Stock spacers on my SL7… fitter only made some small minor seat, cleat, and handlebar angle adjustments:
what am I doing wrong? 
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not trying to be stupid, but I’m totally not getting it. Because on group rides I see normal looking stems, and really aggressive slammed stems.
WW had a field day showing a bunch of pros with lots and lots of spacers. 
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45 and I just put a -17deg stem on my bike. I think I’ve got that meme flipped. By 52, I’ll be able to ride an Allez Sprint or Caad sized down.
…that or it’ll go wrong spectacularly when I ride the bike for the first time in spring.
I’m still clueless on the joke. Up on the hoods the Tarmac is like being in the drops on the Domane. When I was forced to buy a bike in 2021, the only bike remotely acceptable was the Tarmac. So I bought it. Fast bike, I love it on rides less than 3 hours. Nowadays I can hammer in the drops but it took some time to adjust to the far more aggressive aero hoods position. At this rate, by sixty five I’ll have a -17 stem and no spacers
Welcome to the club, and honestly… I am super comfy And could not care less…
I am 30 so no excuse, but hey!
Well… it depends I think.
Over here at least, the dudes with the most drops are the ones who cannot for their life get down to 90 degree elbow and really get aero.
Usually it’s the ones with 6-8cm drop that are able to actually get aero.
Every time I see someone with insane drop, 98% of the time they always ride with locked out arms.
In my opinion, it’s less about spacers vs slammed stem and more about how the bike handles. I’ve ridden both the Emonda and Domane. Having a stack of spacers on an Emonda does not mean you should just get a Domane and slam the stem. They’re completely different bikes. They’re going to handle differently and ride differently. So if people want the Tarmac riding but need some spacers for their fit, more power to them. I have no experience with the Roubaix so if it handles like the Tarmac that’s a different question. But the Domane felt super sluggish for me. I now have a Tarmac and could never go back.
The only caveat I will add is that the riding of the Domane and Roubaix may have changed/improved in the years since I had mine. So maybe now they do ride more similarly. I still would pick a Tarmac over the Roubaix though due to hidden cables. Look of a bike is absolutely a deciding factor and I love how an integrated cockpit looks. Exposed cables don’t do it for me.
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Amen. At the time I loved my 2015 gen1 Domane but the steering is sleepy. Never had a problem getting it to move forward, but the front end would lift up on steep gradients. It was a really nice endurance bike, but I outgrew it and the vast majority of my rides are 3 hours and less. Last year I did a 7 hour gravel ride on my Tarmac, and doing it again in 2 days. To be clear, its California coastal dirt roads with loose rocks, but there was a mile or so descent at -9% on gravel followed by 3 miles on one of the worst paved descents I’ve ever had the teeth rattled on.
I’d definitely like to give a more modern endurance bike a try, but so far the Tarmac has been fantastic.
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Modern endurance bike is really just a gravel race bike though
Yup, within reason it’s possible to get a similar rider fit on all of these bikes. Use of spacers and stems with varied angles can get close alignment between contact points. The key differences in that are down to handling (geometry at the rood) and ride quality (frame/fork design, wheels & tires, suspension or not, etc.) which are literally where the rubber meets the road.
Funny enough, today’s podcast covered this tangentially with the question about the rider moving from and Amira to Domane. Apart from the fit aspects that are solvable, I suspect the real issues the rider there is experiencing are a result of swapping from a “race” bike to an “endurance” bike.
Just like you & Brian say, they will handle differently overall, but in particular be more meaningful in cornering if nothing else. To be honest, that podcast listener may have bought the wrong bike and might have been happier on an Emonda (assuming Trek was the target brand), but that is a wild guess from limited info.
Anyway, there is more to picking a bike than just finding a fit in many cases. But fit may become a driving factor that could rule out some bikes and/or sizes in order to sit comfortably for whatever duration and efforts they intend.
