In the beginning there was Cervelo, and Cervelo was with Gerard Vroomen and Phil White, and Cervelo was Gerard Vroomen and Phil White. In them were ideas, and the ideas were the aerodynamic shaping of bicycles. And aerodynamics was tested in the wind-tunnel, and the wind-tunnel operators calculated it muchly.
In time there was a bike sent from Cervelo (in 2001), whose name was the Soloist. It was aluminium. It was not that light (1,351g), but it was sent to bear witness to aerodynamic advantage. That was the true marginal gain, which now affects every rider that comes into the world.
Today the holy aero story hardly needs telling, the bikes and the plethora of data driven claims speak for themselves. Direct comparisons between rival bikes aren’t easy, as everything from the testing standards to testing apparatus differs from manufacturer to manufacturer – a fact a cynic will say is bent to each manufacturer’s will, allowing it to claim ‘our bike is the fastest’. But no matter, one thing that is redoubtable is that aero bikes, as a whole, are quicker than their round tube counterparts. So without furtherado, verily we saith unto you, check these bad boys out, our pick of the freshest, fastest and most stylish aero bikes for 2017.
There's each of the following 29 bikes here to get through, split across three pages, so put the kettle on and geek out.
Alchemy Arion | Argon 18 Nitrogen | Bianchi Oltre XR4 | Boardman Air | BMC Timemachine | Canyon Aeroad | Cervelo S5 | Cipollini NK1K | Colnago Concept | Condor Leggero | Dedacciai Atleta | De Rosa SK | Factor One | Felt AR | Formigli One | Fuji Transonic | Giant Propel | Lapierre Aircode | Look 795 | Merida Reacto | Parlee ESX | Pinarello Dogma F8 | Ridley Noah SL | Sarto Lampo | Scott Foil | Specialized Venge ViAS Disc | Storck Fascenario.3 | Trek Madone | Wilier Cento10Air
Cervelo S5
From £4,000, derby-cycle.com
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You should always begin at the beginning, so to kick things off here’s the Cervelo S5, the most recent genesis of the Cervelo Soloist. It’s long been lauded as one the fastest bikes out there, and a string of big wins by Cav, Cummings and Co. since Cervelo’s reintroduction to the pro peloton won’t do anything to undermine the bike’s cult status. (Full 2016 review here).
Trek Madone
From £4,800, trekbikes.com
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If a bike’s going to have ‘Vector flaps’* it better be fast, and luckily the Madone, as routinely raced by Trek-Segafredo, is. In German magazine Tour’s recent independent aero tests, the Madone tied for fastest road bike with the Specialized Venge ViAS in a strict wind tunnel scenario. But it’s also more than just an aero machine – the rear end employs Trek’s IsoSpeed decoupler system for extra compliance and comfort over bumps. (Full Emonda S5 review here; Full Emonda S4 review here; Full 2015 Emonda SLR review here).
*the sprung plastic flaps that operate as a fairing over the front brake.
Specialized Venge ViAS Disc
From £3,900, specialized.com
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With Sram eTap, hydraulic discs, bolt-thru axles and tubeless carbon clinchers, the Venge ViAS epitomises every major change to have happened to road bikes in the last five years. Specialized claims it holds a 116 second advantage over its Tarmac, and Tour magazine tests show the Venge to be on par with the Trek Madone as the fastest production road bike in the world. (Full review here).
Ridley Noah SL
From £3,340, ridley-bikes.com
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The Noah SL has slimmed down and lost a few features since the futuristic Noah Fast, but under Andre Greipal seems no less quick. Trip strips and integrated brakes have gone, but the trademark cut-outs in the fork legs remain, channels designed to deal with turbulent air from the spokes. The frame now weighs a claimed 950g, but stiffness seems assured. After all, have you seen Greipal’s legs? (Full review here).
Pinarello Dogma F8
From £7,000, yellow-limited.com
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With Chris Froome on board, the Pinarello Dogma F8 has a brace of Tour de France victories to its name. The aerodynamics come courtesy of Jaguar (which modelled the tube shapes in its wind-tunnel), while the handling and ride feel are classic Pinarello, handed down from the previous race-winning Dogma 65.1. (Full review here).
Bianchi Oltre XR4
From £3,100 (frameset), bianchi.com
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Bianchi’s race bike range has recently been joined by the latest Oltre XR4, which includes the company’s proprietary Countervail – a viscoelastic carbon material that reduces road buzz. While the tubes of the frame are suitably blade-like, Bianchi reckons the real aero gains come from the rider being able to maintain an aero tuck for longer, thanks to the Countervail, which makes the ride less harsh and reduces fatigue. It’s the rider that creates most of the drag, after all. (First ride review here).
Factor One
From £3,750, opcdistribution.com
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Factor’s One is the successor to the radical Vis Vires, distilling it’s left-field aero know-how into a frame that is UCI legal but still seriously fast. Factor worked with aero specialists bf1systems to tone down and reshape the front end without increasing drag, yet the One keeps Factor’s signature ‘Twin-Vane’ down tube, which it claims siphons turbulent air from the front wheel through the frame, rather than around it. (First look review here).
