I think we all kind of know its coming and will probably be seen around the TDf.
Spy shots have been released. Nero did half a podcast discussing it. What do we think? Tarmac SL9.
I think it looks ok. I had grown to like the SL8 look. Not love it but enjoy it none the less. This SL9 looks much nicer until I look at the seat stay, seat tube. Maybe its just me but it feels a bit off looks wise with how the rest of the bike is built up. But who cares how it looks if it rides well.
I don’t see how it is not more aero. Probably equal to the venge in a wind tunnel. Then add in the 1 pice bars. Tour magazine I would guess it to be around 204/05 watts. Fast enough to be in the aero bike category. Not quite Factor one.
The real question is how light will it be? I think if it is within 100 grams of the SL8, then it is just a better bike (assuming my wind tunnel bro science is right). If it is just as light as the sl8 or lighter, then it will pretty much blow every other do it all out of the water and make it a hard sell for an aero bike unless you want a factor.
Personally, I don’t care how a bike looks, I want to know what the company’s goals were to make it better. More concretely, what weaknesses did Specialized identify in the SL8 and how did Specialize improve upon it in the SL9?
Looks are subjective, but I don’t like when companies simply release something new so that they can point to a new product, and people will feel like their SL8 (or, gasp, SL7!) has suddenly become an unridable relic.
that’s capitalism 101, isn’t it? every for-profit-company has to do it or go bankrupt.
Let’s be honest, roadbikedesign for the average joe has peaked some years ago. Every new bike is just a refinement over last years model. All we’re seeing is longer wheelbases to accomodate more tire clearance and narrower bars for aero and fit improvements, integrated cockpits for looks and refinements in terms of aerodynamic tube shape design. What else is there to do? Carbon layup?
You can’t reinvent the wheel, so to speak. If you have a bike that has disc brakes and clears 28mm tires you probably don’t need to upgrade your road bike ever unless it breaks.
Took me some cycles (badumm tss) to come to that conclusion but today I ride a round tubed XCr roadbike with 38cm bars and 33-35mm (measured) tires and feel like this is my “foreverbike”. YMMV
I don’t think that’s necessarily true. Look at e. g. Apple, their basic designs are often used for > 10 years. The original Apple Watch looks very similar to the Apple Watch 10.
Smaller manufacturers, also out of necessity, update their models less often.
I don’t know, there are changes that are significant. E. g. modern aero road bikes tend to be higher so that you are in an aero position you can sustain for longer. I wouldn’t call that revolutionary, but it is something worthwhile.
Ditto for tire clearance, on a technical level the changes are small, but they can really expand what roads you can (and can’t) ride.
I may have a somehwat narrow view because my first carbon road bike was a Specialized Roubaix SL4 Disc. It cleared 28/30mm labeled tires, had disc brakes and built in compliance in the frame. That was 10+ years ago and arguably still a relevant bike today.
Doesn’t look like the SL9 is one of them. I compared the frame geo numbers of the Tarmac SL6 and SL8 and barring for some minor adjustments to accomodate bigger tires I don’t see any major adjustments and would assume the SL9 to be in that same ball park in terms of stackheight and reach. It will fit 20yr old racers perfectly and that’s who those designs have in mind.
If you’re increasing tire clearance from a 32mm tire to a 40 and beyond is where you start changing the use case for a roadbike imho, but that’s another category “allroad” - e.g. Canyon Endurace, BMC Roadmachine and the like. I don’t see Specialized doing that with the SL9. This bike is another iterative update and will be marketed as lighter than the SL8 but more aero, while increasing tire clearance by 2mm, nothing ground breaking and just the expected updates.
I road fire roads on my Tarmac SL6 on 25mm tubeless tires from time to time and it was fine - sure 30+ is more comfortable but the intended use case of a Tarmac is still a light and aero Racebike not an allroad bike.
Apparently the front end is a bit more ‘streamlined’? to get the most out of the ‘sniffer’…a bit wider fork blade and better transition from the fork crown to the bottom of the head tube.
Seat tube change to be more aero in its shape and the seat post is supposedly more aero.
Considering the Tarmac line has and is one of the ‘slippiest’…lol…frames and copied quite a bit it is no surprise that when it is at the top, or near the top, of the fastest frames the changes become smaller and gains marginal.
I ride a standard SL8 and find it very fast, stable and comfortable.
I’d certainly take a frame for free if Spesh was offering me one but wouldn’t buy one because at 71 my marginal gains are not having to stop during a ride to pee lol.
If the image is the final product I think it’s a great looking frame.
