Video Just In: Tifosi SS26 Aero

We’re excited that the Tifosi SS26 Aero has just arrived at the road.cc office because we loved the straight SS26 race bike that we reviewed last year.

“The SS26 is pretty special,” said Stu in his review. “With such phenomenal handling and superb comfort, it's a bike you'll never tire of riding fast.”

The Tifosi SS26 Aero is actually a very different bike although, like the SS26, it is made from Toray carbon-fibre and is built with a tapered head tube and oversized bottom bracket shell to provide stiffness.

The SS26 Aero has a deep-section seat tube and seatpost, a semi-integrated fork crown, and an internal wedge-type seat clamp with the bolt hidden away inside the top tube – all features we’ve come to associate with aero road bikes. The fork legs are slim too.

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In other ways the Tifosi doesn’t follow a typical aero road bike formula. The head tube and down tube are chunky, the seat tube isn’t cut out around the leading edge of the rear wheel, and the seatstays are quite wide by seatstay standards.

The SS26 Aero’s geometry isn’t the same as that of the original SS26.Taking our medium sized test bike as an example, the top tube is 5mm shorter and the head tube is 10mm taller. The stack height (the vertical distance from the centre of the bottom bracket to the top of the head tube) is a little higher (559.5mm) and the reach (the horizontal distance between those points) is a little shorter (379mm) so, all other things being equal, you’re going to be riding in a slightly more upright riding position, although the difference is marginal.

The frameset is priced at £999.99 while complete bikes start at £1,949.99. That price gets you a Campagnolo Potenza groupset and Miche Altur wheels.

Our test bike actually costs £4,000 but that’s because it’s built up with a Campagnolo Chorus groupset and Bora One 50 clincher wheels. It weighs 7.25kg (16.0lb).

Of the bikes that we’ve reviewed recently, the Canyon Ultimate CF SLX Disc 8.0 Di2 is close to the SS26 Aero’s price at £4,399. That’s a bike with the electronic version of Shimano’s Ultegra groupset and Mavic Cosmic Pro Carbon DIsc wheels, and it offers astonishing value for money. 

The Cannondale SuperSix Evo Hi-Mod Dura-Ace 1 that we reviewed last year (with rim brakes) was £3,999 although at that price point you now get the SuperSix Evo Hi-Mod Disc Ultegra – so hydraulic disc brakes are added into the equation but the groupset comes down a notch. It’s still excellent equipment, though.

Right, we’ve got Stu primed to get the Tifosi SS26 Aero out on the road. He’ll be back with a review on road.cc soon.