Your saddle is arguably the most important component on your bike. Like that other key to comfort, your shorts, if it's doing its job properly you'll never notice it, but if it isn't — ouch! It’s your main contact point with the bicycle, and for some of us even subtle variations between two similar saddle designs can lead to one of them crossing fine line between comfortable perch and instrument of torture.

For a lot of people the saddle they get with their bike works just fine. Every component on a complete bike has to contribute to meeting a price point, but bike manufacturers aren't stupid; they may spec a generic product but it is one designed to work for as many people as possible. And for a lot of us the saddle our bike was born with works just fine.

However, if it doesn't or you want to drop some weight from your bike, or pep up its looks with a new saddle you'll need to find the right one. If it ain't broke though you may want to consider whether you really want to fix it before you start looking for another saddle. It's no surprise that pros, couriers, expedition riders — indeed anyone who spends a lot of time on a bike — takes the same favoured saddle from bike to bike. And you don't necessarily need the most high tech saddle to be comfortable or go fast — the Tour de France has been won on £25 saddles.

If you do need a different saddle though you are faced with a bewildering choice. Saddles come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes to suit every type of riding from racing, touring, commuting and leisure cycling.

While this huge choice means there’s a saddle to suit every bum, it does make knowing just where to start a touch tricky when you're faced with a choice of potentially hundreds of saddles. So you need to narrow down your choice to find the perfect saddle, and that's the aim of this guide.

Shape

The critical part of choosing the right saddle is finding a shape that fits your body and suits your riding style. Generally speaking, the more stretched out your riding position and the faster you ride, the narrower the saddle you need. And the more upright your position and the slower you ride, the wider the saddle needs to be. When you're stretched out, you place less weight on the saddle, but when you sit upright, the saddle has to support more of your weight. That's why race bikes have very thin saddles, and Boris bikes have extremely wide saddles.

Manufacturers are getting better at helping you to choose the right saddle. Most have their own system of narrowing the choice, either by deciding what type of cyclist you are — usually by your range of flexibility and your position on the bike — or using a fit system that measures the distance between your sit bones, to pair you with the saddle that best matches your anatomy.

A good saddle should support the sit bones, not the entire bum. It’s where your sit bones contact the saddle that is key, a saddle needs to provide adequate support in these two areas. That’s why many saddles are offered in different widths, reflecting the difference in people's anatomy. Some manufacturers offer up to three widths to suit the range of variance. The nose of the saddle supports some of the cyclist’s weight too. Oh, one thing to remember here is that just because you have a bigger bottom it doesn't necessarily follow that you have wider sit bones.

Saddle shapes largely fall into several camps. Some are flat, some are rounded, some have scooped backs, some are narrow, others much wider. You can narrow down the choice by deciding what style of riding you do. A saddle that is too wide can lead to chafing, and one too narrow can feel like you’re sitting on a knife.

Generally, thinner saddles with minimal padding are more suited to racers with deep, stretched riding positions, down in the drops and crouched low over the handlebars. Such a position means you’re not sitting with all your weight on the saddle; you actually put very little load on the saddle when riding in such a position.

For touring cyclists saddles with a wider shape are favoured, as you don't adopt such an aggressive position when putting the miles in on tour as you do when racing. For long days in the saddle, and day after day, you need the highest level of comfort possible, and leather saddles are regularly the first choice. They're very durable too, and usually last years longer than saddles made from synthetic foam padding.

For more leisurely riding where an upright position is adopted, more of your weight will be concentrated through the saddle. A wider saddle with more support and extra padding will be the preferred choice here.

You can get saddles aimed at road racing, triathlon, touring, commuting, mountain biking, and they all take different approaches with shapes and padding. This does help narrow down the choice. There are some saddles that are favoured by different groups of cyclists, and there are some that seem to straddle the different camps. The Charge Spoon is one such saddle that leaps to mind as being particularly well suited to British bums, whether road racing, touring or mountain biking.

Material, rails and shell

The type of materials used to construct a saddle range from plastic bases and steel rails on entry-level models to entire moulded carbon fibre bases and rails on the very expensive models. The more you spend, the lighter the materials used, so if weight is a key priority for you, you need to start saving up. Lightweight saddles are those in the 200g region.

If comfort is important to you, then steer clear of carbon rails as hollow titanium rails can often provide additional flex to absorb some of the vibrations that pass through the frame into the seatpost. We’re even seeing many professional racers choose these saddles over the very top-end models.

The base of the saddle is an area where a manufacturer can design in extra flex, to allow the saddle to subtly deform upon impacts. Some have holes or different materials in key places that allow the foam to expand through the hole, or the base to flex in a controlled manner.

The saddle cover can be made from synthetic leather like Lorica or real leather, and there’s many other materials manufacturers might use. Some add perforations and Kevlar edges to prevent wear and tear taking its toll. Time trial saddles often have a grippy material along the nose to stop the cyclist slipping back and forth, and we’re starting to see such materials make a presence on road saddles, as with Prologo’s CPC saddle.

Leather saddles have a single piece of leather that is tensioned on a metal frame, so it’s essentially suspended like a hammock, and provides plenty of give that can prove very comfortable on longer rides. They need more looking after than regular saddles, and sometimes need breaking in. The leather needs proofing, and you need to be careful in wet weather, as they don’t much like the rain; that's why you most often find them on mudguard-equipped touring bicycles. Brooks is the name most associated with leather saddles but they aren't the only maker out there. Spa Cycles do a well regarded, and well priced, range of leather saddles that possibly require more breaking in than a Brooks, but not that much more.

A fascinating recent development is the Brooks Cambium range of saddles, which use similar construction techniques to Brooks' leather saddles, but with modern materials. Instead of a sheet of leather across the ends of the rails, Brooks has come up with a combination of vulcanised natural rubber, cotton canvas and structural textile for the top.

This top is inherently flexible, like a worn leather Brooks or a new one with the tension backed off slightly, and it moves slightly as you pedal. It's a design we like a lot.

Padding and cutouts

Most saddles use some form of foam padding, but the amount of padding used and the density can vary a lot. Racier saddles often have less padding, while saddles for commuting and leisure cyclists will have deeper and softer padding, to cushion the ride. However if you ride fast, or for long distances too much padding might not be your friend as it can move, pinch or chafe rather than supporting your sit bones.

It’s easy to think a saddle with very firm padding is going to be uncomfortable, but once you get used to them they can be a lot more comfortable than softly cushioned saddles for riding of the fast variety. Because you lean forward, you perch on the saddle rather than sit on it, so you can get away with less padding. Strategically placed gel inserts are another frequent solution to providing comfort.

In 1997 a study by Dr. Irwin Goldstein put the cat among the pigeons, claiming reduced blood flow cause by saddle pressure could lead to erectile disfunction in men and cause permanent reproductive failure. A load of nonsense it may be, but the story produced a lot of concern, and the saddle with the hole in the middle suddenly became very popular. Step forward Specialized in 1998 who produced their first Body Geometry saddle, with a cutaway channel claimed to restore the blood flow and so prevent numbness.

In fact the idea is not new. The first saddle with a hole was actually born as early as 1903, and Georgena Terry produced the first modern example for women in 1992. It also has to be said that the claims for saddles with channels in them are hedged with all sorts of caveats.

For instance there is no agreement that decreased blood flow, or even numbness will cause erectile dysfunction in men or genital numbness in women. And even proponents of channels and holes agree that there is another simple cure: stand up and any decreased blood flow to your bits will immediately resolve itself.

Even if decreased blood flow does cause a problem depending how you are plumbed down there the amount of difference between a normal saddle and one with a channel may be minimal to non-existent. In the interests of science our editor Tony once had his organ wired up to measure the difference in blood flow between his usual saddle and one with a channel in it. For him at least it turned out there was no difference.

So cutaways and channels are not for everyone. You only need look at the bikes of the professionals to see that many quite happily cycle many thousands of kilometres a year with little side effect, so there’s a lot more to comfort than just adding the channel. They do work for some people though, indeed some swear by them. It’s a case of trying different saddles and seeing what works for you.

If you have particular urological or prostate problems it may well be worth looking at a saddle with a hole or channel or cutaway, and there are plenty to choose from. Or you might even take things a stage further and looking at something with a drop nose, like a Selle SMP or even a noseless saddle like the ISM Adamo Racing saddle pictured above,

Saddle padding doesn't last forever, particularly on performance saddles. After a while the padding isn't really doing any padding anymore because it has become permanently squashed by the millions of times your bottom has compressed it. The more performance-oriented a saddle and the less actual padding it has, the more time limited its lifespan. Many top end performance saddles have an expected lifespan of a couple of seasons if used the way they are intended.

Saddles for women

Most manufacturers now have a large choice of women-specific saddles to recognise the differences in anatomy. Many women do get on just fine with men's saddles, just as many women happily ride men's bikes, but generally women have wider sit bones so there’s a choice of suitable wider saddles to suit. That said, looking at some saddle ranges, there’s still a much smaller choice for women than men, something which needs addressing.

Georgena Terry developed a reputation for comfortable saddles aimed specifically at women, in doing so pioneering the first women’s specific designed products. She produced a saddle for women in 1992 with a cutaway section, a design she later expanded to men’s saddles.

Try before you buy

Ideally, you want to try a saddle on your bike before parting with your money, and a few saddle manufacturers recognise the problem of spending a lot of cash on an untested saddle. Some then offer try before you buy schemes, where you can run a saddle for a desired amount of time to decide if it’s right for you. That can save you collecting a large pile of saddles in your shed as you enter the quest for the ultimate saddle.

Saddle height and bike fit

As important as picking the right saddle, ensuring you have the saddle at the correct height and distance from the handlebars is also very important. Sometimes, you can have the right saddle, but you’re not sitting on it correctly, which can be a case of it being too far forward or backwards. If you find yourself wriggling about on your saddle a lot when riding, it could be a sign it’s not correctly positioned.

We’d recommend getting a professional bike fit, and there are many available these days. They’ll assess your level of flexibility, physical limitations and your cycling goals, and ensure you’re correctly fitted on the bike. The bike needs to fit you, not the body fitting the bike.

20 great saddle choices

Specialized Power Expert — £79

The Specialized Power Expert saddle provides reliable comfort and support even on all-day rides. Available in a range of widths to accommodate different sit bones, and with a cutout to relieve pressure, it's one you really can ride for hours without any issues.

Read our review of the Specialized Power Expert
Find a Specialized dealer

Astute Star Lite VT — £130.61

The Astute Star Lite is a superbly made saddle that offers a high level of comfort, especially when you're in a low and aggressive riding position.

The carbon fibre-reinforced nylon shell has a cutaway centre to reduce pressure on the perineum – as you'll find on many other saddles – and on top of that you get tri-density memory foam padding.

The padding towards the back of the saddle is quite firm to support your sit bones, and more squashy at the front to cosset your soft tissue. It immediately moulds to your body shape to provide a load of comfort without any areas of high pressure. The cover is made from Italian microfibre that's easily wiped clean after a wet ride.

Read our review of the Astute Star Lite VT

Selle San Marco ShortFit-C Racing — £61.40

The Shortfit-C Racing saddle from Selle San Marco is an excellent all-round saddle that will suit those with medium to wide sit bones who want something pressure-relieving for training, sportives and even long tours. The weight is pretty good and construction quality is high for the price, meaning this should appeal to serious riders and weekenders alike.

It measures 144mm across, which isn't super-wide but enough that those with narrow sit bones might 'sink' a little into the large central cutout. For the rest of us, it feels great as soon as you take your place.

Read our review of the Selle San Marco ShortFit-C Racing
Find a Selle San Marco dealer

Fabric Scoop Gel — £42.49

Charge describes the Fabric Scoop Gel as a 'comfort' design, and it ticks all the boxes: it's comfortable, well made, attractive and a fair price.

It's aimed at leisure, commuter and off-road riders who adopt an upright position, so has large gel inserts covering the three pressure points – the nose and wings – plus a V-shaped central channel to alleviate pressure on your bits. It's a unisex design, as are all Fabric saddles, but is particularly suited to women with wider sit bones.

Bontrager Montrose Pro — £149

The Bontrager Montrose Pro saddle looks great and is very well put together. It sits on the right side of the weight scale and it was very comfortable for me in its intended race-position use. Available in black or white, featuring a carbon reinforced shell and oversized full carbon 7x9mm rails it's offered in 128mm, 138mm and 148mm widths, all of which are 270mm long. Weights range from 160g to 172g.

Read our review of the Bontrager Montrose Pro
Find a Bontrager dealer

Fabric Line Titanium — £63.74-£67.49

The titanium-railed version of the Fabric Line (see below) doesn't save a whole lot of weight over the chromoly-railed model (which doesn't really matter as that's pretty svelte anyway), but you do get a little more in the way of comfort, because the titanium tubes tend to flex a bit. You can notice it when riding the two side by side.

Read our review of the Fabric Line Titanium

Fizik Antares R5 Kium — ~£95

Fizik's Antares R5 Kium Road Saddle is surprisingly comfortable for speed-orientated road riding, and the build quality is top-notch.

The Antares R5 sits in Fizik's Chameleon family of contact points. This is the mid-point of a three-category range created according to different levels of rider flexibility, which also includes handlebars (the other two are Snake/flexible and Bull/rigid). It's 275mm long and 142mm wide and Fizik describes its shape as 'wide and slightly curved in profile, which is ideal for riders with medium spine flexibility'.

Read our review of the Fizik's Antares R5 Kium
​Find a fizik dealer

Fabric ALM Ultimate — £170

Fabric's ALM Ultimate saddle is an extremely lightweight saddle that's beautifully made. It's best suited to those who like a firm feel and don't mind paying a premium price.

When your bum forst encounters the ALM it's a little surprising just how firm it feels. The 'ultra-light PU foam' padding is quite thin and there's not masses of give in the 'aerospace UD carbon fibre' base or the carbon-fibre rails. Don't get us wrong, it's not solid, but it isn't soft either.

Read our review of the Fabric ALM Ultimate
Find a Fabric dealer

Brooks Cambium C13 — £100-£103.19

The Brooks Cambium C13 is the latest model in the English brand's excursion into non-traditional materials for its saddles. There's no leather or chromed steel at all here, replaced by the vulcanised natural rubber and cotton top surface previously seen in the original Cambium models, and – what's this? – a full carbon fibre structure underneath. It's very well made (in Italy, not Birmingham, unlike the majority of the range) and there's no breaking-in period, unlike the leather models.

Read our review of the Brooks Cambium C13

Morgaw Trian — ~£90

A supremely comfortable saddle with innovative shock absorption built in, the Morgaw Trian is designed for comfort, and our tester thought it perhaps the most comfortable saddle he had ever used. It seems that the shock absorbers are what have really made it comfortable. Morgaw is a saddle company from Slovakia that began as a crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo. The idea behind it came from Martin Moravcik and Slawek Gawlik, two ex-pro mountain bikers who wanted to make a new kind of saddle.

Rather than simply having the rails mounted onto the base of the saddle, they mount through shock absorbers in order to lessen the impact of bumps in the road. It is meant to protect your spine as this is naturally where the shocks radiate.

Read our review of the Morgaw Trian

Fabric Line Elite — £55

Proof that you don't have to spend a fortune to get a comfortable saddle, for just £40 this is a super-comfortable performance saddle with pressure-relieving channel.

It's based on Charge's popular Scoop but the foam padding is partitioned down the middle. The unique construction method means Fabric has been able to retain a full base, so you're protected from road spray (many saddles have a hole) and no reinforcement is needed of the foam padding, which means it can be lighter.

