Road

Three weeks ago we walked through the leaked images of a new Tarmac and made the case that Specialized wasn’t about to blow up a proven formula. That call held up. The S-Works Tarmac SL9 is now official, and it’s exactly the kind of update the leaks suggested: real, measurable, and nowhere near as dramatic as the marketing copy wants it to sound. The headline numbers Specialized is calling the SL9 the fastest road bike it has ever built, and the case rests on three figures: a claimed frame weight of 687 grams, complete builds as light as 6.5 kg, and a 4-watt aerodynamic saving over the outgoing SL8 at 45 km/h in the wind tunnel. A dedicated Alpinist climbing build reportedly comes in at 6.1 kg. None of that is a leap. The frame is actually 2 grams heavier than the SL8’s, and 4 watts at 45 km/h is a number that matters mostly to WorldTour sprinters and time trial specialists chasing marginal gains, not to the rest of us. ...

I’ve been on Shimano since the Ultegra R8100 launched in 2022. Before that, I tried the previous generation of SRAM AXS, and it wasn’t for me. The shifting felt less refined than what I was used to, brake feel was lacking, the hood shape never sat right in my hands, and the front derailleur was finicky — get the setup slightly off and you’d get rubbing, or worse, a dropped chain under load. I went back to Shimano and didn’t look back. ...

Something is coming from Specialized, and the cycling internet has been trying to figure out exactly what since May 12. That’s when side-profile images of what appears to be a new Tarmac surfaced on Instagram, posted by an account called @czice_. The shots spread quickly — to BikeRadar, TrainerRoad forums, Weight Weenies, and everywhere else road bike obsessives gather to argue. Two weeks later, a second piece of evidence landed: video footage apparently showing Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe rider Florian Lipowitz aboard the same bike in Spain’s Sierra Nevada, with the person who posted it writing plainly in the caption, “Yes, that’s new S-Works SL9.” ...

The Zipp 454 NSW has been around long enough that the internet has moved on to reviewing whatever launched last month. That works in your favor if you’re shopping smart. I picked up a set recently for around $1,600 — roughly a third of the $4,450 retail you’d pay for the current production pair — and spent some time thinking hard about whether the technology has actually aged or just the press coverage. ...

The ENVE Melee came out four years ago and it’s still one of the most talked-about premium framesets on the market. In this video we unbox the Damascus colorway, go through what’s included, and put both the frame and fork on the scale to see how they stack up against claimed weights. Unboxing ...

When XDS launched X-Lab globally last month and started showing up in WorldTour press coverage, a familiar complaint surfaced in cycling forums: isn’t it unfair for a contract manufacturer to start selling its own bikes? Doesn’t XDS benefit from years of R&D feedback, tooling knowledge, and production secrets developed in partnership with the Western brands it built bikes for? It’s a reasonable question. It’s also one the cycling industry answered about forty years ago, when a Taiwanese company called Giant did exactly the same thing — and in doing so, built the largest bicycle manufacturer on earth while helping drive its most famous client into bankruptcy. ...

There’s a phrase cycling fans have heard for decades: “Made in China.” What’s newer — and more interesting — is “designed, developed, and racing under a Chinese brand name at the highest level of professional cycling.” That’s what XDS is doing with X-Lab in 2026, and the global launch that dropped in April makes it relevant to anyone shopping for a high-performance road bike. This isn’t a feel-good story about underdog brands or geopolitical cycling drama. It’s a product question: are these bikes actually good, and what do they cost? ...

Every few weeks there’s another article about some pro going to shorter cranks. Vingegaard on 150mm. Pogačar on 165mm. Van Aert experimenting with shorter lengths. The narrative is simple: short cranks are taking over. But when you actually look at the data across the whole peloton, the story is more specific than that — and more useful. GC / climber Classics TT specialist Sprinter The old rule For decades, crank length followed a simple formula: taller rider, longer crank. The accepted standard for an average-height male was 172.5mm, with bigger riders going to 175mm and climbers occasionally running 170mm. The logic was mechanical — longer lever arm, more torque. Indurain was famously on 180mm for TTs. Pantani reportedly used 180mm in the mountains. ...

The new Canyon Endurace CFR has Aeroad geometry, Aeroad aerodynamics, an identical fork, and the same cockpit. The only thing that separates it from the Paris-Roubaix-winning race bike is 3mm of extra tire clearance. Canyon still calls it an endurance bike. Make of that what you will. What it actually means for you as a buyer is that this bike is not what the name implies — and depending on what you’re looking for, that’s either exactly right or completely wrong. ...

The Factor Ostro VAM V2 is designed to be both lightweight and aerodynamic — a combination most bikes used to compromise on. I found this frame in almost new condition and built it up exactly the way I wanted. The build runs a mixed Shimano Ultegra/Dura-Ace Di2 12-speed groupset, a Quarq DFour power meter crankset, and BTLos Aerix Pro 52mm wheels with DT 350 hubs and Sapim CX-Ray spokes — coming in at around 1290 grams for the set. One detail I’m particularly happy with: a custom ASA 3D printed headset spacer I designed to match the Tavelo Avro integrated bar and stem setup. ...