All of the big brands have aero road bikes in the range these days, most in both rim brake and disc brake options.
Aero road bikes essentially draw aerodynamic features from time trial bikes into a road frame, and balance the demands of weight and stiffness into a package that, on paper, looks to be the ideal all-round choice.
You're always working against air resistance when you ride your bike; the higher the speed the more significant it gets. Although most of that air resistance results from you — your body and what you're wearing — a significant chunk is acting against your bike, hence the development of aero road bikes that are designed to produce the minimum of drag.
Here are some of the best aero road bikes of 2019. We'll run part 2 — featuring the likes of Specialized, Colnago, BMC, Ridley and 3T — next week.
Cannondale described the disc brake-only SystemSix as the "fastest bike in the world" when it was revealed in July 2018. It also said that the SystemSix is more than an aero bike, although there's certainly a massive focus on aero efficiency here.
The updated Cervelo S5 features a V-shaped stem integrated into a new fork that's fully external. According to Cervelo, the stem reduces drag by allowing unimpeded airflow along the top tube. The aero-shaped down tube has a cutaway leading edge to allow it to sit close to the front wheel in order to manage the airflow in that area.
Bianchi's Aria, available with either rim brakes or disc brakes, is an efficient aero road bike that handles sharply. Although hardly a budget option, it comes in a variety of builds and is a more accessible choice than any of the brand's Oltres.
You can still buy a Propel with rim brakes but the latest update is a disc-brake only design that Giant says is more aerodynamically efficient than any of its predecessors. It's stiff and efficient and available in a wide variety of builds to suit different budgets.
The Venturi is a disc brake-only design with 12mm thru axles front and rear. The frame is optimised for 28mm-wide tyres and uses spread tow carbon from Sigmatex — flat and wide unidirectional tapes that are designed to reduce weight and increase stiffness.
The ZX1, available only with disc brakes, is a fast and smooth carbon bike that handles superbly. You get Kammtail shaped tube profiles, a fork crown that's recessed into the frame, an aero seatpost and internal cable routing to reduce drag. It offers good value for money in a race-ready package.
The Dogma F10 — both rim brake and disc brake models are available — might not be a full-on aero road bike like some here but it certainly has aero features such as a flatback down tube profile that's designed to smooth the airflow over the water bottle, and fins behind the fork dropouts to reduce drag around the quick release lever.
Merida's Reacto aero road bikes have slim tube shapes, a low seatstay connection and, in some cases, a one-piece cockpit. They're available in two different geometries and in both disc brake and rim brake models. Merida claims the difference in aero efficiency between rim brake and disc models is less than one watt at 45km/h (28mph).
You tend to get a lot for your money by buying direct from Rose, the rim brake version of the Xeon CW aero bike coming with Shimano's second tier Ultegra groupset for £2,132. The disc brake model is just over £300 more expensive.
One of the best things about buying from Ribble is that you can use its online Bike Builder system to select the parts you want based on your preferences and budget. You can go all the way up to a Sram Red eTap groupset, a Quarq DZero power meter and Zipp 404 wheels if you have the cash.
The Scott Foil has been known for its versatility over the past few years and these days it's available in both rim brake and disc brake guises. The most affordable rim brake option, with Shimano 105 components, is £2,499 while disc brake models start at £3,199.
The Air bikes feature truncated airfoil tube profiles that are deeper and narrower than those that you’ll find on most other aero road bikes, while the cutaway section of the seat tube is designed to work best with 25mm-wide tyres although there’s space for 28s if you prefer.
With its Trident 2.0 tube profiles (essentially a cut-off aerofoil, Kamm tail shape) and skinny head tube and fork blades, the Aeroad has been one of the benchmark aero road bikes of the past few years. You also get predictable handling and plenty of comfort thrown in.
Trek's 2019 Madones are hugely updated with a new geometry. The SLR range comes with adjustable IsoSpeed and the option of disc brakes. The rim brake version is lighter but there's no aerodynamic penalty in opting for discs, according to Trek.
The aim of road.cc buyer's guides is to give you the most, authoritative, objective and up-to-date buying advice. We continuously update and republish our guides, checking prices, availability and looking for the best deals.
Our guides include links to websites where you can buy the featured products. Like most sites we make a small amount of money if you buy something after clicking on one of those links. We want you to be happy with what you buy, so we only include a product in a if we think it's one of the best of its kind.
As far as possible that means recommending equipment that we have actually reviewed, but we also include products that are popular, highly-regarded benchmarks in their categories.
Trek has a huge range that covers virtually all areas of cycling. The US brand divides its performance road bikes into three families: Madone, Emonda and Domane, and then there are the new Checkpoint gravel bikes.
Madone has an emphasis on aerodynamic efficiency, Emonda is all about light weight, Domane has a focus on comfort and ride quality and Checkpoint (disappointingly not Daemon to keep with the anagram theme) is for dirt roads and mixed-surface riding. There are many models at different price points within each of those categories.
Trek also offers several cyclocross models.
Some of the higher end bikes are available through Trek's Project One (P1) system that let's you choose the components you want and even the paint scheme.
Here are the highlights of the range.
Checkpoint
Trek's latest collection comes with carbon or aluminium frames packing the IsoSpeed decoupler from the Domane (see below), and with space for up to 45mm tyres, umpteen water bottle mounts plus mudguard and rack eyelets, 12mm thru-axles and flat mount disc brakes. It's available only with Shimano 2x11 groupsets and costs from £1,450 to £3,400.
Trek first showed its cards with the Domane Gravel, a slightly modified version of the company’s endurance bike but with wider tyres. It's fair to say we were all a bit surprised by the effort, but it now looks like it was a stopgap for real gravel bike enthusiasts before the arrival of the company’s first dedicated foray into this growing category, the all-new Checkpoint.
Compared to the Domane Gravel, Trek says the new Checkpoint offers much improved off-road capability and general versatility, with bigger tyre clearance, adjustable dropouts and geometry and lots of accessory mounts the key differences. Why they didn't just launch the Checkpoint in the first place is anyone's guess.
Trek offers the Checkpoint in either an aluminium or a carbon fibre frame. The carbon bikes have the Isospeed decoupler that Trek introduced on the Domane in 2012, while the aluminium bikes are rigid. Isospeed is a mechanism that allows the top of the seat tube to move a little, independently of the rest of the frame, to provide a small amount of bum-cosseting shock absorption.
The top of the range is the Checkpoint SL 6, which boasts a Shimano Ultegra groupset and hydraulic brakes for an RRP of £3,400; that's it at the top of this section.
"If you want a bike that is comfortable and provides space for wide tyres for mostly road riding, with lots of versatility whether for winter training and commuting or touring and bikepacking, the Trek is a good choice," we said in our review of the Checkpoint SL 6. "But it's not the most capable bike when the going gets rough and bumpy.
"Sure, the rear IsoSpeed decoupler works its magic, filtering out the harshness and giving your bum and back a smooth ride, but the front end is simply too harsh in comparison. Not fitting wider tyres and a lower range drivetrain shows either a failure to be bolder in the spec or a lack of appreciation for the demands of riding what is essentially a road bike off-road."
The £2,700 Checkpoint SL 5, above, has Shimano's 105 groupset and is also available in a women's version.
If you can live without carbon fibre and Isospeed, £1,700 gets you the Shimano 105-equipped Checkpoint ALR 5, above. It's also available in women's geometry.
The least expensive bike in the range is the Checkpoint ALR 4 at £1,450 with Shimano Tiagra. That's the women's geometry version above.
Buy if: You want a gravel/adventure bike that's also capable of moving fast over asphalt
Madone
The Madone (pronounced mad-own) is a long-standing model in the Trek range although it has changed massively over the years. These days all of the Madones are high-end; you can’t get a complete bike for less than £3,600.
The Madone range has had a major redesign for 2019 with the introduction of the top-end SLR models and a slightly more accessible SL version. The 2019 Madone range sees the inclusion of adjustable IsoSpeed, a new geometry and disc brake models. The rim brake version is lighter than the disc brake version, but Trek says there is no aerodynamic penalty in going for discs.
IsoSpeed is a design that “maintains the diamond-shaped frameset geometry but ‘decouples’ the seat tube from the top tube, allowing the seat tube to flex with the forces of the road” (Trek’s words). The idea is that it smooths the ride, adding comfort and reducing fatigue. IsoSpeed was already a feature of the Madone but now Trek has made it adjustable on the SLR models.
Trek says that it has managed to maintain the aero performance of the previous generation (9-Series) Madone while adding the adjustable top tube IsoSpeed, a new geometry, updated components and disc brakes.
The 9-Series Madone was available in two different geometries: low and stretched H1 and slightly more upright H2. The new Madone SLR comes in a single geometry called H1.5 which, as you might have guessed, sits between the two.
The Madone SLR comes in men’s and one women’s specific models. They use the same frame but the women’s version features a different saddle, handlebar width and stem length.
All of the Madone SLRs feature an OCLV 700 frame and an integrated two-piece carbon bar and stem.
The most affordable (it's all relative!) Trek Madone SLR models are the SLR 6 Disc, above, (from £5,400) and the rim brake version of the SLR 6 (£5,500). Both feature Shimano Ultegra groupsets.
The SLR 7 Disc (£7,550) has an Ultegra Di2 groupset, the SLR 8 bikes (rim brake model, above, from £6,750, disc model £7,750) have Dura-Ace mechanical components and the SLR 9 models (rim brake £9,550, disc brake from £10,000) have Dura-Ace Di2. There's a Madone SLR 9 Disc eTap (with SRAM Red eTap components, obviously) for £10,550.
There’s also a Madone SL 6, above, in the range that uses Trek’s OCLV 500 carbon fibre which is said to be a little heavier and less stiff then OCLV 700. The Madone SL 6 features rear IsoSpeed rather than the Adjustable Top Tube IsoSpeed of the SLR models. It doesn’t have Bontrager’s integrated handlebar and stem but instead has a Bontrager Pro stem and Elite Aero handlebar. It comes with Bontrager Aeolus Comp 5 TLR wheels, a Shimano Ultegra 8000 drivetrain and Bontrager integrated brakes and is priced £3,600.
Buy if: You want a top-level race bike and you have a lot of money to spend.
Emonda (rim brake)
Trek’s Emonda (pronounced eh-mon-dah) lightweight road bike range had a huge update for 2018, the carbon-fibre models having been redesigned to be lighter than ever. Disc brakes were added to the Emonda lineup for the first time too (see below).
The Emonda range covers four different carbon-fibre frames – the SL, the SL Disc, the SLR and the SLR Disc – and an aluminium model (see below).
The SL is made from Trek’s 500 Series OCLV carbon and has a claimed weight of 1,091g while the fork is 313g.
The rim brake SL models range in price from £1,800 (SL 5, Shimano 105, above) up to £2,900 (SL 6 Pro, Bontrager Aeolus Pro 3 wheels).
When we reviewed the Emonda SL 5 here on road.cc we called it "a fast and nimble road bike that puts in an exceptional performance for its price".
"Climb aboard the SL 5 and it immediately feels alive, responding keenly as soon as you turn the pedals," we said. "Put a serious amount of power through the cranks and it springs forward as if it was just waiting for the flag to drop. Both the head tube and the down tube are enormous, holding the frame firmly in shape when you're recruiting every muscle fibre on an out-of-the saddle sprint or climb."
There’s also a women’s model that, like the standard SL 5, has a heavier fork than the rest of the Emonda SLs at 436g.
The Trek Emonda SLR frame is superlight at just 640g.
There's just one standard Emonda SLR rim brake model for 2019 — SLR 6, above, (Shimano Ultegra, from £4,000), although you can go through Trek's Project One program if you want a different spec. The SLR 6 features direct-mount Speed Stop brakes from Bontrager, Trek’s sub-brand. These brakes have hollow arms, titanium hardware and a claimed weight of just 95g. They offer enough clearance for tyres up to 28mm wide.
Buy if: You’re after a fast road bike with a focus on light weight.
Emonda Disc
Coming in at just 665g, the Emonda SLR Disc frame is the lightest disc brake frame that we know of. The Emonda SLR Disc fork is 350g.
Complete bikes come stock with wider 28mm tyres although Trek says that you can fit wider tyres for gravel and even adventure riding.
The Emonda SLR Disc is available in SLR 9 Disc (Shimano Dura-Ace Di2, from £8,750, women's version available too), SLR 8 Disc (Shimano Dura-Ace mechanical, £5,850, above), SLR 7 Disc (Shimano Ultegra Di2, from £5,300, women's version available) and SLR 6 Disc (Shimano Ultegra, £5,000, women's version available) models.
Like the rim brake frameset, the disc brake version comes as an SL version too. The Emonda SL Disc frame is 1,149g and the fork is 350g.
The SL 7 Disc (Shimano Ultegra Di2, above) is £4,500 while the SL 6 Disc (Shimano Ultegra) is £2,700.
Buy if: You’re interested in a quick, lightweight road bike with the all-weather reliability of disc brakes.
Emonda ALR
The Emonda ALR frame is among the very best aluminium options out there at the moment, with Trek having recently added disc brake models to sit alongside the rim brake options. Each of them gets a full-carbon fork.
There are two rim brake Emonda ALR bikes in the range, each based on the same 300 Series Alpha Aluminium frame with virtually invisible welds and a tapered head tube that helps to provide accurate steering.
The Emonda ALR 4 is the cheapest model at £1,100. This gets you a Shimano Tiagra groupset with virtually everything else coming from Bontrager.
If you can afford more, the £1,350 Emonda ALR 5, above, is tempting with its Shimano 105 groupset. That looks a great buy.
The disc brake frame is only a little heavier than the rim brake model — 1,131g (56cm size) as opposed to 1,112g.
The Shimano Tiagra-equipped Emonda ALR 4 Disc, above, is £1,400, while the Emonda ALR 5 Disc has mainly Shimano 105 components and a £1,750 price tag.
Buy if: You want one of the best lightweight aluminium road bikes out there.
Domane
Trek broke new ground when it introduced its IsoSpeed decoupler on the Domane (pronounced dough-mar-nay) back in 2012. Essentially, it’s a design that allows the seat tube to pivot relative to the top tube and seatstays,so the saddle can move downwards (and a little backwards), providing more give and adding comfort to the ride.
Then Trek introduced a front IsoSpeed system (above) to some of its models in 2016 to increase comfort and control, and added adjustment to the rear IsoSpeed decoupler (below).
• Domane SLR: Front and adjustable rear IsoSpeed, 600 Series OCLV carbon frame, carbon IsoSpeed fork.