Read our review of the Fabric Line Elite

Spa Cycles Aire — £48

If the three-figure price of a Brooks Swift is a bit rich for your blood, this very similar own-brand seat from Harrogate touring specialist Spa Cycles is a very acceptable substitute. It's made from thick Australian leather with shiny chromed steel rails; very handsome.

Our tester found it comfortable even for 15-hour rides. For hard-core randonneurs on a budget or leather saddle virgins who want to try one without breaking the bank the Aire is just about perfect.

Read our review of the Spa Cycles Aire

Selle Italia Diva Gel SuperFlow — £60

The Selle Italia Diva saddle is one of the most widely rider-recommended women's saddles and it's easy to see why. It's comfortable, flexible, light and it even looks good too.

This is a superior quality design offering superb comfort for all styles of bike and ride. An excellent women's saddle.

Read our review of the Selle Italia Diva Gel Flow
Find a Selle Italia dealer

Rido R-Lt — £68.50

The Rido R-Lt saddle is a reasonably lightweight performance choice that's built specifically to avoid numbness. This is a brilliant saddle. It does what Rido claim with regards to comfort plus the shape and fit are spot on. It is low profile enough to be taken seriously as a race saddle and at only 230g it isn't going to add any unnecessary weight to your race bike.

Read our review of the Rido R-Lt
Find a Rido dealer

Genetic Bikes Monocoque Carbon — £89

The Monocoque Carbon saddle from Genetic is just that: a saddle made mainly from carbon. It's light and comfortable, and not cheap, but it compares well against similar saddles from other manufacturers.

For many road cyclists, especially those doing longer distances, it's not about just weight, nor just price. It's about the best combination of weight, price and (most important) comfort. And on that basis the Genetic Monocoque Carbon saddle is well worth considering.

Read our review of the Genetic Bikes Monocoque Carbon
Find a Genetic Bikes dealer

Specialized Ruby Expert women's — £85

Specialized's Body Geometry Ruby Expert saddle is one of those rare beasts, a lightweight women's specific performance saddle that's available in a choice of widths including a properly narrow 130mm to suit your style of riding and just as importantly your sit bones too.

The cushioning is placed exactly where you need it to support your sit bones, effectively alleviating any discomfort or feeling of pressure. It's a super light, firm but comfortably supportive road saddle with width fittings to suit most riders.

Read our review of the Specialized Ruby Expert
Find a Specialized stockist

Brooks Cambium C17 — £105

What do you get if you combine the classic Brooks 'hammock' saddle design with thoroughly modern materials? You get the supremely comfortable Cambium C17. It's not the lightest saddle around, but f you value comfort over weight, then the Brooks Cambium C17 should be on your list of saddles you must try, and soon.

Read our review of the Brooks Cambium C17
Find a Brooks dealer

Fabric Scoop Pro Flat — £78

Scoop saddles are is available in three shapes: flat, shallow and radius. Though there isn't much padding in the Fabric Scoop Pro Flat, there is loads of flex in the one-piece base and it's this flex that really provides the core of the comfort. The carbon rails do provide a surprising amount of flex, but their shape and size isn't compatible with a lot of seat post clamps, so the best advice is to check your seat post is compatible; you might need to change clamp or post.

The real beauty of the Fabric Scoop is the construction. The waterproof microfibre cover isn't stitched or stapled into place, it's moulded to a one-piece nylon base. It's really very impressive and if you get the chance to fondle one in your bike shop you really should, it's a marvellous bit of design.

Read our review of the Fabric Scoop Flat Pro Saddle
Find a Fabric dealer

Rivet Independence chromoly — £130

On the surface the Rivet Independence is a traditional leather saddle, but it has a modern twist in the form of a composite resin frame. anyone who fancies trying a leather saddle would do well to try the Independence.

The Independence shares the quality construction and thick leather of Rivet's Pearl saddle, along with the all-important tension plate underneath, which prevent the saddle from splaying. Where it differs significantly from the other saddles in the range is the composite resin frame (complete with bag loops). This sturdy plastic helps to keep the weight down.

After a short acclimatisation period our tester's backside and the saddle were in complete harmony. Anyone who fancies trying a leather saddle would do well to try the Independence.

Read our review of the Rivet Independence chomoly saddle
Find a Rivet saddles stockist

Selle San Marco Mantra Superleggera Saddle — £290

The Selle San Marco Mantra Superleggera Saddle is an incredibly light and very stiff design that allows for a really strong transfer of power.

Weight is the biggest selling point of this saddle, and Selle San Marco has really pulled out all the stops in cutting down excess, it comes in at just 112.1g.

Read our review of the Selle San Mantra Superleggera saddle
Find a Selle San Marco dealer

For oodles of saddle reviews see the road.cc saddle review archive.

Want to go tubeless? Here are all your options in tyres.

Tubeless tyres are gradually gaining popularity as more riders become convinced that their improved ride and increased resistance to punctures are worth the cost of new wheels and tyres and the sometimes problematic fitting process. If you’re about to make the switch, here’s a look at your tyre options.

When tubeless tyres for road wheels first appeared you had very few choices. Hutchinson made tyres, Shimano and Stan’s NoTubes made wheels and conversion kits and, er, that was it. Now many tyre makers offer tubeless options, though Michelin and Continental are notable hold-outs.

Read more: How to fit a tubeless tyre
Read more: Road tubeless: everything you need to know — including how to convert

Bontrager

Bontrager R3

Bontrager offers a range of three tyres badged Tubeless Ready, which means what you need to get them working is sealant and either Bontrager’s special rim strips if you have Bontrager wheels, or other tubeless compatible wheels and valves. In ascending order of raciness, they’re the AW2, R2 and R3. We’ve tested and liked the latter as part of the Bontrager Road TLR Upgrade Kit.

Read our review of the Bontrager R3 Tubeless Ready
Read our review of the Bontrager Road TLR Upgrade Kit
Read our review of the Bontrager CX3 Team Issue TLR Cyclocross Tyres
Read our review of the Bontrager GR1 TLR Team Issue Gravel
Read our review of the Bontrager GR2 TLR Team Issue Gravel

Find a Bontrager dealer

Compass

Compass Barlow Pass TC

Compass Cycles grew out of the magazine Bicycle Quarterly, founded in 2002 by Jan Heine, a Seattle-based long-distance cyclist and journalist. Heine contends that wide, supple tyres perform better in every respect than skinny tyres, and perform better than would be expected from rolling resistance twsts performed on smooth steel drums. And he's put his money on it with a line of tyres that includes tubeless models.

Read our review of Compass Cycles Barlow Pass tyres

Continental

Conti was one of the last two major tyre makers to hold out against tubeless, but late in 2018 announced a new tyre, the Grand Prix 5000, to succeed the much-loved Grand Prix 4000S II, and as well as regular clinchers there are tubeless versions too.

And they were worth the wait. The Grand Prix 5000 tubeless tyre takes everything that is improved with this latest generation tyre and adds tubeless compatibility for improved puncture resistance. They're relatively painless to set up and provide excellent performance in all conditions with low rolling resistance, good grip and durability.

Read our review of the Continental Grand Prix 5000 TL

Donnelly

Donnelly is the new name for the tyres formerly known as Clement, after Clement brand owner Pirelli decided to return to the tyre sector. Donnelly specialises in cyclocross tyres—all the 33mm tyres in the range are for cyclocross—but has a decent selection of fat rubber for gravel and bad roads too.

Ere Research

Ere Research Genus

Ere research CEO Piet van der Velde has almost three decades in the bike industry, most recently as product director of saddle maker Selle Italia before founding Ere Research in 2017. The company launched with an extensive range of tyres, with tubeless versions of almost all models, and some — the Tempus tyres for time trials — only available in a tubeless format.

Read our review of the Ere Research Genus

Giant

Giant Gavia SLR 1

The world's biggest bike manufacturer has switched to tubeless tyres and wheels on large swathe of its 2018 models. Giant has come up with a ten-model range that covers a full range of applications from racing to messing about in the dirt.

Find a Giant dealer

Goodyear

Goodyear announced a return to bicycle tyres in 2018 with a range that includes what the company describes as 'Tubeless Complete' tyres, which have "tubeless specific bead and casings, allowing for easy installation and superior air retention". With a tyre carcass that's impenetrable to sealant but not airtight, Tubeless Complete is a sort of halfway house between Road Tubeless, which has an air-retaining coat of butyl rubber on the inside of the tyre and Tubeless Ready, which has a standard tyre carcass. Goodyear recommends the use of sealant to make sure the bead is properly seals against the rim, and says sealant won't seep through the Tubeless Complete carcass so it will still all be there when you need it to fix a puncture.

Read our review of the Goodyear Eagle All Season

Hutchinson

Hutchinson Sector 28

Hutchinson launched tubeless tyres for road bikes back in 2006, so it’s no surprise the French tyre maker has a fairly big range. While most tyre makers have gone down the Tubeless Ready route with lightweight tyres that need sealant to keep the air in, Hutchinson also makes tyres to the original Road Tubeless spec, sealed with a coating of rubber inside the tyre.

Hutchinson's flagship tubeless tyre is the Fusion 5, which is available in a number of variants. There are Tubeless Ready versions that need sealant, and Road Tubeless versions that, on paper, don't need sealant, but that everyone uses sealant with anyway just to be safe. Both Road Tubeless and Tubeless Ready versions are available in Galactik, Performance and All Season variants.

Galactik is the lightest version, intended for racing; Performance is the all-rounder with a slightly thicker tread and All Season is more durable, with a thicker tread and grooves to allegedly disperse water in wet conditions. Road Tubeless Fusion 5s come in 23mm and 25mm widths, Tubeless Ready in 25mm, plus 28mm in Performance and All Season.

All Fusion 5s use Hutchinson's ElevenStorm rubber which provides very low rolling resistance and buckets of grip. Tubeless Ready versions have Hutchinson's Hardskin bead-to-bead protection to reduce cuts and punctures. Galactik Road Tubeless tyres have a light reinforcement under the tread, while Performance and All Season Road Tubeless tyres get extra protection in the form of a Kevlar band.

Read our review of the Hutchinson Intensive Road Tubeless tyres
Read our review of the Hutchinson Fusion 2 tubeless tyres
Read our review of the Hutchinson Sector 28 tubeless tyres

IRC

IRC Formula Pro Tubeless

IRC makes several tubeless or tubeless ready tyres, but they’re very rare in the UK; we’ve only been able to find one source. That’s a pity as IRC has been pushing road tubeless technology to make tyres lighter and faster. The Pro Tubeless tyres have internal coating based on latex rubber rather than synthetic butyl. That makes for lower rolling resistance, just as a regular clincher tyre is faster with a latex inner tube than a butyl one.

Read our review of the Formula Pro Tubeless RBCC
Read our review of the Formula Pro Tubeless X-Guard

Kenda

Kenda Kommando X Pro

Kenda's line of tubeless-ready tyres focuses on gravel and cyclocross tyres, with just one road tyre, the Valkyrie. They're designated KSCT, for Kenda Sealant-Compatible Tyre. Some models seem to be quite hard to find in the UK, but we've been broadly impressed by the Kenda gravel tyres we've tested.

Read our review of the Kenda Cholla Pro
Read our review of the Kenda Kommando X Pro
Read our review of the Kenda Flintridge Pro
Read our review of the Kenda Alluvium Pro

Find a Kenda dealer

Maxxis

Maxxis is known for mountain bike tyres, but also offers tubeless-ready tyres in a wide range of sizes and applications, plus a tubeless tyre that doesn't need sealant.

Find a Maxxis dealer

Mavic

Mavic Yksion Pro UST

Mavic jumped into the road tubeless sector with both boots in summer 2017, announcing a new standard — Road UST — and a big range of wheels. The accompanying tyre offerings are a bit thin at the moment — the Yksion Pro UST in 25mm and 28mm widths — but Mavic clearly anticipates other manufacturers adopting the standard when it's been ratified by the relevant international bodies.

Mavic still offers its all-purpose/gravel tyre in the old Road Tubeless standard, the 30mm Yksion Elite Allroad.

Find a Mavic dealer

Panaracer

Panaracer Race A Evo 3

Panaracer has joined the tubeless fray with the Race A Evo 3 Tubeless. The Japanese tyre maker has developed a brand new bead which it claims allows the tyre to be inflated using just a hand pump and claims this tyre increases puncture resistance by 24% compared to the previous Evo 2 tyre, thanks to a new Protite puncture proof material. The tread compound is also claimed to improve cornering performance.

Read our review of the Panaracer Race A Evo 3 tubeless
Read our review of the Panaracer GravelKing Slick Tread 38

Find a Panaracer dealer

Pirelli

After returning to bicycle tyres with the P Zero clincher series, Pirelli has recently added tubeless-ready rubber to the range. Our Stu Kerton was impressed, calling the Cinturato "a very good tyre, especially during these winter months, offering plenty of cold and wet weather grip while also providing loads of puncture proofing. The small cost to the rolling resistance is worth it for the durability too."

Read our review of the Pirelli Cinturato

Ritchey

Ritchey Alpine JB

Ritchey has just one model of tubeless tyre, the 35mm version of the Alpine JB. We liked the non-tubeless 30mm equivalent, so for dirt road riding, the Alpine JB is well worth a look.

Find a Ritchey dealer

Find a Ritchey dealer

Schwalbe

Schwalbe ProOne

Schwalbe says “The future will be tubeless” in its latest blurb for the Schwalbe Pro One tyre, which it claims is its best tubeless tyre ever. We tested the slightly less advanced One Tubeless recently and found it rode brilliantly and, unlike many tubeless tyres, it was easy to get on the rim and to then pop into place on the bead seat.

Schwalbe offers a total of six ‘Tubeless Easy’ tyres, from the Pro One, which is being reliably reported as having a super-low rolling resistance, to the aptly named Big One, a 60mm tyre intended for mountain bike beach racing but which we’ve included in case anyone’s thinking of building up a ‘monster-cross’ bike.

Read our review of the Schwalbe One Tubeless
Read our review of the Schwalbe Pro One Tubeless
Read our review of the Schwalbe S-One Tubeless

Find a Schwalbe dealer

Specialized

Specialized Roubaix Road Tubeless

Until recently, Specialized has focused on endurance and cyclo-cross riding with its Tubeless Ready tyres, which it spells 2Bliss because — well, who knows. Californians, eh?

Specialized also makes a Road Tubeless version of its S-Works Turbo tyre. The 26mm version of this tyre recently won a rolling resistance test against a range of standard and tubeless tyres, and looks promising as a fast tyre for UK riding.

Read our review of the Specialized Trigger Pro 2Bliss Ready

Find a Specialized dealer

Vittoria

Vittoria makes the big claim that its Corsa Speed graphene technology tyre is the fastest ever independently measured, and the lightest tubeless-ready tyre too.A dirt tyre, the Terreno Zero TNT G2.0 has recently joined the range.

Read our review of the Vittoria Corsa Speed G+ Isotech
Read our review of the Vittoria Terreno Zero TNT G2.0

Find a Vittoria dealer

WTB

WTB are known for mountain bike tyres so it's no surprise that they specialise in fat 650B rubber for mixed-surface antics or, as they more prosaically call it Road Plus. The range also includes cyclo-cross and road tyres.

Read our review of the WTB ByWay
Read our review of the WTB Horizon

Find a WTB dealer

Zipp

Wheel maker Zipp — part of the SRAM group — offers the Tangente Speed tubeless tyre in two sizes, 25mm and 28mm. We found them easy to install and fast-rolling, but they're expensive.

Read our review of the Zipp Tangente RT28

Find a Zipp dealer

Sometimes you want the comfort and performance of cycling shorts but without the Lycra look, and here are 10 pairs that fit the bill. 

