. It’s the material that kick-started the industrial revolution and gave birth to the modern age. But in an era of space travel and smartphones, why would you want a bike made from anything other than carbon fibre?

Perhaps because in some ways the ride of a steel bike just can’t be matched by any modern material, however wondrous the technology or marketing pitch.

Steel bikes tend to be strong, comfy, resistant to damage and, with care, will last a lifetime. And although you’re unlikely to see one at the Tour de France, steel can also still form the heart of a proper racing bike. Here are some of our favourites...

Best steel road bikes

1. Condor Super Acciaio Disc

Made in Italy from custom Columbus Spirit HSS tubing, the Super Acciaio has been created by venerable London bike sellers Condor Cycles. Left to be made up to your own design, not only does it look fast, in most builds it's legitimately race-ready.

At 2.1kg for the frame, that’s light for steel, yet double what you’d get for carbon. However, those extra grams have been put to good use.

Out of the stalls, the Super Acciaio has the feeling of an excited buck rather than a stately mare, and on the climbs the extra weight is mostly unapparent thanks to the front and rear stiffness on offer. Even when facing the steepest gradients, we'd happily accept the slight extra drag for the way the Acciaio descends.

If the Acciaio has one standout strength, it’s handling. At low speeds it’s fine, but when the road plummets the handling becomes more responsive, with the overall feel of road-holding that much more assured. With a carbon fork offsetting some weight, bolt-thru axles on both this and the frame no doubt help impart its excellent manners.

Available only as a custom-build, our mechanical Ultergra and Mavic Cosmic Carbon equipped creation came out at £5,500 and 8.65kg.

Verdict: A dashing all-rounder, with a racing bent. The classic looking Super Acciaio is quick enough to compete on but still well-mannered enough to ride all day

Read our full review here

Buy the frameset now from Condor for £1,900

2. Cinelli Vigorelli Disc

A proper scrappy little fighter of a bike. Years back Cinelli took its Vigorelli fixed-gear criterium bike and transformed it into an 11-speed road racer. Retaining the low bottom bracket drop required for continuous pedalling through corners and whiplash manners, it’s purposeful, and then some.

Made of light Columbus Thron tubing, this is paired to a Columbus Futura carbon fork. Classic to look at, you still get all the best modern features, like bolt-thru axles and a tapered head tube.

With a broad seatpost and minimalist clearance for tyres up to 28c, the overall emphasis is on speed and handling, although longer rides are possible with a little flexibility on the part of the rider.

Done up in metallic paint with chrome decals, its gorgeous to look at, while the cabling is a mix of internal (brakes) and external (gears), which will suit home mechanics.

With a Shimano 105 groupset paired to an FSA compact chainset, gears and brakes are spot-on, while the Vision Team 30 wheels are decently quick.

Verdict: Performance steel with pedigree. Evolved from a pure-bred racer, handling is the Vigorelli's forte

Buy now from Tredz for £2,050

3. Ribble Endurance 725 Disc

The Ribble Endurance 725 takes its name from the material it’s made of: Reynolds 725 triple-butted steel. Combine with the first part of its title, you’ll be unsurprised to discover it’s an endurance-focussed steel bike from Lancashire firm Ribble.

Less retro than it first appears, the Endurance 725 features modern bolt-through axles and a carbon fork. Add to these steady handling and space for big tyres, and it'll happily take a stab at anything from sportives and club runs, to touring or winter training.

Given this versatility, it’s especially welcome to discover that mudguards and racks can be added at the order stage, while gearing and finishing kit can be similarly tweaked via the website, meaning the bike will arrive built exactly as you want it.

Available at various price-points, this mid-range version packs in a full Shimano 105 hydraulic groupset and Mavic Aksium wheels. At £1,399, it’s outrageously cheap.

Verdict: Tough, comfy and cool looking, the customisable Endurance 725 is versatile and exceptional value

Buy now from Ribble from £1,399

4. Genesis Equilibrium Disc

Genesis is chasing the sportive dollar with this steel stunner, claiming the Equilibrium Disc offers all-day comfort with a carbon fork that lets you eat up the miles.

On the face of it, these attributes, allied to a 105 groupset and decent tyres, are a recipe for success.

Featuring a pronounced sloping top tube, the frame itself is constructed of Reynolds 725 tubing and butted to create strength where it’s needed and save weight where it’s not. Aiming to provide all-day comfort, a slack head angle gives a predictable rate of turn-in and contributes to a sensation of being utterly planted to the road at all times.

Although it’s not a touring bike, with mounts and multi-terrain capable 30c tyres it can do a decent impression of one if that’s what you want. Wherever you take it, with the recently upgraded bolt-thru axles the bike will hold to whatever course you point it down.

With a full Shimano 105 groupset and hydraulic brakes, shifting and stopping is also uber-reliable. And with a compact chainset and 11-30t cassette, it’s got a good range of ratios too.

Verdict: A touch over 10kg, there’s no getting away from the Equilibrium’s weight. The price is also perhaps a little premium. However, lovey to look at and charming to ride, it more than justifies its place on our list

Read our full review here

Buy now from Tredz for £2,200

5. Mason Resolution 2

Part of the joy of a steel bike is its timelessness. Now with bolt-thru axles and flat mount discs, but the same dialled-in geometry, version two of the Resolution has proved exactly that.

Racy to behold, the UK-designed Resolution nevertheless marketed as a four-season bike. How so? Because with the right accessories it can turn its hand to pretty much any road-based discipline.

Hidden all over the Columbus steel-tubed frame and carbon fork are a plethora of tucked-away bosses to secure mudguards and pannier racks. At a glance, you wouldn’t notice them, but check the inside of the fork legs or at the back of the chainstay bridge and you’ll find bolt holes ready to accept the necessary mounts to turn the Resolution into anything from winter hack to full-on touring rig.

Clearances are generous, with space for up to 35c tyres (30c with mudguards), suggesting the Resolution wouldn’t mind a spot of gravel riding to boot, yet strip it back to its bare essentials and the geometry is just about racy enough for someone who wants to mix it on a crit circuit.

Verdict: Delivers on the promise of a racy steel bike. All the bike you’re likely to ever need, it’ll adapt to your whims, yet never threatens to be anything other than a blast to ride

Read our full review here

Buy now from Mason from £1,595 (frameset) 

Since carbon became the sole material from which to make a competitive racing bike, steel has forged a second life for itself.

However, if steel is vinyl, outmoded but charming, then aluminium has risked becoming an eight-track cassette tape – an unloved evolutionary stepping-stone doomed to the charity shop of history.

It wasn’t always so. For around a decade from the mid-90s to the early-2000s, aluminium was the material of choice, with Miguel Indurain winning the Tour de France aboard an aluminium Pinarello for the first time in 1995.

However, with Lance Armstrong'winning' on a carbon Trek OCLV Madone only three years later, aluminium has often since found itself consigned to brands' entry-level machines.

Despite this, it’s now enjoying a revival, with new manufacturing methods once again making it a viable choice for race-winning bikes. Aluminium is potentially stiff, zippy and very light, so should you fancy seeing what the fuss is about we’ve rounded up seven lust-worthy bikes that prove aluminium is still a great material to make a bike from.

Best aluminium road bikes

Trek Émonda ALR 5

That a company as large as Trek would bother to create an aluminium bike as nice as this proves there’s life left in the genre yet. Looking for all the world like a carbon bike, a serious amount of effort has gone into hydroforming each tube.

This has been helped along by something Trek calls ‘invisible weld’ technology. Chuck on a full 2x11 Shimano 105 drivetrain and hydraulic brakes and we reckon riders will be on to a winner.

There's bolt-thru axles and flat mount fittings, and even room for a dedicated computer sensor buried inside one of the seat stays.

Sharing the endurance geometry of the rest of the line, the Émonda ALR 5 is also available as a frameset which comes in a rather lovely metallic purple.

