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Video: Specialized Aethos First Ride Review - How does the world’s lightest disc-brake road bike ride?

We headed to a sunny Solihull for a quick spin on the Specialized Aethos. This hyper-light disc-brake road bike is stunningly quick.

No, you’re not looking at an old Specialized Tarmac with disc brakes, this is the Aethos, a brand new road bike from Specialized that is focused on everything apart from racing. I got my hands on this ultra-light bike, if only for a short ride and here are my thoughts about what this bike brings to the party.

First off, it’s nice to see high-end road bikes being designed without an eye on racing. In the information that Specialized has given us, they state that this bike will not be ridden by the pros in races. They have the SL7 for that which can be built to the UCI’s 6.8kg minimum weight rule.

This is a bike for you and me, the average (well-off) roadie that doesn’t care about marginal aero gains or drag and all of that.

With the Aethos, Specialized is taking things back to when stiffness to weight ratio and handling ruled the roost and I, for one, am rather happy about that. If you want fast, you have the Tarmac SL7 and if you want hyper-fast you still have the Venge, for now. This seems like it could be the general riding dream bike.

That said, Specialized has got UCI approval for the frame, so you can race on yours and take it to the bigger sportives if that’s your thing.

The tube shapes here might look round and they are, mostly. Specialized says that their engineers studied the “flexing and breathing of carbon frames in the pedalling test rig, and they realised the industry’s understanding of how forces flow through a frame was incomplete and ripe for massive improvements. We used staggeringly large supercomputer simulations—more than any humans can do in a lifetime—to subtly alter round tube shapes. This made their shapes more conical in key areas to deliver huge gains in stiffness and balance with the minimum amount of material.”

The headline result of all of that is the weight or lack of it. Specialized says that the lightest build comes in at just 5.8kg. For a disc brake road bike, that is certainly impressive, especially when you consider that this is a pretty standard build. There is nothing here that you’d only find on a hill-climb bike like a silly saddle or parts that require scary torque settings.

Weight is still enemy number one when it comes to getting up hills quickly so we’ll certainly be taking this bike into the hills.

Specialized says that their standard test ride for this bike was the ‘Big Easy’, an 80-mile ride in the Santa Cruz mountains that takes in 7000ft of climbing. On this short ride around Solihull, we weren’t really able to replicate that, but I’ll be ticking off a lot of climbing miles to see if the incredible acceleration that I’ve felt today is replicated when the gradient gets really steep. I’ve got a few hill climbs lined up too.

Specialized is also talking a lot about handling. With no aero tube shapes or need to make the Aethos super low and long, the handling should be free to be nicely balanced. I’ve only ridden 40 short kilometres on this bike so that is something that I’ll have to test properly back on home roads.

Speaking of home roads, I often moan about the road surfaces around the Mendip hills where you’ll often find me riding. It will be interesting to see how the stiffness to weight focus that Specialized has placed on this new bike impacts on the compliance. There really is no point having a super stiff bike if it saps all of your energy by providing a harsh ride.

One thing that will certainly help with comfort is the space for 32mm tyres. This one that I have here comes with 26mm S-Works Turbo Cotton tyres but should you want to maximise comfort then you can fit a 32mm tyre on a rim with an internal width of 21mm and still have 4mm clearance around the tyre.

Other sensible features include a threaded bottom bracket that we have seen a few brands reverting to recently. Pressfit as a system is very good when it works, but the tolerances needed have presented a few brands with quality control issues and to be quite frank, I don’t want to be bothered by creaking while I’m out riding. Silence is golden and I’m happy to see threaded systems coming back.

If the build is sensible then I’m afraid that the price isn’t. The collector’s edition that is limited to just 300 units will set you back a whopping £13,000. This one that I have here is £10,750, or £250 more than the new S-Works SL7. The SRAM RED eTAP AXS build is also £10,750.

 

The bike that I now have on test doesn’t feature anything revolutionary when you take a look at the spec sheet. You’re getting a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset along with Roval’s Alpinist wheels, S-Works finishing kit and a 27.2mm Roval Alpinist seatpost. The saddle is a stock S-Works Power, so it’s got scope to get even lighter if you’re looking at this and thinking about hill climbs.

One final note and a feature that I instantly noticed is the subtle paint scheme and branding. I used to love the old style Cannondale Supersix frames when people got custom paint jobs with just a little ‘Cannondale’ just on the top tube. The Aethos channels that clean feeling and I really like it. We can leave the massive logos to the riders that are paid to advertise their bikes.

So I’ll be riding the Aethos now for a month or so then we’ll have a full review on the site. What do you think of the bike? Are you happy that Specialized has made a superbike for riders that aren’t interested in racing? Does this show that high-end road bike design shouldn’t be lead by the needs of the pro peloton? Let us know down in the comments below.

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19 comments

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cyclisto | 3 years ago
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Kudos for subtle graphics and threaded bottom bracket, now that these features have been implemented at a bike with kidney threatening price, please consider them as necessary at bikes for us mortals who don't want to be squeaking clowns.

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AlsoSomniloquism | 3 years ago
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Solihull. Did they let you go up Maxstoke which is the local hill climb race location. It might not be like some of your locals but a nice kicker. 

On a more serious note, doesn't 6 in a ride count for these pressers? Definitely looks like at least 8 during one of video clips.

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Nick T | 3 years ago
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Okay so it "can be built" to 5.8kg - nothing new here, lots of bikes can - but how much does this one you rode weigh? More importantly, what does the actual frameset weigh?

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Nick T | 3 years ago
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I assume he means 'off the peg' it is that weight. As for Frameset, on the web they claim the frame only is 585 grams, S-Works, size 56cm.