Lycra shorts are functional but they're not always suitable. Maybe you want to commute into work in clothing you can wear all day, or you want to ride around town and spend time off the bike as well as on it.

Here are some of the best options out there. Clicking on a heading will take you to an online retailer.

Chrome Folsom Short 2.0 £110

These Chrome Folsom shorts are really well designed, solidly made and pack some cool features although the price tag is quite hefty.

Go to our shorts reviews

They're made from a reasonably heavy duty Everest four-way stretch material that is water resistant, with reinforced seams and crotch. Despite the feeling of durability, they're light and breezy with a full-length seamless double layer crotch ensuring they're comfortable on the saddle.

Read our review 

Velocity Women's Climber Capris £90 

These mid-weight, smart-casual Velocity Climber Capris are bike-friendly yet will segue seamlessly to the office. The cycle-specific features – such as the diamond gusset and reflective accents – are subtly hidden, but the low-rise waist might not suit everyone and the price tag is pretty hefty, especially compared to non-bike-friendly high street offerings that are very similar in appearance.

That said, the quality of the fabric and construction are excellent.

Read our review 

Madison Flux Men's Shorts £69.99

The Flux mountain bike shorts don't have the tailored appearance of some here – they look sporty – but they're sturdy and lightweight and will appeal to anyone who doesn't want a built-in pad.

Check out 11 of the best cheap cycling shorts

They're made from a lightweight 4-way stretch fabric with a DWR (durable water repellent) coating so rain and spray rolls off. Super-thick Velcro adjusters allow you to get the fit just right around the waist, and four pockets give plenty of storage options. 

Read our review of the women's version 

dhb MTB Women's Trail Baggy Shorts £37.50

These shorts are designed for ruff 'n' tuff all-mountain riding so they're built to be durable. The material used is a nylon and polypropylene two-face fabric which is pretty heavy, so although strong these do get a little hot on summer rides. The fabric has a denim look to it which, along with the belt loops, silver snap popper fastenings, zip fly and open front hand pockets, contributes to a relaxed look.

The attention to detail is high, with a silicone strip around the waistband to help keep the shorts in place and elastic waist adjuster tabs which not only work well but lie neatly and flat.

Read off.road.cc's review 

Rapha Randonnee Shorts £90 

Rapha's slim-fitting Randonnee Shorts are designed specifically for cycling in the city. They're made from a lightweight and stretchy fabric that's breathable and quick to dry.

The best casual cycling commuter wear

The back is cut high to avoid a gap while the hi-vis tab and hi-vis trim inside the legs can be hidden away when not riding. 

Find out more 

Vulpine Men's Gravel Shorts £70 

Made from a stretchy, breathable fabric that's designed to keep you comfortable while riding, the Gravel Shorts have quite a wide cut so they don't look out of place when you're off the bike. 

These shorts are designed with a diamond shaped panel where you sit to avoid any discomfort from seams.

Find out more 

Giro Women's Arc Shorts £59.99 

Giro's Arc shorts – available in both men's and women's versions – are a simple and unfussy design intended for summer trail riding, but there's no reason why you can't wear them around town.

The rip stop fabric is really light and has a DWR coating. Although there is no stretch in it, the shorts proved comfortable enough.

The Arcs are made in a casual style with open hand pocket and belt loops. There are also waist adjusters on each hip.

Read off.road.cc's review 

Endura Hummvee Chino Short with Liner £56.99 

Unlike the other shorts here, the Hummvee comes with a padded liner for extra comfort in the saddle. The liner is detachable so you could take it out once you get to work, say.

The fabric of the external shorts is a cotton mix that's designed to be tough without looking out of place when you're off the bike.

Find out more 

Specialized Andorra Comp Shorts £32.50

The Andorra Comp women's shorts are a neatly designed and workmanlike pair of mountain bike shorts. These are understated, built with function in mind. 

The shorts are cool and comfortable with quite a lot of 'give' so it's easy to move about in them. There are no seams at the gusset and they dry quickly, adding to the overall comfort factor. The fabric is water repellent although heavy spray or consistent rain will find its way through. 

Read off.road.cc's review 

Morvelo Selector Men's Overland Shorts £90 

Although Morvelo's new shorts look fairly casual, they have several bike-friendly features. They're made from a stretchy nylon/Lycra fabric with a water repellent treatment and they aren't cut too baggy. You get three discreet zipped pockets along with hidden waist adjusters and reflective print that is hardly noticeable until light shines on it at night.   

Find out more 

The new Specialized S-Works Exos are the lightest and most comfortable road cycling shoes I've ever tested, but they're prohibitively expensive and won't suit sprinters and people who like a very secure fit. For everyone else, the comfort is supreme and their most appealing aspect.

• Pros: Very light, comfortable, great fit, plenty of stiffness
• Cons: Price, not as supportive as regular race shoes

If you pursue something to the absolute extreme you're invariably going to come up against compromise somewhere. In the case of the Exos, it's the eye-watering price tag – though they're still way cheaper than the £900 Mavic Comete Ultimate shoes... But make no mistake, £450 is a lot of cash.

> Find your nearest dealer here

You're paying for a shoe that weighs very little. How light are we talking? Only the lightest shoes we've ever seen here at road.cc.

The size 45s weigh 340g for the pair. For comparison, the next lightest pairs we've tested are Giro's Prolight Techlace (384g) and Lake's CX301 (408g). Those Mavic Comete Ultimate shoes are 632g, and Specialized's own S-Works 7 shoes are 448g. So yes, the Exos are very light. If they're still too heavy for you, the Exos 99 shoes swap the Boa dial for laces for a claimed 198g for a size 42 pair.

What makes them so light?

It's all down to the upper, which has been constructed from the same Dyneema Mesh as used in the S-Works 7 shoes but in its raw form, without the outer layer, so it's even lighter. Dyneema is claimed to be "the world's strongest fibre" and was apparently developed originally for NASA parachutes.

As well as being strong, it's also non-stretch and very light, and it's that lack of stretch that has allowed Specialized to construct a shoe with minimal reinforcing, instead of relying on the properties of Dyneema to keep your feet planted in the shoe.

This Dyneema is complemented by a softer more flexible material over the front of the shoe and around the heel to ensure good fit and comfort. The volume and fit of the shoe are the same as the S-Works 7s.

No lack of stiffness…

Underneath is a full carbon fibre sole with titanium cleat hardware, a removable heel pad and a sliver of rubber at the front to protect the carbon sole. Pressure mapping has been used to allow Specialized to remove as much carbon fibre as possible while maintaining the desired stiffness levels.

Talking of stiffness, they come with the company's own stiffness index rating of 13, compared to the 15 of the S-Works 7. If you're an absolute powerhouse and want maximum power transfer they might not be the best choice, but for most people it's probably going to be sufficient.

What is this stiffness index and how are the numbers arrived at? Specialized tells us the number is the result of applying a 40kg load to the carbon sole and measuring the deflection. Stiffness index 13 means that there's between 1.32 and 2.11mm of deflection under this 40kg load. For comparison, the S-Works 7s have a stiffness index of 15 because they have just 0-0.61mm of deflection. The stiffness of the new Exos is also the same as the old S-Works 6 shoes.

The Exos use a single BOA IP1 dial for closure. It's a slim plastic dial with dual-release and it works well to pull the single cord evenly across the top of the foot. It's not as pleasing to operate as the posh CNC machined dials on the S-Works 7 shoes, but it gets the job done. The dial is mounted on a slim padded tongue which helps to spread pressure.

At the rear is a soft pliable heel cup with a small pull tab at the top to help with getting the shoes on and off; the S-Works 7 shoes have a very rigid plastic heel cup in comparison.

Performance, fit and comfort

They are very light on the scales, and in comparison to other shoes when you pick them up, and when you get on the bike. You might not think shoe weight makes any difference when you're clipped in, but go from a heavy shoe to a welterweight like the Exos and you can sure feel it.

But does it benefit performance? Harder to say. I 'felt' faster wearing these shoes when I was heading up hills, but it could purely be psychological, though a load of Strava PRs seems to support the notion that it was more than a feeling. But any performance gain is going to be marginal at best. If you've tapped every other marginal gain maybe shoe weight is the final step?

There's more on offer from these shoes than just appeasing the weight weenies. They are excellent in high temperatures. We've had a few decent spells of hot weather (if my tan lines are anything to go by!) and on those sweaty rides, these shoes are a lot airier than any others I've tested.

The downside of the wafer-thin construction is that they don't provide much protection or insulation in colder and damper conditions. Your feet will get colder and wetter sooner wearing these shoes, but then they are not designed as an everyday all-round shoe like the S-Works 7 or Torch models. Swings and roundabouts, you can't have it all.

Pulling them on to your feet is different and a little tricky. You do need to make use of the heel tab to pull the shoe around your foot because the softer material will collapse if you don't line up your feet perfectly. It's like pulling on a skin suit – a bit more time is needed. The Boa dial works easily enough and tensions the single cord across the padded tongue.

Despite so much focus on low weight, there is still adequate stiffness for impressive power transfer when you get on the bike and give it a boot full of watts down the road. The carbon sole might not have the same stiffness rating as the S-Works 7s on which they're loosely based, but for all my stomping in the pedals I didn't feel any flex or lack of power transfer at all.

The fit is excellent, with a similarity to the S-Works 7 shoes, which should come as no surprise. Now, if you watched my first look video you'll know that the upper is very soft and deformable. Nearly all road cycling shoes use mostly rigid materials for the upper for support, but the white material over the front of the toes is soft and pliable.

It might look odd in the pictures and in your hands, but when you're pedalling, it provides unparalleled comfort. Your toes are free to wiggle and wriggle around with unprecedented freedom. It's actually one of my favourite features of these shoes, and I've been wearing them for very long rides because they are just so damn comfortable. They're like slippers. They just feel like a natural extension of your feet. So, so comfortable.

The downside to the Exos is that the upper doesn't secure your foot in place as well as other road shoes, including the S-Works 7s. It's not that your feet move around undesirably, just that the single Boa dial and the single cord have a big job to keep your feet pressed against the carbon sole during very serious pedalling, so you do need to clamp down the dial a lot. Thankfully, the tongue is padded and there's no discomfort as a result, but it's in stark contrast to the S-Works 7s which can have their twin Boa dials left reasonably loose and still have a firm fit.

I didn't experience any issues with heel lift. Even though the heel is made from a much more flexible material than most regular performance shoes, it easily prevented heel lift during hard hill efforts and sprints.

All of that puts the Exos shoes in a tricky place. They wouldn't be my first choice for road racing or very demanding/fussy riders, but a hilly course, mountain climb or long distance rides where squeezing out every last watt isn't so high on the list of priorities, yes the Exos can cut it.

How about durability?

They're not designed to be as robust as regular road shoes – that lightweight upper is built to be light, not rugged – but despite initial concerns, the shoes have shown very good durability.

I've been wearing the hell out of them, using them every day to try to find fault, a weakness, something to suggest they're too fragile for everyday use. Because, if you're going to drop £450 on a pair of shoes, it's not unreasonable to want to wear them all the time, right?

But none has surfaced so far. My testing even started in the middle of winter where lots of wet, cold and gritty rides ensured they got a soaking on a regular basis. And then into spring where the high-temperature benefits of the design became apparent. And through it all, the shoes have been just marvellous.

The soft upper, which might look and feel fragile, hasn't ripped or torn, and apart from a few scrapes there's no damage to speak of. There are the usual scratches you get on a carbon sole (blame that on walking across gravel) but nothing untoward.

So yes, you can wear and enjoy these shoes every day. Maybe put them away for the winter months, though.

Conclusion

As impressive as the low weight is, it's the comfort of the Exos that has won me over. It's certainly easier to quantify in testing. But they won't be for everyone – more demanding cyclists will prefer a shoe that locks the foot in place aggressively.

Any concerns about durability and comfort for daily riding went out the window very early into the test period, and they've stood up to scrutiny very well.

> Buyer's Guide: 19 of the best high-performance road cycling shoes

So choose these shoes if you want the lightest and most comfortable road cycling shoes on the market right now, and don't necessarily want that clamped-into-the-shoe feeling you normally associate with road shoes. If you do a lot of riding in the hills or hot weather, these are a good pick.

But there's that massive price tag. Value for money goes out of the window when talking about a shoe that is a couple of hundred pounds more than an average road cycling shoe. This is a halo product that is the pinnacle of current technology, and for many people the S-Works 7 or Torch shoes from Specialized are probably going to be more suitable.

Verdict

Super-lightweight and comfortable, but so pricey

Updated June 17, 2019

The bike shops are full of new road bikes for 2019; here are 10 of the most eye-catching.

Loads of the new road bikes that have been revealed over the past few months are equipped with disc brakes and that's reflected here. There are certainly new rim brake designs being released, and we've included several, but big brands are concentrating their research and development on disc brake bikes because that's the way they believe the market is heading.

Most of the new bikes we've included here are pretty expensive. That's because new releases tend to be pricey before the technology gradually trickles down the range over time.

Don't worry if your favourite new bike isn't included; we'll have more 2019 bike roundups on road.cc over the next few weeks.

Check out all of our road bike reviews

Cannondale SystemSix — £3,145-£7,195

Cannondale claims that its new SystemSix, available only with disc brakes, is “the world’s fastest UCI-legal road bike”, largely thanks to an aerodynamic performance that has been honed by computational fluid dynamics modelling and the wind tunnel.

Cannondale says that it has tailored the airfoil profiles of the various parts of the frame “with differing degrees of truncation designed to maintain flow attachment across important yaw angles to minimise drag”.

The £3,499.99 SystemSix Carbon Ultegra comes with Fulcrum Racing 400 DB wheels and a Shimano Ultegra groupset, including hydraulic disc brakes.

Get all the tech details on the Cannondale SystemSix
Read about our first ride aboard the Cannondale SystemSix
Find a Cannondale dealer

Specialized Venge — £6,500-£9,750

Specialized has radically redesigned its Venge aero road bike for 2019, giving it an all-new frame and fork that's compatible only with disc brakes and electronic gears – meaning that there are no complete bikes available for less than £6,250. Gulp!

The new Venge is lighter and faster than the previous version but we found that it's the much-improved handling and stiffness that most sets it apart.

Get all the tech details on the Specialized Venge
Check out our Specialized Venge first ride report
Find a Specialized dealer

Look 795 Blade RS — from £3,000

The new Look 795 Blade RS aero road bike features truncated aero section tubes, an invisible seatpost clamp and an integrated aero cockpit. The seatstays are long and curved and there's no brake bridge between them. The design is intended to allow some vertical movement for increased comfort and traction. The bike is available in both rim brake and disc brake versions.

Get the full story of the Look 795 Blade RS
Find a Look dealer

Giant Defy — £1,499-£4,499

The latest version of Giant’s hugely popular endurance road bike has wider tyre clearance than previously (up to 32mm), tubeless tyres and D-Fuse handlebars that are designed to provide extra compliance. The Defy Advanced Pro 0 also comes with Giant’s new Power Pro dual-sided power meter, which looks like a great deal for £4,499.

Get all the tech details on the new Giant Defy
Read about our first ride on the Giant Defy Advanced Pro 0
Find a Giant dealer

3T Strada Due (frameset) — £3,699

The Strada aero road bike was initially designed with a single chainring transmission in mind but 3T has now added the Strada Due to the lineup, giving you the option of fitting an electronic groupset with a double chainring. The seat tube has also been beefed up a little to support the use of the front mech, but that change aside it's the same as the original Strada.