Read our full review here

Buy now from Trek for £1,775

Condor Italia RC Disc

London cycling stalwart Condor produces its range in Italy. The race-oriented Italia RC is a legitimately fast bike with a moderate price tag, ideal for regular racing and fast training.

Featuring an asymmetric down tube with a flattened profile to resist twisting it should be happy to get thrown about.

Formerly eschewing anything as crassly modern as disc brakes or bolt-thru axles, this latest version sports both. Thankfully, done up in deep two-tone blue, it’s still gorgeous to look at.

Coming as frame-only, Condor will help build the bike up to match your requirements, and can also call on the experience of its in-house fitters to get it spot on.

Buy now from Condor for £1,200 

Kinesis Aithein EVO Disc

British based Kinesis has been working with factories to produce top-end aluminium frames for decades. The result of its accumulated knowledge is the very speedy Aithein.

An ideal privateer racer, its fast geometry is well suited to the knockabout world of criterium events. With competition-ready stiffness, it’s still just about forgiving enough for longer rides thanks to thin seat stays.

Recently updated, this disc version now features flat-mount brake fittings and 12mm thru-axles. With internal gear cable routing and space for 28c tyres, it’s very definitely still a racer’s bike. Available as a frameset only, it’s ready to be built up any way you see fit. 

Buy now as a frameset from Probikekit for £780

Cannondale CAAD13 Ultegra

Cannondale was famous during the '90s for its slinky looking CAAD frames, which are still objects of lust for a particular vein of bike nerd. The new CAAD13, however, is likely to have wider modern-day appeal.

Weighing a scant 8.2kg for the complete bike, it’s lighter than many carbon competitors while its ultra-thin tubing also provides a ride far smoother than you’d imagine possible.

Although there’s a disc-equipped Shimano 105 version available for the same price, we think this conventional calliper Ultergra version is the go-to choice for aspiring racers.

While you won’t get bolt-thru axles or disc stopping, you will get low weight and racing manners. Combined with fast Fulcrum Racing wheels, a pro-compact chainset and aggressive geometry, the CAAD 13 remains living proof that aluminium can still more than match carbon.

Buy now from Cannondale for £4,800

Specialized Allez Sprint Comp

In 2015 Specialized created a limited edition aluminium S-Works Allez. Partly conceived as a method of experimenting with advanced welding techniques that could then be trickled down to its mass-market machines, its unique construction still informs many of the production methods used across the brand’s range of alloy bikes.

While this rare beast has now been retired, its spirit lives on in the disc-equipped Allez Sprint. A cheap and furious racer, it combines a flat aero sculpted seat tube and matching carbon post with a head-down racing position. All considered, it’s a set of fast wheels away from a podium finish.

Buy now from Evans for £1,900

Bowman Palace 3 Disc

Based in London, Bowman makes a small range comprising three unique bikes: the year-round stainless steel Layhams, the chunky tyre and disc-equipped Pilgrim, and this aluminium racer, the Palace.

Named after South London's famous Crystal Palace criterium races, it is now onto its third iteration. Always a snappy handler, this has seen the addition of disc brakes and blot-thru axles.

Keeping things simple at the heart of the bike is a reliable threaded bottom bracket, while cabling and ports for electronic groupsets have also been tidied up.

Buy now as a frameset from Bowman for £705

Canyon Endurace AL Disc 8.0

That the Endurace AL’s Ultegra groupset retails for £1,099 should give you some clue as to how good value a bike this is. Bolted to a long-distance optimised frame, it’s part of a build with nothing by way of weak links.

Done up in matt black or speedy red and neatly accommodating the usual cables and flat-mount brake callipers its chassis is great looking too, with long chainstays that aim to impart stability and thin seat stays to help smooth over rough surfaces.

The wheels are similarly well-featured Mavic Aksium Elite models. Coming fitted with Yksion Elite tyres, both are ready to make the switch to tubeless.

Buy now from Canyon for £1,469

‘As we have continually tried to stuff bigger tyres into our race bikes and at the same time streamline our gravel bikes, a new kind of bike has been born’ – and that bike is the Cervélo Caledonia, according to the brand.

At its heart the Caledonia is still a race-level bike, Cervélo says, in terms of the stiffness and aero credentials too, but beyond that its versatility has been extended with provision for up to 34mm tyres, a proprietary full-mudguard system, plus geometry that’s been tweaked to offer greater stability and slightly less aggressive handling.

‘You could call it an “all-road” or “endurance” bike, but when it comes right down to it, the Caledonia is simply the bike for the modern rider,' Cervélo says.

‘It’s the bike we’d want to reach for when we know the odometer will go past the triple digit mark and when we know those longer rides will invariably have a mix of smooth tarmac, rough backroads, maybe a singletrack or gravel section or just cutting across park grass. We built a bike that could take on all of them.’

In light of this, Cervélo is moving away from using its letter and number system for identifying its bikes, and instead will begin grouping them by ‘ride purpose’. The Caledonia, then, comes under ‘Modern Road’.

Other subcategories going forward will be Aero, Classic Road, Gravel and Triathlon/Time Trial.

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Image 6 of 28

What’s in a name?

Why Caledonia? This will be the last bike Cervélo designs at its Canadian headquarters in Toronto, before moving its base to Orange County in California.

Caledonia, then, is in honour of the Caledonia Road; the name of the main street that Cervélo’s staff sprint down at the end of every Thursday night group ride, a notoriously poorly kept stretch of potholed and cracked tarmac.

New old build

Cervélo says it has applied the knowledge gained from its extensive library of tube shapes to create what it describes in a nutshell as, ‘a race bike that excels on variable road surfaces, striking a balance between durability, weight and aerodynamics.’

But the inspiration for this new bike actually harks back nearly a decade to 2011, when Johan Vansummeren rode to victory at the 2011 Paris-Roubaix on a bike Cervélo created specifically to give its sponsored pro riders (then Garmin-Cervélo) an advantage over the cobbles. It was called the R3 Mud.

The R3 Mud had – you’ve guessed it – clearance for wide (then 32mm) tyres and a geometry that delivered more stability and comfort over rough surfaces.

The difference back in 2011 was there was no market for that style or genre of bike. But undeniably there is now, especially since the arrival of disc brakes too.

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Image 9 of 28

Cervélo Caledonia: The details

Aero has always been Cervélo’s strong suit and as such upfront is a clean and refined cockpit, incorporating what Cervélo calls Aero Cable Management (only on the Caledonia-5 models) where all cables and hoses run completely hidden inside the bar, stem and into the head tube.

It is however a straightforward two-piece design, and with split spacers too, which means any maintenance, component swaps or packing for travel will be much simpler.

For fit adjustment, the headset top cap comes in two heights (both supplied) for easy stack adjustment and Cervélo says there is sufficient range in the front end height to be as slammed as the most aggressive R3 but yet taller (if necessary) than the current endurance C3.

Few would bet against Cervélo’s tried and tested tube shapes, something which it says it has pulled upon in the development of this new frame.

As such the Caledonia-5’s tube shapes bear all the hallmarks of the brand’s previous learning through both the development of its renowned aero S models and its more all-round GC contenders, the R series.

Frame weight is a claimed 936g (painted) with a fork weight of 370g for the top end Caledonia-5 models (see spec and pricing details below).

The second tier frame – simply called Caledonia – has a claimed weight of 1031g for the frame and 432g for the fork.

A more flexible seat post lay-up is the only real nod towards comfort-enhancing aspects of the frame, Cervélo openly saying it simply didn’t wish to move into the realms of moving parts with elastomers or pivots and the like.

The bulk of the work in the comfort department then is simply going to come from the ability to fit such large volume tyres. Even with full mudguards fitted – for which Cervelo is launching its own proprietary product for this bike later in the season – there is still ample space, it says, for a 32mm tyre.

