Here’s the actual bike that Peter Sagan rode to victory in Paris-Roubaix at the weekend, which differs quite a bit from the bike you or I can purchase. You can buy a replica gold Roubaix (or Tarmac) if you want to emulate Sagan on your local club ride, if only in appearance and not raw speed.
– Peter Sagan wins Paris-Roubaix (plus video)
It’s a Specialized S-Works Roubaix, the latest version of which was launched last year with an all-new frame design, incorporating a spring in the head tube called the Future Shock, and available only with disc brakes.
– Review: Specialized Roubaix Expert
But Sagan’s bike doesn’t have discs, it has rim brakes. We’re guessing due to requests from the team for a rim brake bike force the US company to rather embarrassingly produce a team-issue version of its new bike with discs swapped for rim brakes. It happened last year immediately after the launch, but it’s a little surprising to see it again this year. When we spoke to Specialized about this same thing last year, they told us it will be “homologated under UCI regulations to allow it to be raced at Flanders and Roubaix in 2017, but production will be minimal.”
Despite the big bike manufacturers getting full behind disc brakes and a lot of the latest endurance bikes, which are used heavily at this cobbled race, not everyone wants disc brakes yet. It would appear a lot of the pros aren’t really ready for them or, at least, aren’t prepared to take a risk on a new unproven technology when there is so much at stake.
That’s the odd thing about Paris-Roubaix. On the one hand, it’s the perfect proving ground for new bikes, wheels, tyres and products and a win is the perfect marketing story for any brand. Win on Sunday on Roubaix and sell on the bike shop floor on Monday. If a product can survive this race it’s probably fine for pootling around the country lanes at a more modest pace.
So over the years, we’ve seen a lot of bike brands pour considerable development into producing innovative products aimed at providing a competitive edge for their pro racers, whether it’s accommodating wider tyres or integrating suspension or flex zones.
But on the other hand, it’s a race where tradition and the tried-and-tested mantra has often proceeded over anything new and shiny the bike brand might present to the team. For years this race served as the last bastion for the traditional aluminium rim, and it’s not so long ago that cyclocross bikes were used because the race bikes wouldn’t take wide tyres. And stories about aged tubular tyres left to hang in cellars so mature nicely steel do the rounds.
Tradition has been facing a tough battle against modern technology in this race.
But I digress…
Other than the rim brakes, Peter Sagan’s Roubaix is largely the same as the one you can buy in the shop. There is one notable change however, it looks like Specialized has developed an adjustable FutureShock. This likely allows you to lock out the spring, for the road sections, and unlock it for the cobbles. If you watched the race you could see Sagan operating it before hitting a section of pave.
It’s very likely this will eventually find its way onto production bikes. When I tested the Roubaix following its launch last year I was very impressed by how comfortable the FutureShock made riding over rough roads, but even on smoother roads or climbing out of the saddle, I didn’t find it intrusive. Still, I can see a lot of people liking the option of being able to lock it out.
Another prototype on this bike is the direct mount hanger that has been machined to work with the Roubaix dropout and Dura-Ace rear mech. Another mountain bike development, the idea of a direct mount is to provide a stiffer connection between the mech and frame for more precise shifting.
Sagan opted for a mechanical Dura-Ace groupset, as he prefers the mechanical shift levers over Di2’s buttons for racing on the cobbles. He’s not alone, a few other top pros, such as Fabian Cancellara, have displayed a preference for mechanical shifting when it comes to racing on pave. It’s very much a personal preference thing though, most of the peloton do stick with Di2. One of the benefits of the electronic system is the option fit additional shift buttons to the inside of the drop or on the tops, providing extra shifting positions.
Gearing comprised a close ratio 53/44t chainset and 11-28t cassette, no need for much wider range than that at this race which is largely flat. You can also see how much his chain is dancing around on this section of cobbles. That’s what the new Ultegra RX mech with its clutch-style mechanism is intended to reduce, preventing the risk of the chain dropping off the chainset and also reducing the noise of the chain slapping the chainstay.
Shimano Dura-Ace direct mount brake calipers were used instead of disc brakes, so that meant a new fork and new seatstays had to be designed. According to Shimano, the widest tyres supported are 28mm but it looks like 30mm tyres might just about fit based on what we saw at the race.