Read our report on the launch of the 3T Strada Due
Check out our first ride on the 3T Strada Due

Find a 3T dealer

Trek Madone SLR — £5,400-£11,650

Trek's new Madone road bike comes with adjustable IsoSpeed (a system that decouples the seat tube from the top tube to smooth the ride) and an updated geometry.

Read our guide to Trek's 2019 road bike range

The rim brake bikes are slightly lighter than the newly introduced disc brake models, but Trek says there's no aerodynamic penalty in going for discs.

The Madone SLR is a high-end option, even the most affordable rim brake option, the SLR 6 P1, is £5,500.

Read our report on the new Trek Madone here
Check out our guide to Trek's 2019 range
Find a Trek dealer

Triban RC 500 & RC 520 — £529 & £729

A cheap entry on a list of the hottest bikes? Why not? Decathlon has added two new disc-braked models in the popular Triban range and they look like exceptional value for money. The £530 Triban RC 500 and £730 Triban RC 520 share the new Evo 18 6061 aluminium frame, with a tall head tube, steeply sloping top tube, fittings for racks and mudguards and clearance for tyres up to 40mm wide.

These are deeply practical bikes, but they’re not unexciting. It might take a little while to wind them up to speed but once there they boom along very nicely!

Read our review of the Triban RC 520
Get all the details of the new Triban RC 500 and RC 520
Find a Triban dealer

Genesis Zero Disc — £2,699.99

Genesis has added disc brake versions of its Zero carbon fibre race bike for 2019, with 12mm thru-axles and flat mount disc brakes. The aggressive geometry is unaltered.

You can buy the frameset for £1,699.99 or pay £2,699.99 for the complete bike with Shimano's second-tier Ultegra groupset, including hydraulic disc brakes.

Check out our first look at the Genesis Zero SL Disc
Find a Genesis dealer

Colnago C64 — £4,099.95-£4,599 (frameset)

The updated Colnago C64 builds on the success of its predecessor with a raft of refinements that bring enhanced stiffness, comfort and clearance for wider tyres. It isn't so much a revolution as an evolution, and it's the best C series yet, and one of a handful of bikes still made in Italy.

A complete bike with disc brakes starts from £7,739, which isn't cheap by anyone's measure, but is it worth it? "Smooth, fast, light, surefooted, fun... the C64 is one of the nicest bikes I've had the pleasure to review," said our David Arthur, and he's a man with exacting standards!

Read our review of the Colnago C64 frameset
Find a Colnago dealer

Ridley Noah Fast — £6,729-£7,198

Ridley has redesigned its top-level aero road bike with channels towards the front edge of the tubing that are designed to act as vortex generators to reduce drag. The fork integrates with the frame, the seatpost clamp is hidden from the airflow and an integrated handlebar/stem is fitted up front. The cabling is internally routed through the bar/stem and Ridley claims a weight saving of about 250g over the previous Noah. Both rim brake and disc brake versions are available.

Find a Ridley dealer

Founded in 1974, Specialized is one of the biggest and most popular bicycle brands. It produces a vast number of models covering a wide range of cycling disciplines, so to help guide you through the 2018 range and help you choose the right bike for you, here’s an overview of the US company’s latest bikes.

We've picked out highlights from the new range. You can see a list of the full range with prices here.

Tarmac Disc

This is the 6th generation Tarmac SL and is available with a choice of rim or disc brakes.

The Tarmac SL6 was the big noise for 2018, and shortly after the rim-braked version debuted a disc-braked bike was introduced, first with an S-Works only version but very soon more affordable models followed.

Right at the top of the range is the S-Works Tarmac Disc Sagan Collection LTD (£10,000) and the plain old S-Works Tarmac Disc (£9,250). There’s also Women's S-Works Tarmac Disc too for the same price, although the differences appear to be down to colour scheme, a woman's saddle and an additional, smaller size for the women's bike. Each of those bikes is adorned with all the bells and whistles including Shimano Dura-Ace groupsets and Specalized carbon cranks with power meters.

Below those stratospherically expensive models is the Tarmac Disc Pro (£6,000) with Shimano Ultegra and Roval CL50 wheels. The Tarmac Disc Expert (£4,000) is available for men and women with Ultegra mechanical shifting and Roval CL38 carbon wheels.

If you’re a Peter Sagan fan (and who isn’t) then check out the Tarmac Disc Comp - Sagan Collection LTD (£3,100). The Tarmac Disc Comp (£2,900) brings the regular Tarmac Disc under the £3k mark with men and women versions. The most affordable model is the Tarmac Disc Sport (£2,250), again in men and women versions and sporting a Shimano 105 groupset.

The new models fill out a range of SL6-based Tarmac Disc bikes and replace the previous SL5 Tarmac Disc models. Visually, the new bikes can be distinguished from the old ones by their dropped seatstays. Specialized has also changed the naming convention, so the bike that replaces the Tarmac Comp Disc is the Tarmac Disc Comp. Because that's not confusing at all.

Tarmac

The Tarmac has long been the company’s go-to race bike, favoured by its many sponsorship professional cyclists and amateur racers alike. Most of the top racers are still preferring rim brake bikes but Specialized is offering just three rim brake models in the UK, a slim range compared to the depth in the disc brake Tarmac line-up. That disparity clearly shows where Specialized believes the market is going for modern road race bikes.

You can read all about the tech details here and watch an unboxing of the top-end S-Works Tarmac here.

Specialized reserves its best for the fabled S-Works top-tier models, with the highest grade of carbon fibre used and the best components, picked to create what is in anyone's world, a superbike.

The S-Works Tarmac (£9,150) then heads the range with all the best kit and ensuring it’s still the lightest bike in the complete Tarmac range, thanks to that 733g frame and very light components on this lavish build. You can also buy the S-Works frameset (£3,250) and build your own dream bike.

- Review: Specialized Tarmac Pro 2018

The Tarmac Expert (£4,250) uses FACT 10r carbon rather than the FACT 12r carbon of the S-Works frame, so it’s a little heavier, but has all the same tube shapes and features.

The Tarmac Comp (£3,000) is the most affordable of this 6th generation race bike and gets a Shimano Ultegra mechanical groupset.

Venge

If racing and generally riding as fast as you possibly can is your thing, then you want to take a closer look at the Venge. This is the company’s aerodynamic road bike and this year it launched a brand new version, the third iteration since it first arrived in the company’s range back in 2011.

You can read all the juicy details here and get David’s first impressions on riding the new bike here.

The new Venge is more aerodynamic than the previous version, a claimed 8 seconds according to the company’s own wind tunnel testing. The frame is hugely lighter as well, a 56cm frame coming in at 960g and further savings in the fork, handlebar and stem and seatpost. It all adds up to a 460g saving. They’ve also improved the handling and geometry, designed a new aero handlebar and stem that offers easy fit adjustment and can be swapped for regular components. Oh, and the frame is only compatible with disc brakes and electronic groupsets, with all cables and hoses internally routed.

Given its newness, it’s a small range of models to choose from. At the top is the S-Works Venge - Sagan Collection (£10,000) with a custom paint job and a full plethora of top-end kit from Roval and Shimano, and includes the new Specialized S-Works carbon crankset with a power meter.

The regular S-Works Venge (£9,750) uses the same frame and components but with a satin black and holographic decals finish.

The cheapest new Venge is the Venge Pro (£6,500) which uses the same but swaps the high-end kit for Shimano Ultegra Di2 and Roval CL50 wheels.

Roubaix

The Roubaix is one of the most distinctive endurance bikes due to the novel Future Shock, a small spring houses in a cartridge and place between the headset and stem. It’s designed to isolate the upper body and arms from all the impacts and vibrations normally felt through the handlebars when the front wheel encounters a bump or hole.

Other key changes are the redesigned frame with a CG-R seatpost housed inside a large diameter seat tube to provide more seated comfort, lower overall weight and evolved geometry to make it a bit racier. There’s bigger tyre clearance as well, up to 32mm tyres, and there’s a cool SWAT Box storage option on the higher-end models for neatly storing tools and spare tubes.

- Review: Specialized Roubaix Expert (2017)

The S-Works Roubaix (£9,100) spearheads the range with the highest grade FACT 11r carbon frame and Dura-Ace Di2 build. The Roubaix Expert (£5,150) gets a FACT 10r carbon frame with Shimano Ultegra Di2 and deep section Roval wheel and keeps the SWAT storage.

The Roubaix Comp Ultegra Di2 (£4,100) keeps the same frame and groupset as the model above it, but different wheels bring the price down substantially.

Next up is the Roubaix Comp (£3,100) which features the same FACT 10r carbon frame but with mechanical Shimano Ultegra and hydro disc brakes and DT R470 aluminium wheels.

The Roubaix Sport (£2,600) brings the price down further with a lower grade FACT 9r carbon frame and Shimano 105 groupset.

The most affordable model is the Roubaix - Hydraulic Disc (£2,100) a Shimano Tiagra groupset and RS505 hydraulic disc brakes and Axis Sport Disc wheels with commuter-friendly Espoir Sport 28mm tyres.

Ruby

The Ruby is the women’s version of the Roubaix and features all the same tech, with frame sizes going down to 44cm, and seven models to choose from.

As usual, an S-Works model tops the range, with the S-Works Ruby (£9,000). A full complement of Shimano Dura-Ace Di2, carbon wheels and top-end finishing kit.

In the middle of the range is the Ruby Comp Ultegra Di2 (£4,100) with a Shimano Ultegra mechanical groupset.

At the other end of the range is the Ruby Sport (£2,600) with a carbon frame and Future Shock and a Shimano 105 mechanical groupset with DT R470 wheels.

Allez

The Allez is Specialized’s aluminium line of road bikes and is offered in two versions; the Sprint Comp at the top with an aero frame, and the regular Allez which takes a few style tips from the new Tarmac SL6.

The Allez Sprint Comp Disc (£1,900) is an all-new bike and brings disc brakes to the aero Allez for the first time. It’s specced with a Shimano 105 groupset with hydraulic disc brakes, a Praxis Zayante chainset with KMC chain, DT R470 wheels with Specialized Turbo Pro 26mm tyres.

You can read the full detailed story on this new bike here.

The Allez Sprint Comp (£1,700) swaps the discs for rim brakes and is specced with a Shimano 105 groupset and DT R460 wheels. You can also buy the Allez Sprint Frameset (£1,350) with a selection of colours to choose from.

Onto the regular Allez, and a revised E5 aluminium frame and all-carbon fork drop the weight by 450g. As well as reducing weight, they’ve also relaxed the geometry to make it a better all-around bike well suited to new cyclists, and they’ve added mudguard and rack mounts. A thumbs up for those.

Now you might be aware of a recall affecting the fork on December 14, 2017. Interim fork replacements are devoid of the mudguard mounts that make this bike such a versatile choice for commuting demands as well as winter riding. It is working on producing a new carbon fork with mudguard mounts.

Topping the range is the Allez Elite (£1,050) which combines an aluminium frame with a FACT carbon fork and a Shimano 105 groupset.

Splitting the three model range is the Allez Sport (£799) which has the same E5 Premium aluminium frame and FACT carbon fork, with a Shimano Sora groupset.

The cheapest model is the Allez (£630) with the same aluminium frame and carbon fork, and specced with a Shimano 2000 Claris groupset and Axis Sport wheels.

Diverge

The Diverge was a well-received bike when it first arrived, which was at a time when the whole gravel and adventure style of riding was only just starting to take off. But after a few years of good reviews and sales, the Diverge has been completely updated to keep it abreast of the changing trends in this sector. It now takes bigger tyres, is disc brake only as before, now with 12mm thru-axles and flat mounts, but borrows the Future Shock from the Roubaix. It’s been adapted for off-roading with a firmer spring.

- Review: Specialized S-Works Diverge 2018

Look to the most expensive model and your eyes are greeted by the S-Works Diverge (£8,750) with a frame made from high-grade FACT 11r carbon fibre and an S-Works FACT carbon fork. Shimano’s Dura-Ace Di2 groupset is combined with an XTR rear mech and Easton EC90 SL Carbon crankset for a bespoke 1x drivetrain, and Roval CLX 32 Disc wheels complete the package.

Step down to the Diverge Sport (£2,750) available in men and women’s versions, and you get much the same frame just made from a lower grade of carbon and using a Shimano 105 groupset with hydraulic disc brakes.

The Diverge (£2,100) is also available in men and women’s versions and uses a carbon frame and fork with the same details as the S-Works model, but a 2x Shimano Tiagra/Praxis groupset and RS405 hydraulic disc brakes.

The Diverge E5 Comp (£1,600) is the cheapest model in the range to be equipped with the Future Shock. It’s bolted to an aluminium frame with a carbon fork and a Shimano 105 groupset.

The Diverge E5 Elite (£999) and Diverge E5 (£799) both use an aluminium frame without the Future Shock, but the frame shares all the key features such as wide tyre clearance and mounts for adding mudguards.

- Review: Specialized Diverge E5 Comp

Sequoia

The Sequoia is another adventure bike in the company’s range that is intended to sit alongside the Diverge as a less racy option more aimed at exploring and bikepacking riding, and there are mounts all over it for fitting racks and bags.

- Review: Specialized Sequoia Expert

There are two models in the 2019 range. This, the Sequoia Elite (£2,000) is now the priciest option available in the UK with a 1x SRAM Apex groupset using a Praxis Alba chainset and SunRace 11-42t cassette. Tyres are the company’s own 38mm wide Sawtooth with a tubeless-ready design.

The Sequoia (£1,200) uses the same steel frame but swaps the carbon fork for one made from steel, and a Shimano Sora groupset takes care of shifting duties while Tektro Spyre disc brakes control your speed.

The full 2019 Specialized road bike range

Updated June 19, 2019

Nearly every major bike brand now offers at least one aero road bike in various different builds, and here are some more of the slipperiest contenders of 2019.

Also check out the The Hottest Aero Road Bikes of 2019, Part 1

Specialized Venge £6,500-£10,250 

The all-new Venge is said to be lighter, faster and better handling than the previous version — of course. It's available only with disc brakes and electronic gears, so there's no such thing as a budget Venge.

Read about the 2019 Specialized Venge here
Find a Specialized dealer

Ridley Noah Fast — £3,999-£7,198

Ridley's top-level aero road bike features an integrated fork and seat clamp and F-Wings behind the fork dropouts that are designed to reduce turbulence and therefore minimise drag.

Find a Ridley dealer

Argon 18 Nitrogen Disc — £3,999-£4,899

Canada's Argon 18 introduced the Nitrogen in 2014 but the Nitrogen Disc is brand new. The disc model is said to offer greater torsional rigidity as well as plenty of ergonomic adjustability and clearance for tyres up to 30mm wide.

Find out about the new Argon 18 Nitrogen Disc
Find an Argon 18 dealer

Wilier Cento10Pro — £4,999.99-£7,999.99

The new Cento10Pro is an evolution of the existing Cento10Air but with disc brake options as well as rim brakes and a 6% increase in torsional stiffness, according to Wilier. The frame and fork profiles are based to NACA airfoil shapes with truncated tails allowing Wilier to save weight and increase stiffness.

Read about the the Wilier Cento10Pro ​

Look 795 Blade RS — from £3,000

Look says that its new aero bike, available in both rim brake and disc brake versions, offers a 5% aerodynamic advantage over its predecessor. Look also claims the fork, rear triangle and head tube have been made stiffer, and the new bridge-less 'Smooth Sword' seatstays are designed to bend slightly under compression, allowing the rear wheel to maintain consistent contact with the road.

Get the full story of the Look 795 Blade RS
Find a Look dealer

BMC Timemachine — £5,625-£8,250

BMC was one of several big brands to reveal a new aero road bike back in July. The new version of the Timemachine is designed solely around disc brakes and features integrated storage and a water bottle design that minimises drag at wider yaw angles.