Those geometry adjustments mentioned earlier include a longer rear centre (415mm chainstays*), lower bottom bracket height (74mm BB drop), slacker head tube angle (72°*) and more fork offset (50mm*).
*(data quoted from size 56cm)

The result is a longer wheelbase and an overall slower handling feel – ultimately a more stable machine – something that Cervélo says is of benefit even for pros. ‘If they’re more comfortable, they’ll be more confident, and they’ll race faster’, is the brand’s suggestion.

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Image 2 of 28

Real-world riding

Away from the pro scene there are some nice real-world touches.

Integrated accessory mounts include a neat rear light mount at the top of the seat post (built into the saddle rail clamp) plus a neat solution for computer mounting out front of the handlebars.

The front derailleur mount is removable (with a blanking plate supplied) which also opens up the possibility to run 1x groupsets if you so desire, with a seamless look.

Cervélo Caledonia: The options

Two levels of Caledonia frame will be available

Caledonia-5: the top level offering

• Completely internal cable and hose routing
• Integrated stem cap & split spacers
• 34mm tyre clearance
• Hidden mudguard mounts
• 936g frame, 370g fork (claimed weights)

Five models plus frameset only, as follows:

• Caledonia-5 Dura Ace Di2 £9.699
• Caledonia-5 Red eTap AXS £9.299
• Caledonia-5 Force eTap AXS £6.399
• Caledonia-5 Ultegra Di2 £5.799
• Caledonia-5 Ultegra £5.299
• Caledonia-5 Frameset £3.999

Caledonia: a slightly lower spec frame with less integration

• Round bar, post, and stem
• Top tube Bento box mount
• Hidden mudguard mounts
• 34mm tyre clearance
• 1031g frame, 432g fork (claimed weights)

Three models as follows:

• Caledonia Ultegra Di2 £4.199
• Caledonia Ultegra £3.399
• Caledonia 105 £2.799

Size range for all models: 48-61cm

The Caledonia range will be available from Cervélo dealers and online here 

‘Our sponsored pros used to have to choose on race day whether to ride the aero race bike (Venge) or the lighter climber/GC bike (Tarmac). But we don’t need to make those choices anymore. With the new Specialized Tarmac SL7 it is now possible to deliver the fastest bike in the peloton but right at the UCI minimum weight limit,' says Specialized Product manager, Cameron Piper.

Hello Tarmac SL7, goodbye Venge

Specialized, then, has merged its two top-tier race bikes into one, launching the Specialized Tarmac SL7 as the convergence of all the learning made across both the Venge and Tarmac platforms over the past decade – something we speculated on in our review of the Venge Pro.

And while both bikes have individually been on their own epic journeys to bring them to this point in time, each enjoying many key successes on the world stage, it’s the longer standing and iconic Tarmac that’s won out with regards to the naming rights for this all new bike.

The Tarmac began life in 2002 as a half-alloy-half-carbon frame, then called the Tarmac E5, which Mario Cipollini brought into the limelight by winning both Milan-San Remo and the World Championships Road Race on it in that year.

In the 18 years that have followed it’s been across the finish line first in multiple World Championships, one-day Classics, Grand Tour stages and even Olympic Games road races, making it the ‘winningest’ road bike of the modern era.

Meanwhile the Venge only started life in 2011, initially a project for which Specialized collaborated with Mclaren F1, to create a road race bike so fast as to be a step change for the bike industry.

In almost a carbon copy of the Tarmac’s entrance onto the world stage, the Venge also won both Milan-San Remo, with Matt Goss, and the World Championships Road Race, with Mark Cavendish, in its launch year.

The two bikes grew apart in terms of their respective goals for a while; the Venge solely aero-focussed, culminating in the Venge Vias of 2015 – the first bike Specialized developed entirely in its own wind-tunnel, claimed to be a full 2 minutes faster over 40km than the more lightweight, GC-focussed Tarmac of that time, the SL4.

But by 2017 things were already starting to turn a corner and the Venge and Tarmac were beginning to look like much more similar beasts.

The Tarmac SL6 was still lighter with improved ride quality and handling, but it was showing a number of aero traits borrowed from the Venge. Concurrently the 2018 Venge, whilst still notably faster aerodynamically, had started to shed a lot of weight, and gain a more agreeable all-round ride quality.

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Image 16 of 43

It was perhaps almost an inevitability, then, we would end up here, with these two bikes finally becoming one, as Specialized's Piper says, ‘The engineering has just caught up, we can build an 800g frame with no sacrifice to stiffness or ride quality and also now 45 seconds faster [than the Tarmac SL6] over 40km [measured in the wind-tunnel at 50kmh].’

If we were to nitpick, the Specialized Tarmac SL7 is still a fraction (2.5 watts) behind the Venge considering aero data alone, but the point Piper is keen to hammer home is that as an overall package that pales into insignificance considering the low weight and handling characteristics Specialized claims to have achieved for this bike, to make it as capable in a mountain stage as on the flat.

Specialized Tarmac SL7 first ride review: is it really good enough to kiss goodbye to the Venge?

Watch – The new Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7: Explainer and first ride review

Matter of Fact(s)

The top of the line S-Works frame of the new Tarmac SL7, constructed from Specialized’s highest grade Fact 12r carbon, weighs a claimed 800g, equating to a complete bike weight of 6.7kg* straight out of the box.
*top of the range models: Dura-Ace Di2 or Sram Red eTap AXS.

‘This is the new shape of speed’, says Piper. ‘Refined tube shapes where they matter most – the fork blades and head tube especially, but never forgetting about weight and ride quality throughout. We’ve literally spent years examining every possible iteration.’

While we are on the subject of tube shapes; Specialized uses what it calls Rider First engineering, to ensure every size of rider gets all the same ride qualities and benefits as all frame sizes are tailored to deliver equal ride characteristics.

There are also no longer gender-specific models, as Specialized says the research it has from many thousands of bike fits (especially since it acquired the bikefitting brand, Retul) shows the variations between gender does not require a specific geometry, just correct sizing and bike setup.

To reach that destination of being 45 seconds faster than the SL6 over 40km, Piper says Specialized couldn’t have achieved it without the systematic approach to component integration it is able to employ by designing so much of the bike itself (only the drivetrain is not made in-house) and having its own wind-tunnel within its Morgan Hill facility.

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Image 3 of 43

At the forefront of that (literally) is the new Aerofly 2 handlebar and stem. A redesign of the handlebar fitted to the 2018 Venge, the Aerofly 2, Specialized says, has improved cable routing for more practicality, plus it's a simple two-piece design to allow easy component swaps and simple bike packing for travel, while still offering significant aero gains.

Specialized will ship the S-Works models with its own top end rubber – the Turbo 320tpi 26mm tyres – which according to its testing are the most aerodynamic tyre width in conjunction with the new wheelset.

The new Specialized Tarmac SL7 frame offers clearance for up to a 32mm tyre, still with a margin of 4mm clearance.

The new wheels are, as expected, from in-house brand Roval and are bang up to date with modern thinking for fast hoops. The Rapide CLX wheels are asymmetric, with a 60mm rear wheel rim depth paired with a 51mm front rim depth. Both have a bulbous 35mm external width and measure 21mm internal.

Very interestingly, though, the new wheelset is not tubeless compatible. That’s surprising, first because Specialized already has its own range of tubeless tyres, but also because this technology brings proven benefits to rolling resistance and comfort over a standard clincher tyre.

Some other neat component integration worthy of note is the cleverly placed Di2 junction box in the rear of the top of the seat post. Note: A seat post without this is supplied with non Shimano Di2 bikes.

Also Specilaized’s Power Pods, incorporated into the Shimano Dura Ace cranks, are neat, made in collaboration with 4iiii, and provide dual-sided power data, at a very minimal weight.