Last year Sagan was using Dura-Ace cranks with 4iiii power meters, this season he’s using the new Specialized dual-sided power meter bolted to the same Dura-Ace R9100 crankset. Pedals are as set of Dura-Ace SPD-SLs.
– S-Works Power Cranks power meters launched
Rolling stock comprised the same Roval CLX 50 carbon fibre tubular wheels he normally races, proving the toughness and versatility of this wheelset. Specialized also supplied its own Hell of the North tubular tyres, developed for the demands of this race, in a 28mm width.
Other details include an aluminium PRO handlebar and carbon fibre Zipp Sprint stem, with the logos taped over. Did you spot Sagan tightening his stem bolts during the race? Things can rattle loose on the cobbles; I’ve had to stop and tighten bottle cage bolts when I’ve ridden over the cobbles in the past, even when you thought you thoroughly tightened them.
The Pro sponsorship extends to the seatpost as well, meaning he can’t use the excellent Specialized CG-R post which provides impressive seated comfort through a carbon fibre layup and design that increases the fore-aft deflection.
Supacaz bar tape, a K-Edge out-front mount and Wahoo Bolt computer, customised naturally, completed his Paris-Roubaix winning bike.
Another interesting detail that we didn’t notice at the time, Sagan also opted to go back to the older S-Works 6 shoes and not the newer S-Works 7 shoes that were launched recently, and which he has been seen wearing since. He really did not want to take any chance in this race.
Photos © BrakeThrough Media
34 thoughts on “Peter Sagan’s Paris-Roubaix winning Specialized S-Works Roubaix bike”
No disc brakes ! Good to see
No disc brakes ! Good to see the pros can’t be bullied by Specialized the way they are doing with the paying public. A lot of people are put off of buying Roubaixs and Giant Defys by the simple factthat there is no rim brake option.
dreamlx10 wrote:
Your source for this assertion? Or did you just make it up?
I was put off the roubaix because they removed the mudguard mounts for the latest model. I was initially attracted because of the discs…
StoopidUserName wrote:
My source is personal experience of a riding partner and myself. He is a long time Specialized Roubaix owner who switched to a Tarmac because of not wanting or needing disc brakes, and I was put off of buying a Giant Defy by the lack of a rim brake option on the carbon framed models.
dreamlx10 wrote:
You must live in a hella small country where 2 people count as “a lot of people”
Lol at the writer almost
Lol at the writer almost crying because Sagan and most of the pros simply don’t want discs, it isn’t because of the reasons you trot out, they don’t need discs. oh how their sponsors must be cursing Sagan et al for not allowing them to blind the simpletons even more with bullshit at how much an advantage discs are.
You say tradition is a tough battle against technical progress but still fail to grasp that ‘progress’ that has so many downsides isn’t progress is it! That actually the progress you keep trying to push has very very little bearing in terms of performance and that only in very certain conditions which are mostly unimportant anyway because a major limiting factor lies elsewhere on the bike. Also ignoring the fact that the technical advancement you keep banging on about is more costly in effort than anything gained. it’s not even going to work out safer either, clearly hanging onto what the pros know is better trumps your whiny cry baby article guff.
Will the pro peleton one day have all discs, maybe so, but it won’t change a damn thing except make punctures and other issues like hard braking for long periods be something manufacturers will need to solve before it’s widely accepted IMHO.
I think calipers are here to stay for at least a few more years, let’s hope some more pros get cut to shreds by a disc and we have a serious crash on a long descent because the disc pads went off, maybe even a death due to it so we can banish this crap marketing BS to the bin once and for all.
Oh that’s a joke btw in case we have some seriously short of thinking!
BehindTheBikesheds wrote:
You really don’t know what you’re talking about do you?
Yrcm wrote:
Hahaha, no it’s you that don’t know much, plenty of tests have shown that extensive braking on long descents have knackered disc pads.
BehindTheBikesheds wrote:
“Plenty of tests” – care to point me towards any because I can’t ever remember reading about them. Sure, there have been instances of fluid overheating or pistons leaking, but then nobody on rim brakes ever wore their pads out, destroyed their carbon wheels or blew a tyre off their rim descending a mountain either.