Giant Propel
From £1,499, giant-bicycles.com
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The only bike to have received flowers from Marcel Kittel (after he took out his frustrations on it at the 2014 Tirreno-Adriatico), the Propel manages to blend excellent ride comfort with aero-clout and fast handling. The position is of the ‘stick the rider up high’ persuasion, with a tall headtube in the Cervelo mode, and with a roster of big-race wins, it looks to work.
Parlee ESX
From £4,199 (frameset only), parleecycles.com
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Bob Parlee started his life in carbon building racing yachts, so he knows a thing or two about speed and drag. This debut into the aero-road market marks a departure from the handbuilt road bikes that made Parlee famous (and which it still builds in Boston), the brand having taken production of the ESX to the Far East in order to keep costs down and keep up with demand. Otherwise, though, the same Parlee ride quality and attention to detail is retained, only it gets some pretty mean looking styling. (Full review here).
Argon 18 Nitrogen
From £3,500, i-ride.co.uk
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Balance is the name of the game for Argon 18’s Nitrogen - it takes comfort cues from the Canadian brand’s Gallium Pro and blends them with aero profiling inspired by the E-118 TT frameset. Argon 18 are sponsoring WorldTour team Astana in 2017, so Fabio Aru will likely choose the Nitrogen as his weapon of choice in his campaign to notch up more Grand Tour victories.
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Canyon Aeroad, CF SLX
From £3,249, canyon.com
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The German online powerhaus has been successfully turning bicycles into Grand Tour and Monument successes for more than a decade, and the latest Aeroad is shows no signs of abating. Handling is racy, offering assured tracking through tight corners, and thanks to the now de rigeur T-shaped bar/stem combo (offered on the higher spec models), revised truncated tube profiles and wheel hugging downtube, it’s one of the fastest bikes on the market. (Full review here).
Cipollini NK1K
From £4,200, paligap.cc
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With a reputation such as his, Mario Cipollini could hardly produce a dainty climber’s bike so it should come as no surprise that his eponymous brand’s NK1K is a muscular aero frame centred around the efficient transfer of power. In a refreshing move the NK1K makes no claims to tread a perfect balance of different attributes, unashamedly identifying its niche as an uber-fast bike that looks incredibly pretty to boot.
Merida Reacto
From £1,700, merida-bikes.com
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It’s said that between them, Merida and Giant produce 80% of the world’s bike frames, so Merida should know a thing or two about what makes a good bike, or in this case, a fast one. Whilst it’s 8kg weight could hardly be considered svelte, the Reacto has been raced to great effect by Lampre-Merida for several years, including a 2013 World Championship win by Rui Costa. (Full Merida Reacto 5000 review here).
Boardman Air
From £1,900, boardmanbikes.com
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From one of the fastest cyclists to have graced the tarmac comes the third iteration of the Air. Unlike many manufacturers Boardman has opted to keep the brakes hidden – integrated into the fork and tucked under chainstays – and done a fine job of squirreling cables away without employing proprietary integrated bars and stem, which together with a four-position fore-aft seatpost make position adjustability excellent. (Full Boardman Air 9.0 review here; Full Boardman Air 9.9 review here).
Scott Foil
From £2,399, scott-sports.com
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Winner of this year’s Paris-Roubaix under Mathew Hayman, the Foil demonstrates a refined ride quality more akin to a regularly road bike, but with all the wind-cheating features you’d expect. Low slung seatstays and truncated tube profiles are capped off with an aggressive front end, centred around the Syncros bar-stem combo that sleekly mates with the headtube. (Full review here).
BMC Timemachine
From £2,649 bmc-switzerland.com
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When a bike straddles time trial and road categories it’s fair to say it’s fast, and when a reconfigured version of the Timemachine gave Rohan Dennis a rapid – yet brief – Hour record title, that only bolstered the credentials of BMC’s aero-road machine. The front end assembly integrates like a Transformer, while the rear end sets the stays as low down the seat tube as UCI rules allow, a design almost ubiquitous across the aero board.
Storck Fascenario.3
From £5,559 (frameset), storck-bicycle.cc
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Storck offers no fewer than three road bikes in the range featuring overtly wind-cheating designs, but the cream of the crop has to be the Fascenario.3, with its innovative, wide bow-legged fork designed to help reduce areas of high pressure between fork and wheel for more speed. Storck’s Aerfast is arguably the true aero-road bike, but at a claimed 790g-lightest-in-class frame the Fascenario.3 is surely the pick of the bunch.
Fuji Transonic
From £1,699, evanscycles.com
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When we tested the Transonic when it was launched in 2014 we were struck by what a well-rounded frameset Fuji had created. In the mode of the new Scott Foil, but coming out well before, it takes traditional race bike feel and blends it with classic aero traits, such as a low-down headtube, tall, skinny tubes and rear wheel cutaway. (Full Fuji Transonic 2.5 review).