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Image 19 of 43

Specialized Tarmac SL7: Models and pricing

Specialized Tarmac SL7 Expert: £4,750  
Specialized Tarmac SL7 Expert Ultegra Di2: £4,750  
Specialized Tarmac SL7 Pro Ultegra Di2: £6,250  
Specialized Tarmac SL7 Pro 1x Sram Force eTap AXS: £6,500  

Note: the Expert and Pro level frames use Specialized’s lower grade Fact 10r carbon but are just 120g heavier (920g vs 800g for the frame). Specialized insists all the other traits – aero performance, ride quality and so on – from the top end models are retained.

Specialized Tarmac SL7 S-Works Sram Red eTap AXS: £10,500  
Specialized Tarmac SL7 S-Works Dura Ace Di2: £10,500  
Specialized Tarmac SL7 S-Works Frameset: £3,750  

The Venge will cease to exist as a complete bike option, although it will still be possible to buy it as a frameset only, should you still be keen to own one.

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Image 26 of 43

Crucially, though, the Specialized Tarmac SL6 will still exist, but at the lower tier pricing. That does mean you can potentially now own a bike that has a proven WorldTour racing pedigree, from as little as £2,500.

Specialized Tarmac SL6 Sport: £2,500  
Specialized Tarmac SL6 Comp: £3,200

We are not going to have to wait long to see the new Specialized Tarmac SL7 in action. Look out for its sponsored teams – Bora-Hansgrohe and Deceuninck-QuickStep – competing on it once racing resumes with the Strade Bianche on 1st August.

Having ridden and tested all the various iterations of both Specialized Tarmac and Venge over the years, I can say that I did indeed get that sense of the unification of those two bikes in the Specialized Tarmac SL7.

For me there was a pleasing amount of familiarity about it, like going back to my mum and dad’s house for Sunday dinner, but with the meal that I was served up having in fact been created by a team of Michelin-starred chefs. Because what Specialized has dished up here is unmistakably a truly polished and distinguished product, that exudes class on the road.

Watch – The new Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7: Explainer and first ride review

The Specialized Tarmac SL7's stiffness is immediately apparent. Sprinting away from a standing start or attacking a steep incline full-gas, both the frame and wheels stood resolutely firm and with a solidity that undeniably delivered results in terms of forward propulsion.

So too that rigidity throughout, combined with the low weight, afforded the SL7 an agile feel. Something that I will always remember fondly about the SL6 is what I would describe as its very agreeable handling and thankfully that has been maintained in SL7.

As I have found often in the past, testing in the real world makes it hard to see with certainty the additional speed Specialized is claiming the new Tarmac SL7 offers over the SL6. Being 45 seconds faster over 40km (measured at a speed of 50kmh) is not something I can replicate, short of building my own wind-tunnel.

So to corroborate Specialized’s claims I simply refer to a number of set training loops that I ride regularly, for which I have many years of data to serve as my benchmark when I’m testing a bike. Straight off the bat the Specialized Tarmac SL7 impressed.

I was able to hold impressive speeds on the flat and rolling sections while climbing on the Tarmac SL7 felt equally adept, such that my overall times were right up there with some of my fastest ever, and I might add, this was at a point in time where I’m a good way off my best form.

I find it curious that the latest wheels from Specialized’s in-house brand, Roval, are not tubeless compatible, as I think this tyre technology brings multiple benefits. When I challenged product manager, Cameron Piper, about this he told me the priority was getting the fastest rim shape and that it had not been possible to achieve that with a tubeless compatible rim bed, at the time of this launch.

Putting tubeless aside, I’ll still be interested to test the Specialized Tarmac SL7 with some wider tyres. The 26mm Turbo 320tpi tyres that came fitted sit well within the overall width (35mm) of the rims, which as an aside appears a little odd when looking down from above as you ride (something that was first seen employed by Cannondale when it launched its System Six aero bike with its own Knot wheels).

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Image 2 of 43

While Specialized suggests 26mm as the optimal tyre width for aerodynamics, personally I feel like I would rather afford the bike a touch more comfort with 28mm tyres.

Furthermore, it seems odd too that Specialized has chosen not to borrow the seat post technology from its highly regarded Roubaix, where the post is clamped much further down the seat tube, to allow more vertical compliance from the seat post itself.

That’s not to say I found the Specialized Tarmac SL7 a jarring ride. It’s definitely not anywhere near as harsh as the original Venge or Venge Vias, and let’s not forget it’s aerodynamically faster than both of those models, so Specialized deserves credit for the achievements it’s made in moving ever closer to that holy grail of having the speed without the sacrifices that used to have to be accepted in comfort and handling.

Keep an eye out on Cyclist.co.uk for a full indepth review in due course, once I’ve had some more time to get to know the new Specialized Tarmac SL7.

We live in a confused era for the road bike. Categories now overlap so much that an aero bike can be a climber’s bike, an endurance bike can be sprinter’s bike and almost any bike can be a gravel bike.

But there are some bikes that really push the boundaries of what it means to be a road bike – and none more so than the Open UPPER.

The UPPER tested here is few years old in spec terms, having been a review sample back in Cyclist magazine back in 2017. The frame, however, remains identical.

The UPPER is the creation of former Cervélo co-founder Gerard Vroomen. We've previously reviewed its older sibling, the UP, a bike that introduced the concept of multiple wheel size options, all the while fitting within the same performance geometry. The UPPER similarly fits 2.1" tryes on a 650b rim, or 40mm tyres on a normal road-orientated 700c rim.

Since the UP and UPPER we've also seen the Open Wi.DE, which has pushed clearance even further to 61mm tyres on a 650b rim, as well as the more road orientated Open MIND come out of Vroomen's workshop.

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Image 6 of 8

When we reviewed the UP, it came specced with smaller-than-normal 650b wheels and chunky mountain bike tyres for riding off-road, but they could 
be switched for standard 700c wheels for road riding.

That versatility is still present on the latest model, but where the Open UP was the rough and tough first-born, the UPPER is the overachieving younger sibling. 
It’s lighter and more refined, coming in at only 850g for the frame. That’s an impressive weight for a disc brake bike, especially one intended for the rough and tumble of trail riding.

‘Test, test, test and then test,’ says Open owner Vroomen when I ask how he made the UPPER capable of handling harsh terrain beyond the tarmac. ‘It’s all in the lay-up. It comes down to a combination of materials, direction of the fibre and the number of plies,’ he adds, careful not to give his proprietary secrets away.

Vroomen knows a thing or two about carbon composites. When he founded Cervélo in Canada with Phil White back in 1995, the two had already hand-built their own concept carbon superbike.

‘We use slightly more exotic materials [types of carbon fibre] in some critical parts of the UPPER, and the number of pieces is higher and the shapes are more complex,‘ he says.

‘It’s not all about high modulus, though – in the tube joins in general you have more lower modulus fibres but higher strength materials, especially around the head tube where you have those big impacts. I mean, it’s more complex than that, but that’s the basics.’

Open road

The UPPER looks like an aggressive road bike, both in silhouette and on its geometry sheet, so much so that 
I began to question its off-road credentials. That’s very much part of Vroomen’s design intention, though.

‘I could go on about this topic for hours,’ he says. ‘A lot of people will equate a slack head tube with stability off road, which isn’t necessarily true. The steeper your head tube is, and the shorter your trail is, the less of a lever all these rocks have to push your wheel to the side.’

Putting Vroomen’s theory to the test, I took the UPPER onto some of the more technical trails near my home in Surrey. Many would have been made easier with the alternative 650b spec wheels, but with the 29er Enve M50s and 40mm gravel tyres I felt confident riding steep, obstacle-filled forest tracks.

The larger wheels actually helped to iron out smaller lumps in the trails, and kept 
it feeling and looking a little more like a road bike.

One upgrade I might consider would be a dropper seatpost to make for more control on harder descents (something Specialized has done with its S-Works Diverge), but then the question arises over whether I should just go the whole hog and get a mountain bike.