• Domane SL: Front and non-adjustable rear IsoSpeed, 500 Series OCLV carbon frame, carbon IsoSpeed fork.
• Domane AL: No decoupler, 100 Series Alpha Aluminium frame, carbon IsoSpeed fork.
The most affordable Domane is the £595 AL 2, above, available in both standard and women's versions. It's an aluminium bike in an endurance fit that's designed for comfort, but there's no decoupler. The AL 2 is built up with a Shimano Claris 8-speed groupset.
The AL 3 (£750) is a Shimano Sora 9-speed build while the AL 4 (£900) has mainly Shimano Tiagra components and the AL 5 (£1,100) has a Shimano 105-based spec. Both the AL 3 and AL 5 are available in women's versions.
There are no longer any disc brake-equipped aluminium Domanes.
Priced £2,000, the SL 5 (available in both standard and women's versions) is the most affordable Domane with front IsoSpeed. This model features a Shimano 105 groupset.
The £2,350 Domane SL 5 Disc, above, is a similar bike but with Shimano 105 hydraulic disc brakes.
The highest specced Domane SL is the 7 Disc (£4,800), above, equipped with a Shimano Ultegra groupset and Bontrager Aeolus Pro 3 Disc Tubeless Ready wheels.
The top-level SLR Domanes – with front IsoSpeed and adjustable rear IsoSpeed – come as complete bikes only with disc brakes in 2019, although a rim brake frameset is available for £2,300. The range kicks off with the SLR 6 Disc (from £4,500, also available in a women's version priced £5,050).
We reviewed a previous version of this bike we said, “The Domane just got even better. It's smoother and more comfortable than the original, and fast and fun as well.”
We went on to say, “There are few endurance bikes as comfortable as the new Trek Domane SLR. A host of changes ensures the new bike is incredibly smooth, filtering out the most severe vibrations on all sorts of rough roads, gravel tracks and cobblestones.”
If you want Trek's top level Domane, the SLR 9 Disc eTap, above, comes equipped with a Sram Red eTap groupset and Bontrager Aeolus XXX 2 Disc Tubeless Ready at a price of £9,300.
You can customise a Domane SLR through Trek's Project One system.
Buy if: You’re after an endurance road bike with plenty of comfort and control.
Cyclocross
Trek offers two cyclocross platforms: Crockett and Boone.
The Crockett frame is disc-specific and it’s made from 200 Series Alpha Aluminium. The more affordable of the two models is the Crockett 5 Disc (£1,400) with a largely SRAM Rival groupset and Tektro Spyre mechanical disc brakes.
The Crockett 7 Disc, above, has a Sram Force 1 groupset, including hydraulic disc brakes, so it’s more expensive at £2,100.
The Boone is made from 600 Series OCLV carbon fibre and, like the Crockett, it is disc-specific.
The £2,600 Boone 5 Disc, above, comes with a Sram Rival 1 groupset including hydraulic disc brakes while the Boone 7 Disc (£3,500) has mostly Sram Force 1 components.
Buy if: You want a cyclocross race bike with cross-specific geometry and gearing.
The aim of road.cc buyer's guides is to give you the most, authoritative, objective and up-to-date buying advice. We continuously update and republish our guides, checking prices, availability and looking for the best deals.
Our guides include links to websites where you can buy the featured products. Like most sites we make a small amount of money if you buy something after clicking on one of those links. We want you to be happy with what you buy, so we only include a product in a if we think it's one of the best of its kind.
As far as possible that means recommending equipment that we have actually reviewed, but we also include products that are popular, highly-regarded benchmarks in their categories.
Welcome to the latest edition of road.cc’s buyer's guide to road race bikes with disc brakes in which you’ll find our pick of 15 of the best disc-braked road bikes.
After a faltering start, it looks like disc brake-equipped road race bikes are here to stay with ever more manufacturers bringing out new models for 2019.
The UCI first introduced a trial period for using disc brakes in the pro peloton at the end of the 2015 season, but suspended it following injuries to riders in the 2016 Paris-Roubaix that were alleged to have resulted from disc rotors.
The trial was later resumed with slight modifications to disc rotors demanded, and riders such as sprinter Marcel Kittel raced on disc-equipped bikes throughout the 2017 season.
Why disc brakes at all? The promised benefits are greater modulation and more power, especially in wet conditions, no fade on long descents, rims that don’t wear out, less maintenance and longer lasting brake pads.
On the other hand, disc brakes are currently heavier than rim brakes and there are some concerns about their impact on aerodynamics, although Giant, for example, claims that its new Propel Disc has less drag than its rim brake predecessor.
Here's a roundup of some of the coolest road bikes with disc brakes.
The Tarmac SL6 was the big noise for 2018, and shortly after the rim-braked version debuted a disc-braked bike was introduced, first with an S-Works only version but very soon more affordable models followed.
The range is spearheaded by the S-Works Tarmac Disc Sagan Collection LTD, just the thing for the Peter Sagan fan who wants a fast bike with modern brakes and who has ten grand burning a hole in their pocket.
Those of more modest means should check out the the Tarmac Disc Comp - Sagan Collection LTD (£3,100). The most affordable model is the Tarmac Disc Sport (£2,250), in men's and women's versions and sporting a Shimano 105 groupset.
The Rose X-Lite 6 Disc Ultegra Di2 is a quick, sharp-handling disc-brake bike that can thrill and excite as well as the best of them. And with Rose's custom direct-to-consumer business model, it's also excellent value.
Riding the X-Lite 6 Disc there's an immediate sense of sharpness right from the first pedal stroke. Instantly, you know that you're riding a precision tool. Steering is super-quick and direct, with only the lightest touch or lean required to influence the direction of travel. In fact, it takes a little getting used to if you're not accustomed to such quick responses.
It's lost none of the razor-sharp handling of the old X-Lite, yet there's definitely an added layer of composure at its core. Settle down on a climb and spin away, and the directness transforms into a stable platform. It's an incredibly involving ride on descents too. Leaving aside the proven excellence of disc brakes for a moment (the usual superlatives around power, modulation and all-weather performance apply), the frame responds instantly as you lean, carving a very direct line as you aim for your chosen apex.
We try not to focus too much on bike weight around these parts because it's really not as important as some people would have you believe, but it would be nuts to ignore it in this case. Lightweight claims a frameset weight of 1,175g and our built-up Urgestalt Disc weighed 6.7kg (14.7lb) without pedals. Stick some on and you're good to go and race up the Tourmalet in the Tour de France. We're pretty confident that makes the Urgestalt Disc the lightest disc brake-equipped bike we've ever reviewed on road.cc.
In use, the Lightweight Urgestalt Disc feels super-responsive when you put in extra effort, joining in energetically when you ask for a burst of speed to get away from the group or chase down someone with escape on their mind. The sharper the acceleration, the more you notice the lack of ballast.
The other time you notice it is on the steeper climbs. The Urgestalt Disc feels like it's working with you on the hills rather than reluctantly dragging itself up with an if-I-must attitude. Some bikes seem to be asking why we couldn't have gone around the side rather than going over the top, whereas this bike just gets cracking.
Trek added disc brake models to its lightweight Emonda lineup in 2018, the top level Emonda SLR Disc frame coming in at an astonishing claimed weight of just 665g. That’s still the lightest disc brake frame that we know of. The Emonda SLR Disc fork is 350g. For 2019 the range is significantly wider.
Complete bikes come stock with wide 28mm tyres although Trek says that you can fit wider tyres for gravel and even adventure riding.
The Emonda SLR Disc is available in nine models from the Emonda SLR Disc eTap at £9,300 to the SLR 6 Disc (Shimano Ultegra, £4,400).
The Emonda SL Disc frame is heavier at 1,149g. The SL 7 Disc, built up with a Shimano Ultegra Di2 groupset, is £4,500 while the SL 6 Disc with the mechanical version of Shimano Ultegra is £2,700.
Giant added disc brakes to its Propel aero road bikes for 2018, and claimed that the flagship model, the Propel Advanced SL Disc, had the highest stiffness-to-weight ratio of any bike in its class and a lower drag coefficient at a wider range of yaw angles than its non-disc-brake predecessor.
“This is because the location of traditional callipers (either in front or behind the fork crown/ legs) creates 'dirty' air,” says Giant. “Opening up the fork crown area (by placing the disc-brake callipers down at the hub) means that the air hitting the new disc-brake calliper has already been disrupted by the leading edge of the tyre/wheel. This effect is further enhanced by an asymmetric fork that helps smooth out airflow over the calliper.”
The 2019 range includes the Propel Advanced 2 Disc at a very reasonable £2,299 and the latest version of the flagship Propel Advanced SL 0 Disc at a rather steeper £8,999.
Giant says that the Propel Disc had a three year development phase involving its engineers, Team Sunweb pro racers and aerodynamics experts at the Aero Concept Engineering facility in Magny-Cours, France.
The range features aero wheelsets with different rim depths front and rear, the idea being to reduce drag without compromising control or power transmission; updated frame profiles; and a new combined aero handlebar and stem with internal cable routing.
3T’s Strada is a new disc-equipped road bike that’s built around wide tyres and a 1x (single chainring, no front derailleur) groupset. It has been developed by Cervelo founder Gerard Vroomen
The Strada uses tubes that are shaped to minimise drag, the down tube being designed to push air around a low-mounted bottle. The transitions at the key junctions (front wheel to down tube and from seat tube to rear wheel) have been reduced as much as possible, which is claimed to further reduce drag.
3T says that going with disc brakes allows it to make its Fundi fork stiffer and provide improved aerodynamics because the crown is closer to the front wheel.
Perhaps the biggest deviation from tradition with the new Strada is the elimination of the front derailleur. 3T reckons that a 1x system gives you all the gears you need with fewer components, lower weight and less drag.
Merida’s updated Reacto aero road bike is available in both disc brake and rim brake models.
Merida has slimmed down the Reacto’s tubes to improve aero efficiency, introduced a lower seatstay connection with the seat tube and added a one piece cockpit.
Merida also says that it has improved comfort through the redesigned seatstays and given its S-Flex seatpost a slimmer cross section and a bigger ‘window’ – the notch that’s cutaway to add more downward movement.
The disc brake Reactos come with cooler technology like Merida uses on its Sculturas. There’s a forged aluminium component between the brake and the frame/fork that’s designed to allow heat to dissipate through CNC-milled cooling fins. The idea is that this reduces the amount of heat that gets transferred to the carbon-fibre on long descents.
The CF4 version of the disc brake frame uses the RAT (Rapid Axle Technology) first introduced by Focus for quick wheel changes in race situations, while the CF2 version has threaded 12mm thru axles.
BMC claims a weight of just 815g for the Teammachine's carbon fibre disc brake frame, versus 790g for the rim brake version. The disc frameset has an asymmetric fork to cope with the braking forces.
BMC says that the Teammachine is stiffer, lighter and more compliant than before, but you’d probably have guessed that.
While the new frame bears a resemblance to the previous version, BMC has refined all the tube profiles to balance the stiffness and compliance. It says the bottom bracket area provides more stiffness while the compliance has also been improved for increased seated comfort, thanks in part to newly shaped seat stays creating a compact rear triangle.
Scott’s Foil Disc has a very similar frame to the existing rim brake model but the fork has been completely redesigned to manage the asymmetrical forces of disc brakes and to control the airflow around the front brake. Most notably, the lower sections of the fork come with aero tabs to smooth airflow over the calliper.
That fork comes with internal cable routing and enough clearance for 30mm wide tyres.
The Foil Disc uses 12mm thru axles front and rear. The front axle’s head is 25mm in diameter, the idea being that this larger than normal contact surface between the fork and axle is better able to handle the load coming from the front brake.
Pinarello has released a disc brake version of the bike Chris Froome rode to victory in this year’s to Tour de France, its Dogma F10.
The Dogma F10 Disk frame (don't ask us how it comes to be hovering in the picture) retains features of the rim brake model like flatback stays and a concave down tube that’s designed to shield a water bottle from the airflow. However, the disc version comes with thru axles front and rear, and the lower sections of the Onda F10 fork have ForkFlaps that are designed to improve aerodynamics around the front brake.
A thoroughbred race bike, the Dogma F10 Disk provides enough space for tyres only up to 25mm wide.
The CAAD12 is the latest in a long series of well-received aluminium bikes from Cannondale, lighter, stiffer and more comfortable than the CAAD10 and available with or without disc brakes.
Following the popular and likeable CAAD10 was always going to be a tough act, but Cannondale has succeeded not only in retaining the key qualities of the previous model but also improving the ride quality. It's nothing short of marvellous.
The CAAD12 is a finely honed bike with a level of comfort and refinement that makes you wonder why you would spend more. It's so smooth that it outshines many carbon fibre road bikes we've tested over the years.
Bianchi has unveiled both rim brake and disc brake versions of its Aria aero road bike. The Italian brand already has the Oltre aero road bikes in its range and has only recently launched the Oltre XR3, but the Aria represents a trickle down of Aquila time trial/ triathlon design in a much more affordable, and broader, application.
You get many tried and tested aero features including a seat tube that’s cutaway around the leading edge of the rear wheel, a deeply profiled down tube and a skinny head tube.
The Vitus Vitesse Evo Disc offers a helluva lot for your money. It’s a carbon fibre, disc brake-equipped road bike built around a race-focused geometry and it offers a superb performance.
The Vitesse Evo Disc offers quick steering and unexpected speed. It's a thrilling and rewarding ride, backed up by decent equipment choices.
The carbon frame has been designed to be stiff through the use of oversized tube profiles and bottom bracket, and a tapered head tube. And it's a success. Stomp on the pedals and there's an intoxicating immediacy to the way it transfers your power that will have you attacking every rise and crest in the pursuit of more speed.
The latest version of Cervelo’s R5 is available in a disc brake format.
The R5 has been the brand’s lightest race-ready bike since it was launched in 2013. Where the S-series is focused on aerodynamics and the newer C-series on endurance comfort, the R-series has always been about being the light. Oh, and stiff. Cervelo says that the new R5 is considerably stiffer than the previous version at both the bottom bracket and head tube.
Cervélo has evolved its Squoval tube shapes (rounded square tube profiles) here with Squoval Max, essentially refining each tube profile and to improve stiffness and aero efficiency.
Interestingly, the disc brake frame is actually a little lighter than the rim brake version – 831g versus 850g.
Cervélo has adopted the excellent RAT thru-axles from sister company Focus, allowing for quick wheel changes, and you get enough clearance for 28mm wide tyres.
