With the effects of the pandemic now safely in our
rear view mirror,
bike manufacturers have been very busy designing and releasing new
bikes,
and this year was certainly an active one.
We're going to take a look at the new bikes
that have impressed us the most,
the ones we'd recommend if you're after the latest and
greatest,
and that doesn't mean the most expensive.
Of course we do have some so-called Halo bikes in
our list,
but we've looked at value for money as well as
pure performance,
and they aren't all made of carbon.
First up, we have a bike which certainly sits in
the Halo category for many the specialised Tarmac
SL8. After a handful of leaks and an explosive launch
at the UCI World Championships in Glasgow,
the bike landed to a reception of excitement and intrigue.
Now in its 8th generation,
the Tarmac has become synonymous with Rd.
racing, not least because of its name,
but since it's been under some of the world's biggest
World Tour teams for over a decade.
For the decade it's also been the bike which has
racked up hundreds if not thousands of pro victories.
We gave the tarmac SLA five stars when we reviewed
it because we could not find a single thing we
would improve.
It's fantastically light plays host to a brand new cockpit
which helps the bike slice through the air while also
offering all of the stiffness you could want without a
harsh ride. It's perfectly balanced and leaves nothing to be
desired for those looking for a fast,
responsive race bike. This is the bike to get one
thing the Tarmac SL8 certainly isn't is cheap.
However, you do get what you pay for.
Full builds start from 6000 lbs and go all the
way to 12,000 lbs.
However, framesets are available too.
The Pro level model can be purchased for three and
a half 1000 lbs,
while the S Works frame comes in at
4750.
If you're in the market for a road bike under
$1000 or 1000 lbs, you will quickly find that there
is little choice,
especially when it comes to disc brakes.
In fact, the likes of Specialized Antrec don't actually offer
a
2024 disc brake road bike below this threshold.
The Triban, owned by sports retail giant Decathlon,
has been long known for offering great value products and
the Triban RC 520 is no different.
The bike features an aluminium frame with an enduring slant.
It comes fitted from stock with 28 millimetre tyres but
can play host to rubber up to 36 millimetres in
size.
Things start to get exciting when you consider that the
bike has Shimano one O 5 DE radius and cable
actuated hydraulic disc brakes.
While the braking setup won't put fully hydraulic systems out
of a job,
they do still perform better than rim brakes and fully
cable actuated disc brakes.
The one area that the bike is let down is
in its weight.
The RC 520 is not the lightest bike by any
means.
With A-frame that comes in at over
1700 grams, a fork that's nearly 700 grams and a
wheel set that tips the scales as to claim
2300 grams. However, when we look at the bike as
a whole,
and considering the ride it provides is pretty smooth and
stable,
it represents itself as a great value purchase in the
sub 1000 LB category,
which is why we gave it four out of five
stars.
All we would recommend doing is upgrading the tyres to
further improve ride fill,
braking performance and grip.
Pinarello is entering 2024 with a completely fresh line up
of bikes compared to the one it entered
2023 with. Its Rd. offering is now split into two
pillars,
the F Series and the X Series,
with the former being a racist choice and the latter
being the endurance riders pick.
Both pillars of bikes are led by range topping Dogma
models,
but the bikes that sit below provide many of the
same characteristics but for a better price.
One bike stood out to us,
that being the F7. The F7 plays host to an
Altegra 12 speed DI,
two group set, some carbon wheels,
a carbon cockpit and the brand's famous Honda fork.
The carbon fibre used to construct the frame is just
one step below what's used for the Dogma model,
so you're getting a lot of the same performance but
for a much lower price.
We would never say that 7000 lbs is cheap.
It's of course a large amount of money to spend
on a bicycle,
but if you are after the kind of performance that
the Dogma F provides but don't want to pay for
it,
the F7 could be for you.
We found the bike provided a pretty smooth,
dynamic and playful ride film.
However, we would recommend upgrading the Ties to something a
little bit more high end to help you extract the
most of what this bike has to offer.
Although the new Cannondale Lab 71 bikes look stunning when
ridden in the mountains of the Tour de France,
the five digit price tag is higher than the peak
of the colder Tourmalay,
but you don't have to spend a massive chunk of
change to get a good value road bike.