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Image 2 of 8

Vroomen answers that by saying, ‘You know, I’ve sold people road bikes, TT bikes, gravel bikes and mountain bikes. More people come back to me saying, “I’m having so much fun on this bike,” with the GravelPlus bikes [such as the UPPER] than any other. People live in real towns and cities and so the first 10 miles of your ride 
is on asphalt, then you get to something more fun. But those first 10 miles would suck on a mountain bike.’

Sure enough, that was my exact experience of riding this bike.

Off the grid

While testing the UPPER, my routine would be to ride out of town on suburban roads, where the bike would happily chip along at 35kmh. Once in the countryside, I’d search for trails and the fun would begin.

I found tracks I never knew existed – I wasn’t aware there’s an 11% gravel bridleway that climbs Box Hill from the start to finish of the normal road climb. As the terrain became tougher I would gradually drop the pressure in my tyres until I was riding with a psi in the low 20s.

Afterwards I’d pump them back up to around 60psi so I could happily join the signpost sprints on the return leg.

The UPPER proved itself to be as good as any disc brake endurance road bike in terms of handling, stiffness and weight with 28mm tyres. It’s slightly more geared to the road than the Up in this sense, aided by the lower 
weight and more rigid feel.

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Image 1 of 8

At a £1,500 price increase over the Up, the UPPER represents quite a premium for 250g of difference. It does also have some minor foibles as a pure road bike, largely in terms of comfort, as surprising as that may seem given its off-road capability.

This is a much stiffer bike than most people would expect, and I wouldn’t want to take it on a long road ride on less than 28mm tyres.

This seems to be a well calculated trade-off for Vroomen, though, delivering a more robust and responsive feel when the tyres are bulkier, and ultimately no one is suggesting it should be run on 23mm tyres.

Open bikes represent a niche within a niche – what Vroomen terms GravelPlus. Where the Wi.De is at the off-road end of that niche, the UPPER is more at the road end. It remains to be seen whether this is the future of road bikes or a fad that will be seen as an oddity in years to come, but having ridden the UPPER for a few months, 
I find myself championing this direction.

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Image 5 of 8

It’s just so much fun. We can now not only enjoy great speed and handling, low weight and stiffness, but our rides don’t have to stop where the tarmac does.

My lasting impression is that, quite simply, I haven’t enjoyed a bike this much in ages.

Spec

Let’s put this out there from the outset: the Ribble R872 is the all-you-can-eat hotel breakfast buffet of the road cycling world. There’s truly something for everyone, and it represents incredible value for money.

For less than £1,500, the mostly Shimano 105-equipped version of the Lancashire company’s sportive-ready carbon-framed road bike shames bikes that cost double that amount, with no loss of riding enjoyment or performance.

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Image 2 of 15

Buy the Ribble R782 now from Ribble from £1,099

All things to everyone

'The Ribble R872 was designed to have a price point that makes it very appealing to beginners, as a first carbon bike or an upgrade from alloy,' says Ribble head of product (and ex-pro cyclist) Jamie Burrow.

'But the technology and quality of product are certainly not low end.'

On this Shimano 105-based version, the front and rear mechs plus shifters are all from the fabulously dependable and satisfactorily lightweight mid-level groupset.

Only the non-series RS510 chainset and Tektro R540 brakes stray from the fold, the latter working on the alloy rims of a Mavic Aksium wheelset. This addition from the French firm’s endurance range of wheels is a £100 upgrade from the standard build.

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Image 8 of 15

The right angles

The Ribble R872 offers handling that promotes confidence in the less-experienced rider, while also having enough performance capability up its sleeve to either grow with you or offer a compelling low-cost alternative for the rider with many years under their tyres.

'The model offers a sportive geometry,' says Burrow. 'It has a slightly shorter top tube and higher head tube than our high-end SL and SLR-series bikes, once again lending itself to beginners, sportive riders and all-round comfort.'

The 525mm top tube on the size S bike I’ve been riding, combined with a seat tube angle of 74.5° and head tube angle of 72°, puts the bars comfortably at hand for even my T-Rex-proportioned arms, and the handling at the sporty end of ‘endurance’. But the compact wheelbase of just 969mm exaggerates the sportiness, in a good way.

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Image 9 of 15

Attack everything

The Ribble R872, while a great option for novice road riders, offers sprightly performance that will flatter anyone. The fat down tube aids stiffness while boxy 410mm chainstays enhance this feeling to get pedal input to the rear wheel efficiently.

An 11-speed, 11-32 cassette gives ample scope for hilly rides when combined with the 50/34 compact chainset. And the bike’s capacity for attacking a climb is clearly evident. You might think a bike weighing nearly 8.5kg shouldn’t be this good at ascending, but the frame says otherwise.

Want to just cruise the lanes on a summer’s evening, though? Narrow seatstays and carbon forks take most of the buzz out of the road surface before it reaches butt and wrists, although the front end does jar and allow some noticeably high-frequency vibration through.

Burrow vindicates this assessment, adding, 'Stiffness and power transfer under stress in key areas like the bottom bracket, chainstays and around the head tube cluster have not been overlooked at all, despite the bike’s more relaxed sportive geometry.'

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Image 3 of 15

Chipping away

What would improve the Ribble R782 even further is a set of lightweight wheels. For the price, I can appreciate the fitment of Mavic’s entry-level wheelset – and it commends itself to this package, especially shod with the grippy, ready-for-anything, 28c Continental Grand Prix 4 Season tyres this bike is wearing.

Even the basic short-drop Tektro callipers grip with enough urgency to slow the rotational mass efficiently and predictably. But throw a set of performance wheels into the mix and you’ll really get the best out of the frame.

The ability to customise your bike online at the point of purchase does afford you the option of Mavic Cosmic Pro carbon wheels, but they add £800 to the price of the bike tested here. Again, the finishing kit is basic alloy equipment, but it works – and it’s what you’d expect in a build of this price.

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Image 5 of 15

How do they do it?

What’s enabled Ribble to put such an impressive bike together for such an appealing cost? 'We design and own all our own frame moulds, which allows us to achieve a better frame price, cutting out the middle man and any eventual fluctuations in production and material costs,' Burrow explains.

'Plus, our direct-to-consumer sales strategy is another key factor enabling us to maintain such value for money.'

The future’s online? Who knew? Next thing, you’ll be telling me we’ll have all the time in the world to ride bikes as good as the Ribble R872 because we can all work from home until further notice. Wait… What?

Buy the Ribble R782 now from Ribble from £1,099

Spec

All reviews are fully independent and no payments have been made by companies featured in reviews

You would be mistaken, like I was, for thinking that the new Cervelo Caledonia ‘race endurance bike’ has plunged the Canadian brand’s trusty Cervelo R3 into obscurity.

‘The R3 is still a highly relevant platform for Cervélo,' the brand explains. 'Whilst the Caledonia shares some of its lineage with a derivation of the R3, the R3 “Mud”, we view the use cases and consumers for the two platforms to be different. 

‘Much as the Roubaix-orientated R3 “Mud” didn’t replace the pure, GC-bred R3, the experiential and diverse Caledonia platform doesn’t supersede it either.’

With its room for 34mm tyres and aerodynamically tuned tube shapes, the new Caledonia is more like the quintessential modern-day endurance bike than the R3. Meanwhile the Cervelo R5 remains at the top of the tree for any rider looking for uncompromised race performance.

The walls have certainly closed in on the R3 in terms of what it can offer its rider but after a summer’s worth of testing, I still believe it has a relevant place in Cervelo’s arsenal.

Geometry and performance

Buy the Cervelo R3 from Sigma Sports from £4,845

Anyone who has ridden the Cervelo R5 will likely wax lyrical about the bike’s ability to respond to the most explosive of efforts, guiding you up some rather rude gradients with ease, failing to compromise any watts through flex.