Colnago announced the rim brake version of its new V2-R in June 2017 and then we saw the disc brake version at Eurobike in August of that year.
The Concept is the full-on aero bike in Colnago’s range with the V2-R a lightweight all-rounder with some aero features.
The V2-R retains many of the features of the brand’s V1-R although Colnago claims that both the bottom bracket and headset stiffness have been increased.
Colnago has redesigned the top tube and head tube junction and revised the cable routing, the cables now entering a central port on the top of the down tube.
The V2-R uses the Hexlock thru-axle system that Colnago developed with suspension company Manitou. It's similar to the Focus Rapid Axle Technology in that you part twist the skewer into the opposing dropout before pushing close the lever. It speeds up wheel removal quite a bit.
The aim of road.cc buyer's guides is to give you the most, authoritative, objective and up-to-date buying advice. We continuously update and republish our guides, checking prices, availability and looking for the best deals.
Our guides include links to websites where you can buy the featured products. Like most sites we make a small amount of money if you buy something after clicking on one of those links. We want you to be happy with what you buy, so we only include a product in a if we think it's one of the best of its kind.
As far as possible that means recommending equipment that we have actually reviewed, but we also include products that are popular, highly-regarded benchmarks in their categories.
Trek has a huge range that covers virtually all areas of cycling. The US brand divides its performance road bikes into three families: Madone, Emonda and Domane, and then there are the new Checkpoint gravel bikes.
Madone has an emphasis on aerodynamic efficiency, Emonda is all about light weight, Domane has a focus on comfort and ride quality and Checkpoint (disappointingly not Daemon to keep with the anagram theme) is for dirt roads and mixed-surface riding. There are many models at different price points within each of those categories.
Trek also offers several cyclocross models.
Some of the higher end bikes are available through Trek's Project One (P1) system that let's you choose the components you want and even the paint scheme.
Here are the highlights of the range.
Checkpoint
Trek's latest collection comes with carbon or aluminium frames packing the IsoSpeed decoupler from the Domane (see below), and with space for up to 45mm tyres, umpteen water bottle mounts plus mudguard and rack eyelets, 12mm thru-axles and flat mount disc brakes. It's available only with Shimano 2x11 groupsets and costs from £1,450 to £3,400.
Trek first showed its cards with the Domane Gravel, a slightly modified version of the company’s endurance bike but with wider tyres. It's fair to say we were all a bit surprised by the effort, but it now looks like it was a stopgap for real gravel bike enthusiasts before the arrival of the company’s first dedicated foray into this growing category, the all-new Checkpoint.
Compared to the Domane Gravel, Trek says the new Checkpoint offers much improved off-road capability and general versatility, with bigger tyre clearance, adjustable dropouts and geometry and lots of accessory mounts the key differences. Why they didn't just launch the Checkpoint in the first place is anyone's guess.
Trek offers the Checkpoint in either an aluminium or a carbon fibre frame. The carbon bikes have the Isospeed decoupler that Trek introduced on the Domane in 2012, while the aluminium bikes are rigid. Isospeed is a mechanism that allows the top of the seat tube to move a little, independently of the rest of the frame, to provide a small amount of bum-cosseting shock absorption.
The top of the range is the Checkpoint SL 6, which boasts a Shimano Ultegra groupset and hydraulic brakes for an RRP of £3,400; that's it at the top of this section.
"If you want a bike that is comfortable and provides space for wide tyres for mostly road riding, with lots of versatility whether for winter training and commuting or touring and bikepacking, the Trek is a good choice," we said in our review of the Checkpoint SL 6. "But it's not the most capable bike when the going gets rough and bumpy.
"Sure, the rear IsoSpeed decoupler works its magic, filtering out the harshness and giving your bum and back a smooth ride, but the front end is simply too harsh in comparison. Not fitting wider tyres and a lower range drivetrain shows either a failure to be bolder in the spec or a lack of appreciation for the demands of riding what is essentially a road bike off-road."
The £2,700 Checkpoint SL 5, above, has Shimano's 105 groupset and is also available in a women's version.
If you can live without carbon fibre and Isospeed, £1,700 gets you the Shimano 105-equipped Checkpoint ALR 5, above. It's also available in women's geometry.
The least expensive bike in the range is the Checkpoint ALR 4 at £1,450 with Shimano Tiagra. That's the women's geometry version above.
Buy if: You want a gravel/adventure bike that's also capable of moving fast over asphalt
Madone
The Madone (pronounced mad-own) is a long-standing model in the Trek range although it has changed massively over the years. These days all of the Madones are high-end; you can’t get a complete bike for less than £3,600.
The Madone range has had a major redesign for 2019 with the introduction of the top-end SLR models and a slightly more accessible SL version. The 2019 Madone range sees the inclusion of adjustable IsoSpeed, a new geometry and disc brake models. The rim brake version is lighter than the disc brake version, but Trek says there is no aerodynamic penalty in going for discs.
IsoSpeed is a design that “maintains the diamond-shaped frameset geometry but ‘decouples’ the seat tube from the top tube, allowing the seat tube to flex with the forces of the road” (Trek’s words). The idea is that it smooths the ride, adding comfort and reducing fatigue. IsoSpeed was already a feature of the Madone but now Trek has made it adjustable on the SLR models.
Trek says that it has managed to maintain the aero performance of the previous generation (9-Series) Madone while adding the adjustable top tube IsoSpeed, a new geometry, updated components and disc brakes.
The 9-Series Madone was available in two different geometries: low and stretched H1 and slightly more upright H2. The new Madone SLR comes in a single geometry called H1.5 which, as you might have guessed, sits between the two.
The Madone SLR comes in men’s and one women’s specific models. They use the same frame but the women’s version features a different saddle, handlebar width and stem length.
All of the Madone SLRs feature an OCLV 700 frame and an integrated two-piece carbon bar and stem.
The most affordable (it's all relative!) Trek Madone SLR models are the SLR 6 Disc, above, (from £5,400) and the rim brake version of the SLR 6 (£5,500). Both feature Shimano Ultegra groupsets.
The SLR 7 Disc (£7,550) has an Ultegra Di2 groupset, the SLR 8 bikes (rim brake model, above, from £6,750, disc model £7,750) have Dura-Ace mechanical components and the SLR 9 models (rim brake £9,550, disc brake from £10,000) have Dura-Ace Di2. There's a Madone SLR 9 Disc eTap (with SRAM Red eTap components, obviously) for £10,550.
There’s also a Madone SL 6, above, in the range that uses Trek’s OCLV 500 carbon fibre which is said to be a little heavier and less stiff then OCLV 700. The Madone SL 6 features rear IsoSpeed rather than the Adjustable Top Tube IsoSpeed of the SLR models. It doesn’t have Bontrager’s integrated handlebar and stem but instead has a Bontrager Pro stem and Elite Aero handlebar. It comes with Bontrager Aeolus Comp 5 TLR wheels, a Shimano Ultegra 8000 drivetrain and Bontrager integrated brakes and is priced £3,600.
Buy if: You want a top-level race bike and you have a lot of money to spend.
Emonda (rim brake)
Trek’s Emonda (pronounced eh-mon-dah) lightweight road bike range had a huge update for 2018, the carbon-fibre models having been redesigned to be lighter than ever. Disc brakes were added to the Emonda lineup for the first time too (see below).
The Emonda range covers four different carbon-fibre frames – the SL, the SL Disc, the SLR and the SLR Disc – and an aluminium model (see below).
The SL is made from Trek’s 500 Series OCLV carbon and has a claimed weight of 1,091g while the fork is 313g.
The rim brake SL models range in price from £1,800 (SL 5, Shimano 105, above) up to £2,900 (SL 6 Pro, Bontrager Aeolus Pro 3 wheels).
When we reviewed the Emonda SL 5 here on road.cc we called it "a fast and nimble road bike that puts in an exceptional performance for its price".
"Climb aboard the SL 5 and it immediately feels alive, responding keenly as soon as you turn the pedals," we said. "Put a serious amount of power through the cranks and it springs forward as if it was just waiting for the flag to drop. Both the head tube and the down tube are enormous, holding the frame firmly in shape when you're recruiting every muscle fibre on an out-of-the saddle sprint or climb."
There’s also a women’s model that, like the standard SL 5, has a heavier fork than the rest of the Emonda SLs at 436g.
The Trek Emonda SLR frame is superlight at just 640g.
There's just one standard Emonda SLR rim brake model for 2019 — SLR 6, above, (Shimano Ultegra, from £4,000), although you can go through Trek's Project One program if you want a different spec. The SLR 6 features direct-mount Speed Stop brakes from Bontrager, Trek’s sub-brand. These brakes have hollow arms, titanium hardware and a claimed weight of just 95g. They offer enough clearance for tyres up to 28mm wide.
Buy if: You’re after a fast road bike with a focus on light weight.
Emonda Disc
Coming in at just 665g, the Emonda SLR Disc frame is the lightest disc brake frame that we know of. The Emonda SLR Disc fork is 350g.
Complete bikes come stock with wider 28mm tyres although Trek says that you can fit wider tyres for gravel and even adventure riding.
The Emonda SLR Disc is available in SLR 9 Disc (Shimano Dura-Ace Di2, from £8,750, women's version available too), SLR 8 Disc (Shimano Dura-Ace mechanical, £5,850, above), SLR 7 Disc (Shimano Ultegra Di2, from £5,300, women's version available) and SLR 6 Disc (Shimano Ultegra, £5,000, women's version available) models.
Like the rim brake frameset, the disc brake version comes as an SL version too. The Emonda SL Disc frame is 1,149g and the fork is 350g.
The SL 7 Disc (Shimano Ultegra Di2, above) is £4,500 while the SL 6 Disc (Shimano Ultegra) is £2,700.
Buy if: You’re interested in a quick, lightweight road bike with the all-weather reliability of disc brakes.
Emonda ALR
The Emonda ALR frame is among the very best aluminium options out there at the moment, with Trek having recently added disc brake models to sit alongside the rim brake options. Each of them gets a full-carbon fork.
There are two rim brake Emonda ALR bikes in the range, each based on the same 300 Series Alpha Aluminium frame with virtually invisible welds and a tapered head tube that helps to provide accurate steering.
The Emonda ALR 4 is the cheapest model at £1,100. This gets you a Shimano Tiagra groupset with virtually everything else coming from Bontrager.
If you can afford more, the £1,350 Emonda ALR 5, above, is tempting with its Shimano 105 groupset. That looks a great buy.
The disc brake frame is only a little heavier than the rim brake model — 1,131g (56cm size) as opposed to 1,112g.
The Shimano Tiagra-equipped Emonda ALR 4 Disc, above, is £1,400, while the Emonda ALR 5 Disc has mainly Shimano 105 components and a £1,750 price tag.
Buy if: You want one of the best lightweight aluminium road bikes out there.
Domane
Trek broke new ground when it introduced its IsoSpeed decoupler on the Domane (pronounced dough-mar-nay) back in 2012. Essentially, it’s a design that allows the seat tube to pivot relative to the top tube and seatstays,so the saddle can move downwards (and a little backwards), providing more give and adding comfort to the ride.
Then Trek introduced a front IsoSpeed system (above) to some of its models in 2016 to increase comfort and control, and added adjustment to the rear IsoSpeed decoupler (below).
• Domane SLR: Front and adjustable rear IsoSpeed, 600 Series OCLV carbon frame, carbon IsoSpeed fork.
• Domane SL: Front and non-adjustable rear IsoSpeed, 500 Series OCLV carbon frame, carbon IsoSpeed fork.
• Domane AL: No decoupler, 100 Series Alpha Aluminium frame, carbon IsoSpeed fork.
The most affordable Domane is the £595 AL 2, above, available in both standard and women's versions. It's an aluminium bike in an endurance fit that's designed for comfort, but there's no decoupler. The AL 2 is built up with a Shimano Claris 8-speed groupset.
The AL 3 (£750) is a Shimano Sora 9-speed build while the AL 4 (£900) has mainly Shimano Tiagra components and the AL 5 (£1,100) has a Shimano 105-based spec. Both the AL 3 and AL 5 are available in women's versions.
There are no longer any disc brake-equipped aluminium Domanes.
Priced £2,000, the SL 5 (available in both standard and women's versions) is the most affordable Domane with front IsoSpeed. This model features a Shimano 105 groupset.
The £2,350 Domane SL 5 Disc, above, is a similar bike but with Shimano 105 hydraulic disc brakes.
The highest specced Domane SL is the 7 Disc (£4,800), above, equipped with a Shimano Ultegra groupset and Bontrager Aeolus Pro 3 Disc Tubeless Ready wheels.
The top-level SLR Domanes – with front IsoSpeed and adjustable rear IsoSpeed – come as complete bikes only with disc brakes in 2019, although a rim brake frameset is available for £2,300. The range kicks off with the SLR 6 Disc (from £4,500, also available in a women's version priced £5,050).
We reviewed a previous version of this bike we said, “The Domane just got even better. It's smoother and more comfortable than the original, and fast and fun as well.”
We went on to say, “There are few endurance bikes as comfortable as the new Trek Domane SLR. A host of changes ensures the new bike is incredibly smooth, filtering out the most severe vibrations on all sorts of rough roads, gravel tracks and cobblestones.”
If you want Trek's top level Domane, the SLR 9 Disc eTap, above, comes equipped with a Sram Red eTap groupset and Bontrager Aeolus XXX 2 Disc Tubeless Ready at a price of £9,300.
You can customise a Domane SLR through Trek's Project One system.
Buy if: You’re after an endurance road bike with plenty of comfort and control.
Cyclocross
Trek offers two cyclocross platforms: Crockett and Boone.
The Crockett frame is disc-specific and it’s made from 200 Series Alpha Aluminium. The more affordable of the two models is the Crockett 5 Disc (£1,400) with a largely SRAM Rival groupset and Tektro Spyre mechanical disc brakes.
The Crockett 7 Disc, above, has a Sram Force 1 groupset, including hydraulic disc brakes, so it’s more expensive at £2,100.
The Boone is made from 600 Series OCLV carbon fibre and, like the Crockett, it is disc-specific.
The £2,600 Boone 5 Disc, above, comes with a Sram Rival 1 groupset including hydraulic disc brakes while the Boone 7 Disc (£3,500) has mostly Sram Force 1 components.
Buy if: You want a cyclocross race bike with cross-specific geometry and gearing.
The aim of road.cc buyer's guides is to give you the most, authoritative, objective and up-to-date buying advice. We continuously update and republish our guides, checking prices, availability and looking for the best deals.
