Our S-Works Tarmac may be the optimal bike for winning a Grand Tour, but chances are, you’re not going to be competing in Southern France this season. But when you need a bike that’s ready to annihilate the competition on your training rides and local races, the new Tarmac Expert is pretty damn hard to beat.
To get the weight around 950 grams, we utilized advanced aerospace composite optimization software to revolutionize the construction and layup of our new FACT 10r carbon. It's the most advanced material and schedule we've ever made—the shape, schedule, and material optimization allowed us to shed nearly 200 grams. That's right, a 20% reduction in frame weight—the perfect recipe for your next hill climb PR.
We then further improved our Rider-First Engineered™ technology to ensure that the new Tarmac is stiff and compliant in exactly the right places. With this revamp, we also updated the geometry—basing it on countless Retül data points and professional rider input. This enabled us to develop a performance road geometry that perfects the combination of a responsive front end and short wheelbase, delivering instantaneous response and optimal power transfer.
And while stiffness aids in the aforementioned, compliance must also be utilized for an optimal ride quality. That's why we designed a seatpost that builds compliance into the upper 120mm where clamping doesn’t happen, dropped the seatstays, and altered the seat tube shape. We also added tire clearance up to 30mm, which translates to a 28mm Turbo Cotton on a Roval SLX 24 rim. This allows lower pressures for decreased rolling resistance, increased traction, and more comfort. Altogether, these additions still have the Tarmac riding like a true race-machine, but just takes a bit of the sting out of those road imperfections. You’ll thanks us on your next long ride.
And while this is all great, we know that aerodynamics are the most important thing we can do to make you faster. Both our Bora-Hansgrohe and Team Quick Step Floors Pro Tour riders, after all, are demanding aero improvements on every bike. With this, the aero goal was to discover where we could essentially “add aero for free,” by not taking anything away from the hallmarks of the Tarmac design. During the six-month iterative process, three areas were discovered where we could do this—a new fork shape, dropped seatstays with aero tubes, and a d-shaped seatpost and seat tube. The result? A bike that’s approximately 45 seconds faster over 40km compared to other lightweight bikes in the same category. A speed savings that you'll feel when you're attacking off the front of the peloton.
This new Tarmac comes ready to race out of the box, featuring a crisp Shimano Ultegra 8000 groupset, lightweight Roval Rapide CL 50 rims laced to DT Swiss hubs, our fastest S-Works Turbo 26mm tires, and a sublime Toupé Expert Gel saddle.
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The FACT 10r carbon frame combines the lightweight performance and compliance of our top-end carbon production methods with our Rider-First Engineered™ design that ensures every frame size has the same legendary climbing responsiveness and descending prowess you'd expect from a Tarmac.
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S-Works full FACT carbon fork with a tapered construction provides incredible front end stiffness and steering response for instantaneous accelerations and high-speed descents.
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The 11-speed Shimano Ultegra 8000 shifting is extremely reliable, lightweight, and precise.
Whether you are buying your first road bike, or like us, you're hooked and you want to upgrade your ride, this is a quick guide to steer you through the occasionally confusing world of road cycling and arm you with the right information to make the best buying decisions. For a far more detailed guide, go to our BLOG on finding the best road bike for you.
Where to start
Prices for a bike that will last and give you a proper riding experience start around £500, which includes bike set-up, your first service and a quality bike fit. You can spend less, but you'll either get sub-standard components or be left on your own to build up the bike, determine how to fit it correctly to protect your knees, back, hands and shoulders, and service it once it beds in.
What are you paying for?
£500 - £5,000 is quite a range, so how do you decide what's right for you? For example, is it more important to spend extra to get a carbon fibre frame or would you be better off with a less expensive frame and better gear shifters, brakes and wheels? If it's an upgrade from your current bike you are looking for, how do you choose the best frame, groupset and wheels for you?
1. Your cycling objectives
The best place to start is understanding what you want to achieve with your bike. Do you want a comfortable bike that's good for fitness training, but you're not concerned with speed or the latest technology? Or, are you interested in the sport, joining a club, doing challenging rides for speed and/or distance? Your budget and the type of bike you select should be guided by your objectives, and this guide should help you make more informed choices.
2. Frame materials
The frame is the heart of your new road bike. It's where the majority of the budget goes. Frames can be made from a range of materials, and the most common are steel, aluminium, titanium and carbon fibre. Each is a very worthy material in its own right.
Aluminium is the most common frame material for bikes costing under £1,000. It's an easy material to make bikes from, which keeps the cost down, and it's a very good material for road bikes, as it's stiff and light. Carbon fibre is the fastest growing segment. however, carbon frames are NOT all equal. If it's a quality frame, you can obtain a magical combination of stiffness, comfort and low weight. If it's poor quality, you're just riding a plastic bike.
3. Bike sizing: Bike Fit is more than just choosing the right size frame!
Choosing the right size bike is absolutely critical when buying a road bike, but it's just a starting point. We don't simply rely upon brand's sizing charts. We will size you up by putting bikes on a turbo trainer in the store to ensure we source the right frame size for you. Bike sizes vary by manufacturer, and the right size for you will differ based on factors, such as your ratio of leg length to torso length and the objective of the bike design (racing or endurance).
4. Groupset Components
The groupset comprises, essentially, the moving parts on your bike apart from the wheels, so it's your gears, shifters, chain, crankset, bottom bracket and brakes. The quality of these components makes a great difference in the reliability of shifting, effort to brake and comfort for your hands. There are three major manufacturers that you're likely to encounter: Shimano, SRAM and Campagnolo. Shimano has, by some margin, the greatest market share. The pecking order for Shimano goes like this, from entry-level to top-end; 2300, Sora, Tiagra, 105, Ultegra and Dura-Ace. Pay more and you'll get a higher performance, lower weight, or both.
4. The wheels make the bike
The next important area of your new bicycle is the wheels. Aside from the frame, the wheels will heavily influence how the bike rides, feels and responds. Lighter wheels will ride faster with less rotating mass. Lighter and faster tyres will feel more responsive and supple over the road surface.
Summary
We are here to help you match you with the best bike for your riding objectives and budget. We'll make sure you get the right size and set it up correctly for you in any case, but we can also discuss the trade-offs and pro & cons of your different choices. We are all cyclists and enthusiasts, so we are keen and able to help.