Read about the new BMC Timemachine here
Find a BMC dealer

3T Strada Due (frameset) — £3,699

The Strada aero road bike was initially designed for a single chainring drivetrain but 3T has now added the Strada Due to the lineup, giving you the option of fitting an electronic groupset with a double chainring.

Read our first ride report on the 3T Strada Due
Find a 3T dealer

Orbea Orca Aero Disc — £2,999-£7,199

The Orca Aero Disc features a huge down tube with a double radius profile and flattened sides that Orbea says improves airflow at higher yaw angles, and there's a wide gap between the fork legs that’s said to reduce airflow pressure.

Find out about the new Orbea Orca Aero Disc
Find an Orbea dealer

Colnago Concept (frameset) — £3,499.00-£3,999.95

The Colnago Concept frameset, available in both rim brake or disc brake versions, puts in superb performance out on the road, offering awesome speed, fine handling and real-world usability.

Read our review of the Colnago Concept
Find a Colnago dealer

Lapierre Aircode SL — £2,199-£6,199

The Aircode SL, available only with rim brakes, has taken many of its design cues from Lapierre's Aerostorm time trial bike, using both NACA and Kamm Tail tube profiles to reduce drag. Lapierre has reduced the frontal area by integrating the fork crown into the down tube.

Find out all about the Lapierre Aircode SL
Read our Lapierre Aircode SL 900 Ultimate review
Find a Lapierre dealer

Felt AR 5 — £1,954.15

Felt's AR bikes feature a rear brake that's mounted under the chainstays and a narrow 'Twin Tail' bridgeless seatstay design. You also get a reversible seatpost that allows you to steepen the seat angle for time trialling.

Read our review of the Felt AR4
Find a Felt dealer

Storck Aerfast — ~£1,800-£8,800

Storck's Aerfast is a truly awesome race bike. As well as having strong aero credentials, it's fast, light and stiff while offering comfort levels that challenge those of most endurance bikes.

Read our review of the Storck Aerfast Platinum
Buy a Storck

Kuota Kryon Race Evo (frameset) — from £1,835.00

Italy's Kuota offers the Kryon in both rim brake and disc brake models. You get a “vibe damper system” incorporated into the seatpost area to smooth the ride; two separate dampers can be specced, depending on your weight.

Find a Kuota dealer

Tifosi Auriga — £1,899.99-£2,499.99

On the latest version of its Auriga aero road bike, Tifosi has moved the rear brake from behind the bottom bracket to the seatstays in order to avoid mud and water and maximise power. Whereas the rim brake model will accept tyres up to 25mm, the disc brake version can take 28s.

Find a Tifosi dealer

The Specialized Power Expert with Mimic saddle will certainly appeal to many; the extensive research behind it suggests a saddle that will suit lots of women. The foam inserts offer plenty of protection but the lack of cutout won't suit everyone during longer road rides.

• Pros: Excellent protection, particularly for sit bones when in more upright position
• Cons: Lack of cutout won't suit all for longer rides or those with an aggressive riding position

The saddle is a morphed version of Specialized's unisex Power Expert, which Ian loved. Specialized's research led it to add 'Biomimicry'– Mimic technology. It's definitely worth reading about this research – off.road.cc's article here goes into some depth. In short, the nose is made up of two different densities of new-fangled memory foam to relieve pressure from the most sensitive areas. Slightly further back, there are more layers of foam over a kind of hammock structure, intended to provide support for other areas.

> Find your nearest dealer here

Looks-wise, the saddle breaks the mould of conventional long nose, female-specific saddles with a cutout. It's a good 2cm shorter than my regular saddle (a Specialized Oura) but matches it width-wise. It basically looks really stumpy. The Power Expert Mimic's nose also slopes down much more and has a narrower tip than most. This didn't cause me any issues with sliding and never once did I snag clothing as I moved back onto the saddle, as can occasionally happen with some saddles.

There was one drawback to the groove in the saddle (where a cutout would be): if I left the bike outside and it rained, the hollow filled with water! It's not often left outside, but it's certainly not something I had thought about prior to testing.

Mounting

Mounting the saddle onto my road bike and getting the exact position was not easy: was the 2cm coming off the set back, or should I keep that the same? It was made slightly more frustrating without direct access to the top bolt of the seat clamp – my normal saddle has a decent sized cutout which allows you to access this bolt. I found myself needing to make small adjustments out on the road, which were annoyingly time-consuming.

I quickly realised that I actually had the saddle correct initially and simply needed to adjust to having very little fore-aft wriggle-room because of its short length. It is really designed for a rider to be locked into one single position, so getting the mounting position spot on is vital.

The ride

For road rides up to 90 minutes I found the saddle acceptable but I never felt 100 per cent comfortable – a situation that rarely ends well. I soon discovered that anything longer led to significant discomfort. The longer the ride, the worse it became. I persisted for a couple of weeks; I'm so used to a cutout that I thought perhaps it was just a matter of adapting.

I tried adjusting the tilt of the saddle but things didn't improve. Tolerating it for anything more than 90 minutes on the road bike became impossible. The memory foam surface just didn't work for me, and pressure wasn't relieved as intended.

> 9 ways to make your bike more comfortable

In addition to this, the lack of room meant I couldn't make micro shifts backwards every so often, which could potentially relieve pressure.

Moving the saddle onto my commuting bike, with a slight change in position there was less pressure on the more sensitive parts. For me, the saddle offered the right amount of support in this situation. It genuinely felt really comfortable. It was forgiving on the sit bones and for my short (40-minute) commutes I never felt any discomfort or build-up of numbness anywhere.

Individual fit

As ever, a saddle is so personal. If you read Rachel's review on off.road.cc you'll get a completely different take. This could be related to the fact that she has a different position on the mountain bike, or that she simply needs a different saddle to me. Interestingly, Rachel tested the 143mm. Maybe sizing down to give less of a widening would have offered a tiny bit more room for fore-aft shifting.

It's worth noting that Specialized recommends 'utilizing the Saddle Width Measuring Tool' to 'ensure a proper fit for maximum Body Geometry Fit performance'. The saddle actually comes in a variety of widths: 143, 155 and 168mm at Comp (£84) and Expert (£105) level, and in 143 and 155mm on the Pro (£184, carbon shell) and S-Works (£230) rungs. Many Specialized outlets will carry out sit-bone measurements and make recommendations based on them.

> How to fit and set up your saddle

Admittedly, I simply selected the same width as my normal saddle and fitted it on feel and experience. A Retul fit would shed some light on the optimal positioning of the saddle itself, but that's an expensive way to get along with a saddle that's already set you back £100 or more. Personally, if I can't set it up myself with 15+ years of setting up my own bike and position, I suspect it's just not going to be a road bike saddle for me.

Value

You are paying for a saddle at the forefront of research and development, and that's never going to come cheap. It's quite difficult to find a saddle that is like the Power Expert Mimic outside of the Specialized ranges; it's pretty quirky. It costs a lot more than the Fabric Line Sport Shallow at £40 – that's not nose-less but does have the same central groove. It's not female-specific either, but don't dismiss it immediately on that.

All of the saddles that Caroline mentions in her buying guide come in cheaper than the Comp, the cheapest and heaviest version of the Power Expert Mimic. If you are watching the grams you'll be paying almost three times as much for the lightest possible S-Works version. If you're determined to try the Mimic then I'd say the Expert that I tested is a good compromise for £105, with hollow titanium rails and a nylon/carbon base.

If you're not happy, Specialized does offer a 30-day money back guarantee at all dealers. Take it back with all the packaging and receipt, and they will do their best to find you an alternative that suits.

Conclusion

Having thought that I could never ride a saddle without a cutout, I have been convinced that it is an option on a bike where my riding position is more upright. I couldn't get on with it on my road bike, and wouldn't deem it worth the investment for anything else, but given the positive reviews it's received from others I'd say it's worth a try.

Verdict

Well-made saddle that seems to suit a more upright riding position

• With elongated tube shapes and other wind-cheating features, aero road bikes provide a small but handy speed boost.

• Sleek shapes make for a distinctive look.

• Recent aero road bikes have alleviated the harsh ride that plagued some early models, thanks to improved use of materials.

• Frame aerodynamics is still a marginal gain; if you're wearing flappy clothes an aero bike is a waste of money.

In just a few years aero road bikes have gone from The Next Big Thing to a mainstream bike option. The latest models have been tweaked to be faster than ever, according to the manufacturers, and to alleviate the harsh ride that characterised some early aero bikes.

Aero road bikes essentially draw aerodynamic features from time trial bikes into a road frame, and balance the demands of weight and stiffness into a package that, on paper, looks to be the ideal all-round choice.

At any decent speed, most of your effort goes into overcoming air resistance, so reducing a bike's drag means you'll go faster, or ride at any given speed with a lower power output. Who doesn't like the sound of that?

Most of your air resistance comes from your body rather than your bike. Wearing non-flappy clothing will help, as will losing weight. But the 20% or so of air resistance from your bike is enough for engineers and designers to focus on making road frames and products more slippery through the air. In the pro peloton aero road bikes have been quickly adopted, where the margins of victory are very slim and there has been a focus on gaining ever smaller performance gains over the years.

Weight, or the lack of it, used to be the main driving force of frame development. Along with stiffness, it was a cornerstones of bike design. These days most bikes are light, many well below the UCI’s 6.8kg weight limit (which doesn’t affect non-racers anyway), and come with more stiffness than is sometimes comfortable.

All that has made aerodynamics more important. Specialized has built its own wind tunnel, for example, and most manufacturers are testing in other facilities. Nevertheless, aero road bikes haven't converged on a perfect, slippery shape. Different engineers prioritise different ways of improving aerodynamics but there are shared design trends: skinny, aerofoil-shaped tubes, integrated brakes, and internal cable routing.

Let's take a look at the latest aero offerings.

Look 795 Blade RS — £2,900 (frameset)

The new Look 795 Blade RS is all about speed, with its design focusing on stiffness and aerodynamics yet without a huge sacrifice to overall comfort. An impressive combination to achieve, and a very nice bike to ride – whether you're racing or just out for a razz.

Look has created a bike that is ruthlessly stiff when you drop the hammer but with next to no road vibration or crass banging or rattling over rough surfaces. The 795 has a beautifully smooth ride quality similar to that of a titanium frame.

This means you can cover a good distance at speed without really noticing it, and even on four to five-hour rides I got off the bike feeling fresher than normal without realising where the time had gone.

Read our review of the Look 795 Blade RS
Find a Look dealer

Orbea Orca Aero 2019 — £2,699-£7,199

The Orca Aero boasts lots of wind-cheating tweaks that Orbea says add up to a 27 watt advantage. Our tester David Arthur found the Orbea Orca Aero M20Team to be "a fast and great handling aerodynamic road bike with a surprising talent for smoothing out all but the roughest roads. But it is speed, not comfort, that is at the top of the list of requirements for an aero road bike, and that's an area where the Orca Aero feels very competent. It's right up there with the Trek Madone, Cervelo S3 and Canyon Aeroad, as super-quick aero race bikes.

"The handling is a highlight, and helps to set it apart from some aero bikes that can be exceedingly quick but a little lacking when it comes to the way they ride and translate your inputs into actions. The Orca Aero is fun and engaging, putting a smile on your face when you're descending or chasing a friend along an undulating ridge road."

You can customise the colour scheme and spec of your Orca Aero too, so if you want to upgrade the wheels, or have yours in pink and orange, fill your boots.

Read our review of the e Orbea Orca Aero M20Team
Find an Orbea dealer

Bianchi Aria Disc 2019 — £2,750-£4,200

The new Bianchi Aria Disc is an aero road bike that offers efficiency, sharp handling and a responsive character, now with the additional all-weather assurance of disc brakes – in this case from Campagnolo.

The Aria Disc responds keenly to increased effort. Our 59cm sample wasn't especially light at 8.5kg (18.7lb), but it felt direct when you put in the power, a meaty bottom bracket helping to keep everything solidly in place. The Aria Disc feels as manoeuvrable as the rim brake version, which isn't a surprise given that the geometry is virtually identical. Some bikes designed for aerodynamics offer plenty of straight-line speed but they're a little compromised when you want to flick around. The Aria Disc handles sharply, which gives you options when it comes to darting about a group or avoiding something in the road.

Read our review of the Bianchi Aria Disc
Find a Bianchi dealer

3T Strada — £3,250

The 3T Strada has blown us away. It's a truly stunning bike with breathtaking speed, impressive smoothness and fine handling balance. If this is the future, as some people have speculated, we're sold. Take our money, 3T. This is one of the most exciting road bikes available right now.

The Strada certainly won't be for everyone. And that's fine, there are plenty of fantastic performance road bikes currently available if the 1x11 gearing, disc brakes and tight clearances frighten you. None are as radical as the new 3T, though. What the Strada does with its unique design is offer another choice. It achieves the same aim – of being stupendously fast – but takes a different path to get there.

And if you love the Strada but are put off by the requirement to run just a single chainring, 3T has something for you: the £3,700 Strada Due will take a front derailleur so you can run conventional double-chainring gearing.

Read our review of the 3T Strada
Find a 3T stockist

Colnago Concept — £1,999 (frameset)

Colnago has joined the aerodynamic arms race with the Concept, a full blooded aero race bike that is a serious step forward from the Italian company's first aero road bike, the V1-r.

The Concept has all the capability to dice with the fastest in a race situation. Its stiff frame, deep-section wheels and lightweight give it an insatiable appetite for speed. It's quick in all circumstances: climbs, descents, flat and undulating roads – the bike shines everywhere. This is an exciting bike to ride fast, and like all good aero road bikes it encourages you to ride flat-out.

That firm ride, and frame and fork stiffness ensure the Concept accurately follows your inputs, whether through the handlebar or pedals. It reacts positively whether you're blasting an uphill sprint finish or bombing through a curving descent.

The Concept isn't just for racing. It provides adequate composure and comfort, allowing you to tackle long distance rides at a few notches below race pace and not be dealt a hammer-blow to the lower back the moment the tyres encounter anything but a super-smooth surface. The front end of an aero race bike can often be overwhelmingly harsh, but the special headset and fork steerer tube that Colnago has developed mean the Concept is smoother up front than would normally be expected on an aero road bike.

Read our review of the Colnago Concept
Find a Colnago dealer

Merida Reacto 2019 — £1,000-£8,250

Merida has updated its Reacto to be, it says, lighter, more comfortable and more aerodynamically efficient than before. It has done this by slimming down the tube shapes and introducing a lower seatstay connection with the seat tube, among other things.

Merida – a Taiwanese brand although much of its engineering is undertaken in Germany – says that the new Reacto is more aerodynamically efficient than the previous version by about eight watts at 45km/h. That equates to around 5%.

Comfort has been increased through redesigning the seatstays and giving the S-Flex seatpost a slimmer cross section and a bigger ‘window’ – a notch that’s cutaway to allow more downward movement.

For 2018, Merida is offering disc brake versions of the Reacto for the first time.

Read more on the updated Merida Reacto here.
Find a Merida dealer

Boardman Air 9.X — £1,349-£3,999

Boardman's Air 9.2 (£1,749) is just the ticket if you're looking for a fast bike with a good spec. It's a great package and the performance is impressive.

Some aero bikes can be a handful, but thankfully the Air 9.2 is a neutral ride most of the time. Considering the amount of side profile, it's really not that much of a handful in the wind. Okay, our reviewer had a couple of interesting moments getting hit by a 30mph sidewind on one ride, but it's generally pretty predictable.