Our guides include links to websites where you can buy the featured products. Like most sites we make a small amount of money if you buy something after clicking on one of those links. We want you to be happy with what you buy, so we only include a product in a if we think it's one of the best of its kind.
As far as possible that means recommending equipment that we have actually reviewed, but we also include products that are popular, highly-regarded benchmarks in their categories.
Welcome to the latest edition of road.cc’s buyer's guide to aero road bikes in which you’ll find everything you need to know to find the right aero road bike for you, plus our pick of 17 of the best aero road bikes.
With elongated tube shapes and other wind-cheating features, aero road bikes provide a small but handy speed boost.
Sleek shapes make for a distinctive look.
Recent aero road bikes have alleviated the harsh ride that plagued some early models, thanks to improved use of materials.
Frame aerodynamics is still a marginal gain; if you're wearing flappy clothes an aero bike is a waste of money.
In just a few years aero road bikes have gone from The Next Big Thing to a mainstream bike option. The latest models have been tweaked to be faster than ever, according to the manufacturers, and to alleviate the harsh ride that characterised some early aero bikes.
Aero road bikes essentially draw aerodynamic features from time trial bikes into a road frame, and balance the demands of weight and stiffness into a package that, on paper, looks to be the ideal all-round choice.
At any decent speed, most of your effort goes into overcoming air resistance, so reducing a bike's drag means you'll go faster, or ride at any given speed with a lower power output. Who doesn't like the sound of that?
Most of your air resistance comes from your body rather than your bike. Wearing non-flappy clothing will help, as will losing weight. But the 20% or so of air resistance from your bike is enough for engineers and designers to focus on making road frames and products more slippery through the air. In the pro peloton aero road bikes have been quickly adopted, where the margins of victory are very slim and there has been a focus on gaining ever smaller performance gains over the years.
Weight, or the lack of it, used to be the main driving force of frame development. Along with stiffness, it was a cornerstones of bike design. These days most bikes are light, many well below the UCI’s 6.8kg weight limit (which doesn’t affect non-racers anyway), and come with more stiffness than is sometimes comfortable.
All that has made aerodynamics more important. Specialized has built its own wind tunnel, for example, and most manufacturers are testing in other facilities. Nevertheless, aero road bikes haven't converged on a perfect, slippery shape. Different engineers prioritise different ways of improving aerodynamics but there are shared design trends: skinny, aerofoil-shaped tubes, integrated brakes, and internal cable routing.
The Orca Aero boasts lots of wind-cheating tweaks that Orbea says add up to a 27 watt advantage. Our tester David Arthur found the Orbea Orca Aero M20Team to be "a fast and great handling aerodynamic road bike with a surprising talent for smoothing out all but the roughest roads. But it is speed, not comfort, that is at the top of the list of requirements for an aero road bike, and that's an area where the Orca Aero feels very competent. It's right up there with the Trek Madone, Cervelo S3 and Canyon Aeroad, as super-quick aero race bikes.
"The handling is a highlight, and helps to set it apart from some aero bikes that can be exceedingly quick but a little lacking when it comes to the way they ride and translate your inputs into actions. The Orca Aero is fun and engaging, putting a smile on your face when you're descending or chasing a friend along an undulating ridge road."
You can customise the colour scheme and spec of your Orca Aero too, so if you want to upgrade the wheels, or have yours in pink and orange, fill your boots.
The new Bianchi Aria Disc is an aero road bike that offers efficiency, sharp handling and a responsive character, now with the additional all-weather assurance of disc brakes – in this case from Campagnolo.
The Aria Disc responds keenly to increased effort. Our 59cm sample wasn't especially light at 8.5kg (18.7lb), but it felt direct when you put in the power, a meaty bottom bracket helping to keep everything solidly in place. The Aria Disc feels as manoeuvrable as the rim brake version, which isn't a surprise given that the geometry is virtually identical. Some bikes designed for aerodynamics offer plenty of straight-line speed but they're a little compromised when you want to flick around. The Aria Disc handles sharply, which gives you options when it comes to darting about a group or avoiding something in the road.
The 3T Strada has blown us away. It's a truly stunning bike with breathtaking speed, impressive smoothness and fine handling balance. If this is the future, as some people have speculated, we're sold. Take our money, 3T. This is one of the most exciting road bikes available right now.
The Strada certainly won't be for everyone. And that's fine, there are plenty of fantastic performance road bikes currently available if the 1x11 gearing, disc brakes and tight clearances frighten you. None are as radical as the new 3T, though. What the Strada does with its unique design is offer another choice. It achieves the same aim – of being stupendously fast – but takes a different path to get there.
Colnago has joined the aerodynamic arms race with the Concept, a full blooded aero race bike that is a serious step forward from the Italian company's first aero road bike, the V1-r.
The Concept has all the capability to dice with the fastest in a race situation. Its stiff frame, deep-section wheels and lightweight give it an insatiable appetite for speed. It's quick in all circumstances: climbs, descents, flat and undulating roads – the bike shines everywhere. This is an exciting bike to ride fast, and like all good aero road bikes it encourages you to ride flat-out.
That firm ride, and frame and fork stiffness ensure the Concept accurately follows your inputs, whether through the handlebar or pedals. It reacts positively whether you're blasting an uphill sprint finish or bombing through a curving descent.
The Concept isn't just for racing. It provides adequate composure and comfort, allowing you to tackle long distance rides at a few notches below race pace and not be dealt a hammer-blow to the lower back the moment the tyres encounter anything but a super-smooth surface. The front end of an aero race bike can often be overwhelmingly harsh, but the special headset and fork steerer tube that Colnago has developed mean the Concept is smoother up front than would normally be expected on an aero road bike.
Merida has updated its Reacto to be, it says, lighter, more comfortable and more aerodynamically efficient than before. It has done this by slimming down the tube shapes and introducing a lower seatstay connection with the seat tube, among other things.
Merida – a Taiwanese brand although much of its engineering is undertaken in Germany – says that the new Reacto is more aerodynamically efficient than the previous version by about eight watts at 45km/h. That equates to around 5%.
Comfort has been increased through redesigning the seatstays and giving the S-Flex seatpost a slimmer cross section and a bigger ‘window’ – a notch that’s cutaway to allow more downward movement.
For 2018, Merida is offering disc brake versions of the Reacto for the first time.
Boardman's Air 9.2 (£1,749) is just the ticket if you're looking for a fast bike with a good spec. It's a great package and the performance is impressive.
Some aero bikes can be a handful, but thankfully the Air 9.2 is a neutral ride most of the time. Considering the amount of side profile, it's really not that much of a handful in the wind. Okay, our reviewer had a couple of interesting moments getting hit by a 30mph sidewind on one ride, but it's generally pretty predictable.
It's fast, it's firm but not uncomfortable, and it responds well under power. There are a few minor niggles – the brakes aren't the best, and some of the components are worth an upgrade to get the best out of the frame – but if you're looking for a fast bike for racing, triathlon or even time trialling then it's very much one to consider.
Buying the Storck Aerfast Platinum is a massive outlay, but boy, oh boy do you get one hell of a return on your investment. It's a sub-6.5kg race weapon, with aerodynamics that work in the real world, and it offers comfort levels to challenge most endurance bikes.
Taking plenty of things it has learnt from its astonishingly good Aernario, Storck has pushed the design even further down the aerodynamics route, and what it has created in the Aerfast is a bike that's not only unbelievably fast, but light and stiff too.
If you're in the market for an aero bike, speed is going to be topping your list of priorities, and that's where the Aerfast truly excels. At lower speeds the Storck feels like any other bike to ride, any other superlight bike that is, but as you ride faster it feels like a permanent tailwind is nudging you along, a friendly hand on your back as you watch the numbers climb on the Garmin – with little more effort required than there was 5mph ago. It's a wonderful feeling, and one of which you never tire.
Cervélo has redesigned the S3 Disc to smooth out any penalties that might occur from adding disc brakes. The result is a frame that it claims is 9% stiffer, a touch more aerodynamically efficient, and lighter by 40g compared with the regular rim brake model.
There's a lot to like about the Cervélo S3 Disc. If you want pure speed with the reassurance of hydraulic disc brakes, it's a very good option: it's extremely fast and the handling is lively and direct – just what you want from a race bike – but its composure on rough roads falls some way short of its key rivals. If you're willing to overlook its lack of comfort, it's an explosive bike.
Aero and discs? It's getting more common as bike makers figure out how to mount disc callipers without adversely affecting aerodynamics.
Ridley calls its collection of speed-enhancing aerodynamic features FAST. It includes a tube shape that combines an aerofoil profile with a groove that helps keep the air flowing smoothly over the surface to reduce drag. For 2019 tube shapes have been further refined, there's a new integrated bar, stem and fork system that hides the cables completely, and the fork tips have sprouted 'F-Wings' to improve airflow over disc brakes.
As for the discs, Ridley believes they're simply a better way of stopping.
Developed in collaboration with Team Sky, the Dogma F10 is the bike upon which Chris Froome won the 2017 Tour de France. The F10 uses FlatBack tube profiles – a Kamm tail sort of shape with a rounded leading edge and chopped off tail, and Pinarello has shaped the down tube so that you can mount a water bottle without ruining the aerodynamic performance. Up front the fork is derived from the company’s Bolide time trial bike with aerodynamically shaped legs and a crown that's integrated into a recessed down tube.
The second-generation Aeroad CF SLX has been inspired by the work that Canyon did on its futuristic Speedmax time trial bike, with razor sharp aero tube profiles and an optional one-piece handlebar and stem. Much of the company’s focus was on reducing the Aeroad's frontal surface area, so along with the new cockpit there’s a narrower hour-glass shaped head tube to help reduce drag. Other changes include a variant of the Trident tube shape used on the Speedmax, and a seat tube that hugs the leading edge of the rear wheel.
The Aeroad CF SLX is available in both rim brake and disc brake models.
If you're going to fly, you need to be able to rein in that speed. Disc brakes give finer modulation of speed with less effort at the lever so as you're whooping into Alpine hairpins you can brake later and waste less valuable speed.
As well as its aero frame, the Venge Vias has an aero handlebar and stem. The almost complete lack of external cables further reduces drag.
The Foil arguably kicked off the whole aero road bike trend, bringing aerodynamic design that was once the preserve of time trial bikes to regular road bikes. For 2018, Scott added disc brakes, arguing along with other manufacturers that you can go faster if you can slow down better. That's on top of the last series of updates to the Foil that saw the down tube lowered and wrapped around the fork crown, and a smaller rear triangle and internal seat clamp in the top tube.
Don't make the mistake of thinking this is an uncomfortable aero bike. Mathew Hayman rode over a few little bumps on his way to winning Paris-Roubaix in 2016.
Once an all-round lightweight race bike, the Madone has had a complete aerodynamic makeover. It features a version of the Isospeed decoupler borrowed from the Domane to provide some comfort and it’s wrapped up in a frame with Kamm tail shaped tubes. Like Specialized, Trek has also developed its own brake callipers that are designed to integrate with the fork and seatstays. The head tube features flaps that open and close to accommodate the movement of the brake when the fork is turned.
For 2019 has a hugely updated Madone road bike with adjustable IsoSpeed (a shock damper at the top tube/seat tube junction), a new geometry and disc brake models. The rim brake version is lighter while the disc brake version has no aerodynamic penalty, according to Trek..
Giant has added disc brakes to the Propel Advanced lineup for 2018, claiming that the flagship model, the Propel Advanced SL Disc, has the highest stiffness-to-weight ratio of any bike in its class and a lower drag coefficient at a wider range of yaw angles than the rim brake version.
“One of the key breakthroughs is a new truncated ellipse airfoil shape – a design that lowers drag at a wider range of wind angles than traditional teardrop frame tubing,” says Giant. “Engineers also found that, with proper integration, a disc-brake design can actually improve aero performance compared to rim-brake configurations.”
As well as a stunning paint job, the top of the range Propel Advanced SL 0 Disc has a full Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset and Giant's own SLR 0 Aero Disc wheels with a 42mm deep front rim and 65mm rear.
French brand Lapierre gave its Aircode bikes a major update for 2018. The frame profiles were refined, and are now shaped using a combination of NACA and Kamm tail profiles. The down tube, for example, transitions from one to the other to keep drag low while increasing lateral stiffness at the bottom bracket. Other changes include a revised geometry, shorter chainstays and fork rake that has been reduced to bring it closer to the Xelius SL. There's also a new aero seatpost, direct mount brakes and 'TrapDoor technology' whereby the Di2 battery is housed in the down tube for better weight distribution.
Lapierre has integrated the fork crown into the down tube to bring the front wheel closer to the frame. It’s also using a direct mount brake calliper which allows the fork crown height to be lower than with a standard brake.
Bianchi took the Oltre XR2 as its starting point for the XR3's design and then altered many of the tubes and features, resulting in a very different bike. The head tube is new, for example, the aero design fairly similar to that of the XR4, and the seat tube is new too, although it is still cut away around the leading edge of the rear wheel.
The Oltre XR3 features Bianchi's Countervail technology, Countervail being "a patented viscoelastic carbon material with a unique fibre architecture that cancels up to 80% of vibrations while increasing the stiffness and strength of carbon frames and forks", according to Bianchi.
The Oltre XR3 is nimble and sharp handling, and it offers a ride that's smooth by aero road bike standards.
The aim of road.cc buyer's guides is to give you the most, authoritative, objective and up-to-date buying advice. We continuously update and republish our guides, checking prices, availability and looking for the best deals.
Our guides include links to websites where you can buy the featured products. Like most sites we make a small amount of money if you buy something after clicking on one of those links. We want you to be happy with what you buy, so we only include a product in a if we think it's one of the best of its kind.
As far as possible that means recommending equipment that we have actually reviewed, but we also include products that are popular, highly-regarded benchmarks in their categories.
Trek has a huge range that covers virtually all areas of cycling. The US brand divides its performance road bikes into three families: Madone, Emonda and Domane, and then there are the new Checkpoint gravel bikes.
Madone has an emphasis on aerodynamic efficiency, Emonda is all about light weight, Domane has a focus on comfort and ride quality and Checkpoint (disappointingly not Daemon to keep with the anagram theme) is for dirt roads and mixed-surface riding. There are many models at different price points within each of those categories.
Trek also offers several cyclocross models.
Some of the higher end bikes are available through Trek's Project One (P1) system that let's you choose the components you want and even the paint scheme.
Here are the highlights of the range.