I really don’t care what type of brakes people want to use, though I personally find discs to be far more consistent and reliable whatever the conditions. Why get so worked up about it?
Yrcm wrote:
^^This.
When you’re 3x World Champion, you’re sponsored by one of the biggest and richest bicycle companies in the world and you’re taking part in one of the most prestigious races in the world, they’ll make you whatever you want. In fact, the president of the company will probably fly out to hand deliver it to you and kiss your feet while he’s at it.
If Sagan had said he wanted to race it on a hub-geared bike that looked like a unicorn, they’d probably have done that too. Can’t understand why anyone really cares what brakes or gears it had on it…
Yrcm wrote:
Do your own research, the information is readily available and the testing was done by a well known cycling magazine.
Who is “worked up”, why are you so worked up to respond? I merely pointed out the author virtually crying about the fact pro riders won’t use discs was pathetic and highlighted why discs won’t change anything and have no performance benefit and said why.
Discussing the subject matter is now considered to be getting worked up, just lol, I think you need to take a good hard look at yourself mate.
BehindTheBikesheds wrote:
Getting ‘worked up’, because someone suggested you were ‘worked up’?
BehindTheBikesheds wrote:
Haven’t found it yet, any pointers, e.g. name of the magazine ? Not trolling, just interested. I did bump into a few others though, e.g.
http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/product-news/is-heat-build-up-in-disc-brakes-something-to-worry-about-310878
..or the 2016 UCI testing which in 2017 was reported as
I also know that SRAM and Shimano (at least) have tested their hydraulic disc brake setups down some major slopes and not found any issues – although references to that typically discussed looking at heat build-up in the lines and rotors, fade etc rather than pad behaviour specifically (could just be the way the tests were reported). You can cook your pads, same as you can blow your tyres off, but i’m curious about this test and what it was talking about. Let us know if you remember, I can’t be arsed looking for outliers if not.
Yrcm wrote:
crash on a long descent because the disc pads went off,
— Yrcm
You really don’t know what you’re talking about do you?
— BehindTheBikesheds
You’ve only just figured this out?
BehindTheBikesheds wrote:
Oh that’s a joke btw in case we have some seriously short of thinking!— BehindTheBikesheds
Hilarious joke you got going there.
Hoping for a death to put an
Hoping for a death to put an end to disc brakes? Bet you’re a really lovely person, joke or not.
The disc vs rim debate on here is predictable and boring, lets move on?
NorthEastJimmy wrote:
Learn to read numb nuts
rim brakes
They won’t be using discs at PR for quite some time, as it’s a hassle to change out wheels in case of a puncture. In races with wide open tarmac this issue is often resolved by simply switching out whole bikes, as that is faster. This is impossible to organize on the cobbled sections in PR, where racers are most likely to flat, and where cars are often not allowed. Right now teams like Quick-step post volunteers at every cobbled section with a spare set of wheels so the riders can quickly swap out a rear or front wheel in case they flat. The extra time it would take to switch out disc wheels completely cancels out any potential gains one would expect from discs, especially as this course is mostly flat…
Also: that’s not what rolling stock means, that would literally be the whole bike.
diepeter [at] gmail.com wrote
The only insightful and useful comment on here. Disc brakes are useful. Rim brakes are useful. They both have advantages and disadvantages. Sagan doesn’t give two ***** about what marketing pushes on the public, he cares about winning races. For this race, rim brakes were the better choice. This is not anectdotal evidence that “pros don’t want disc and won’t have them pushed on them”. Pros want what helps win races and for this one, it was rim brakes.
pjd wrote:
Unfortunately the pro’s often don’t actually know what’s best. They tend to stick to what they know, or what they think ‘feels’ best. Take wider tyres for example – how long have the pros (and therefore a fair % of joe public) gone along with the ‘narrower is better’ mantra, when the opposite is actually true (within reason).
joules1975 wrote:
And yet the fastest tyres aren’t wide are they? A little bit more comfortable I’ll grant you but not faster, some wider tyres AT THE SAME PRESSURE are faster than some narrower tyres. However they’re not pumped up to the same pressure as a narrower tyre are they. On the rough rolling drum of the bicycle rolling resistance the fastest tyres are 23mm with a measured 25mm or therabouts on a 17mm wide rim.