It's fast, it's firm but not uncomfortable, and it responds well under power. There are a few minor niggles – the brakes aren't the best, and some of the components are worth an upgrade to get the best out of the frame – but if you're looking for a fast bike for racing, triathlon or even time trialling then it's very much one to consider.

Read our review of the Boardman Elite Air 9.2
Find a Boardman dealer

Storck Aerfast Platinum — from ~£6,000

Buying the Storck Aerfast Platinum is a massive outlay, but boy, oh boy do you get one hell of a return on your investment. It's a sub-6.5kg race weapon, with aerodynamics that work in the real world, and it offers comfort levels to challenge most endurance bikes.

Taking plenty of things it has learnt from its astonishingly good Aernario, Storck has pushed the design even further down the aerodynamics route, and what it has created in the Aerfast is a bike that's not only unbelievably fast, but light and stiff too.

If you're in the market for an aero bike, speed is going to be topping your list of priorities, and that's where the Aerfast truly excels. At lower speeds the Storck feels like any other bike to ride, any other superlight bike that is, but as you ride faster it feels like a permanent tailwind is nudging you along, a friendly hand on your back as you watch the numbers climb on the Garmin – with little more effort required than there was 5mph ago. It's a wonderful feeling, and one of which you never tire.

Read our review of the Storck Aerfast Platinum
Find a Storck dealer

Cervelo S3 Disc Ultegra Di2 2019 — £5,699

Cervélo has redesigned the S3 Disc to smooth out any penalties that might occur from adding disc brakes. The result is a frame that it claims is 9% stiffer, a touch more aerodynamically efficient, and lighter by 40g compared with the regular rim brake model.

There's a lot to like about the Cervélo S3 Disc. If you want pure speed with the reassurance of hydraulic disc brakes, it's a very good option: it's extremely fast and the handling is lively and direct – just what you want from a race bike – but its composure on rough roads falls some way short of its key rivals. If you're willing to overlook its lack of comfort, it's an explosive bike.

Read our review of the Cervelo S3 Disc Ultegra Di2
Find a Cervelo dealer

Ridley Noah Fast Ultegra Di2 Disc — £7,198

Aero and discs? It's getting more common as bike makers figure out how to mount disc callipers without adversely affecting aerodynamics.

Ridley calls its collection of speed-enhancing aerodynamic features FAST. It includes a tube shape that combines an aerofoil profile with a groove that helps keep the air flowing smoothly over the surface to reduce drag. For 2019 tube shapes have been further refined, there's a new integrated bar, stem and fork system that hides the cables completely, and the fork tips have sprouted 'F-Wings' to improve airflow over disc brakes.

As for the discs, Ridley believes they're simply a better way of stopping.

Read about Greg Henderson's Ridley Noah SL
Find a Ridley dealer

Pinarello Dogma F10 — £4,499 (frame & fork)

Developed in collaboration with Team Sky, the Dogma F10 is the bike upon which Chris Froome won the 2017 Tour de France. The F10 uses FlatBack tube profiles – a Kamm tail sort of shape with a rounded leading edge and chopped off tail, and Pinarello has shaped the down tube so that you can mount a water bottle without ruining the aerodynamic performance. Up front the fork is derived from the company’s Bolide time trial bike with aerodynamically shaped legs and a crown that's integrated into a recessed down tube.

Find a Pinarello dealer

Canyon Aeroad CF SLX — £3,899-£6,799

The second-generation Aeroad CF SLX has been inspired by the work that Canyon did on its futuristic Speedmax time trial bike, with razor sharp aero tube profiles and an optional one-piece handlebar and stem. Much of the company’s focus was on reducing the Aeroad's frontal surface area, so along with the new cockpit there’s a narrower hour-glass shaped head tube to help reduce drag. Other changes include a variant of the Trident tube shape used on the Speedmax, and a seat tube that hugs the leading edge of the rear wheel.

The Aeroad CF SLX is available in both rim brake and disc brake models.

Read our review of the Canyon Aeroad CF SLX 7.0 Di2
Read our review of the Canyon Aeroad CF SLX Disc 8.0 Di2
Check out our complete guide to Canyon's road bikes

Specialized S-Works Venge Disc Vias Di2 — £9,000

If you're going to fly, you need to be able to rein in that speed. Disc brakes give finer modulation of speed with less effort at the lever so as you're whooping into Alpine hairpins you can brake later and waste less valuable speed.

As well as its aero frame, the Venge Vias has an aero handlebar and stem. The almost complete lack of external cables further reduces drag.

Read our review of the Specialized Venge Vias Expert Disc
Read about Mark Cavendish's Venge at the Tour de France
Find a Specialized dealer

Scott Foil 2019 — £2,499-£10,999

The Foil arguably kicked off the whole aero road bike trend, bringing aerodynamic design that was once the preserve of time trial bikes to regular road bikes. For 2018, Scott added disc brakes, arguing along with other manufacturers that you can go faster if you can slow down better. That's on top of the last series of updates to the Foil that saw the down tube lowered and wrapped around the fork crown, and a smaller rear triangle and internal seat clamp in the top tube.

Don't make the mistake of thinking this is an uncomfortable aero bike. Mathew Hayman rode over a few little bumps on his way to winning Paris-Roubaix in 2016.

Read our coverage of the 2016 Scott Foil launch
Find a Scott dealer

Trek Madone 2019 — £3,600-£10,000

Once an all-round lightweight race bike, the Madone has had a complete aerodynamic makeover. It features a version of the Isospeed decoupler borrowed from the Domane to provide some comfort and it’s wrapped up in a frame with Kamm tail shaped tubes. Like Specialized, Trek has also developed its own brake callipers that are designed to integrate with the fork and seatstays. The head tube features flaps that open and close to accommodate the movement of the brake when the fork is turned.

For 2019 has a hugely updated Madone road bike with adjustable IsoSpeed (a shock damper at the top tube/seat tube junction), a new geometry and disc brake models. The rim brake version is lighter while the disc brake version has no aerodynamic penalty, according to Trek..

Read our coverage of the 2019 Trek Madone launch
Find a Trek dealer

Giant Propel Advanced SL 0 Disc 2019 — £8,999

Giant has added disc brakes to the Propel Advanced lineup for 2018, claiming that the flagship model, the Propel Advanced SL Disc, has the highest stiffness-to-weight ratio of any bike in its class and a lower drag coefficient at a wider range of yaw angles than the rim brake version.

“One of the key breakthroughs is a new truncated ellipse airfoil shape – a design that lowers drag at a wider range of wind angles than traditional teardrop frame tubing,” says Giant. “Engineers also found that, with proper integration, a disc-brake design can actually improve aero performance compared to rim-brake configurations.”

As well as a stunning paint job, the top of the range Propel Advanced SL 0 Disc has a full Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset and Giant's own SLR 0 Aero Disc wheels with a 42mm deep front rim and 65mm rear.

The Propel disc range starts at £2,999 with the Propel Advanced 1 Disc.

Read our review of the Giant Propel Advanced Disc
Read our review of the Giant Propel Advanced 1
Read our coverage of the original Giant Propel launch
Find a Giant dealer

Lapierre Aircode SL 2019 – £2,499-£6,999

French brand Lapierre gave its Aircode bikes a major update for 2018. The frame profiles were refined, and are now shaped using a combination of NACA and Kamm tail profiles. The down tube, for example, transitions from one to the other to keep drag low while increasing lateral stiffness at the bottom bracket. Other changes include a revised geometry, shorter chainstays and fork rake that has been reduced to bring it closer to the Xelius SL. There's also a new aero seatpost, direct mount brakes and 'TrapDoor technology' whereby the Di2 battery is housed in the down tube for better weight distribution.

Lapierre has integrated the fork crown into the down tube to bring the front wheel closer to the frame. It’s also using a direct mount brake calliper which allows the fork crown height to be lower than with a standard brake.

Read our review of the Lapierre Aircode SL 900 Ultimate​
Read our coverage of the launch of the Lapierre Aircode SL
Find a Lapierre dealer

Bianchi Oltre XR3 2019 – £2,805-£4,699

Bianchi took the Oltre XR2 as its starting point for the XR3's design and then altered many of the tubes and features, resulting in a very different bike. The head tube is new, for example, the aero design fairly similar to that of the XR4, and the seat tube is new too, although it is still cut away around the leading edge of the rear wheel.

The Oltre XR3 features Bianchi's Countervail technology, Countervail being "a patented viscoelastic carbon material with a unique fibre architecture that cancels up to 80% of vibrations while increasing the stiffness and strength of carbon frames and forks", according to Bianchi.

The Oltre XR3 is nimble and sharp handling, and it offers a ride that's smooth by aero road bike standards.

Read our Bianchi Oltre XR3 review
Read our Bianchi Oltre XR3 Disc review
Find a Bianchi dealer

Your saddle is one of the easiest things to upgrade to save weight and improve comfort.

Few component changes constitute a genuine upgrade as much as a new saddle. The right seat can lop a substantial amount of weight off your bike, and make for a more comfortable ride at the same time.

In the last few years saddle designers have become very adept at blending features that both reduce weight and improve comfort. Most of the improvements have come from composite materials that allow carefully tuned flex in a very light hull so the saddle better absorbs shock and moves with you as you pedal.

On top of a lightweight hull, you'll usually find a thin layer of very dense foam and/or gel. This helps spread your weight over the hull, but with modern flexible hulls it's less important than it used to be. Some very light saddles do without it altogether, and even manage to be fairly comfortable anyway.

The search for better foams and gels has even led to saddle makers branching out into other fields. A few years ago, Selle Royal, owner of Fizik, span off a subsidiary company to make memory foam pillows and mattresses incorporating the Technogel material it originally developed for saddles.

Lighter rail materials make a big difference to saddle performance too. The slight flex of titanium rails helps absorb shock, while carbon fibre rails save save a lot of weight.

You’ve never had a wider choice of saddle shapes and widths. Companies like Specialized and Bontrager make their performance saddles in a range of widths, Fizik tailors its designs to a rider’s flexibility and Charge offers saddles in three width classes and each model in three different shapes.

To help navigate this thicket of choices and find the right saddle for you, you’ll probably want to quite literally get your bum into a bike shop and get fitted for your saddle with one of the measuring devices many saddle makers now supply their dealers. This will tell you the spacing of your sit bones, the first thing you need to know to get a saddle that fits and will therefore be comfortable.

If it’s on offer, take up any chance to test-ride a saddle. The only way to be sure a saddle is right for you is to ride it for long enough for your bum to get used to it.

A typical stock saddle on a £1,000 bike weighs about 300g, so for each of the saddles below we’ve calculated the Hairsine ratio – the grams saved per pound cost. This gives an indication of value for money, at least from the ‘lighten your bike’ perspective.

14 great performance saddles

Fizik Arione 00 Versus Evo — £241.41

Weight: 167g Hairsine ratio: 0.55

Fizik has gone with the whole 'less is more' ethos with its Arione 00 Versus Evo saddle. Stripped back to a mere 167g with minimal padding and lashings of carbon fibre, it is still surprisingly comfortable with a great balance of stiffness and flex. You're going to have to pay for the performance, though.

Fizik's '00' range is its showcase of what is achievable in terms of design with top end materials. The Arione 00 Versus Evo has a shell made from high modulus carbon fibre which is unbelievably stiff considering how thin it is, with the central channel literally just about a millimetre thick. Even the main sections either side of the channel are just 4mm thick too.

Though the whole shell feels stiff, it does a decent job of allowing just enough flex to take out any harshness or road vibration. This is helped by the Mobius carbon fibre rail. Rather than having two rails plugged into the front and rear of the saddle, the Arione 00 uses a single rail which makes up a complete loop around the base of the saddle. It adds stiffness front and rear but allows the shell to flex around the sides, so the saddle can move with you a little as you pedal.

Read our review of the Fizik Arione 00 Versus Evo

Astute Star Lite VT — £125.83

Weight: 220g Hairsine ratio: 0.64

The Astute Star Lite is a superbly made saddle that offers a high level of comfort, especially when you're in a low and aggressive riding position.

The build quality here is exceptional. Even when viewed from underneath (granted, you're unlikely to do that often) the Star Lite looks superb with no ragged edges, staples or stray adhesive to spoil the appearance.

The carbon fibre-reinforced nylon shell has a cutaway centre to reduce pressure on the perineum – as you'll find on many other saddles – and on top of that you get tri-density memory foam padding.

Read our review of the Astute Star Lite VT
Find an Astute dealer

Repente Aleena 4.0 — ~£295

Weight: 130g Hairsine ratio: 0.58

The Repente Aleena 4.0 is an innovative design that backs up its unique functionality with a beautiful design. It's very light and comfy in a race-saddle way, and the interchangeable covers allow you to modify the feel of your saddle without changing its position.

The main news here is the Repente Locking System. Repente saddles are modular, with a separate base and cover. The base is made in an autoclave (a pressurised oven) and it's almost entirely T700 carbon fibre; it has carbon rails and a wide central channel, connected at the nose and the tail. The only bits of the base that aren't carbon are the three alloy mounting points for the cover, which has three corresponding alloy pins. You poke the pins through and secure in place with a small clip. There's a rubber O-ring between the base and the cover for a bit of extra cushioning over and above what the base and cover provide.

Talk of the Aleena's clever details would be moot if the Repente didn't work as a saddle, but it works very well.

The base has been designed to offer a bit of flex, controlled by the bridge at the rear, and when you concentrate on your sit bones you can feel a little of that mobility when you're riding along. Most of the time you won't be concentrating on your sit bones though, unless your sit bones are hurting. And that wasn't the case for me here: even though the padding on the Aleena (and the Comptus, which I also rode) is pretty thin the Repente didn't ever feel uncomfortable.

Read our review of the Repente Aleena 4.0

Selle San Marco Concor Racing — £39.99

Weight: 200g Hairsine ratio: 2.50

The rebirth of a classic design from the late 1970s, the Selle San Marco Concor Racing Fluoro Flash Edition is a firm, light, racing-orientated saddle.

It's firm enough to provide a solid power base but offers enough flex to provide stability even on the longest of rides. It's a well made, supportive ride at a reasonable price.

Read our review of the Selle San Marco Concor Racing
Find a Selle San Marco dealer

Prime Race Carbon — £59.99

Weight: 200g Hairsine ratio: 1.67

The top of Wiggle/CRC's range of own-brand saddles, this is an amazing deal for a saddle with carbon fibre rails. We haven't tested this particular model, but we liked its cheaper kid brother, the titanium-railed Cosine Sprint.

With its central cutaway, and rails Wiggle describes as having "calibrated stiffness for vibration damping", this should be a shade more suitable for endurance riding than the Sprint Titanium, but it's still very much a saddle for going fast.

Wiggle/CRC has sold out at the time of the most recent update to this guide, but we've left it here in case they restock.

Bontrager Serano RL — £89.99

Weight: 225g Hairsine ratio: 0.83

Bontrager's Serano saddle draws on a design that has been around for many years, which is why they call it a 'classic shape'.

We clocked several hundred kilometres and didn't think twice about the Serano, and our tester felt no need to rush back to his old saddle. We're willing to bet this saddle shape will work for a lot of people; it simply supports the bottom so well and provides adequate padding in the key areas.

It's available in three widths: 128, 138 and 144mm. A Bontrager dealer will be able to help you find the right one for your sit bones.

Read our review of the Bontrager Serano RL
Find a Bontrager dealer

Specialized Women’s Ruby Expert — £55

Weight: 205g Hairsine ratio: 1.73

There aren't many performance saddles aimed at women. Saddle makers tend to go for width and padding when making women's saddles, which doesn't make for low weight.