I find the new design a little disappointing as it basically looks like an SL7 with a more aggressively aero shaped rear end. For a company that prides itself with innovation, I feel like they have been very conservative design-wise with their latest flagship model like the SL8, new crux (not yet confirmed) and now the new SL9 (yet to be confirmed). I feel like Chinese companies such as QuickPro, Tavelo, Incolor, Winspace, etc. are more innovative these days when it comes to frame design and because they are significantly undercutting western brands when it comes to frame price, are more appealing to me these days. I currently own an SL7 and didn’t feel like the SL8 was worth it and now looking at the SL9, it probably only is a few watts faster and probably marginally lighter while costing significantly more for the same Expert level build. Prices are simply out of control these days and I feel like the there isn’t enough innovation to justify these out of touch prices for most people. Sorry for the rant but my gravel bike, XC bike and road bike are all Specialized but I just can’t see spending so much for bikes that seems to have barely changed since 2020 (talking about the crux, Epic Evo gen 7 and SL7).
Why is this a bad thing? The SL7 and SL8 are great bikes. Perfectly fine and still competitive with most anything on the market. Isn’t it great that you don’t have to replace your bike every 4 years because it is outdated.
I don’t think anyone is saying that. From a user perspective that’s actually a good thing. But being content with what you have is probably not the reason we’re active in a cycling forum discussing gear
If all you do is ride on roads, I agree with you. But many modern endurance road bikes allow for 35–40 mm rubber, which greatly increases versatility.
If that doesn’t matter to you, then your current road bike is IMHO still completely relevant.
My 3T Strada was, when it came out, revolutionary as it combined an aero frame with tire clearance of around 30 mm (my 28 mm tires measure slightly larger than 29 mm, and I have another mm or so to spare). But where I live now, that’s not enough for some routes, because we have cobbles from hell. In my case at least, the issue isn’t just comfort, but flatting: I had an unfixable flat in the middle of nowhere and had to walk several km to a bus stop.
I think you are right that Specialized won’t, but IMHO they should increase tire clearance. Have a look at the new Endurace SLX, which is an aggressive aero road bike with clearance for wide tires. TdF pros may not care, but IMHO it’d make a better road bike for the general public.
Yeah, IDK. I like seeing, discussing, and keeping track of all the new developments but rarely replace a bike, so I guess that qualifies me as contented with what I have. They way I look at it is my old bikes are still as awesome as the day I got them. New stuff it just a little awesomer.
I totally agree with you here. I think you meant the Endurace CFR? That’s the Aerroad with 35mm clearance. The CF SLX is the more toned down version, higher stack, shorter reach, with even more clearance for up to 40mm. In the lineup of Specialized that would be the not-so-sexy Roubaix…
If the SL9 is the equivalent of the Canyon Endurace CFR I think that’s a good thing and a step in the right direction. Taking it further would dillude the racebike genes imho. They just need to make the Roubaix more appealing. That proprietary stem/headset/future shock thing is putting me off as much as the Brain was putting me off an Epic of yesteryear.
I think this is a great point and believe is what set off that tangent. They (SL7, SL8, SL9) all look the same and probably are pretty alike and therefore this whole “why bother” discussion started. Didn’t intend to derail 4 posts in, sorry about that.
Personally, I find this very underwhelming. With all the unique hyperbikes released recently, I was hoping the SL9 would lean more into the Venge to compete with bikes like the Factor One, Cervelo S5, and Colnago Y1RS. While it’s a beautiful bike, it looks like a slightly more chunky SL7 and a slightly more refined SL8. I will be buying a replacement bike for my S-Works SL7 this year, and this will be the first time in over 10 years that Specialized’s offerings haven’t appealed to me.
When you can get a good looking non-western brand bike with Dura-Ace and your choice of bars/size, wheels, color etc all for $5,699.00 (at the time of this post)… It is putting the squeeze on these releases.
Everyone has their own opinion, my opinion is the T1600 (or M6) are better aesthetically looking bikes than the now SL9 - not sure about the actual difference in aero performance but it cant be much.
I sold my Tarmac and built a T1550 G2 a season ago, really is an amazing bike.
Yes, I think you are right. I’m not overly familiar with Canyon’s line-up, their bikes never tickled my fancy. (No judgement.)
I would hope so. Tire clearance is one of only two “faults” with my first-gen Strada, the other being UDH compatibility (which wasn’t a thing back when the frame was designed, SRAM still had 11-speed road groupsets).
To continue that line of reasoning, IMHO the next thing is adding proper suspension to road bikes. I expect that some form of suspension will come to gravel bikes first, and then migrate to endurance/all-road bikes.
That already exists in the Diverge. To make the Roubaix more appealing in my mind would be making it more alike the outgoing Crux and merge it with the Aethos 2. Shorter and taller, steep seattube, longer wheelbase to accomodate up to 40mm tires, cables trough headset because looks cool, top tube mounts, frame storage, done.
Don’t dillude the Tarmac. It’s supposed to be a race bike. I agree with the sentiment that it’s a rather conservative iteration compared to what others are doing.
In the front, not the rear. Plus, I don’t see Future Shock as a proper suspension, it is more for rider comfort, less for grip.
That’s a good idea, having too many different bikes is not an advantage. Something like the Crux, Cervelo Aspero or one of 3T’s gravel bikes, a versatile bike that is great at a lot of things, is very appealing.