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Nick T replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 3 years ago
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So it's about 100g lighter than a Factor O2 VAM which is raced by Israel SUN. Woop de fucken doo

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Secret_squirrel replied to Nick T | 3 years ago
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Forgetting for a sec its "just 100g", taking your 100g as gospel, thats a 15% weight saving, or probably close to an entire seat or chain stays worth.

Weight wise its not much, engineering wise its pretty impressive.  Marginal gains indeed.

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Nick T replied to Secret_squirrel | 3 years ago
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I didn't say "just 100g" so please don't make up quotes. 100g is a huge amount to drop - from a frame. From a total build, not so much. Built with the same equipment as a Factor O2, Wilier Z6, Emonda etc it'll be 100g lighter. The marketing hype that this is so light it'll be illegal to race is laughable. An Emonda SLR10 was over a kilogram lighter than this at launch 6 years ago!

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Nick T | 3 years ago
3 likes

"So about 100g..... Woop de fucken doo" does come across as you do not think that is a big deal and easily read as "just". The frame is also lighter then the Emonda you mentioned which was 690g. Of course being disk to being rims will always add weight but it would be interesting if they had more similar other components. For example the Emonda had 22mm tubulars on 890g wheels where this is 26mm tyres on 1290g wheels. 

I'm not sure why you seem to get so up in the air when things come out like this. If they were claiming all of this AND the emonda was still a bike you can get lighter from the manufacturer, then fine. It is like when a supercar is announced as the fastest production car on the market. You could get faster 10 years ago but not now. And it is out the cost range of the majority of us so who cares.

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Nick T replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 3 years ago
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My issue is the marketing claim that its somehow too light to be raced, when it clesarly isn't. its 100g lighter than other frames which are currently raced, frames which have all the modern features like integrated cabling etc which Specialized marketing have for years championed as reasons to buy their frames. Now this throwback to the days of skinny tubes is launched, sure as an exercise in reducing frame weight its a good job, but positioning it as too advanced for sanctioned racing is a joke. As it is, it's a bike without a market - aero was everything last month, now it's not because weight is everything, except it's got loads of heavy stuff on it. People like you seem to lap it up though, so what do I know

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fukawitribe replied to Nick T | 3 years ago
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Nick T wrote:

My issue is the marketing claim that its somehow too light to be raced, when it clesarly isn't.

Their lightest available builds are too light to be legally raced under UCI road racing regulations - not sure what's contraversial about that. There's nothing inherent about a frame that makes something too light to race, but not sure that's a big point they're making. That said, in their blurb they repeatedly emphasize that they were after ride quality * rather than any particular weight target - whether that's true or not, meh, but they don't appear to be obsessed with that; trot out it's the "lightest disc frame" a few times but not about the bike per se.

* Yeah, whatever that means, although tbf they do actually mention some stuff

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Nick T replied to fukawitribe | 3 years ago
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From the article

"In the information that Specialized has given us, they state that this bike will not be ridden by the pros in races"

seems pretty clear they want to sell it on the basis that it's too light for sanctioned racing

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fukawitribe replied to Nick T | 3 years ago
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Nick T wrote:

From the article

"In the information that Specialized has given us, they state that this bike will not be ridden by the pros in races"

seems pretty clear they want to sell it on the basis that it's too light for sanctioned racing

That is honestly one of the weirdest extrapolations i've ever heard...

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Nick T replied to fukawitribe | 3 years ago
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From specialized website, if this makes it easier to grasp

https://www.specialized.com/us/en/aethos

"we broke those sacred UCI rules too"

"Rules? What rules? Turns out, this bike may be *illegal in some circles (*psst..don't tell the UCI")

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fukawitribe replied to Nick T | 3 years ago
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As mentioned earlier, their lightest complete bike is, as it stands, illegal to use in a UCI road race event - so it's  marketing blurb at it's finest but technically correct.

As far as your comment that it "seems pretty clear they want to sell it on the basis that it's too light for sanctioned racing" immediately after a quote you posted viz

Quote:

"In the information that Specialized has given us, they state that this bike will not be ridden by the pros in races"

..that just doesn't follow, there is a number of reasons for that (replied in another thread about noodly bottom brackets) and it seems to go against what they themselves say was important in the design brief

"We stopped worrying about winning, or the way things are supposed to be done, and instead chased the greatest expression of ride quality ever made"

"gave us the opportunity to improve the ride quality delivered by material and layup"

"For once, we're not in it, to win it"

"With Aethos, we chased ride quality, not a number"

Notice a theme (flowery marketing speel aside) ? 

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Nick T | 3 years ago
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So it is lighter then, like they are mentioning. I wonder if this is 585g painted?

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Glov Zaroff replied to Nick T | 3 years ago
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Ah but 'it can be built' means the journos can hammer out click bait headlines like 'world's lightest road bike'. 
 

I've also noted 'if you want hyper-fast you still have the Venge, for now' - so is a certain road.cc writer going to retract his claim that it's been discontinued? Doubt it. 

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Glov Zaroff | 3 years ago
2 likes

Yep Jimmy, I can still see a Venge online to order from Specialized. Surely if you can't order it from the manufacturer it is discontinued. 

https://www.specialized.com/gb/en/shop/bikes/road-bikes/performance-road...

 

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quiff | 3 years ago
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OK, I don't get it. If it's not designed for racing, what is the purpose of getting the UCI approval? And if you do want to race it, do you then need to carry ballast to the UCI weight limit, which then makes its expensive designed-in lightness rather redundant?      

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to quiff | 3 years ago
3 likes

I suspect because some organised rides /  Sportives want you to have a UCI approved frame. Weight is not the problem, design is. 

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