In a small field, this is an excellent saddle. It's available in a choice of widths including a properly narrow 130mm to suit your style of riding and just as importantly your sit bones too. It's a firm saddle, but very light. In comparison with most female specific saddles, it's a pared down seat, ideally suited to aggressive road riding and racing.

With the trademark BG cut-out, it's designed to relieve pressure where it's needed without sacrificing ride efficiency. Hollow titanium rails help keep the weight down, and at just 205g for the 143mm size that we tested, it's definitely one of the lightest women's saddles on the market. The cushioning is placed exactly where you need it to support your sit bones, alleviating any discomfort or feeling of pressure.

This saddle is at its most comfortable when riding in a stretched forward position, but still gives all-round day long comfort too. There was little feeling of loss of power, with the saddle remaining a background feature of the ride, rather than making its presence actively known. Given the choice of widths, this is a good option for any female road rider looking for a comfortable performance saddle.

Read our review of the Specialized Women’s Ruby Expert
Find a Specialized dealer

Fizik Luce R1 Carbon — £90

Weight: 175g Hairsine ratio: 1.39

At 175g, this is the lightest women's saddle we're aware of thanks to its carbon fibre-reinforced shell and carbon rails. When she tested the regular Luce R5, tester Sarah found it very rideable and definitely worth a try for a regular rider if you want something not too squashy.

The Luce has a little give but is pretty firm, which could be a turn-off, but don't be too hasty: Fizik looks to have put a lot of work into this saddle for women.

The Regular-width Luce has a sitting area shape measuring 144mm wide from wing to wing, and narrowing down to the nose. The nose is a little narrower than the Selle Italia Diva – 5mm in fact – meaning less friction on the thighs. This narrower nose will definitely appeal to some.

It quickly it felt comfortable and not too firm. Sarah found she didn't have to shuffle around to find a good position, so the profile of the saddle worked well for her, giving the impression that her sit bones were comfortably supported. Yes, it's a firm ride, but the cushioning is where you need it.

Read our review of the Fizik Luce R5 saddle
Find a Fizik dealer

Fizik Antares R5 with K:ium rails — £89.99

Weight: 175g Hairsine ratio: 1.39

For riders with intermediate flexibility, the Antares is a light, comfortable road saddle with a good depth of padding. The K:ium rails — Fizik's hollow titanium alloy — help keep the weight down while it's comfortable thans to the Wingflex feature it shares with other saddles in the family.

Your weight is carried primarily on your sit bones which are easily supported by the wide rear section, but the dense foam and flex in the shell do a good job of cushioning the road shocks and vibrations. The padding remains thick all the way up the nose, allowing you to move forward for those long turns in the drops or big climbs in comfort, a welcome change for a lightweight saddle.

Read our review of the Fizik Antares R5 with K:ium rails
Find a Fizik dealer

Fabric Scoop Flat Pro — £116.99

Weight: 190g Hairsine ratio: 0.94

Fabric offers three versions of the 143mm wide Scoop: flat, shallow and radius. If you want something wider, there’s the 155mm Cell, while the 134mm ALM is your choice if you want something narrower. There isn't much padding, but there is loads of flex in the one-piece base and it's this flex that really provides the core of its magnificent comfort. The carbon rails provide a surprising amount of flex too.

The real beauty of the Fabric Scoop is the construction. The waterproof microfibre cover isn't stitched or stapled into place, it's moulded to a one-piece nylon base. It's really very impressive and if you get the chance to fondle one in your bike shop you really should, it's a marvellous bit of design.

Read our review of the Fabric Scoop Flat Pro
Find a Fabric dealer

Selle Italia SLR Kit Carbonio Flow — £187.99

Weight: 120g Hairsine ratio: 0.96

The value for money winner of the three Selle Italia saddles we've included, this carbon-railed saddle is feathery 120g but still boasts a layer of padding, albeit a thin, firm layer.

Find a Selle Italia dealer

Selle Italia SLR Tekno — £254.99

Weight: 96g Hairsine ratio: 0.80

The Selle Italia SLR Tekno is an extremely lightweight saddle although its lack of padding makes it feel firmer than most so it has to fit you very well if you're going to stay comfortable on longer rides.

The SLR Tekno's main selling point is its weight. Ours hit the scales at just 96g (Selle Italia claim 90g). You could reasonably say that anything under 200g falls into the lightweight category, sub-150g is superlight, and below 100g is nuts.

We can't say this is among the most comfortable saddles we've ever used but it's far from the least. It feels firm but we could live with it easily enough, especially when used on a bike with a fairly flexible 27.2mm diameter seatpost. We know of people who rack up 100-milers on this saddle and think nothing of it. We'd save it for race day. I'd certainly use it for a crit or a short road race where weight is a more important factor than long-ride comfort. You might be saving just 100g or so over a regular lightweight saddle, but if you're a weight weenie focusing on marginal gains it all counts.

Read our review of the Selle Italia SLR Tekno
Find a Selle Italia dealer

Selle Italia Flite Tekno Flow — £289.99

Weight: 137g Hairsine ratio: 0.56

The Selle Italia Flite Tekno Flow saddle is an updated classic that's lost weight and some of the usual depth of cushioning, and gained a slightly flatter and wider shape. It’s a lightweight saddle with a fairly shallow amount of padding, but the flex in the shell, especially through the central section, means it feels firm rather than harsh.

At its £344.99 RRP this is the most expensive saddle we’ve ever tested, but it can sometimes be found a lot cheaper than that eye-watering figure.

Read our review of the Selle Italia Flite Tekno Flow
Find a Selle Italia dealer

Prologo Zero C3 Nack — £203.99

Weight: 164g Hairsine ratio: 0.67

The Prologo Zero C3 Nack is a light, thinly cushioned and beautifully finished saddle, although it's an expensive one. The fairly shallow cushioning means that the it’s quite a firm saddle, although flex in the base – not loads, but some – helps smooth over road vibration and takes the edge off bigger hits.

We didn't find its firmness to be a problem, though. It was perfectly comfortable for both short and long rides, although it's safe to say that if you're after a soft, deeply cushioned saddle, this isn't the one for you.

Read our review of the Prologo Zero C3 Nack
Find a Prologo dealer

Although there are ever more disc brake-equipped race bikes out there in the shops, most disc brake road bikes produced at the moment are endurance/sportive bikes or all-rounders that are bought by people who simply want the reassurance of all-weather stopping power. The bikes below are a mixture of styles, frame materials and prices so check through and find out what takes your interest.

Check out the hottest disc brake-equipped race bikes

The lines between bike categories have never been more blurred, but we've tried to keep this selection to bikes that are intended entirely or primarily for use on Tarmac. Of course where you ride has as much to do with rider skill as with how fat a tyre your frame will take, but these are bikes for long days in the lanes in sportives, Audaxes, and big rides with friends rather than for exploring dirt roads and trails.

If you want something more versatile, take a look at our guide to the best gravel & adventure bikes, which covers this super-versatile and still-developing category.

Bianchi Infinito CV Disc Ultegra — £3,699

Bianch's updated Infinito CV Disc endurance bike is a little more relaxed than a traditional race machine and it offers a notably smooth ride, but it's still responsive enough to snap into action as soon as you put the power down.

The riding position is a little more upright than that of a traditional race bike, although we're not talking about chalk and cheese here. Far from it. It feels like, in typical Italian style, Bianchi has grudgingly accepted that these days not all bikes can be built to an old school geometry and that concessions have had to be made to newfangled endurance. It's relaxed, but not too relaxed – like undoing your top button and loosening your tie, but a long way short of going full T-shirt and jeans.

The handling is a little more relaxed and easier to live with too. The Infinito CV Disc isn't quite as eager to change line as a highly strung bike like the Oltre. The flip side is that the Infinito feels more stable and composed and is easier to keep in check. The longer the ride, the more of an asset this becomes.

Read our review of the Bianchi Infinito CV Disc Ultegra
Find a Bianchi dealer

Triban RC 520 Disc — £729

Ever since John took the B'Twin Triban 520 Disc road bike for a first ride in London in early October, we've been keen to see if it could stand up to his first impressions, as well as the great value legacy of previous Triban road bikes we've tested. It really does, although riders used to or wanting a racier geometry should look elsewhere.

The geometry thing is a really important point here. With the Triban 520, it's all about a functional position aimed right at tourers and regular commuters at one end of the spectrum, and endurance roadies at the other.

With a super-tall head tube and compact top tube, the bike sits you upright relative to your general entry-level race bike, or even a fair chunk of the endurance-specific market too. It fully justifies its do-it-all tag for everyone except budding racers.

What surprises most about the Triban 520 is just how accessible the ride is; how easy it is to pedal the bike at moderate speeds and feel like you're just cruising along. Cornering in any situation is confidence-inspiring, and it rolls incredibly smoothly too. It takes poor road surfaces in its stride, with a good amount of all-round compliance keeping things comfortable, and as long as you stay in the saddle it climbs moderately well too.

Read our review of the Triban RC 520 Disc

Boardman ASR 8.9 —£1,300

The Boardman ASR, or "all season road", is a really good value package that offers a relaxed ride with the classic looks and feel of steel, the modern convenience of hydraulic discs brakes, and clearance for wide tyres. It does fine duty as an all-weather commuter or as a bike for long day rides. Eating up long, steady miles in comfort is what the ASR does best.

The 8.9 arrives ready for winter, with mudguards fitted to the Reynolds 725 steel frame, 28mm Vittoria tyres, plus reflective frame details ticking all the boxes for commuting through the rough British weather. Remove the mudguards and the bike easily has clearance for wider tyres, so it also fits the bill for summer towpath pootling and brief gravel forays. There's a full Shimano 105 groupset here with hydraulic disc brakes, and Boardman's own bar and tubeless-ready wheels, so with, say, 28mm road tyres like Schwalbe Ones it's as capable an Audax or club-run bike as it is a commuter.

Read our review of the Boardman ASR 8.9
Find a Boardman dealer

Canyon Endurace — £1,349-£5,899

Canyon's wildly popular Endurace bikes went disc-equipped a couple of years ago, and are all the better for it. The models span one the biggest price ranges here, from £1,349 for the Shimano 105-equipped Endurace AL Disc 7.0 up to the £5,899 Endurace CF SLX Disc 9.0 Di2 with Shimano Dura-Ace electronic shifting and DT Swiss carbon fibre wheels.

Read our review of the Canyon Endurace CF SLX 9.0

BMC Roadmachine — £2,025-£9,000

BMC’s Roadmachines are disc-braked fast endurance machines with room for at least 28mm tyres. The range includes aluminium and carbon fibre frames, with a range of equipment from Shimano Tiagra to SRAM Red eTap, and the latest version of the eTap-equipped Roadmachine 01 ONE is probably the most expensive production bike you can currently buy at £12,000 RRP.

Find out more about BMC’s Roadmachine range here
Find a BMC dealer

Focus Paralane 2019 — £1,659-£4,099

​The six-bike Paralane range starts with the £1,659 aluminium-framed Paralane 6.9 with Shimano 105 components and goes up to the £4,099 carbon-framed Paralane 9.9 with Shimano Ultegra Di2. Long-ride features include comfort-enhancing tube profiles and carbon layup, a skinny seatpost and 28mm tyres, that together provide a smooth ride that is up there with the best in this category. It isolates you from the worst road buzz but without completely detaching you from the road entirely. It's a really good balance for those who want some feedback from the surface without being shaken to pieces.

Read our review of the Focus Paralane Ultegra
Find a Focus dealer

Whyte Wessex — £1,999-£4,499

Fast and sporty, with all the practicality and dependability of hydraulic disc brakes, wide tyres and space for full-length mudguards, the Whyte Wessex is a bike that is up to the task of taking on the roughest roads and toughest weather.

If you put racing to one side, it's all the bike you really need for year-round riding in the UK, fast enough for sportives and pacy training runs, comfortable and reliable for grinding out winter miles, and at home on longer commutes. Only a British company could design a bike that is absolutely, perfectly, 100 per cent suited to the demands of year-round UK road cycling.

Read our review of the Whyte Wessex
Find a Whyte dealer

Giant Contend SL Disc — £999-£1,249

The Giant Contend SL Disc bikes feature an Aluxx SL frameset, D-Fuse seatpost that’s designed to add comfort and Giant Conduct hydraulic disc brakes. You get mechanical shifters with a cable to hydraulic converter at the front of the stem. It's a nifty solution to avoiding the (more expensive) Shimano shifters but the jury's out on the aesthetics of the converter.

Check out our first look at the Giant Contend SL range
Read our guide to Giant’s 2019 range
Find a Giant dealer

Wilier Cento10NDR 2019 — £7,999

Wilier’s Cento10NDR endurance road bike is designed to take either rim brakes or disc brakes – you get mount points for both. It also features what’s called an ‘Actiflex’ system on the rear triangle with stays that flex, a pivot at the top of the seatstays and an elastomer shock damper, the idea being to provide a few millimetres of rear wheel travel in order to isolate the rider from the ground and add comfort.

The chainstays are bonded to the bottom bracket shell in the usual way, the Actiflex system relying, as the name suggests, on flex in the stays in order to work.

The dropouts of both the frame and fork are replaceable so you can run the bike with standard quick release skewers or 142 x 12mm thru axles.

Find out more about the Wilier Cento10NDR here
Find a Wilier dealer

Trek Domane Disc — £2,350-£8,750

Trek’s Domane range includes different framesets in aluminium and carbon fibre, and all of the disc-equipped models feature an IsoSpeed decoupler that allows the seat tube to move relative to the top tube and seatstays, so the saddle can move downwards (and a little backwards), providing more give and adding comfort to the ride.

More expensive models get a front IsoSpeed system designed to increase comfort and control, along with adjustment to the rear IsoSpeed decoupler. A lot of technology goes into keeping you comfortable!

Read our guide to Trek’s 2019 road bike range here
Have a look at the Trek Domane here
Find a Trek dealer

Specialized Roubaix £2,600-£10,000

Specialized’s carbon-fibre Roubaix bikes feature a suspension damper housed in the top of the head tube that aims to isolate the handlebar from bumps and cobbles. It's called Future Shock, provides up to 20mm of suspension travel and can be adjusted to suit different rider weights.

The Roubaix is a disc-only bike these days, uses thru-axles front and rear, and has space for fairly fat tyres.

Specialized has just announced a major revamp of the Roubaix platform, with a new adjustable suspension unit in the steerer, a lighter frame, and clearance for 33mm tyres, among other improvements.

Check out Specialized’s 2019 road bike range here
Find a Specialized dealer

Cannondale Synapse Disc — £800-£3,200

Cannondale offers both aluminium and carbon-fibre versions of its Synapse endurance bike. The cheapest of the aluminium models is just £849.99, built up with Shimano’s dependable Sora groupset and Promax mechanical disc brakes.

At the other end of the range, the Synapse Hi-Mod Disc with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 components is priced at £7,799.99.

Read our coverage of the Cannondale Synapse Disc launch
Read our review of the £2,699 2016 Cannondale Synapse Ultegra Disc
Find a Cannondale dealer

Scott Addict Disc — £1,649-£3,599

Scott’s carbon fibre Addict Disc bikes are built to an endurance geometry and they’re said to be both lighter and stiffer than the Solace models that they replace. They come with 32mm wide tyres for plenty of comfort. All six models — three men's and three women's — use Shimano hydraulic disc brakes.

Find a Scott dealer

Rose Team GF 4 Disc — from £1,995.74-£2,995.07

The Team GF 4 Disc takes over from the Xeon CDX in Rose’s lineup and is designed for long distances rides like sportives. The carbon frame comes with a claimed weight of just 990g, which is very light for a bike of this kind. You get to choose from five different Shimano and SRAM builds. The top model, above, is hung with SRAM's new 12-speed Force eTap AXS and is probably the least expensive bike on the market with that groupset.