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You might have your cart and horse backwards there… considering which came first 
Apart from endurance bike gaining some rather wide tire options, most still remain in the “road” category WRT geometry. Or maybe that is the foundational geo that you consider part of a modern “race” gravel bike? Stuff like an Aspero and others with more “road-like” geo?
I guess that makes some sense overall. But it’s all a bit muddy when we consider that at least some “gravel” bikes had their foundation in the CX world, which is more roadie geo (steep & short) than endurance the last I checked.
Oddly enough, when I look at it from a really wide angle, “gravel” bikes are nearly the mutts of the cycling world. They borrowed a fair bit from CX & endurance roadies to start, and some are morphing in a mix of MTB ethos too. It’s that or a smorgasbord with flavors from all over
Nice it looks good in black gloss.
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In regard to fit considering the Stack value? If so, keep in mind they measure stack a bit different for bikes with the Future Shock installed. I’d have to dig up my notes, but it is around the base of the stem location on the actual shock, not the head tube location like most frames.
Outside of that, the slacker head tube angle, longer wheelbase and front center on the Ostro are not what I would call “aggressive”. But that is the problem with using a subjective term and ambiguity of that meaning things like fit or handling.
ETA: Found an old reference that I think still applies:
So if “aggressive” is a long/low style fit, then I agree that the Ostro might be more so than the Roubaix. But that could be cut a bit if a person uses a slammed stem on the Roubaix vs a host of spacers (30mm max is common) on the Ostro. Still could be taller setup on the Roubaix, but that jives with the direction and intended geo they set it to be.
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Specialized announced its latest Roubaix and Giant launched its fifth-generation Defy Advanced this week, but while they’re both “endurance road bikes”, they could hardly be more different.
This was my point above - not questioning the endurance bike category, but rather Spec’s choices on what an endurance bike is.
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This bike looks flat out amazing IMO, thanks for mentioning it.
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Pro teams on Sram use larger gear set-ups and anyone can get them aftermarket (in Red only). Sizes are 52/39T, 54/41T, 56/43T. They’ve been available to public for about 3 years now
Sorry to dig up an older thread but I saw your posts about the Supersix. I’m currently on a 2021 Roubaix Expert with 50mm deep wheels and 32mm tires (don’t want to go narrower for the semi-crappy roads around me). I have a 130mm stem and 37cm Enve aero bars trying to get as racy of a fit as I can but limited by the high stack of the Roubaix.
I’ve gotten fitter and more flexible since I bought the bike 3+ years ago and have an itch to upgrade. How would you compare the Roubaix to the Supersix? I love 4-6 hour rides and climbing (but don’t have any major mountains near me). Think it would give a noticeable increase in speed? I’ve heard the Supersix is comfortable…how’s it vs the Roubaix?
Thank you!
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Its always good to resurrect old threads 
Hmm, difficult! The new SSE can take wide tyres, so thats great. You can also transfer the ENVE bars to the SSE.
My first thought is that you will for sure lose some of the comfort. Nothing I have ridden matches the Roubaix (still my favourite bike so far.
But, I know there are adapters available for the Roubaix, so you can remove the dampening in the front, and also get lower. Maybe a good start?
Do you use the front damper much, or do you usually lock it out?
In regards to flexibility, I’d argue that getting lower in front is 98% position and 2% stack (unless it’s on the extreme ends).
The stack on the new SSE is also high, so it’s very close to a Roubaix honestly. A 56 SSE is almost same stack as 58 from Specialized.
Aero performance, yes, the SSE is faster for sure, but how much is hard to say…
I am more and more in the “keep the bike” camp, since I feel like we’re now seeing incremental updates everywhere.
Also, one thing to add. I am really not fond of the triangular fork on the SSE…
If I were you, and really wanted to upgrade, I’d probably get a SL8, and keep the rest of the stuff you have, handlebar etc, and run wider tyres on the SL8. Depending on if you want agility or stability. Specialized SL7 and SL8 are more agile, whereas the SSE is more stable, like the Roubaix.
Sorry if I didn’t answer your question, it’s hard to compare the bikes since they differ so much in general, so just a lot of random thoughts above.
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