Cervelo says the second-tier R3’s carbon frameset has been designed differently. Apparently it looks to afford the rider with comfort rather than the outright performance of the R5 and has therefore compromised stiffness, weight and speed in place of a more dampened and controlled feel.

This also reflected in the R3's geometry that is slightly less aggressive thanks to a higher stack, shorter reach and overall front end that sits 22mm higher, providing a more upright and stable riding position.

For example, when I got out of the saddle to stamp on the R3’s pedals, I noticed it just took a second longer than your outright race bike to respond.

I still found that the bike felt fast uphill, something that was reflected in my times, thanks to what is ultimately still quite a light bike at 7.39kg (56cm frame with stock Shimano pedals) but there is a clear difference compared to the lighter, more aggressive R5.

When it then came to descending these hills, however, the R3 really began to excel. I persistently felt encouraged to let go of the brakes and let the bike do the work of guiding me around corners. I'd put this down to what is ultimately still quite a tight, racey geometry matched with bigger 28mm tyres that certainly did not lack in terms of grip.

This is also a very comfortable bike. Over long distances, the newly released Caledonia with its more relaxed frame and wider tyres will likely now shine brighter, but I still felt as if the R3 did its part in protecting my body with a frame that did its best to absorb the biggest bumps and a set of 28mm Continental GP5000 tyres that could also be run at lower pressure.

While 28mm is officially the largest tyre that can be fitted in this frame, undoubtedly you could push that wider unofficially.

Although I must say, I am confused as to why Cervelo specs the R3 with Continental GP5000 tubeless tyres and Novatec R3 disc tubeless-ready rims, yet does not supply the bike tubeless from the box. This is a move some of its main competitors – Giant and Canyon, notably – have already made and would certainly present a step forward for the R3.

I also found the Novatec R3 wheels to be a contributor to bike’s sometimes-pedestrian feel on the flat. At 35mm in depth, they’re at the shallower end of the ‘all-rounder’ spectrum and are merely ok, in comparison to the frameset and other areas of the spec list.

What was outstanding, however, and something that often goes unnoticed, were Cervelo’s in-house AB07 Ultra Light Alloy handlebars. So many handlebars are so shallow in their drops and uncomfortable on the wrists when used aggressively. These were the opposite, proving more forgiving when dipped into the drops.

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Image 5 of 11

The top-spec Cervelo R3 comes with Shimano Ultegra Di2 disc, a trusty companion for any bike, and at £5,099 is rather reasonably priced. For many similarly specced, middling all-rounder ‘GC’ bikes, you will likely be looking to spend closer to the £6,000 mark.

Sure, there are some outliers like the Giant TCR Advanced SL1 Disc that while £6,000 does come with an integrated Quarq power meter. But in terms of the broader market, the Cervelo R3 is certainly reasonably priced especially when you consider it is £1,600 less than the likewise specced R5.

Buy the Cervelo R3 from Sigma Sports from £4,845

Conclusion

After testing the Cervelo R3, I am convinced that it remains a relevant bike.

While the Caledonia may have undercut it in the ‘performance comfort’ space, the R3 is still Cervelo’s best option for those not willing to spend big on the R5 but looking to experience its all-rounder performance benefits.  

Spec

All reviews are fully independent and no payments have been made by companies featured in reviews

I have a soft spot for bike companies named after their owners. Once upon a time it was because some old fella who smelled like hot tin and burnt tobacco made the frames, so naturally stuck his name on the down tube.

It’s why there are such wonderfully christened bikes as Hilton Wrigley, Whitaker & Mapplebeck, Leach Marathon and Pemberton Arrow (OK, so ‘Arrow’ and ‘Marathon’ are model names, but still, they’d make superb Agatha Christie characters). It’s also why Felt is Felt, named after founder Jim Felt, who started things off in 1991.

Jim has since departed, having been bought out by sports consortium Groupe Rossignol in 2017, but the company’s drive for innovation remains strong.

Felt the man was trying to perfect aero-triathlon bikes as far back as the 1980s; Felt the company has just unleashed this redesign of its AR. Aerodynamics, then, is still front and centre of the Felt masterplan. 

Angularity clarity

If you doubt Felt’s credentials for aerodynamics, consider that the Felt IA triathlon bike has won six straight Ironman World Championships.

Felt also wind-tunnel tests at the San Diego Low Speed Wind Tunnel (which is a bit like going to the Lindt factory to mess around with truffles), has sponsored numerous pro teams, and in the AR there exists near-on five years’ R&D.

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Image 2 of 8

The last AR arrived in 2014, and as director of development Alex Soria says, ‘We identified this project about a year after that, having waited for disc brakes to be signed off as the future. Making a new bike just for the sake of it is something we never want to do, so it had to be faster.’

The result is a bewildering set of drag numbers that prove this is Felt’s fastest road bike to date, with claimed efficiency improvements under 10° yaw (conditions which Felt says riders spend around 90% of their time), ranging from 0.7% at 10° attack angle of the wind, to 9.4% at 0° yaw.

Buy the Felt AR Advanced from Felt UK here.

Yaw angles or yawn angles, I don’t think anyone will fail to be impressed by how fast this thing accelerates. Not since the Venge ViAS, which I tested back in 2016, have I been so impressed by a bike’s quickness off the mark. But just looking at the AR, it makes sense.

Side-on the bike is less flying gate and more flying door. Measuring 58mm deep, Reynolds’ AR wheels are a couple of 12-inch vinyls away from being discs, and the tube shapes, although truncated teardrop-style, are tall.

Meanwhile, the rear wheel tucks behind the seat tube via a scalloped trailing edge (hilariously nicknamed ‘fish lips’ for its flared edges); the fork legs are wide, the tessellating crown section substantial; the stem could hold pepper in an Italian restaurant, and you could sheath a sword in that seatpost. But look at the AR square-on and the bike near disappears.

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Image 3 of 8

In this, the AR feels almost dated. Tall and narrow aero-bikes seem like old news. But then again, look at the world of non-UCI governed triathlon, where a bike’s aerodynamics is almost all that matters, and tall-narrow reigns supreme.

So regardless of the aesthetics, there’s no denying this bike is devilishly quick – both off the mark and when sprinting – and cuts wonderfully through a headwind. It even deals with gusty side-on wind in a way its large surface area belies. So job done for Felt?

Aero vs weight

First and foremost, I can’t imagine anyone being disappointed with this bike. It’s fast and fun to ride, and certainly turns heads. However, for me there are compromises I’m unwilling to make.

The overall comfort is really very good, the seatpost is effectively a hollow prong, meaning the two halves can flex independently, and it even sits in a rubber sleeve to further dampen vibrations.

But the clamping mechanism is finicky to adjust or pack down for travel, and something in me objects to having to cut little strips of clear rubber (supplied) to insert in the gap between the prongs. It seems like a way to solve a problem that shouldn’t exist.

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Image 4 of 8

However, all this I could forgive were it not for the weight. I know there’s an argument that says aero is faster than low weight, but as a rider out to have fun in any scenario, weight matters because I feel it every time I move the bike beneath me.

An 8.5kg bike is 12% heavier than a 7.6kg bike, and 7.6kg is the outside weight of what I have become accustomed to for a top-end disc bike. In short, that weight is very noticeable.

Buy the Felt AR Advanced from Felt UK here.

For me, I’d take diminished aero for a more light-footed ride, although I concede this isn’t a view shared by all, and that this was also a consideration for Felt, which felt (ha!) the compromise was worth it. Plus, there is an even more refined FRD version coming out soon (same shape, different layup), so while there aren’t yet published weight figures, it will be lighter – but also more expensive.

All told, the AR is a considered bike that is another excellent addition to the aero oeuvre. Which would be a great name for a wind-tunnel tested chocolate.