Felt AR
From £1,999, feltbicycles.com
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Felt was one of the earliest aero adopters, with the original AR debuting in 2008. Since then the design has been refined through smoothed tubes junctions, taller, more aeroplane wing profiles and an especially low-modulus carbon fibre seatpost with a hollow channel up it designed to flex and overcome the harsh ride aero tube shapes sometimes offer.
Look 795 Aerolight
From £4,300, zyrofisher.co.uk
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From early carbon fibre frames to dangling bikes from helicopters over the Grand Depart, French outfit Look has always pushed the envelope in technology and outlandish flamboyance. This is the Mondrian inspired Proteam version of the 795 Aerolight, arguably the most integrated and novel bike in the world, from its multiple position stem to the elastomer-tuneable seatpost to the hidden brake callipers.
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De Rosa SK
From £3,000 (frameset), i-ride.co.uk
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Created in partnership with lauded Italian design house Pininfarina, it of Ferraris and Alfa Romeos, the SK is a bike that proves aero can be elegant. The ride quality is spritely and comfortable, and what it lacks in top-end punch of some of the stiffer aero offerings it makes up for by being a classic waiting to happen. One for the aesthete as much as the racer. (Full review here).
Alchemy Arion
From £3,495 (frameset), saddleback.co.uk
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One of only three custom aero bikes in this list (the others are the Formigli One and Sarto Lampo), the Arion has not been designed in a wind-tunnel but does borrow from the NACA catalogue of known aerodynamic tube profiles. The Arion’s real strength, though, is that it’s fully custom, from geometry to stiffness, as Alchemy lays up its own tubes in Denver, USA based on rider weight and style. Ride feel is therefore impeccable.
Formigli One
From £4,400 (frameset), formigli.com
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If there’s a more ostentatious aero bike in the world we’ve yet to see it. Finished in mock chrome and fluoro-orange, the One is as fast as it looks, although that’s not all down to the aero profiling. Instead, this full custom bike is built in a very specific fashion from the ‘from the fork backwards’, meaning framebuilder Renzo Formigli has put sharp, smooth handling at the forefront of the One’s design. (Full review here).
Wilier Cento10Air
From £4,799, wilier.com
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The Cento has been an on-going model in the Wilier range for nearly a decade, and the latest aero-fied version takes all the popular aero bike features and rolls them up into a very Italian package. That is, integrated bar/stem, direct mount brakes, wide-stance low stays and fork manifest in nippy, race-bike handling that requires a decent about of concentration to get the best out of. One for the racers. (Full review here).
Dedacciai Atleta
From £2,150, chickencyclekit.co.uk
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Deda has long since been supplying the industry with its tubesets and rebrandable componentry, and in recent years has decided to branch out under its own label. The Atleta therefore comes in at a keen price thanks to Deda’s buying power, and packs a real aero wallop thanks to some well thought out, low-slung geometry and stiff pedalling platform. As such it would make an excellent choice for a crit racing steed.
Sarto Lampo
From £3,400 (frameset), impactct.co.uk
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Sarto has been quietly building high-end bikes to order for big industry hitters since the 1950s, with one of its current high-profile customers in this list. Like Deda, it decided to put its expertise into a self-styled venture, and the Lampo marks its first foray into aero. As a road bike it’s a heck of a ride – nuanced, balanced and incredibly stable at speed – and while detractors might point to a lack of true wind-tunnel testing, you’d be hard pressed to turn a Lampo down having ridden one, especially as it’ll be tailored to you – the Lampo is full custom. (Full review here).
Condor Leggero
From £3,000 (frameset), condorcycles.com
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British stalwarts Condor has always done a fantastic job of moving with the times, so in answer to the market (and indeed, riders at JLT-Condor), the Leggero combines CFD-designed drag-reduction with a crit-stiff lower half and a eminently chuckable top half. The resulting ride feel is well rounded and stable, feeling solid on descents and comfortable over rough stuff. (Full review here).
Colnago Concept
From £3,500 frameset, windwave.co.uk
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The original Concept was a project between bike guru Ernesto Colnago and motoring guru Enzo Ferrari in 1986. This latest version has all the hallmarks of a classic modern aero bike: deep, bladed down tube; sinuous curves that hug the wheels; and components designed to hide away from the wind. Incredibly, Colnago has redesigned each frame size for optimal aerodynamics, rather than just scaling up or down. So a size 56cm is actually a different bike to a size 58cm.
Lapierre Aircode
From £1,900, hotlines-uk.com
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The Aircode gleans much of its slipperiness from the use of kamm-tail tube profiles – basically the shape of a wing, but with the long tail sliced off so that they are less affected by side winds. Add in direct mount brakes, concealed seatpost clamp and semi-integrated stem, and it makes for a very aerodynamic package. Extra speed comes from an incredibly stiff lower half – down tube, bottom bracket, chainstays – while the upper sections are allowed to flex more to provide comfort.