Even the Conti 4000SII showed that the 28mm version at 80psi is no faster than the 23mm version at 120psi , these measured 31mm and 25mm respectively.
35mm Compass Bon Jon Pass (supposedly one of the fastest wide road tyres) at a ridiculous 90psi is more than double the rolling resistance of the best tested tyre, 23mm Vittoria Corsa Speed at 120psi. Given that the roads that pros compete on are far better than your average city/town street or even shitty UK country road it’s hardly surprising that pros and their mechanics don’t want to use wide tyres, even in the 28mm bracket because there’s no performance advantage, in fact losses in aero.
Urgh, not another pointless
Urgh, not another pointless waste of time disc brake rim brake argument… Though it is a little embarrassing for Specialized that the world champ doesn’t want or need the disc brakes that they offer to the public!
Got to admit, I don’t go much on the paint job.
Canyon48 wrote:
Urgh, not another pointless waste of time disc brake rim brake argument… Though it is a little embarrassing for Specialized that the world champ doesn’t want or need the disc brakes that they offer to the public!
Got to admit, I don’t go much on the paint job.
— Canyon48
Yeah, the paintjob looks bloody awful in photos but utterly amazing in the flesh!
There’s no debate here, it
There’s no debate here, it simply shows the equipment the pros want, need and choose for themselves does not necessarily align to what the PR and marketing departments of the manufacturers want to sell us.
Happy to stick with my TRP rim calipers for a while yet 🙂 and useful to know it won’t hold me back if I ever decide to trun pro and enter Paris Roubaix lol!
The more realistic point is
The more realistic point is that “What the Pros ride” is relevant only to .. the pros.
Unless you’re a full kit wanker, of course.
Morat wrote:
well exactly, which is why I’m baffled as to the dismay that he chose rim brakes, by all the disc evangelists!
700c wrote:
Er.. what dismay ?
From “all the disc evangelists” too – impressive turn-out by them….
fukawitribe wrote:
in the article, comments
and you know the evangalists are on this site!! Like the helmet ones too
700c wrote:
I’ve read the article and the comments and there isn’t “dismay” from “all the disc evangelists” – if there’s so much of it from “all” these people perhaps you could point it out to me ?
No Mud Guards! Good to see
No Mud Guards! Good to see the pros can’t be bullied by SKS the way they are doing with the paying public. A lot of people are put off of buying Roubaixs and Giant Defys by the simple fact that there are mudguard mounts.
I’m assuming of course that the priorities of an elite professional racer are the same as those of an average amateur cyclist.
Otherwise the point I was making would be ridiculous…
Rich_cb wrote:
So true.
Rich_cb wrote:
So true.
I’m far from pro, but I’ve
I’m far from pro, but I’ve already made the choice, based on plentiful experience with discs, that the marginal benefits on the road are outweighed by the very real disadvantages (predominantly noise, fussy pads getting contaminated by road spray, additional cost/lower spec elsewhere on new bikes). All based on personal experience of course, as a doughy 85kg amateur riding throughout the year on hilly wet muddy farm roads in Scotland, discs just aren’t worth it compared to a set of rim brakes with Swisstop BXP pads.
I’ll bet the pros don’t see the need for the additional power, and I can’t imagine what a peloton of 100 riders braking on wet rotors would sound like! I’ll bet there’s some sort of new ‘omerta’ in the peloton where they’ve all agreed not to use them for the sake of their own eardrums…
Oh, and put me down as another ‘put off a new Defy by disc brakes’, especially the weird, cobbled together setup Giant seems to be punting on its latest bikes.
Edit: loved the tone of the article “but, but, but, we’ve told everyone disc brakes are the best thing since sliced bread, why won’t the pros believe us??”
I love disc brakes, but the
I love disc brakes, but the manufacturers shouldn’t be forcing it. Provide both and let people choose what they prefer.
Brakes
I’ve read that two of the top five finishers had disc brakes, three had rim brakes, so there may be very little effect of one technology over the other among the many variables in top class racing. Considerations of one vs the other could be time required for tire changes, road conditions where debris could affect one technology adversely, etc. For me the disc brake has an advantage of allowing a wider tire. I will never be in a situation where a few seconds extra for a tire change makes a difference.