Pick of the kit

Rapha Cargo bibshorts, £195, Mr Porter

These aren’t even really road cycling bibshorts. With their heavier weight, water-repellent fabric and stretchy-mesh thigh pockets, the Cargos were designed more for off-road.

Yet I’ve become magnetically drawn to them for whatever kind of riding I do, and purely for reasons of comfort.

The pad just suits my old backside, the fabric stretch is compressive yet uninhibiting, and the straps are wide and sit comfortably against my skin. If I have a criticism it’s that the hems feel a bit thick, with lots of stitching.

But then the Cargos are designed for rugged adventuring, and the mesh pockets need to be supported properly at their bottoms. Don’t want to lose an energy gel.

Alternatively…

Back to the analogue

If you prefer the feel and ease of maintenance of mechanical shifting, the FR Advanced comes in mechanical Ultegra guise at £4,699. Both this and the Di2 version are available in this fetching blue.

Hold your horses

Felt does a line of no-expense-spared bikes under the moniker FRD, so if you can wait a few months and have £11,699 to spare, the Felt AR FRD promises a lighter chassis and higher-spec parts.

Spec

For a mere £20,000, the limited edition Paul Smith + Mercian tandem collaboration is quite possibly the world’s coolest tandem bike

Words Peter Stuart Photography Alberto Strada / Wallpaper* Handmade

Tandems may not be your thing, perhaps neither is steel, but we should all gather round and enjoy the unique beauty of the Paul Smith + Mercian Tandem.

The bike was originally built for the Wallpaper* Handmade project in 2019, but somehow escaped our attention back then. Since that initial showcase it has recently found its way onto Paul Smith’s website with a price tag of £20,000.

Admittedly, in these troubled times £20,000 may seem like an awfully large sum for a bicycle, even one built for two. However, a close look at the Paul Smith + Mercian bike has convinced us that it may well be worth the outlay.

The frame is, of course, handmade by Mercian, with oversized Reynolds 853 frame tubing and bedecked with Zipp 302 wheels and an Enve finishing kit (though with the stickers removed we could be convinced that the pictured wheels could be Enve, rather than Zipp 302s).

Taking a closer look really reveals why this bike could be considered a rare piece of bike art.

Devil in the detail

While a black frame can look a little muted on a stunning steel build, subtle accent panels with Paul Smith’s iconic pastel colourways render it quiet yet colourful.

Paul Smith and Mercian have shared the seatstay as a spot for their respective logos, just where the seatstay joins the intricate seat tube lug. Fitting, as Paul Smith has a longstanding relationship with Mercian – the racing bike of choice in his youth, and this frame matches Paul’s similarly specced handbuilt fixed-gear Mercian.

A similar understated flourish is the steel cable guides, which have been affixed with beautifully smooth brazing, rendering them literally seamless. The cable itself almost seems to be part of the frame.

Indeed, the entire frame is a showcase of impressive steel bike craft, with subtle, classic and smooth welds mixed with modern oversized tubing.

Tandems are not often equipped with aero road componentry, and we’re intrigued to see Enve’s aero road bars and stem on both cockpits. We especially like the inverted aero stem for the rear rider. The jury is out on whether it will be aerodynamic when faced backwards, however.

The tandem design was inspired by the theme of the Wallpaper* show – love.

‘It reflects the love of cycling, but also the idea of going out for a cycle with your loved one,’ said Paul Smith at its unveiling. He commissioned it with his wife Pauline in mind, and we’ll certainly be scouring the fastest tandem 25-mile TT times from last year’s H25/8 course in search of a certain P & P Smith.

In terms of tandem design, the bike uses a Middleburn crankset as its crossover drivetrain, and of course being a tandem that means there is drivetrain on either side of the bike. The shifting is all handled by Sram’s Red eTap AXS groupset.

For aesthetics, we have to applaud the use of rim brakes, with classic external cabling. Though, we’d advise caution when descending quickly on these carbon wheels. We'll also have to excuse the forward-facing front skewer – strictly against style conventions.

There’s certainly no denying that twenty grand is a hefty bill for a bike, but the Paul Smith + Mercian Tandem is really two high-performance handmade road bikes in one.

Yours, if you can find someone to share it with.

Buy the Paul Smith + Mercian Tandem from Paul Smith for £20,000

Gerard Vroomen loves nothing more than to disrupt the market. He did it when he kick-started the aero road trend with Cervélo.

He did it again when he created the first ‘aero gravel’ bike, the 3T Exploro, and again with the 3T Strada, a road bike built solely for at-the-time-non-existent single-chainring road groupsets.

No surprise, then, that the new 3T Exploro RaceMax has already divided opinion.

Part of the debate is over how to categorise the bike. It’s an evolution of the Exploro but will not be replacing it. It can handle up to 61mm tyres on 650b rims, and so is equipped for rougher terrain than the Exploro, and yet it is also more aerodynamic than the Exploro, with a seat tube cut-out for the rear wheel alongside all-new tube profiles.

In an attempt to explain who the RaceMax is aimed at, Vroomen separates the gravel market into three categories:

‘The first customer is the all-roader. They just want to escape roads that are too heavy with traffic. That customer doesn’t want to give up any road speed.

'The second customer is the gravel racer. They don’t necessarily have to race, but they like the speed on the gravel.

'The last customer is the maximiser; what I like to call “go slow, faster”. They may still do events but the goal is to finish before dark or before they tear the finish banner down.’

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Image 3 of 30

I’m not sure Vroomen’s explanation makes it any clearer, but it seems the RaceMax is aimed at both the speedy gravel rider and the adventurer. As such, the bike comes in two guises – Race and Max – which are the same frame specced with different kit.

The bike pictured is a RaceMax Race, with more road-orientated 2x groupset and tyres. The Max version is predominantly 1x-focussed and uses 650b rims and ultra-wide tyres for the off-road adventure crowd.

At any rate, once you’ve worked out which bike is which, there’s plenty to get excited about.

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Image 20 of 30

RAM and WAM

First, let's talk about 3T's new wheels, and new wheel philosophy. Our spec frame came equipped with a brand new set of 3T Discus C45 Ltd wheels. The rims have a striking 29mm internal width.

That opens the possibility of creating an aerodynamic rim and tyre profile even with tyres that test the limits of road wheels. The specced 40mm tyres don’t suffer from an awkward bulb profile that we often see with wide tyres on road rims, and indeed almost create the torrordial profile that rim designers dream of.

‘We have gravel wheels but they’re not aerodynamic and they’re aero wheels which are not wide enough for gravel,’ says Vroomen. ‘So we made a new aero wheel and it’s 40mm. I don’t mean 40mm deep, I mean 40mm wide.’

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Image 16 of 30

The new wheelset comes alongside a new tyre and rim sizing philosophy from 3T. Vroomen makes the point that with the vast combination of different rim widths and tyre sizes, there is a huge variety in realistic widths of tyres against the stated tyre width.

With that in mind he’s developed two new measures of tyre width: ‘RAM (Radius As Measured)’ and ‘WAM (Width as Measured).’

3T has mapped out the realistic RAM and WAM of multiple rim and tyre widths to help design the new RaceMax.

‘For tonnes of tyres you realise there’s a lot of tyres which fit within a fairly narrow band of radii,’ says Vroomen. That means 3T has been able to create a more specific clearance range for different tyre and rim combinations, a range that has enabled 3T to create better aerodynamic design.

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Image 5 of 30

'The radius of course determines the gap with the seat tube or the gap between the downtube and the tyre, and those are all things that we want to play with aerodynamically,’ Vroomen adds.

The new Discus C45 wheels come alongside a new Aerogaia carbon flared handlebar, but that was unavailable for our test sample.

Having come to terms with the spec, it was time to take the bike out on the open road, and trail.

Fawning at first glance

I ride different bikes with my regular riding group all the time, and only once or twice a year does a bike generate the kind of response I got with the RaceMax: fascination bordering on fawning, and repeated picture-taking.

