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TECH NEWS
Video Just In: Specialized Roubaix Expert — the most interesting new bike of 2017?
One of the most highly anticipated new bike releases for the 2017 model year is the Specialized Roubaix.
The pictured bike is the Roubaix Expert. It costs £3,200 and comes with a full Shimano Ultegra groupset, with mechanical gears and hydraulic disc brakes. Its DT R470 tubeless-ready wheels are shod with Specialized Turbo 26mm tyres, and it has a full suite of the company’s own finishing kit, including the distinctive Hover riser handlebar.
It’s a radically new bike, with the most interesting change being the switch from Zertz elsatomer frame inserts to the Future Shock, a spring inside a cartridge in the head tube.The idea is to better isolate the rider from the bumps, cracks and cobbles in the road and provide improved traction. Specialized tells us the result is a 5% improvement in vertical compliance over the previous Roubaix.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of changes; the frame is lighter, the geometry is more aggressive, it’s disc-only and it now accepts 32mm tyres.
You can read all about the new tech on the redesigned Roubaix right here, and of how the company worked with McLaren to develop a rolling efficiency simulator to test the FutureShock.
The new Roubaix is also lighter than the old model. Even though the cartridge weighs 200g on its own, it’s managed to shed weight from the frame so that it now comes in at a claimed 700g with the fork adding 300g. Abike close to the 6.8kg UCI weight limited should be easily possible.
One very interesting change is the switch to a traditional external threaded bottom bracket. Press-fit has lost a lot of fans over the years with customers and are manufacturers now listening? Could this be the start of the end for press-fit?
The new Roubaix has a lot going for it then, and we’re certainly very interested to see if it delivers a benchmark ride. It faces some stiff competition though, the endurance bike category is ram-packed with high-quality options. Also new this year is the Focus Paralane, Cervelo C3/C5, Trek Domane SLR and Canyon Endurace CF SLX, quite some list of bikes. I’ve ridden them all and will certainly be seeing how the Roubaix compares.
- Buyer's guide to sportive and endurance bikes
Like what you see? Want to find out how it rides? You'll have the chance to bag a demo ride on the new bike at the inaugural road.cc LIVE event next February.
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
Latest Comments
- LordSandwich 1 sec ago
As someone who drives a diesel, I was looking at that and thinking "that's been the normal price for ages!" 😭
- ErnieC 7 min 6 sec ago
Glad I got mine before that change in ownership.
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And 3 of the 'workers' are just leaning!
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Same sketch everywhere, or so it seems. Take Whitelegg Way in Bournemouth. Wide cycle lanes put in both sides of a (formerly very wide) two lane...
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Sounds cool. I haven't taken an "unnecessary flight" since 1992. Flown many times since then for work, but you can't patrol the Iraqi desert, or...
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My first thought on reading the headline was "ooh, has Clevedon put in covered bike parking now?".
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I rented a car a few weeks ago, a Skoda Octavia (needed a big car for a weekend), and the ride was astonishingly good compared to my own 10 year...
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Shimano were castigated for not bringing on new factories to meet pandemic demand, thus gumming up the supply chain. Their argument at the time was...
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7 comments
I have the new Roubaix and after having ridden it for 2 months and having done over just under 2000km, I can honestly say that this bike is extraordinary. At first I thought I made a mistake with the impression that the future shock was a gimmick. Not helped by the fact that I came off a Trek Domane which I had previously thought was one of the most comfortable road bikes I have ever ridden. Within 3 rides I was hooked. Future shock is undeniably noisy, after all, it is suspension but it works. It's not the silver bullet to rough roads but it certainly makes a big difference and even more so when the tarmac is smooth. The back end of the Roubaix is similar in design to that of the Domane so can't really say it is any better in that regard. But before you get on to finding holes in my summary, and views, I still have my Domane, a Tarmac and a Supersix Evo. All of which get less saddle time because of how good a bike the Roubaix is. And I never thought I would say that. It is certainly worth trying before judging.
A steel or even titanium frame with 32mm tyres at 60psi is surely the most comfort needed on the road, the rest really should come down to learned technique and a bit of finesse.
I'm sure it does work a bit, but there's a cultural thing with road bikes that is sadly ignored with this sort of innovation. Bikes are beautiful because of their simplicity and modesty. It's why you don't see musical instruments changing - the lack of new technology makes you work a bit harder at it, but that's part of the legitimacy of it. Suspension on a road bike seems a bit indulgent!
This reminds me of a fridge I saw in PC World with a touch screen in the door. You know it's ridiculous, but someone will pay 5 grand for that fridge!
Never knowlingly had a problem with traction on a road bike except due to snow or ice. Even then, I am not convinced a bit of rubber in the head tube is going to make the slightest difference. In fact, it might make things worse due to forward weight transfer.
And I see absolutely no requirement for suspension on road bikes except from that coming from the marketing department.
If you like the sound of the the shock bottoming out throughout the ride, go for it. Dink, dink, dink dink. Otherwise, grow a pair you dawg
Although, is all that vertical compliance stuff really necessary now that the frame takes 32mm rubber?
For comfort I suspect the tyres are enough. But for traction, the engineers need to tune damping and spring stiffnesses and there's only so far the frame layup/resins/weaves, wheels and tyres can go in that regard. Suspension front and back is the right way forward for road bikes. Here's hoping they'll get both in due course.
Cor!
Still the evil empire though