Checkpoint
Trek's latest collection comes with carbon or aluminium frames packing the IsoSpeed decoupler from the Domane (see below), and with space for up to 45mm tyres, umpteen water bottle mounts plus mudguard and rack eyelets, 12mm thru-axles and flat mount disc brakes. It's available only with Shimano 2x11 groupsets and costs from £1,450 to £3,400.
Trek first showed its cards with the Domane Gravel, a slightly modified version of the company’s endurance bike but with wider tyres. It's fair to say we were all a bit surprised by the effort, but it now looks like it was a stopgap for real gravel bike enthusiasts before the arrival of the company’s first dedicated foray into this growing category, the all-new Checkpoint.
Compared to the Domane Gravel, Trek says the new Checkpoint offers much improved off-road capability and general versatility, with bigger tyre clearance, adjustable dropouts and geometry and lots of accessory mounts the key differences. Why they didn't just launch the Checkpoint in the first place is anyone's guess.
Trek offers the Checkpoint in either an aluminium or a carbon fibre frame. The carbon bikes have the Isospeed decoupler that Trek introduced on the Domane in 2012, while the aluminium bikes are rigid. Isospeed is a mechanism that allows the top of the seat tube to move a little, independently of the rest of the frame, to provide a small amount of bum-cosseting shock absorption.
The top of the range is the Checkpoint SL 6, which boasts a Shimano Ultegra groupset and hydraulic brakes for an RRP of £3,400; that's it at the top of this section.
"If you want a bike that is comfortable and provides space for wide tyres for mostly road riding, with lots of versatility whether for winter training and commuting or touring and bikepacking, the Trek is a good choice," we said in our review of the Checkpoint SL 6. "But it's not the most capable bike when the going gets rough and bumpy.
"Sure, the rear IsoSpeed decoupler works its magic, filtering out the harshness and giving your bum and back a smooth ride, but the front end is simply too harsh in comparison. Not fitting wider tyres and a lower range drivetrain shows either a failure to be bolder in the spec or a lack of appreciation for the demands of riding what is essentially a road bike off-road."
The £2,700 Checkpoint SL 5, above, has Shimano's 105 groupset and is also available in a women's version.
If you can live without carbon fibre and Isospeed, £1,700 gets you the Shimano 105-equipped Checkpoint ALR 5, above. It's also available in women's geometry.
The least expensive bike in the range is the Checkpoint ALR 4 at £1,450 with Shimano Tiagra. That's the women's geometry version above.
Buy if: You want a gravel/adventure bike that's also capable of moving fast over asphalt
Madone
The Madone (pronounced mad-own) is a long-standing model in the Trek range although it has changed massively over the years. These days all of the Madones are high-end; you can’t get a complete bike for less than £3,600.
The Madone range has had a major redesign for 2019 with the introduction of the top-end SLR models and a slightly more accessible SL version. The 2019 Madone range sees the inclusion of adjustable IsoSpeed, a new geometry and disc brake models. The rim brake version is lighter than the disc brake version, but Trek says there is no aerodynamic penalty in going for discs.
IsoSpeed is a design that “maintains the diamond-shaped frameset geometry but ‘decouples’ the seat tube from the top tube, allowing the seat tube to flex with the forces of the road” (Trek’s words). The idea is that it smooths the ride, adding comfort and reducing fatigue. IsoSpeed was already a feature of the Madone but now Trek has made it adjustable on the SLR models.
Trek says that it has managed to maintain the aero performance of the previous generation (9-Series) Madone while adding the adjustable top tube IsoSpeed, a new geometry, updated components and disc brakes.
The 9-Series Madone was available in two different geometries: low and stretched H1 and slightly more upright H2. The new Madone SLR comes in a single geometry called H1.5 which, as you might have guessed, sits between the two.
The Madone SLR comes in men’s and one women’s specific models. They use the same frame but the women’s version features a different saddle, handlebar width and stem length.
All of the Madone SLRs feature an OCLV 700 frame and an integrated two-piece carbon bar and stem.
The most affordable (it's all relative!) Trek Madone SLR models are the SLR 6 Disc, above, (from £5,400) and the rim brake version of the SLR 6 (£5,500). Both feature Shimano Ultegra groupsets.
The SLR 7 Disc (£7,550) has an Ultegra Di2 groupset, the SLR 8 bikes (rim brake model, above, from £6,750, disc model £7,750) have Dura-Ace mechanical components and the SLR 9 models (rim brake £9,550, disc brake from £10,000) have Dura-Ace Di2. There's a Madone SLR 9 Disc eTap (with SRAM Red eTap components, obviously) for £10,550.
There’s also a Madone SL 6, above, in the range that uses Trek’s OCLV 500 carbon fibre which is said to be a little heavier and less stiff then OCLV 700. The Madone SL 6 features rear IsoSpeed rather than the Adjustable Top Tube IsoSpeed of the SLR models. It doesn’t have Bontrager’s integrated handlebar and stem but instead has a Bontrager Pro stem and Elite Aero handlebar. It comes with Bontrager Aeolus Comp 5 TLR wheels, a Shimano Ultegra 8000 drivetrain and Bontrager integrated brakes and is priced £3,600.
Buy if: You want a top-level race bike and you have a lot of money to spend.
Emonda (rim brake)
Trek’s Emonda (pronounced eh-mon-dah) lightweight road bike range had a huge update for 2018, the carbon-fibre models having been redesigned to be lighter than ever. Disc brakes were added to the Emonda lineup for the first time too (see below).
The Emonda range covers four different carbon-fibre frames – the SL, the SL Disc, the SLR and the SLR Disc – and an aluminium model (see below).
The SL is made from Trek’s 500 Series OCLV carbon and has a claimed weight of 1,091g while the fork is 313g.
The rim brake SL models range in price from £1,800 (SL 5, Shimano 105, above) up to £2,900 (SL 6 Pro, Bontrager Aeolus Pro 3 wheels).
When we reviewed the Emonda SL 5 here on road.cc we called it "a fast and nimble road bike that puts in an exceptional performance for its price".
"Climb aboard the SL 5 and it immediately feels alive, responding keenly as soon as you turn the pedals," we said. "Put a serious amount of power through the cranks and it springs forward as if it was just waiting for the flag to drop. Both the head tube and the down tube are enormous, holding the frame firmly in shape when you're recruiting every muscle fibre on an out-of-the saddle sprint or climb."
There’s also a women’s model that, like the standard SL 5, has a heavier fork than the rest of the Emonda SLs at 436g.
The Trek Emonda SLR frame is superlight at just 640g.
There's just one standard Emonda SLR rim brake model for 2019 — SLR 6, above, (Shimano Ultegra, from £4,000), although you can go through Trek's Project One program if you want a different spec. The SLR 6 features direct-mount Speed Stop brakes from Bontrager, Trek’s sub-brand. These brakes have hollow arms, titanium hardware and a claimed weight of just 95g. They offer enough clearance for tyres up to 28mm wide.
Buy if: You’re after a fast road bike with a focus on light weight.
Emonda Disc
Coming in at just 665g, the Emonda SLR Disc frame is the lightest disc brake frame that we know of. The Emonda SLR Disc fork is 350g.
Complete bikes come stock with wider 28mm tyres although Trek says that you can fit wider tyres for gravel and even adventure riding.
The Emonda SLR Disc is available in SLR 9 Disc (Shimano Dura-Ace Di2, from £8,750, women's version available too), SLR 8 Disc (Shimano Dura-Ace mechanical, £5,850, above), SLR 7 Disc (Shimano Ultegra Di2, from £5,300, women's version available) and SLR 6 Disc (Shimano Ultegra, £5,000, women's version available) models.
Like the rim brake frameset, the disc brake version comes as an SL version too. The Emonda SL Disc frame is 1,149g and the fork is 350g.
The SL 7 Disc (Shimano Ultegra Di2, above) is £4,500 while the SL 6 Disc (Shimano Ultegra) is £2,700.
Buy if: You’re interested in a quick, lightweight road bike with the all-weather reliability of disc brakes.
Emonda ALR
The Emonda ALR frame is among the very best aluminium options out there at the moment, with Trek having recently added disc brake models to sit alongside the rim brake options. Each of them gets a full-carbon fork.
There are two rim brake Emonda ALR bikes in the range, each based on the same 300 Series Alpha Aluminium frame with virtually invisible welds and a tapered head tube that helps to provide accurate steering.
The Emonda ALR 4 is the cheapest model at £1,100. This gets you a Shimano Tiagra groupset with virtually everything else coming from Bontrager.
If you can afford more, the £1,350 Emonda ALR 5, above, is tempting with its Shimano 105 groupset. That looks a great buy.
The disc brake frame is only a little heavier than the rim brake model — 1,131g (56cm size) as opposed to 1,112g.
The Shimano Tiagra-equipped Emonda ALR 4 Disc, above, is £1,400, while the Emonda ALR 5 Disc has mainly Shimano 105 components and a £1,750 price tag.
Buy if: You want one of the best lightweight aluminium road bikes out there.
Domane
Trek broke new ground when it introduced its IsoSpeed decoupler on the Domane (pronounced dough-mar-nay) back in 2012. Essentially, it’s a design that allows the seat tube to pivot relative to the top tube and seatstays,so the saddle can move downwards (and a little backwards), providing more give and adding comfort to the ride.
Then Trek introduced a front IsoSpeed system (above) to some of its models in 2016 to increase comfort and control, and added adjustment to the rear IsoSpeed decoupler (below).
• Domane SLR: Front and adjustable rear IsoSpeed, 600 Series OCLV carbon frame, carbon IsoSpeed fork.
• Domane SL: Front and non-adjustable rear IsoSpeed, 500 Series OCLV carbon frame, carbon IsoSpeed fork.
• Domane AL: No decoupler, 100 Series Alpha Aluminium frame, carbon IsoSpeed fork.
The most affordable Domane is the £595 AL 2, above, available in both standard and women's versions. It's an aluminium bike in an endurance fit that's designed for comfort, but there's no decoupler. The AL 2 is built up with a Shimano Claris 8-speed groupset.
The AL 3 (£750) is a Shimano Sora 9-speed build while the AL 4 (£900) has mainly Shimano Tiagra components and the AL 5 (£1,100) has a Shimano 105-based spec. Both the AL 3 and AL 5 are available in women's versions.
There are no longer any disc brake-equipped aluminium Domanes.
Priced £2,000, the SL 5 (available in both standard and women's versions) is the most affordable Domane with front IsoSpeed. This model features a Shimano 105 groupset.
The £2,350 Domane SL 5 Disc, above, is a similar bike but with Shimano 105 hydraulic disc brakes.
The highest specced Domane SL is the 7 Disc (£4,800), above, equipped with a Shimano Ultegra groupset and Bontrager Aeolus Pro 3 Disc Tubeless Ready wheels.
The top-level SLR Domanes – with front IsoSpeed and adjustable rear IsoSpeed – come as complete bikes only with disc brakes in 2019, although a rim brake frameset is available for £2,300. The range kicks off with the SLR 6 Disc (from £4,500, also available in a women's version priced £5,050).
We reviewed a previous version of this bike we said, “The Domane just got even better. It's smoother and more comfortable than the original, and fast and fun as well.”
We went on to say, “There are few endurance bikes as comfortable as the new Trek Domane SLR. A host of changes ensures the new bike is incredibly smooth, filtering out the most severe vibrations on all sorts of rough roads, gravel tracks and cobblestones.”
If you want Trek's top level Domane, the SLR 9 Disc eTap, above, comes equipped with a Sram Red eTap groupset and Bontrager Aeolus XXX 2 Disc Tubeless Ready at a price of £9,300.
You can customise a Domane SLR through Trek's Project One system.
Buy if: You’re after an endurance road bike with plenty of comfort and control.
Cyclocross
Trek offers two cyclocross platforms: Crockett and Boone.
The Crockett frame is disc-specific and it’s made from 200 Series Alpha Aluminium. The more affordable of the two models is the Crockett 5 Disc (£1,400) with a largely SRAM Rival groupset and Tektro Spyre mechanical disc brakes.
The Crockett 7 Disc, above, has a Sram Force 1 groupset, including hydraulic disc brakes, so it’s more expensive at £2,100.
The Boone is made from 600 Series OCLV carbon fibre and, like the Crockett, it is disc-specific.
The £2,600 Boone 5 Disc, above, comes with a Sram Rival 1 groupset including hydraulic disc brakes while the Boone 7 Disc (£3,500) has mostly Sram Force 1 components.
Buy if: You want a cyclocross race bike with cross-specific geometry and gearing.
The aim of road.cc buyer's guides is to give you the most, authoritative, objective and up-to-date buying advice. We continuously update and republish our guides, checking prices, availability and looking for the best deals.
Our guides include links to websites where you can buy the featured products. Like most sites we make a small amount of money if you buy something after clicking on one of those links. We want you to be happy with what you buy, so we only include a product in a if we think it's one of the best of its kind.
As far as possible that means recommending equipment that we have actually reviewed, but we also include products that are popular, highly-regarded benchmarks in their categories.
Welcome to the latest edition of road.cc’s buyer's guide to the top disc-braked endurance bikes of 2019, in which you’ll our pick of 15 of the best comfortable-but-quick all-day road bikes.
In this updated edition of our guide to disc-braked endurance bikes we've added the Triban RC 520.
Although there are ever more disc brake-equipped race bikes out there in the shops, most disc brake road bikes produced at the moment are endurance/sportive bikes or all-rounders that are bought by people who simply want the reassurance of all-weather stopping power. The bikes below are a mixture of styles, frame materials and prices so check through and find out what takes your interest.
The lines between bike categories have never been more blurred, but we've tried to keep this selection to bikes that are intended entirely or primarily for use on Tarmac. Of course where you ride has as much to do with rider skill as with how fat a tyre your frame will take, but these are bikes for long days in the lanes in sportives, Audaxes, and big rides with friends rather than for exploring dirt roads and trails.
Ever since John took the B'Twin Triban 520 Disc road bike for a first ride in London in early October, we've been keen to see if it could stand up to his first impressions, as well as the great value legacy of previous Triban road bikes we've tested. It really does, although riders used to or wanting a racier geometry should look elsewhere.
The geometry thing is a really important point here. With the Triban 520, it's all about a functional position aimed right at tourers and regular commuters at one end of the spectrum, and endurance roadies at the other.
With a super-tall head tube and compact top tube, the bike sits you upright relative to your general entry-level race bike, or even a fair chunk of the endurance-specific market too. It fully justifies its do-it-all tag for everyone except budding racers.
