Allright, listen here, I’ve been reading for a while on this forum and I know you guys are completely bonkers and know a lot. I mean, I’ve just seen about 500 posts on the new Specialized Tarmac and even a self-declared tech nerd like me is like “Hold it, that is waaaay too much (but interesting) information”. So I guess my question here is going to feel like throwing meat into a lion’s cage, but here it goes, roar at it:
I’m in the market for a new aero dream bike, and here are my requirements:
aero as hell
60mm or 65mm tubeless wheels
Sram Force eTap AXS 1x12 with 48T aero chainring up front and 10-33 at the back
completely integrated cockpit (no sneaky hiding away cables under the stem or whatever, no cheating one piece bar and stem combo)
disc brakes
40cm wide handlebars
Everything above is certain and not up for any discussion. What is up for discussion is the frameset.
About me:
I’m a 32 year old crit racer from Belgium currently riding a 2016 Wilier Cento1Air with 60mm deep Stealth wheels.
I have made a list of top aero road bikes and crossed off many, I’m still considering:
The upcoming Wilier Filante, which will be released at the Giro.
The current Cervélo S5
But feel free to chip in ideas I have overlooked (preferably with pictures).
PS: a pity that the front derailleur mounts on these are riveted onto the frame. I’d rather not have that, because I’m a 100% sure I want a clean 1x setup.
PS: I even ride with an (UCI legal) aero bottle like the Elite Chrono CX or the one the Cervélo P5 has, so I don’t prefer down tubes that cater to round bottles.
I just picked up a Cervelo S3, Sram Force Etap disc and I love it so far. Seems as fast as anything and the handling is frankly stunning at high speed. It corners like on rails. Running Tubeless on the 48mm rims.
Weight wise is it not the lightest (8.2kg ish) but I am getting faster times up 90% of the climbs compared to my previous 7.2KG bike, likely due to the aero and ride quality. If you are doing crits then weight may not be an issue.
I went for the S3 due to my budget $6500, and while I considered the S5, Canyon Aeroad, or a Venge, I could not justify the extra cost to get the same spec, and frankly the S3 is a stunning looking bike in my opinion and many of the other brands I looked at like Specialized don’t offer aesthetics that I like at all, unless I go up to the $10K range.
Sounds like you are already looking at Cervelo, but you won’t go wrong with the S5, or S3 in my opinion if you are looking at a fast aero crit bike. The S5 handles every bit as well I hear, but is lighter and comes with the Sram Red group.
The 3T Strada is/was definitely on the list, for its specific 1x, but as far as I can tell, I don’t see any fully integrated cockpits on their website?
I never put much faith into manufacturer claims, but that being said, the cannondale’s systemsix looks quite nice as well - apparently being the fastest aero bike on sale today? Not sure, but it is pretty
Factor one in the cherry Red just looks an amazing bike. IMHO there arent many better looking bikes out there unless you start looking at custom paint jobs.
Dont get me started on the price of them… Its £3.5k for frame only over here in the UK.
I think you should’t go by statistics like the one from strava, they don’t ‘really’ indicate how fast a bike is, but rather how fast people are who happen to have a particular bike.
If anything if you want purely the fastest bike then try to find some independent wind tunnel/velodrome testing to see which one on its own would be the fastest. Whether of course you will be fast on set particular bike is another story entirely
Case in point, there is a few guys in my area with the newest madones, but yet they are slower than me and I rock on old round-tubed aluminum bike
the BMC time machine road is a bike I lust for but have no reason to buy. But I’m also keenly interested in a Parlee RZ7. A little confusing with a round tube handlebar cockpit but integrated cables, supposedly aero fast but reportedly (by peleton magazine i think) one of the more comfortable to ride aero road bikes that ain’t half bad at climbing either. plus some finish customization if you want to pay for it. Parlee’s paint department does some super impressive things. And let’s not forget that bike is also specced to fit 32c rubber.