Lapierre Sensium Disc— £1,799-£2,749

The Sensium, available in both disc and rim brake models, comes with a carbon-fibre frame that’s built to an endurance geometry designed to be comfortable throughout long days in the saddle.

The more affordable of the two disc models, the Senium 500 Disc, features a Shimano 105 groupset while the Sensium 600 Disc makes the step up to Ultegra.

Find a Lapierre dealer

J. Laverack J.ACK Disc £3,850-£6,950

Yeah, you could have carbon, but in some people's eyes, it will never look as good as titanium.

There is also something fantastic about having a bike built just for you, your riding style and what you intend to use the bike for. With custom head badge options, eyelets and shot blasted graphics on top of that, the J.ACK becomes part bike, part work of art.

J.Laverack also works with the likes of Hope, Hunt and Brooks to make the bike brilliantly British.

Check out our review of the J.Laverack R J.ACK III

Check out 12 of 2018’s hottest disc brake-equipped race bikes

What do you get if you pay £100 or more for a helmet? As this selection of high-performance lids shows, you get a hard-to-achieve combination of low weight, ventilation, comfort and, in the latest models, aerodynamics.

You can get a fairly decent helmet for £30, but if you want a helmet that’s so light and comfortable you’ll forget it’s there, or you want the latest aerodynamic designs, then you’ll have to pay a bit more. What do you get for your money?

Weight

The lightest modern helmets come in around 200g which is light enough that you really do barely notice they’re there. Achieving very low weights while still meeting standards isn’t easy, though, and involves the use of high-tech materials and very careful design. Specialized’s 185g Prevail S-Works, for example, is internally reinforced with an aramid skeleton. Other super-light helmets have minimal, pared-down adjustment systems, necessitating the use of light but strong plastics, and featherweight webbing straps, none of which comes cheap.

Ventilation

The materials that allow a helmet to be light also allow better ventilation because they make it possible to increase the size of the vents and internal channels. Quite simply, there’s less helmet there, so there’s more room for air to flow.

In some helmets the cradle that fits around your head lifts the body of the helmet away from your scalp, further improving ventilation. That has been an important feature of the latest generation of aerodynamic helmets.

Comfort

The days of foam pads resting on your head and making it sweaty are long gone. Many modern performance helmets have cradles that lightly wrap your whole head, spreading the already-low weight over a large area and leaving plenty of bare scalp for sweat.

Helmet shapes have improved too, and the almost-universal use of some sort of dial adjuster to fine-tune the fit means these helmets can be easily tweaked; a lot less hassle than picking the right thickness of pads out of the box.

Aerodynamics

As in almost every other aspect of cycling, aerodynamics is the latest big thing. Aero road bikes and aero wheels have been joined by helmets claimed to be wind-tunnel-tested to provide an aero advantage.

It started with simple plastic shells to cover the vents for situations like a finishing sprint where every fraction of a second counts, followed by helmets with fewer vents and smooth outer shells. Not having a wind tunnel, we can’t verify the aero claims, but this crop of helmets does have the advantage of being warmer in winter. The previous generation of high-end helmets are so airy your gets distinctly chilly without a skull cap.

Read more: Should you buy an aero helmet?

Read more: Everything you need to know about helmets

Read more: The best cheap helmets

Read more: All road.cc helmet reviews​

Ekoi Legende — £179.44

The Ekoi Legende's appearance evokes 1970s 'hairnet' crash hats but it has the modern details you would expect from a current high-quality helmet. It's pretty light and ventilation is excellent, though it's not cheap.

One of the Legende's big benefits is excellent ventilation. TYou can feel a stream of air blowing across the top of your head, removing excess heat perfectly. It comes with 9mm and 3mm pads, and a netted version to keep out bugs.

Definitely intended to be a premium helmet, the Legende even comes in its own little leather bag, and has your name stamped on the back.

Read our review of the Ekoi Legende

Giro Aether MIPS — £180.90

Giro's Aether is a fabulous helmet that offers an excellent level of ventilation, plenty of comfort and new MIPS Spherical technology.

The MIPS Spherical tech is its most important feature. MIPS stands for Multi-directional Impact Protection System. According to the company behind it, MIPS is "scientifically proven to reduce rotational motion by absorbing and redirecting rotational energies and forces transferred to the brain from angled impacts to the head."

MIPS usually comes in the shape of an internal liner – a polycarbonate plastic layer that sits between your head and the expanded polystyrene (EPS). Here, though, rather than being added after the event, the MIPS Spherical technology is an integral part of the Aether's construction.

Read our review of the Giro Aether MIPS
Find a Giro dealer

Bell Stratus MIPS — £97.49 - £129.99

The Bell Stratus MIPS Helmet is quality, comfortable with a great fit, and comes in a wide range of colours. The Stratus MIPS is Bell's latest second-rung helmet, below the Zephyr, and shares many of its features, the main differences being a single polycarbonate shell instead of the dual-density laminate and a significant saving. If you can't stretch to the Zephyr, look here.

Read our review of the Bell Stratus MIPS
Find a Bell dealer

MET Trenta 3K Carbon — £129.99

The Met Trenta 3K Carbon helmet is lightweight, it feels cool in use and, if you accept Met's claims, it offers an aero advantage over a traditional lid, but you're going to have to dig deep for this one.

Our medium sized Met Trenta 3K Carbon helmet was 220g on our scales. The weight saving over most other helmets will have a negligible effect on your speed but you might find it more comfortable than one that's even 50g heavier.

Met has keptr the weight down by using EPS (expanded polystyrene) foam that's 20% less dense than normal, it says, without affecting the helmet's capacity to absorb energy in the case of impact. How come? It's down to the elastic modulus of the carbon cage that's embedded into it, says Met. You can see the black woven carbon beneath the white in-moulded polycarbonate shell. Met insists that this carbon is structural rather than cosmetic. It's the addition of the carbon, which you don't get on the standard Trenta, that allows the use of the lighter EPS.

Read our review of the Met Trenta 3K Carbon helmet
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Met Strale — £42.99 - £79.99

Weight: 241g

Met's Strale helmet strikes a balance between aerodynamics, cooling and comfort that makes you wonder whether you really need to spend any more on a polystyrene lid.

The Strale is half the price of the Met Manta Aero, below, but offers nearly the same performance. No doubt there'll be some data out there to say it doesn't save as many watts at a given speed, but for the majority of your riding that probably doesn't matter.

With eight vents up front, the Strale has a lot fewer than most traditional helmets but you certainly don't overheat when you're wearing it. A few weeks ago the temperature in this part of the country was nudging 30°C and I spent the week riding in the Met without issue.

Read our review of the Met Strale
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Met Manta aero — £99.95

Weight: 215g

Aerodynamics are important in a bike race and we're seeing the pros concentrating on cheating the wind from every direction, head to toe. 'The fastest closed aero helmet' claims Met about its brand new Manta; a big claim but this helmet is about more than just going fast.

Met claims the Manta saves 10 watts at 50km/h compared to its rivals and although that is hard to test in the real world even half of that isn't to be sniffed at for free. That'll be at an optimal position too, most likely the handlebar-staring, stem-chomping head angle employed by the world's best sprinters but hey, when you're really going for it in the drops the Manta does actually make you feel quick – nothing wrong with a placebo effect.

Bargain hunters with small heads can grab a Manta for just £64.99.

Read our review of the Met Manta
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BBB Tithon — £46.92 - £87.12

Weight: 280g

If you want top aero performance for that final burst to the line at the end of a race, coupled with reasonable ventilation, the BBB Tithon is a great option.

Let's start with that ventilation, which you'd be right in thinking isn't spectacular. Of course it isn't: there are only two holes at the front and three at the rear. However, the way they work in practice by pulling air through from a high pressure to low pressure area means you do still get a surprisingly good level of airflow in spite of appearances.

t's one of those helmets where, if all you're interested in is saving the odd watt here or there at the end of a race, then it's going to appeal; if not, then it's likely you'd be better suited to one with more ventilation.

Read our review of the BBB Tithon
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Cannondale Cypher Aero — ~£110

Weight: 285g

Cannondale's Cypher Aero is essentially its Cypher race helmet with an aero shell. It's a sleek and well-ventilated design that is light – and now aerodynamic too. Cannondale has stuck with its traditional look, a plus point in my book, rather than following the current trend of weird and wonderful aero designs.

Weighing in at just 240g without the aero shell, its light weight is probably the first thing you notice. Cannondale has used its 'Peak Protection technology', with dual-density EPS foam reducing weight while keeping rigidity high. Combine that with the wide distribution of internal padding, and it's easy to forget you have it on. Even with the shell on, 285g isn't exactly heavy.

Read our review of the Cannondale Cypher Aero
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Kask Mojito — £59.99-£110

Weight: 251g

Italian helmet-maker Kask has a gem of a helmet in the Mojito, a lightweight and relatively inexpensive design that fits brilliantly – to my head anyway.

Thanks in part to its sponsorship with Team Sky, Kask is now widely recognised as a leader in the lid market. The Mojito is now its mid-range helmet after being used by the pro team up until 2014, so still carries a lot of the ventilation tech and lightweight construction you'd hope for from a pro-level model.

Read our review of the Kask Mojito
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Lazer Genesis — £56.99

Weight: 275g

With its sleek design and 19 vents, the Lazer Genesis is a great helmet, especially considering the price. The optional aeroshell (£14.99) means this can handle the fastest races and coldest training rides equally well.

​Read our review of the Lazer Genesis
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Bell Zephyr MIPS — £111.08 - £234.99 (~£85 size S black)

Weight: 288g

The Bell Zephyr MIPS helmet might be one of the more expensive options out there but it's well ventilated, fairly low profile, and it boasts an excellent new MIPS-integrated fit system.

Just to get you up to speed on MIPS – or Multi-directional Impact Protection System for long – it's 'a revolutionary technology that lets the helmet slide relative to the brain, adding more protection against rotational violence to the brain caused by angled impacts', according to the team behind it.

Read our review of the Bell Zephyr MIPS
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Catlike Mixino — £76.99 - £119.999

Weight: 227g

Without a doubt, the most recognisable helmet in the professional peloton. With its distinctive Gaudi-esque vents and slightly bulbous shape, the Catlike Mixino looks like an object made by nature. It's superbly ventilated, fits well and few helmets weigh less.

The reason the helmet has this unique shape is thanks to its aramid skeleton, which sits underneath the 'foam' of the helmet. It's reinforced with graphene to enable it to have a significant number of vents (39 in total) and a very light weight (227g) without impacting on safety in the event of a crash.

Read our review of the Catlike Mixino
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Kask Rapido — £49.61 - £59

Weight: 215g

The Kask Rapido is a rather excellent helmet.

The understated looks, fantastic ventilation and low price make this a really good deal. They are robust and come in a variety of colours, which due to a full plastic shell, wipe clean.

The low profile suits many head shapes and the retention system provides a very wide range of adjustment.

POC Octal — £89.99-£180

Weight: 204g

​So the first thing to say about this lid is that it'll turn heads. It polarises opinion.

It's a very well vented helmet that is backed up with a nice fit and impressive lightness.

Dave had it on test and said "you're either going to like this helmet's appearance or you're not; I'm not going to try and convince you otherwise. What I would say is that you should withhold your opinion until you've actually seen the helmet with your own eyes rather than just the photo up top".

Read our review of the POC Octal

Lazer Z1 — £85.69 - £140.40

Weight: 238g

The element of the Lazer Z1 that stands out most is that it has been designed with ventilation in mind, with 30 vents throughout the body. The airflow is about as good as you will find and certainly among the best we have used. It has great word-of-mouth too; this is one of the best liked helmets around for its ventilation and fit.

The strong fit is achieved through Lazer's Rollsys system, which maintains pressure around the entire head rather than placing it on the rear like most other helmet adjustment systems. This means there are no hot spots of pressure, making it comfortable to wear for long periods of time. In terms of fitting the helmet, it is effortless as it just has a wheel on the top of the helmet that you twist to either tighten or loosen.

The Z1 also comes with an aeroshell, which covers the top to improve the aerodynamics or keep you warm in cold weather, depending on how you look at it.

Read our review of the Lazer Z1

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Bontrager Ballista MIPS — £99-£109

Weight: 266g

The Bontrager Ballista is an aero road helmet with very good ventilation that keeps your head cool and comfortable as you ride.

Bontrager says the Ballista has less drag than any other aero road helmet out there. The company says that the Ballista outperforms the Specialized Evade, Louis Garneau Course and Giro Air Attack, according to measurements in the wind tunnel. The other brands might well contest that of course.

What we can tell you for sure is that the Ballista feels very cool in use. You get three very large vents up front and two more on the top of the helmet. These lead into deep channels in the EPS (expanded polystyrene) that run right over the top of your head and on to a series of exit ports at the back.

Read our review of the Bontrager Ballista

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Giro Synthe — £118.99-£129.99

Weight: 223g

The Giro Synthe is an aero road helmet that's lightweight, comfortable and very well ventilated.

Giro call it the Synthe because they reckon it synthesises all the features you'd want in a high-performance road helmet: low weight, plenty of ventilation, a good fit and aerodynamic efficiency.

They certainly nailed the weight. Our medium sized test model hit the scales at 223g. It fits comfortably, thanks to Giro's Roc Loc Air system lifting the helmet body slightly off your head. It's also one of the best-ventilated helmets we've ever used. Giro reckon that using a heat-sensing headform reveals the Synthe to be cooler than the existing Aeon and nearly as cool as a bare head.

We can't verify Giro's aero claims, but they claim it's superior to their Air Attack lid, which isn't as well ventilated.

Read our review of the Giro Synthe

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Specialized Prevail II — £120

Weight: 201g

If ‘performance’ means ‘low weight’ then this is the helmet you want. The Specialized Prevail II is the pinnacle of Specialized's vented helmet design: the lightest and best ventilated helmet they've ever put on sale. And in use it is indeed, cool, light and very comfortable.

The Prevail helmet has long been a popular helmet with performance-focused cyclists because it's comfortable, well ventilated and seriously lightweight. This version retains everything that was good about original but has a much lower profile. It not only looks better but offers better ventilation and sweat management as well as reducing the wind noise of the original.

The only criticism it was possible to level at the original Prevail was its very wide profile that looked a bit bulbous on many heads. That has been addressed with the Prevail II. It's a much sleeker and lower profile helmet, sits lower on the head and doesn't protrude at the sides as much as before. Good job, Specialized.

That reduction in bulk hasn't reduced the weight, as you might expect. The Prevail II weighs 201g on our scales, compared to 190g for the original Prevail, both in a size medium. Still, it's one of the lightest helmets on the market. You might think there's little point in a lightweight helmet. And then you try one and it's hard to go back to a heavier helmet. Specialized also says the lower profile offers a small aerodynamic improvement as well.

Read our review of the Specialized Prevail II

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KASK Protone — £165

Weight: 250g

Kask's Protone helmet, developed in collaboration with Team Sky, is a highly adjustable, cool and comfortable lid, although it comes at a premium price. If Kask's claims are to be believed, it boasts impressive aerodynamics for a well-vented helmet too.

You know how some helmets feel like they perch on top of your head a bit like a flat cap? The Protone is the exact opposite. It feels like it fully encompasses your head, more like a beanie, say, reaching low at both the front and, especially, the back.

Testing the Protone involved a lot of climbing in high temperatures and we found the venting to be very effective. Our tester didn't get a noticeably hot, sweaty head, or anything close to that, despite relatively little venting towards the rear of the helmet. There's good airflow right across the top of your head that keeps the humidity down.

Read our review of the KASK Protone

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