What surprises most about the Triban 520 is just how accessible the ride is; how easy it is to pedal the bike at moderate speeds and feel like you're just cruising along. Cornering in any situation is confidence-inspiring, and it rolls incredibly smoothly too. It takes poor road surfaces in its stride, with a good amount of all-round compliance keeping things comfortable, and as long as you stay in the saddle it climbs moderately well too.
The Boardman ASR, or "all season road", is a really good value package that offers a relaxed ride with the classic looks and feel of steel, the modern convenience of hydraulic discs brakes, and clearance for wide tyres. It does fine duty as an all-weather commuter or as a bike for long day rides. Eating up long, steady miles in comfort is what the ASR does best.
The 8.9 arrives ready for winter, with mudguards fitted to the Reynolds 725 steel frame, 28mm Vittoria tyres, plus reflective frame details ticking all the boxes for commuting through the rough British weather. Remove the mudguards and the bike easily has clearance for wider tyres, so it also fits the bill for summer towpath pootling and brief gravel forays. There's a full Shimano 105 groupset here with hydraulic disc brakes, and Boardman's own bar and tubeless-ready wheels, so with, say, 28mm road tyres like Schwalbe Ones it's as capable an Audax or club-run bike as it is a commuter.
Canyon's wildly popular Endurace bikes went disc-equipped a couple of years ago, and are all the better for it. The models span one the biggest price ranges here, from £1,169 for the Shimano Tiagra-equipped Endurace Wmn 7.0 AL Disc up to the £6,249 Endurace CF SLX Disc 9.0 Ltd with SRAM eTap wireless shifting and DT Swiss carbon fibre wheels.
BMC’s Roadmachines are disc-braked fast endurance machines with room for at least 28mm tyres. The range includes aluminium and carbon fibre frames, with a range of equipment from Shimano Tiagra to SRAM Red eTap. The arrival of 2019 bikes such as the new top-model Roadmachine 01 ONE means there are some good deals available on 2018 bikes at the moment.
The six-bike Paralane range starts with the £1,659 aluminium-framed Paralane 6.9 with Shimano 105 components and goes up to the £4,099 carbon-framed Paralane 9.9 with Shimano Ultegra Di2. Long-ride features include comfort-enhancing tube profiles and carbon layup, a skinny seatpost and 28mm tyres, that together provide a smooth ride that is up there with the best in this category. It isolates you from the worst road buzz but without completely detaching you from the road entirely. It's a really good balance for those who want some feedback from the surface without being shaken to pieces.
Fast and sporty, with all the practicality and dependability of hydraulic disc brakes, wide tyres and space for full-length mudguards, the Whyte Wessex is a bike that is up to the task of taking on the roughest roads and toughest weather.
If you put racing to one side, it's all the bike you really need for year-round riding in the UK, fast enough for sportives and pacy training runs, comfortable and reliable for grinding out winter miles, and at home on longer commutes. Only a British company could design a bike that is absolutely, perfectly, 100 per cent suited to the demands of year-round UK road cycling.
The Giant Contend SL Disc bikes feature an Aluxx SL frameset, D-Fuse seatpost that’s designed to add comfort and Giant Conduct hydraulic disc brakes. You get mechanical shifters with a cable to hydraulic converter at the front of the stem. It's a nifty solution to avoiding the (more expensive) Shimano shifters but the jury's out on the aesthetics of the converter.
Wilier’s Cento10NDR endurance road bike is designed to take either rim brakes or disc brakes – you get mount points for both. It also features what’s called an ‘Actiflex’ system on the rear triangle with stays that flex, a pivot at the top of the seatstays and an elastomer shock damper, the idea being to provide a few millimetres of rear wheel travel in order to isolate the rider from the ground and add comfort.
The chainstays are bonded to the bottom bracket shell in the usual way, the Actiflex system relying, as the name suggests, on flex in the stays in order to work.
The dropouts of both the frame and fork are replaceable so you can run the bike with standard quick release skewers or 142 x 12mm thru axles.
Trek’s Domane range includes different framesets in aluminium and carbon fibre, and all of the disc-equipped models feature an IsoSpeed decoupler that allows the seat tube to move relative to the top tube and seatstays, so the saddle can move downwards (and a little backwards), providing more give and adding comfort to the ride.
More expensive models get a front IsoSpeed system designed to increase comfort and control, along with adjustment to the rear IsoSpeed decoupler. A lot of technology goes into keeping you comfortable!
Specialized’s carbon-fibre Roubaix bikes feature a suspension damper housed in the top of the head tube that aims to isolate the handlebar from bumps and cobbles. It's called Future Shock, provides up to 20mm of suspension travel and can be adjusted to suit different rider weights.
The Roubaix is a disc-only bike these days, uses thru-axles front and rear, and has space for 32mm tyres.
Cannondale offers both aluminium and carbon-fibre versions of its Synapse endurance bike. The cheapest of the aluminium models is just £849.99, built up with Shimano’s dependable Sora groupset and Promax mechanical disc brakes.
At the other end of the range, the Synapse Hi-Mod Disc with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 components is priced at £7,799.99.
Scott’s carbon fibre Addict Disc bikes are built to an endurance geometry and they’re said to be both lighter and stiffer than the Solace models that they replace. They come with 32mm wide tyres for plenty of comfort. All six models — three men's and three women's — use Shimano hydraulic disc brakes.
The Team GF 4 Disc takes over from the Xeon CDX in Rose’s lineup and is designed for long distances rides like sportives. The carbon frame comes with a claimed weight of just 990g, which is very light for a bike of this kind. You get to choose from four different Shimano and SRAM builds.
The Sensium, available in both disc and rim brake models, comes with a carbon-fibre frame that’s built to an endurance geometry designed to be comfortable throughout long days in the saddle.
The more affordable of the two disc models, the Senium 500 Disc, features a Shimano 105 groupset while the Sensium 600 Disc makes the step up to Ultegra.
Yeah, you could have carbon, but in some people's eyes, it will never look as good as titanium.
There is also something fantastic about having a bike built just for you, your riding style and what you intend to use the bike for. With custom head badge options, eyelets and shot blasted graphics on top of that, the J.ACK becomes part bike, part work of art.
J.Laverack also works with the likes of Hope, Hunt and Brooks to make the bike brilliantly British.
The aim of road.cc buyer's guides is to give you the most, authoritative, objective and up-to-date buying advice. We continuously update and republish our guides, checking prices, availability and looking for the best deals.
Our guides include links to websites where you can buy the featured products. Like most sites we make a small amount of money if you buy something after clicking on one of those links. We want you to be happy with what you buy, so we only include a product in a if we think it's one of the best of its kind.
As far as possible that means recommending equipment that we have actually reviewed, but we also include products that are popular, highly-regarded benchmarks in their categories.
Welcome to the latest edition of road.cc’s buyer's guide to hybrid bikes, in which you’ll find everything you need to know to find the right hybrid for you, plus our pick of ten of the best hybrids.
In this updated version of our guide to hybrids we've added the Saracen Urban Cross 3.
With 700C wheels, wide-range gears, flat bars and cantilever or disc brakes, hybrids are midway between road and mountain bikes. They're the UK's most common and best-selling bike type.
The upright riding position makes them great for traffic, and for leisurely rides in the country — slow down and sniff the flowers.
Oddly few hybrids come with practicalities like mudguards and rack. Budget £50-100 for them and get them fitted when you buy the bike. You'll be glad you did.
These bikes are inexpensive transport par excellence, paying for themselves in just a few months if you live in a major city.
The most popular bike style in the UK, hybrids are practical and comfortable, and their upright riding position makes them ideal for the office run or leisurely cruising the lanes.
As the name suggests, hybrids have aspects of road bikes and mountain bikes. From the road comes a lightweight frame and fast-rolling 700C wheels, while mountain bikes contribute flat bars, disc or V-brakes and wide-range gears. The tyres are usually an intermediate width and tread to provide enough cushioning and grip that rough surfaces like forest roads and tow paths are no obstacle,
There are many variations under the hybrid umbrella. At one end, flat-bar road bikes are great for zipping around the lanes and even some light touring, but with skinny tyres might not be as much fun on potholed city streets. At the other end of the range are fully-equipped European-style city bikes, with mudguards, rack and even built-in dynamo lights or a rear-wheel lock.
Hybrids make great urban transport for potholed streets or towpaths (CC BY-NC 2.0 Tom Blackwell:Flickr)
Hybrids are great transport. You can pick one up for less than a hundred quid, and by the time you get up the price range to £300-600 there are some really very nice bikes. That's where we've started with this selection. If that blows your budget take a look at our guide to the best cheap hybrid bikes.
Oddly, fully-equipped bikes are less common at higher prices. Manufacturers perhaps think buyers with more money to spend will want to choose their own mudguards, rack and so on, but we see lots of people riding nice quality hybrids without mudguards and just getting wet bums. Seems a bit daft.
It's not unusual for designers of hybrid bikes to specify alternatives to the ubiquitous rear derailleur and you'll find a couple of examples in our recommendations below. Hub gears are less unusual than on sportier bikes, and can pick up flat-bar singlespeeders very inexpensively because they's so simple.
Hybrids are great cheap transport. Bung even a £500 bike on Cycle To Work Scheme and you'll barely notice the payments disappearing from your pay packet. In fact, in many cities, you'll be better off. Compared to a London Zone 1-3 Travelcard at £148.70 per month, a £154.00 Bristol City peak travelcard or a Cambridge Megarider Plus bus ticket for £96, the repayments for a hybrid are trivial.
Let's take a look at some of your best choices in flat-bar bikes.
Saracen pitches the Urban Cross 3 as a machine designed to tackle city streets and with its secure and comfortable ride, it does that very well. But it's got a lot more potential, and with a very competent spec including Shimano hydraulic disc brakes and Deore gears, it's a fantastic all-round leisure bike.
The latest version of Whyte's nippy round-towner incorporates a couple of mini-trends we're starting to see in hybrids for 2019: single chainrings and fat 650B tyres. With a wide-range gear selection at the wheel there's no real need for multiple chainrings, which makes for a more straightforward gear system. The wheels are smaller than the road-racing size 700C you usually find on hybrids, but with fat tyres they end up about the same size. The fat tyres make for more grip and cushioning, which has to be a good thing round town.
Hybrids intended for women tend to have a shorter top tube than their male equivalents, and have female friendly components like a woman's saddle, as here.
The B'Twin Hoprider 500 comes with everything you need to pootle round town, to the office or the shops or just round the park for exercise. It's not the lightest hybrid ever, but it's very well specced for the money.
Off the peg, the Hoprider 500 comes with hub-powered lighting front and rear, mudguards, rack and kickstand. That's a great set of accessories for a hybrid (too often they're just a bare bike) and really makes this bike an excellent choice for commuting and other practical riding.
If you want something a bit more upmarket, the £549 Hoprider 900 has disc brakes, Shimano Deore gears and a built-in Axa Defender lock.
Trek's best-selling city bike has a light aluminium frame, very wide-range 21-speed gears that'll get you up any hills you're likely to find in the UK, and convenient Shimano trigger shifters.
You don't get extras like a rack or mudguards, but the frame has all the necessary fittings for them, and will even take a Dutch-style frame/wheel lock like the AXA Defender so you can't forget your lock.
Looking for a no-frills city bike? At £430 the Reid Blacktop isn't going to break the bank, and it isn't going to break itself either: it's a well-built and easy-to-ride city bike with durable components and an engaging ride. I like it.
The Blacktop has an aluminium alloy frame and fork. The welds are smoothed and the bike is finished in a matt/gloss black paintjob that's very understated and urban. There are a few chips in the paint now but generally it's holding up very well. The alloy fork is painted to match.
To that frame is attached some very sensible and durable city kit. The transmission is a Shimano Nexus 3-speed hub with a grip shifter and a Prowheel 44T chainset. With the 20T sprocket on the hub that gives you 43in, 60in and 81in gears (approximately). That's a nice spread for getting yourself up the hills and still being able to push on along the flats.
B'Twin's Triban 520 promises road bike zip with the more upright position of a flat bar so you can sit up and admire the view or keep an eye out for random taxis.
The Triban 520 strikes a balance between speed and practicality. On the speed side, well, at heart it's a road bike. Skinny tyres, narrow saddle, seat a bit higher than the bars. On the other hand, it's got a flat bar, with gears controlled by mountain bike-style triggers so you never need move your hands away from the brakes.
The frame has fittings for rack and guards so it can be practical too and the Shimano Sora components make it a bargain for this price.
A dry bum, a place to carry stuff and a kickstand so you don't have to lean it against a lamppost or railing to park it. There's also a triple chainset for a huge gear range, so if you head for the hills at the weekend you need fear no climb, however steep. Hydraulic disc brakes bring it to a halt and there are nice wide puncture -resistant tyres to keep you rolling.
Now, this is interesting. The Strada 5 uses 650B wheels, a size that's smaller than the usual 700C wheels used on road bikes and most hybrids, but bigger than the 26-inch wheels that used to be standard for mountain bikes. With fat tyres, like the 50mm Clement Stradas here, the wheel ends up with the same rolling size as a skinny 700C, but with lots of cushioning and grip, so it's comfy and sure-footed on potholed urban roads.
Picking up on another emerging trend, Raleigh have gone for a simple single-chainring gear system with a wide-range set of sprockets so you've got plenty of low gears for the hills. Stopping power comes from Shimano hydraulic discs.
Boardman is another brand that's ubiquitous on the city streets and main man Chris Boardman is similarly ubiquitous in the media advocating for cycling rights.
Boardman somehow finds time to design nice hybrids too, like this aluminium-framed, round-town speedster. It has hydraulic disc brakes for confident stopping and carbon fibre forks, which helps take the sting out of potholes, and wide-range SRAM Apex gearing with just a single chainring to keep things simple.
The late, sadly missed bike reviewer Steve Worland described this luxury hybrid as: "Quick like a road bike, comfy like a mountain bike, with disc brake confidence; a thoroughbred mongrel of an all-rounder". A hybrid with a carbon fibre frame will seem over the top until the first time you have to carry it up several flights of stairs, at which point it suddenly makes perfect, shoulder-friendly sense.
It makes sense on the road too. Its instantly most obvious and endearing characteristic is its casual speed, while the handling far more sprightly than most hybrid type bikes.
The latest version of the Quick 1 has wide-range Shimano 105 gears and hydraulic disc brakes, and fast-rolling 28mm Schwalbe tyres. There are fittings for racks and mudguards too, it can be practical as well as quick.
