We've dealt with a number of the aero road bikes over the years, so I'll offer up some thoughts on the ones we are familiar with.
S5 - Although Cervelo clearly does not have that niche feel that it did years ago, you still do get that feeling of belonging to a members only club once you own one. That said, in terms of the "complete package", I think the S5 is tough to beat. For aero road bikes, if you look at whatever test from whichever group…you'll always find the S5 as a top contender. I remember Phil White saying something to effect of, "Our goal is to be #2 in all of our competitor's tests". The only knocks we hear about the S5 sometimes are that it can tend to stand up in high speed corners and that it's ride quality is slightly rough. Honestly, we rarely hear these complaints.
Felt AR - We wish we had better things to say about the current generation AR, because Jim Felt is hands down our favorite guy in the bike industry. Incredibly smart, innovative, loyal to his athletes - extremely undervalued in the industry as a whole. But….the current AR just doesn't make the cut. It's flexy to a fault. This simply kills the handling attributes and makes an already portly bike feel even more sluggish. We do like the stack height of the 54cm on up. The small sizes though, are just not viable.
BMC TMR01 - Interesting bike. The first one we built up was Laura Bennett's for London last year, and we were a bit dubious of the brakes. Have to say though, the brakes are
very strong and easy to adjust. The in-line Shimano quick release for the brakes is just plain goofy though, so we really sell this bike as one that you need to use with current generation wide wheels. You want to train wide/race wide (with regards to wheels) because going in and adjusting the brake throw for different rim widths is simply not realistic for most people. Hell, we are pretty decent mechanics and we don't want to do it. The TMR01 is the stiffest (feeling) aero road bike in our estimation. It really jumps under acceleration and feels like a much lighter bike. Handling is not quite as nimble as the SLR01, but approaching. That puts it in very good company. Value wise - the TMR01 kind of sucks this year. We feel like sales hurt because the steep price. There is no doubt that this bike is cutting edge, but we would like to be able to put it under more riders. Out of all the bikes we mention, the TMR01 is the one that will likely have the most frequent shop visits. Although the brakes are not difficult, they are just different enough for many people to warrant more frequent attention.
Boardman AiR 9.8 - Full disclosure here - I'm a Boardman fanboy and have been trying to get the brand here in the US for several years. I work the ITU circuit, and will admit to having
many pictures on my phone of the Brownlee's AiR's over the years. Having said that, the AiR intrigues me. I obviously don't
know exactly where it stacks up aerodynamically among the other contenders. The general consensus is somewhere near the S3 range. We compare it to the S5 because again, the S5 is simply the gold standard. Ride quality is definitely quieter on the AiR as opposed to the S5 - centuries & such would be quite comfortable (in terms of dampening…not thinking fit right now). The bike "feels" lighter than it is too, suggesting that it has very good power transfer. Out of the saddle especially, the bike climbs more like an R5/SL4/SLR01. Maybe due to TT/DT shape resisting torsion better? Not sure why, but we're not complaining. Similarly, the bike descends and corners
very sharply. Carl - you can answer this better than myself - but I feel like handling is actually very similar to the SLR01 (which I consider to be a top notch handling bike). The knock on the AiR is going to be fit geometry. Because it is outside the box these days (long/low), it's going to be a relative binary decision for most whether it fits or not…no real grey area. Value wise, we put the AiR 9.8 at the top of the list. At $2200 for the AiR 9.8 frameset, that is far more affordable than the top offerings from the other contenders. We've been building this frame up with awesome kits at prices we just can't approach with the other companies.
Specialized Venge - We are not a Specialized dealer these days, but being in NorCal (i.e. Specialized country) we see
lots of the Big S on the road. Having said that - I feel like we do not see much of the Venge - it's predominantly Tarmac around these parts. From Cal Giant to the Specialized Masters Team to countless shop teams and clubs, there are lots of talented riders on these bikes. Carl, I'll call on you again - what's your Venge feedback from yourself and/or teammates over the years?
To the OP - this is Slowtwitch after all - so I am assuming you are pretty up to speed on what kind of geometry you need. One of the biggest drivers for you is going to be stack height. The difference between a "high" bike such as the S5 and a "low" bike such as the Boardman is not nominal. Although you may be able to get both bikes "to work", one likely fits your dimensions better than the other. The other bikes mentioned in this thread tend to fall somewhere in between these two bookends with regard to stack.
The other intangible that people don't like to talk about….get a bike that excites you. You need to
want to ride it…to do big hours and hard miles on it. The bike that you are going to be fastest on is the bike that you get out and train on the most and most efficiently. Some of us can put all that aside and truly get the highest performance bike. Many of us though need the little extra motivation of a bike that really calls to us. For me these days, that bike is Boardman AiR, partly because of the performance, partly because of the heritage, partly because of the company being vested in triathlon.
Joe Santos
Joe Santos
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