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Image 13 of 30

It’s a handsome beast, but even better than that my first ride was a blast. What surprised me the most was that it feels every bit like an aero road bike when on tarmac.

There’s no escaping that 40mm tyres at 50psi have a speed penalty, but the bike had a rigid, spritely response to any injections of power, aided by the bulky tube shapes and short rear end  (415mm chainstays). It also held speed well and felt notably more rapid than the standard Exploro – I even hit 50kmh in a friendly sprint for a signpost.

Yet, for all its ability on the tarmac, the road is not where the RaceMax really excels. I have spent much of lockdown riding the RaceMax on gravel trails in Surrey, and it is the most fun I’ve had on a bike in years.

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Image 26 of 30

Some gravel and dust evidence of our first ride

I got used to racing along bridleways, hopping over roots, taking on loose 25% ridges and clenching my teeth when descending steep tracks.

Key to that is the bike’s stability. I could keep the hammer down on rough trails while the bike simply swallowed up the imperfections. I’d wager that it’s the bike’s low bottom bracket (77mm drop on a size 56 frame) coupled with 
a reasonably generous stack height that made 
it feel so controlled on technical terrain.

Many people asked me whether the aero cutout meant the frame collected mud. I didn’t encounter any problems, although I didn’t subject it to the kinds of thick, sticky mud that an off-road ride in winter might throw at it.

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Image 30 of 30

But from what I can tell, the pinch point is no tighter than around the BB on most other frames. It simply comes at the top of the cutaway instead, where it potentially causes less of a problem.

For me, the 40mm tyres offered a sweet spot between speed, grip and comfort. That said, if money were no object, I’d be tempted to have two sets of wheels to really make the most of the RaceMax – a set of 700c rims with 35mm tyres for the road, and a set of 650b rims with 57mm tyres for the days on tougher terrain.

This is a bike that really excites me, and represents a direction of riding that more and more of my friends are heading in.

It’s a rare example of a bike that takes advantage of the best bike technology out there – from aerodynamics to tyre design to composites – to really deliver a new, and in many ways better, riding experience that doesn’t stop when the tarmac does.

Buy the 3T Exploro RaceMax from 3T

Geometry

The RaceMax comes in an impressive six sizes, which put the frame more into the fit-specificity we’re used to from road bikes (see geometry below).

Our picks

3T Exploro RaceMax Max GRX 1x: €4199

With 57mm tyres on 650b rims and a Shimano GRX 1x groupset, the Exploro Max GRX could ride over pretty much anything, and sits at the cheaper end of the range with a pricetag of around £3,800.

3T Exploro RaceMax Race Torno Eagle 1x: €7,798

The top-spec Exploro Race comes similarly equipped to our test bike, but with a Sram Force AXS 1x groupset married to 3T’s own Torno crankset, bringing the cost to €7,798 (approx £7,000).

Rest of range

3T Exploro RaceMax Race GRX 1x: €4199

3T Exploro RaceMax Race GRX 2x: €4399

3T Exploro RaceMax MAX GRX 2x: €4399

3T Exploro RaceMax Max Force Eagle 1x: €5899

All reviews are fully independent and no payments have been made by companies featured in reviews

‘It was 1990s skiing apparel. You know, those one-piece suits in bright contrasting colours that you still occasionally see on people who only ski once a year and don’t care about the latest trends,’ says Festka’s art director, Tom Hinda, about his inspiration for this Spectre’s lairy paint.

‘Splash’ is a new addition to what Festka calls its Edition Design line, a collection of extremely stand-out styles. The name doesn’t just refer to the loud and bold colours, it’s also a nod to the way the paint is applied, literally being splashed on by hand. And as with all the company’s paint schemes, every detail is 100% hand-painted.

‘No decals, no shortcuts,’ says Hinda. 

Hands off

Unlike other low-volume, fully custom brands, human hands are not the preferred method when it comes to Festka’s frame construction. The company automates as many processes as possible, using its partners in the European Space Agency, removing human errors and any opportunities to exploit cheap labour.

Festka also eschews any aero tube shapes, opting for round tubes only, which means its frames have a traditional yet timeless appeal.

The Spectre joined Festka’s range in 2017, described by the brand as an all-out race frame. The product description makes no secret of the fact this bike is about performance over all else.

‘Expect the feeling of being in the saddle of a thoroughbred racehorse or the seat of a supercar,’ the marketing blurb promises. ‘Instant transfer of power. No concern for comfort. You push and things happen immediately.’

Well, the only horse I’ve ever ridden was on a pony trek during a school trip to Dartmoor, but I didn’t need to spend long in the saddle of the Spectre to get the idea.

Riding this bike is like being hooked up to a mild electrical current the whole time. There’s a constant buzz, and it felt like the sensory neurons in my hands and feet were continuously firing. And I don’t mean that in a negative way.

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Image 5 of 8

Alive and kicking

This bike made me feel alive, and it provided an unmistakable sense of connection with the road surface, particularly as my test model came with super-rigid Corima 4 Spoke DX wheels with 25mm tubulars.

I couldn’t help but be taken back to the heyday of Mario Cipollini and his Saeco squad of the late 1990s. The Spectre’s oversized round tubes are reminiscent of the classic aluminium Cannondale CAAD3 that Cipollini raced, especially with the Corima wheels being visually so similar to those iconic Spinergy Rev-X wheels the team used.

As a teenager I idolised the riders on that team, which is perhaps why I was prepared to forgive the Spectre for making me aware of every ripple in the tarmac, with bigger hits even bouncing me clean off the saddle.

Every ride was a bruising affair, but never once did I think, ‘This bike could do with more comfort.’ If you ride a bike like this, you’re not going to be ambling to the local shops. You want performance, and the Spectre doesn’t disappoint.

Hitting one of my local 25% hills, the frame didn’t seem to flex by so much as a millimetre as I stomped on the pedals and hauled on the bars.

At least I knew that not a single ounce of effort was being squandered, even if this Spectre’s overall weight of 7.7kg meant that it didn’t skip up hills with the flighty feel of a climber’s bike.

The wheels are a significant contributor to the weight. At 1,775g (and a few pennies shy of £2k), there are sub-£400 alloy wheelsets that weigh less, and despite appearances they are probably behind the curve on aero performance compared to the latest crop of super-wide rim profiles. But who cares? They look, and sound, awesome. The swoosh-whoosh-swoosh as I sprinted up to full speed just kept egging me on.

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Image 6 of 8

Riding this bike is like being in a tempestuous relationship with someone who is outrageous fun but a little unhinged and not liked by your parents. It’s edgy and unapologetic, but I couldn’t help but be smitten.

One thing’s for certain, your legs need to be able to deliver a performance to match this bike’s persona – no one wants to be dropped out the back of the group riding the most conspicuous bike on the road. But coronavirus meant I never needed to worry; I was always riding the Spectre alone, which gave me more time to focus on pretending to be Cipollini.

Pick of the kit

M20 Stripe Crew Plus socks, £11.99, extrauk.co.uk

I’ve always known that one day the perfect moment would come to wear these socks, and this was definitely it. It’s almost as if Festka and M20 Industries collaborated on the design.

But colours aside, M20’s Crew Plus is a superb set of technical cycling socks, with moisture-wicking fabrics and antibacterial yarns combined with a supportive but non-compressive fit and feel. Sock doping is real.

Alternatively…

Go wild with a Rover

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Image 7 of 8

If you feel the inclination to explore beyond the tarmac, Festka’s Rover is a gravel bike defined by the same stiff and racy attributes at its core as Festka’s road models.

Mix carbon and ti

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Image 8 of 8

The Festka Doppler mixes carbon at the main joints for stiffness, with a titanium top tube, down tube and seatstays to provide a little more forgiveness. And it looks amazing.

Spec

All reviews are fully independent and no payments have been made by companies featured in reviews