The aim of road.cc buyer's guides is to give you the most, authoritative, objective and up-to-date buying advice. We continuously update and republish our guides, checking prices, availability and looking for the best deals.
Our guides include links to websites where you can buy the featured products. Like most sites we make a small amount of money if you buy something after clicking on one of those links. We want you to be happy with what you buy, so we only include a product in a if we think it's one of the best of its kind.
As far as possible that means recommending equipment that we have actually reviewed, but we also include products that are popular, highly-regarded benchmarks in their categories.
Welcome to the latest edition of road.cc’s buyer's guide to road bikes between £1,500 and £2,000 in which you’ll find everything you need to know to find our pick of 13 of the best road bikes between £1,500 and £2,000.
In this edition of our guide to bikes between £1,500 and £2,000 we've added the Vitus Energie CRX.
You’ve an abundance of riches in the £1,500 to £2,000 price band, with bikes that are light, well-equipped and great value for money.
You also have a big range of choices. Carbon fibre frame, or the latest ultra-sophisticated aluminium? Caliper brakes or discs? Racing geometry, more upright for comfort or something in between? How about taking the the byways and bridleways on a gravel bike? Whatever type of riding you have in mind, there’s a bike in this price range that’ll suit you perfectly.
The Vitus Energie CRX cyclo-cross bike is an absolute blast to ride thanks to sharp, fun handling along the trails or around tight, technical muddy circuits. It's great for a day out on the gravel, and you can chuck mudguards on it too if you fancy a high-speed, year-round commuter.
If you want to ride fast off-road without the benefits of suspension then this Vitus is one of the best bikes to have a play on. The racy geometry and low-slung position mean you can really get down and drop that centre of gravity to benefit the handling when the terrain is tough, and the way it responds to the slightest shift in body weight is very impressive.
How does Cube manage to make a carbon fibre endurance bike with Ultegra equipment and hydraulic discs for under £2,000? Well, they've swapped out the Ultegra brakes and shifters for 105 R7000 units, which saves a bunch on the price tag without substantial detriment to performance.
The Attain GTC SL Disc is very much a mile-eating all-rounder, with clearance for mudguards so you can keep going through winter without getting drenched.
You don't get many bikes in this price range with Shimano Ultegra R8000 components and with its superb frame and Mavic Cosmic carbon wheels that makes this eminently raceable speedster superb value for money.
When he tested the 105-equipped version, which has the same frame, Stu Kerton said it was "further evidence, if any was needed, that B'Twin knows how to build awesome-riding race bikes which offer excellent stiffness, handling and speed while also managing to be unbelievably comfortable."
Proving that composites don't quite reign supreme, Cannondale's meticulously engineered CAAD12 frame wrings every last gram of performance potential out of aluminium. Cannondale combines that frame with Shimano 105 shifting, its own HollowGram Si chainset and Shimano 105 hydraulic disc brakes for a thoroughly modern fast road bike.
Giant's Defy line is one of the most popular bikes in the endurance and sportive sector, and is the company's best-selling model, combining smart geometry with a full range of competitively priced builds. It's been revamped for 2019 with a frame that will take up to 32mm tyres, some tweaks to the cable routing, and the addition of Giant's new D-Fuse buzz-reducing handlebar.
The 2019 Defy bikes also get tubeless-ready wheels and 28mm tyres, and the Defy Advanced 2 has Shimano's new 105 R7000 shifting with an 11-34 cassette for a 1:1 low gear.
Part of Trek's line of Émonda lightweight race bikes, the SL5 demonstrates one of two approaches to speccing up a bike in this range. Trek takes the second-lightest of its Émonda frames and equips it with Shimano's midrange 105 group for a bike that doesn't cost the earth but has plenty of upgrade potential.
The Genesis Datum 10 will take pretty much whatever you can throw at it, on or off-road. The spec represents excellent value and the ability to jump between town and country use positions it as a sound contender for an 'only bike' that you won't be sheepish about getting muddy on, while being worthy of a shine-up for the Sunday morning group ride.
At launch two years ago, Dave rated the Di2 11-speed Datum 30 at 4.5/5, finding it a 'hugely capable bike that is loads of fun over all sorts of terrain'. Later that year it won our Sportive Bike of The Year Award, with only the Shimano Di2-influenced price holding it back from taking overall honours. At £3,200 in 2015 money, the Di2 version was a hefty price to pay, so this time around it's the base model £1,899 10-speed Tiagra model on test. Again, for this spec it's not a class-leadingly cheap bike, but the overall package is worthy of inclusion on anyone's to-be-considered list.
It's always worth checking out what Canyon has to offer, and this combination of the light, quick but comfortable Endurace CF SL frame and Shimano 105 components is decent value, and — if the women's equivalent is any guide — a superb all-day mile-eater. And the 2019 model is £100 cheaper than last years!
Merida's dramatic take on the gravel bike genre is as close as a bike gets to being a mountain bike without becoming the bailiwick of our sister site off.road.cc. It has the long head tube and top tube that's a feature of many contemporary mountain bikes, and single-chainring gearing. It keeps its feet on the Tarmac with 35mm tyres, but if you wanted to get adventurous there's room to go plenty bigger.
With Raleigh's aluminium-framed Mustangs, carbon Rokers and steel Mavericks the Big Heron jumped into gravel bikes with both boots a couple of years ago. Raleigh's folks say they started revamping their endurance road range, then realised that for a lot of British riding a bike with a long wheelbase and fat tyres was better able to cope with back roads trashed by the combination of bad winters and hacked road maintenance budgets. The Mustang Comp has SRAM hydraulic brakes and 11 speed SRAM Apex 1 gears.
If you want to put that race licence to good use, smash those Strava KOMs or just want a fast, comfortable, easy-to-ride road bike, then the Boardman SLR 9.2 needs to be on your shortlist. With a full-carbon frameset, Shimano Ultegra R8000 groupset, and Boardman's own tubeless-compatible wheels, the SLR is a real contender even before you take the price into account – and that challenges even the direct-to-consumer specialists.
Specialized's Tarmac Elite is a smart looking and well packaged bike that offers the sort of fast and engaging ride that will suit budding racers, along with sportive cyclists who favour a less upright position than is provided by the company's Roubaix model.
Rose claims an impressive 7.9kg for the Team GF 4 Disc 105 and given that its predecessor the Xeon CDX-4400 comes in at 7.5kg (16.6lb), we believe it. The ride is quick, easy to live with and delivers a lot of fun miles. It's a cracker of a machine ready to be ridden flat out or cruising the lanes.
The aim of road.cc buyer's guides is to give you the most, authoritative, objective and up-to-date buying advice. We continuously update and republish our guides, checking prices, availability and looking for the best deals.
Our guides include links to websites where you can buy the featured products. Like most sites we make a small amount of money if you buy something after clicking on one of those links. We want you to be happy with what you buy, so we only include a product in a if we think it's one of the best of its kind.
As far as possible that means recommending equipment that we have actually reviewed, but we also include products that are popular, highly-regarded benchmarks in their categories.
The bike shops are full of new road bikes for 2019; here are 10 of the most eye-catching.
Loads of the new road bikes that have been revealed over the past few months are equipped with disc brakes and that's reflected here. There are certainly new rim brake designs being released, and we've included several, but big brands are concentrating their research and development on disc brake bikes because that's the way they believe the market is heading.
Most of the new bikes we've included here are pretty expensive. That's because new releases tend to be pricey before the technology gradually trickles down the range over time.
Don't worry if your favourite new bike isn't included; we'll have more 2019 bike roundups on road.cc over the next few weeks.
Cannondale claims that its new SystemSix, available only with disc brakes, is “the world’s fastest UCI-legal road bike”, largely thanks to an aerodynamic performance that has been honed by computational fluid dynamics modelling and the wind tunnel.
Cannondale says that it has tailored the airfoil profiles of the various parts of the frame “with differing degrees of truncation designed to maintain flow attachment across important yaw angles to minimise drag”.
The £3,499.99 SystemSix Carbon Ultegra comes with Fulcrum Racing 400 DB wheels and a Shimano Ultegra groupset, including hydraulic disc brakes.
Specialized has radically redesigned its Venge aero road bike for 2019, giving it an all-new frame and fork that's compatible only with disc brakes and electronic gears – meaning that there are no complete bikes available for less than £6,250. Gulp!
The new Venge is lighter and faster than the previous version but we found that it's the much-improved handling and stiffness that most sets it apart.
The new Look 795 Blade RS aero road bike features truncated aero section tubes, an invisible seatpost clamp and an integrated aero cockpit. The seatstays are long and curved and there's no brake bridge between them. The design is intended to allow some vertical movement for increased comfort and traction. The bike is available in both rim brake and disc brake versions.
The latest version of Giant’s hugely popular endurance road bike has wider tyre clearance than previously (up to 32mm), tubeless tyres and D-Fuse handlebars that are designed to provide extra compliance. The Defy Advanced Pro 0 also comes with Giant’s new Power Pro dual-sided power meter, which looks like a great deal for £4,499.
The Strada aero road bike was initially designed with a single chainring transmission in mind but 3T has now added the Strada Due to the lineup, giving you the option of fitting an electronic groupset with a double chainring. The seat tube has also been beefed up a little to support the use of the front mech, but that change aside it's the same as the original Strada.
Trek's new Madone road bike comes with adjustable IsoSpeed (a system that decouples the seat tube from the top tube to smooth the ride) and an updated geometry.
A cheap entry on a list of the hottest bikes? Why not? Decathlon has added two new disc-braked models in the popular Triban range and they look like exceptional value for money. The £530 Triban RC 500 and £730 Triban RC 520 share the new Evo 18 6061 aluminium frame, with a tall head tube, steeply sloping top tube, fittings for racks and mudguards and clearance for tyres up to 40mm wide.
These are deeply practical bikes, but they’re not unexciting. It might take a little while to wind them up to speed but once there they boom along very nicely!
Genesis has added disc brake versions of its Zero carbon fibre race bike for 2019, with 12mm thru-axles and flat mount disc brakes. The aggressive geometry is unaltered.
You can buy the frameset for £1,699.99 or pay £2,699.99 for the complete bike with Shimano's second-tier Ultegra groupset, including hydraulic disc brakes.
The updated Colnago C64 builds on the success of its predecessor with a raft of refinements that bring enhanced stiffness, comfort and clearance for wider tyres. It isn't so much a revolution as an evolution, and it's the best C series yet, and one of a handful of bikes still made in Italy.
A complete bike with disc brakes starts from £7,739, which isn't cheap by anyone's measure, but is it worth it? "Smooth, fast, light, surefooted, fun... the C64 is one of the nicest bikes I've had the pleasure to review," said our David Arthur, and he's a man with exacting standards!
Ridley has redesigned its top-level aero road bike with channels towards the front edge of the tubing that are designed to act as vortex generators to reduce drag. The fork integrates with the frame, the seatpost clamp is hidden from the airflow and an integrated handlebar/stem is fitted up front. The cabling is internally routed through the bar/stem and Ridley claims a weight saving of about 250g over the previous Noah. Both rim brake and disc brake versions are available.
The aim of road.cc buyer's guides is to give you the most, authoritative, objective and up-to-date buying advice. We continuously update and republish our guides, checking prices, availability and looking for the best deals.
Our guides include links to websites where you can buy the featured products. Like most sites we make a small amount of money if you buy something after clicking on one of those links. We want you to be happy with what you buy, so we only include a product in a if we think it's one of the best of its kind.
As far as possible that means recommending equipment that we have actually reviewed, but we also include products that are popular, highly-regarded benchmarks in their categories.
Trek has a huge range that covers virtually all areas of cycling. The US brand divides its performance road bikes into three families: Madone, Emonda and Domane, and then there are the new Checkpoint gravel bikes.
Madone has an emphasis on aerodynamic efficiency, Emonda is all about light weight, Domane has a focus on comfort and ride quality and Checkpoint (disappointingly not Daemon to keep with the anagram theme) is for dirt roads and mixed-surface riding. There are many models at different price points within each of those categories.
Trek also offers several cyclocross models.
Some of the higher end bikes are available through Trek's Project One (P1) system that let's you choose the components you want and even the paint scheme.
Here are the highlights of the range.
Checkpoint
Trek's latest collection comes with carbon or aluminium frames packing the IsoSpeed decoupler from the Domane (see below), and with space for up to 45mm tyres, umpteen water bottle mounts plus mudguard and rack eyelets, 12mm thru-axles and flat mount disc brakes. It's available only with Shimano 2x11 groupsets and costs from £1,450 to £3,400.
Trek first showed its cards with the Domane Gravel, a slightly modified version of the company’s endurance bike but with wider tyres. It's fair to say we were all a bit surprised by the effort, but it now looks like it was a stopgap for real gravel bike enthusiasts before the arrival of the company’s first dedicated foray into this growing category, the all-new Checkpoint.
Compared to the Domane Gravel, Trek says the new Checkpoint offers much improved off-road capability and general versatility, with bigger tyre clearance, adjustable dropouts and geometry and lots of accessory mounts the key differences. Why they didn't just launch the Checkpoint in the first place is anyone's guess.
Trek offers the Checkpoint in either an aluminium or a carbon fibre frame. The carbon bikes have the Isospeed decoupler that Trek introduced on the Domane in 2012, while the aluminium bikes are rigid. Isospeed is a mechanism that allows the top of the seat tube to move a little, independently of the rest of the frame, to provide a small amount of bum-cosseting shock absorption.
The top of the range is the Checkpoint SL 6, which boasts a Shimano Ultegra groupset and hydraulic brakes for an RRP of £3,400; that's it at the top of this section.
"If you want a bike that is comfortable and provides space for wide tyres for mostly road riding, with lots of versatility whether for winter training and commuting or touring and bikepacking, the Trek is a good choice," we said in our review of the Checkpoint SL 6. "But it's not the most capable bike when the going gets rough and bumpy.
"Sure, the rear IsoSpeed decoupler works its magic, filtering out the harshness and giving your bum and back a smooth ride, but the front end is simply too harsh in comparison. Not fitting wider tyres and a lower range drivetrain shows either a failure to be bolder in the spec or a lack of appreciation for the demands of riding what is essentially a road bike off-road."
The £2,700 Checkpoint SL 5, above, has Shimano's 105 groupset and is also available in a women's version.
If you can live without carbon fibre and Isospeed, £1,700 gets you the Shimano 105-equipped Checkpoint ALR 5, above. It's also available in women's geometry.
The least expensive bike in the range is the Checkpoint ALR 4 at £1,450 with Shimano Tiagra. That's the women's geometry version above.