The Cannondale CAD Optimo 4 with an aluminium frame and
carbon fork leans on all the lessons the American bike
maker learnt since launching the CAD line of Rd.
bikes in 1997. The Optimo 4 is an entry level
aluminium road bike that offers good value for those making
their first foray into dropbar bikes without committing thousands upfront.
As the only rim brake bike on this list,
you can rest assured that the Optimo has plenty of
other attributes which make it a worthwhile choice for those
wanting a nippy Rd.
ride. Unsurprisingly, a lot of your money will be going
towards the frame itself.
The ride it provides is 1,
which is stable and predictable but retains the dull Rd.
feedback that is so characteristic of aluminium frames.
The 8 speed Claris gearing isn't quite as impressive as
the components you'll find on the Triban
RC 520, but this bike is much lighter.
So if you're after a lighter weight row bike suited
to faster paced riding but want a great value option
at around 1000 LB Mark then this poses a very
good choice.
Another brand to grace this list from the monolith that
is Decathlon is Van Risal.
Back in spring of this year a new range of
bikes were unveiled at the Ciotta Classic show by the
French brand and one of the new models was the
Van Risal RCR. Soon to be the official ride of
Team
AG2R Citroen, this bike looks to be a do it
all racing machine.
The reason why we're particularly excited about this bike is
because pairing the good value of a Van Risal with
World Tour Performance could create an irresistible combination for consumers,
Van Risel says. It's the perfect balance between lightness,
stiffness and aerodynamics, and looking at the bike,
it's easy to see where it's coming from.
The sculpted tube shapes and claim frame weights hovering around
800 grams could be a real recipe for success.
Back in February, Cannondale released the 4th generation of its
much loved Super 6 Evo.
The race bike, which holds quite the climbing reputation,
saw an aerodynamic redesign as well as frameset hierarchy changes.
The introduction of the Lab 71 framesets which dethroned the
high mod as the range topping build option made headlines
with a price tag of
$15,000 or 12 and a half 1000 lbs.
In recent years we have seen a trend of lightweight
bikes becoming more aero and aero bikes becoming more lightweight.
After completely remodelling the Super 6 from its previous generation,
the new Super 6 Evo has continued down a more
aerodynamic path,
receiving some serious revamping for
2024. However, there's a good reason why we awarded the
latest generation our Climbing Bike of the Year reward,
because during our period of testing we found that the
bike retained its snappiness when put under pressure riding uphill,
but it still floated a sweet balance between being a
fast handling bike without being overly skittish on the descents.
We also like that the bike has reverted to a
threaded bottom bracket,
has clearance for ties up to 34 millimetres in size,
and has cleaned up its method of internally routing cables
in the head tube.
It's clear that the 4th Generation is far more refined
than its predecessor and has been successful in rediscovering some
of the Super Six's climbing DNA.
Happily, the new generation is available in a multitude of
different fields spanning an incredibly wide price bracket,
making this one of the more accessible platforms forms to
get onto
the factor. O2 VAM is a road bike that has
looked to captivate the wait weenie audience instead of going
all out with aero claims.
Debuting at the 2023 Tour de France,
The new O2 with its claim framemate of
730 grams is clearly right in the Super bike category.
But how does it ride?
We knew even from our first ride of the Factor
O2 VAM that this bike was a real contender in
the Super bike space and it has continued to impress
US ever since. If you're in the market for one
of the best Rd.
bikes then the Factor O2 vam should definitely be making
your short list.
We really like that the tried and tested geometry has
remained largely the same bar a small increase in stack
height and we also just enjoy how light the bike
is. The O2 we had on test came in at
6.33 kilos, resulting in a bike which is incredibly responsive
and playful.
The area this bike is let down in is it's
flat line speed.
It's simply not an aero bike or even a do
it or race bike.
Meaning if you do live anywhere particularly flat you will
be missing out on some wind slicing property.
But for those who spend as much time running up
hills as they do going down them then the O2
could be for you.
Let us know down below which of these bikes would
you pick.
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