Buy if: You want a gravel/adventure bike that's also capable of moving fast over asphalt
Madone
The Madone (pronounced mad-own) is a long-standing model in the Trek range although it has changed massively over the years. These days all of the Madones are high-end; you can’t get a complete bike for less than £3,600.
The Madone range has had a major redesign for 2019 with the introduction of the top-end SLR models and a slightly more accessible SL version. The 2019 Madone range sees the inclusion of adjustable IsoSpeed, a new geometry and disc brake models. The rim brake version is lighter than the disc brake version, but Trek says there is no aerodynamic penalty in going for discs.
IsoSpeed is a design that “maintains the diamond-shaped frameset geometry but ‘decouples’ the seat tube from the top tube, allowing the seat tube to flex with the forces of the road” (Trek’s words). The idea is that it smooths the ride, adding comfort and reducing fatigue. IsoSpeed was already a feature of the Madone but now Trek has made it adjustable on the SLR models.
Trek says that it has managed to maintain the aero performance of the previous generation (9-Series) Madone while adding the adjustable top tube IsoSpeed, a new geometry, updated components and disc brakes.
The 9-Series Madone was available in two different geometries: low and stretched H1 and slightly more upright H2. The new Madone SLR comes in a single geometry called H1.5 which, as you might have guessed, sits between the two.
The Madone SLR comes in men’s and one women’s specific models. They use the same frame but the women’s version features a different saddle, handlebar width and stem length.
All of the Madone SLRs feature an OCLV 700 frame and an integrated two-piece carbon bar and stem.
The most affordable (it's all relative!) Trek Madone SLR models are the SLR 6 Disc, above, (from £5,400) and the rim brake version of the SLR 6 (£5,500). Both feature Shimano Ultegra groupsets.
The SLR 7 Disc (£7,550) has an Ultegra Di2 groupset, the SLR 8 bikes (rim brake model, above, from £6,750, disc model £7,750) have Dura-Ace mechanical components and the SLR 9 models (rim brake £9,550, disc brake from £10,000) have Dura-Ace Di2. There's a Madone SLR 9 Disc eTap (with SRAM Red eTap components, obviously) for £10,550.
There’s also a Madone SL 6, above, in the range that uses Trek’s OCLV 500 carbon fibre which is said to be a little heavier and less stiff then OCLV 700. The Madone SL 6 features rear IsoSpeed rather than the Adjustable Top Tube IsoSpeed of the SLR models. It doesn’t have Bontrager’s integrated handlebar and stem but instead has a Bontrager Pro stem and Elite Aero handlebar. It comes with Bontrager Aeolus Comp 5 TLR wheels, a Shimano Ultegra 8000 drivetrain and Bontrager integrated brakes and is priced £3,600.
Buy if: You want a top-level race bike and you have a lot of money to spend.
Emonda (rim brake)
Trek’s Emonda (pronounced eh-mon-dah) lightweight road bike range had a huge update for 2018, the carbon-fibre models having been redesigned to be lighter than ever. Disc brakes were added to the Emonda lineup for the first time too (see below).
The Emonda range covers four different carbon-fibre frames – the SL, the SL Disc, the SLR and the SLR Disc – and an aluminium model (see below).
The SL is made from Trek’s 500 Series OCLV carbon and has a claimed weight of 1,091g while the fork is 313g.
The rim brake SL models range in price from £1,800 (SL 5, Shimano 105, above) up to £2,900 (SL 6 Pro, Bontrager Aeolus Pro 3 wheels).
When we reviewed the Emonda SL 5 here on road.cc we called it "a fast and nimble road bike that puts in an exceptional performance for its price".
"Climb aboard the SL 5 and it immediately feels alive, responding keenly as soon as you turn the pedals," we said. "Put a serious amount of power through the cranks and it springs forward as if it was just waiting for the flag to drop. Both the head tube and the down tube are enormous, holding the frame firmly in shape when you're recruiting every muscle fibre on an out-of-the saddle sprint or climb."
There’s also a women’s model that, like the standard SL 5, has a heavier fork than the rest of the Emonda SLs at 436g.
The Trek Emonda SLR frame is superlight at just 640g.
There's just one standard Emonda SLR rim brake model for 2019 — SLR 6, above, (Shimano Ultegra, from £4,000), although you can go through Trek's Project One program if you want a different spec. The SLR 6 features direct-mount Speed Stop brakes from Bontrager, Trek’s sub-brand. These brakes have hollow arms, titanium hardware and a claimed weight of just 95g. They offer enough clearance for tyres up to 28mm wide.
Buy if: You’re after a fast road bike with a focus on light weight.
Emonda Disc
Coming in at just 665g, the Emonda SLR Disc frame is the lightest disc brake frame that we know of. The Emonda SLR Disc fork is 350g.
Complete bikes come stock with wider 28mm tyres although Trek says that you can fit wider tyres for gravel and even adventure riding.
The Emonda SLR Disc is available in SLR 9 Disc (Shimano Dura-Ace Di2, from £8,750, women's version available too), SLR 8 Disc (Shimano Dura-Ace mechanical, £5,850, above), SLR 7 Disc (Shimano Ultegra Di2, from £5,300, women's version available) and SLR 6 Disc (Shimano Ultegra, £5,000, women's version available) models.
Like the rim brake frameset, the disc brake version comes as an SL version too. The Emonda SL Disc frame is 1,149g and the fork is 350g.
The SL 7 Disc (Shimano Ultegra Di2, above) is £4,500 while the SL 6 Disc (Shimano Ultegra) is £2,700.
Buy if: You’re interested in a quick, lightweight road bike with the all-weather reliability of disc brakes.
Emonda ALR
The Emonda ALR frame is among the very best aluminium options out there at the moment, with Trek having recently added disc brake models to sit alongside the rim brake options. Each of them gets a full-carbon fork.
There are two rim brake Emonda ALR bikes in the range, each based on the same 300 Series Alpha Aluminium frame with virtually invisible welds and a tapered head tube that helps to provide accurate steering.
The Emonda ALR 4 is the cheapest model at £1,100. This gets you a Shimano Tiagra groupset with virtually everything else coming from Bontrager.
If you can afford more, the £1,350 Emonda ALR 5, above, is tempting with its Shimano 105 groupset. That looks a great buy.
The disc brake frame is only a little heavier than the rim brake model — 1,131g (56cm size) as opposed to 1,112g.
The Shimano Tiagra-equipped Emonda ALR 4 Disc, above, is £1,400, while the Emonda ALR 5 Disc has mainly Shimano 105 components and a £1,750 price tag.
Buy if: You want one of the best lightweight aluminium road bikes out there.
Domane
Trek broke new ground when it introduced its IsoSpeed decoupler on the Domane (pronounced dough-mar-nay) back in 2012. Essentially, it’s a design that allows the seat tube to pivot relative to the top tube and seatstays,so the saddle can move downwards (and a little backwards), providing more give and adding comfort to the ride.
Then Trek introduced a front IsoSpeed system (above) to some of its models in 2016 to increase comfort and control, and added adjustment to the rear IsoSpeed decoupler (below).
• Domane SLR: Front and adjustable rear IsoSpeed, 600 Series OCLV carbon frame, carbon IsoSpeed fork.
• Domane SL: Front and non-adjustable rear IsoSpeed, 500 Series OCLV carbon frame, carbon IsoSpeed fork.
• Domane AL: No decoupler, 100 Series Alpha Aluminium frame, carbon IsoSpeed fork.
The most affordable Domane is the £595 AL 2, above, available in both standard and women's versions. It's an aluminium bike in an endurance fit that's designed for comfort, but there's no decoupler. The AL 2 is built up with a Shimano Claris 8-speed groupset.
The AL 3 (£750) is a Shimano Sora 9-speed build while the AL 4 (£900) has mainly Shimano Tiagra components and the AL 5 (£1,100) has a Shimano 105-based spec. Both the AL 3 and AL 5 are available in women's versions.
There are no longer any disc brake-equipped aluminium Domanes.
Priced £2,000, the SL 5 (available in both standard and women's versions) is the most affordable Domane with front IsoSpeed. This model features a Shimano 105 groupset.
The £2,350 Domane SL 5 Disc, above, is a similar bike but with Shimano 105 hydraulic disc brakes.
The highest specced Domane SL is the 7 Disc (£4,800), above, equipped with a Shimano Ultegra groupset and Bontrager Aeolus Pro 3 Disc Tubeless Ready wheels.
The top-level SLR Domanes – with front IsoSpeed and adjustable rear IsoSpeed – come as complete bikes only with disc brakes in 2019, although a rim brake frameset is available for £2,300. The range kicks off with the SLR 6 Disc (from £4,500, also available in a women's version priced £5,050).
We reviewed a previous version of this bike we said, “The Domane just got even better. It's smoother and more comfortable than the original, and fast and fun as well.”
We went on to say, “There are few endurance bikes as comfortable as the new Trek Domane SLR. A host of changes ensures the new bike is incredibly smooth, filtering out the most severe vibrations on all sorts of rough roads, gravel tracks and cobblestones.”
If you want Trek's top level Domane, the SLR 9 Disc eTap, above, comes equipped with a Sram Red eTap groupset and Bontrager Aeolus XXX 2 Disc Tubeless Ready at a price of £9,300.
You can customise a Domane SLR through Trek's Project One system.
Buy if: You’re after an endurance road bike with plenty of comfort and control.
Cyclocross
Trek offers two cyclocross platforms: Crockett and Boone.
The Crockett frame is disc-specific and it’s made from 200 Series Alpha Aluminium. The more affordable of the two models is the Crockett 5 Disc (£1,400) with a largely SRAM Rival groupset and Tektro Spyre mechanical disc brakes.
The Crockett 7 Disc, above, has a Sram Force 1 groupset, including hydraulic disc brakes, so it’s more expensive at £2,100.
The Boone is made from 600 Series OCLV carbon fibre and, like the Crockett, it is disc-specific.
The £2,600 Boone 5 Disc, above, comes with a Sram Rival 1 groupset including hydraulic disc brakes while the Boone 7 Disc (£3,500) has mostly Sram Force 1 components.
Buy if: You want a cyclocross race bike with cross-specific geometry and gearing.
The aim of road.cc buyer's guides is to give you the most, authoritative, objective and up-to-date buying advice. We continuously update and republish our guides, checking prices, availability and looking for the best deals.
Our guides include links to websites where you can buy the featured products. Like most sites we make a small amount of money if you buy something after clicking on one of those links. We want you to be happy with what you buy, so we only include a product in a if we think it's one of the best of its kind.
As far as possible that means recommending equipment that we have actually reviewed, but we also include products that are popular, highly-regarded benchmarks in their categories.
All of the big brands have aero road bikes in the range these days, most in both rim brake and disc brake options.
Aero road bikes essentially draw aerodynamic features from time trial bikes into a road frame, and balance the demands of weight and stiffness into a package that, on paper, looks to be the ideal all-round choice.
You're always working against air resistance when you ride your bike; the higher the speed the more significant it gets. Although most of that air resistance results from you — your body and what you're wearing — a significant chunk is acting against your bike, hence the development of aero road bikes that are designed to produce the minimum of drag.
Here are some of the best aero road bikes of 2019. We'll run part 2 — featuring the likes of Specialized, Colnago, BMC, Ridley and 3T — next week.
Cannondale described the disc brake-only SystemSix as the "fastest bike in the world" when it was revealed in July 2018. It also said that the SystemSix is more than an aero bike, although there's certainly a massive focus on aero efficiency here.
The updated Cervelo S5 features a V-shaped stem integrated into a new fork that's fully external. According to Cervelo, the stem reduces drag by allowing unimpeded airflow along the top tube. The aero-shaped down tube has a cutaway leading edge to allow it to sit close to the front wheel in order to manage the airflow in that area.
Bianchi's Aria, available with either rim brakes or disc brakes, is an efficient aero road bike that handles sharply. Although hardly a budget option, it comes in a variety of builds and is a more accessible choice than any of the brand's Oltres.
You can still buy a Propel with rim brakes but the latest update is a disc-brake only design that Giant says is more aerodynamically efficient than any of its predecessors. It's stiff and efficient and available in a wide variety of builds to suit different budgets.
The Venturi is a disc brake-only design with 12mm thru axles front and rear. The frame is optimised for 28mm-wide tyres and uses spread tow carbon from Sigmatex — flat and wide unidirectional tapes that are designed to reduce weight and increase stiffness.
The ZX1, available only with disc brakes, is a fast and smooth carbon bike that handles superbly. You get Kammtail shaped tube profiles, a fork crown that's recessed into the frame, an aero seatpost and internal cable routing to reduce drag. It offers good value for money in a race-ready package.
The Dogma F10 — both rim brake and disc brake models are available — might not be a full-on aero road bike like some here but it certainly has aero features such as a flatback down tube profile that's designed to smooth the airflow over the water bottle, and fins behind the fork dropouts to reduce drag around the quick release lever.
Merida's Reacto aero road bikes have slim tube shapes, a low seatstay connection and, in some cases, a one-piece cockpit. They're available in two different geometries and in both disc brake and rim brake models. Merida claims the difference in aero efficiency between rim brake and disc models is less than one watt at 45km/h (28mph).
You tend to get a lot for your money by buying direct from Rose, the rim brake version of the Xeon CW aero bike coming with Shimano's second tier Ultegra groupset for £2,132. The disc brake model is just over £300 more expensive.
One of the best things about buying from Ribble is that you can use its online Bike Builder system to select the parts you want based on your preferences and budget. You can go all the way up to a Sram Red eTap groupset, a Quarq DZero power meter and Zipp 404 wheels if you have the cash.
The Scott Foil has been known for its versatility over the past few years and these days it's available in both rim brake and disc brake guises. The most affordable rim brake option, with Shimano 105 components, is £2,499 while disc brake models start at £3,199.
The Air bikes feature truncated airfoil tube profiles that are deeper and narrower than those that you’ll find on most other aero road bikes, while the cutaway section of the seat tube is designed to work best with 25mm-wide tyres although there’s space for 28s if you prefer.
With its Trident 2.0 tube profiles (essentially a cut-off aerofoil, Kamm tail shape) and skinny head tube and fork blades, the Aeroad has been one of the benchmark aero road bikes of the past few years. You also get predictable handling and plenty of comfort thrown in.
Trek's 2019 Madones are hugely updated with a new geometry. The SLR range comes with adjustable IsoSpeed and the option of disc brakes. The rim brake version is lighter but there's no aerodynamic penalty in opting for discs, according to Trek.
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