This is part of the manufactures figures, this video and the supplied bike is part of specialized marketing budget, and it isn't an accident. If they gave you these figures directly you wouldn't believe them, so instead they give these guys a discount/loaner bike and you believe the numbers.
@@zachcalton3199 Might want to take off the tinfoil hat, lol. Many other channels have run side-by-sides and come up with similar gains/advantages when comparing different bikes or go-fast-bits.
You should’ve done a test also how many Watts more need to be pushed to be as fast on the cheaper bike as on the more expensive. That would’ve been interesting.
@Morgan But it's not quite that easy because the wattage requirements increase as a curve - it's not linear. As the speed doubles the energy required to go that fast squares. The portion you're dealing with is not a big part of the curve but it's still curved.
That’s a great series! I would love to see the Tarmac S-Works against the Tarmac SL7 Expert or Tarmac SL7 Pro to understand whether or not you’re paying for the S-Works brand. P.S. love the new song you’re using on the intro clips ;)
I can see the S-Works being faster on a wind tunnel or in a pro cycling peloton, but I still have my doubts if it would be faster enough in a real-world test against the Tarmac SL 7 Pro to worth the extra $5100.
@@felipexakal the wind tunnel is the place were its actually not a single watt faster. Its 400 g lighter therefore its slightly faster climbing. Thats it
The avg power on the second test is 3W lower. Assuming the wind be the exact same, this plays a role in the overall time. Also, it is not clear how much is the contribution of tires, vs wheels. It would be great if you can rung the third test, with the SL6, original wheels, and tires+tubes of the SL7. Furthermore, this time try to maintain an avg power of 253W.
Great video but you totally missed a trick not recording a time for the SL7 with the SL6 sport wheels and tires. Would that have been just over a minute faster than the stock SL6?
I loved watching both part 1 & 2 of this video. Awesome work! I would have loved to see the time difference between a top end road racing tires and a mid range tire, all other variables constant as much as possible.
That opening music was nice. Great video too, right to the point without a bunch of promotional bs you find on other RU-vid videos. Keep up the good work!
Watched the first video a couple days ago and though, man I can’t wait to see what it will be like with the other wheels. And boom! I open my RU-vid to see this gem at the top of my feed. Awesome stuff man!
Feel even better now about ordering the Bontrager Aeolus Elite 35 TLR Disc Road Wheels for my alluminium Trek Emonda ALR 5. I've already been riding brilliantly on it this past year but can't wait to see my stats after I throw them on. Plus like you guys said, now I've got training wheels and back ups for commuting. Nobody likes waking up to a flat tire in the morning and having to change it in a rush with the fear of being late for work.
Thanks for making this. I certainly wouldn’t spend $10,000 for a 7% improvement. I’m certain I could train a bit harder and get that much. I’d probably lose that extra 1 kg in weight. Sure if you are a world tour rider you need everything you can get but for the rest of us the SL6 looks fine.
EXACTLY. WELL SAID. SAY IT AGAIN 10 TIMES SO THE MANUFACTURERS & MY WALLET CAN HEAR YOU !!! MODESTY IS THE BEST POLICY. BE THANKFUL FOR WHAT YOU DO HAVE.
I have done almost exactly this - SL6 Tarmac Sport with 60mm Carbon wheels, noticed the difference immediately compared to the stock aluminium DT Swiss.
Great video guys! Similarly I’m just looking at two different model years of Giant where the 2021 is “X”% more aero than the previous year. Even by Giant’s own testing that’s 34 seconds over 40km at 200W. Less than a second per KM! There’s only so much a frame can do!
@@KristianSchoeler Some people just hate Canyon xD - I know Hambini doesn't like them, but he doesn't like most of the bike industry unless it's Time or Look. I'll never buy a Canyon after they threated to take Hambini to court over him calling them out on a seat post(given the way he does it is really funny). Many people had issues with a the seat post and instead of fixing the issues they start filing law suites against the people who call them out. doesn't give me warm fuzzies about spending 5+k on a bike from them.
In addition to cost, would also be great if you focused more on weight. Just from the quick shots of the scales, it seems like the SL6 weighs around 7% more than the SL7. Although GCN and the like love saying aero > weight, I'm sure weight still has a significant effect.
There must be some differences coming from the weight. Even riding on mild rolling terrain with no real long sustained climbs the weight has to factor in just a little bit.
What about the aerobars of the SL7? They have about 15 Watts less drag than the standard round roadbars. The SL6 is pretty cheap on the second hand market right now, at around €1600,- with Ultegra. A set of carbon wheels and aero cockpit and it would close the gap even further. Unfortunately the S-Works prices are way beyond the average buyer.
Awesome comparison. One question, on the SL7 frame, where is the additional 1 minute of time saving coming from? Is it purely just from a lighter frame? Could you expand on that?
i have a tarmac sl6 sport with a pair of ican aero50 disc,s-works handlebar,s-works saddle,exustar pedals,cnc aliexpress cassette,turbocotton tires,titane aliexpress screws,sram centerline X disc...3508€ total price for 7.4kg complete bike!! it's really a rocket!! it's equivalent of more expensive bike (5/6000€) i love this "cheap" bomb!!
@@ramouflard i would look into local wheelmakers in your country. Most of them make really good Carbon wheels for around €$£1000. That is probably your best bet at cheap Carbon wheels with great quality
Can you do a test with both bikes but add some clip-on TT bars? I think it would be great to see the time if we make the rider as aero as possible. So 4 sets of data, base time with stock bikes then time with both bikes with the TT bars.
If you look closely at 00:30 you can clearly see why there is a 2min19s difference between the SL6 and the SL7. The SL6 was tested in the small ring while the S-Works was tested in the big ring. Everyone knows the big ring is way faster
I really wish you would have compared the Specialized SL7 Expert ($5K) or Pro($7K) to the SL6 with upgraded wheels. The Pro is $7K and is a very similar bike (upgraded wheels, same components, and integration, etc.) as the Sworks you were testing, minus the S-works price.
Now put an aero cockpit on the SL6 and tidy up those cables. I bet the gap shrinks to under a minute. The SL7 will still be quicker but my point is that you could easily upgrade bar and stem for a few hundred dollars, but that’s just going down the rabbit hole. The less expensive bike is still good bang for your buck, just get out there and enjoy riding your bike whatever it is.
Very useful and interesting tests. Thanks for sharing them. Surely you're not gonna leave your Venge out of this comparison? For $5k, the SL7 Expert Di2 must be faster than the SL6 with good wheels?
Great video, but at least you should use same power meter (paddle) for testing. The the whole experiment is untrustworthy due the difference of power metters.
What if you started with the $5k Tarmac SL7 Comp (which has nearly all the aero benefits of the S-Works SL-7 except for wheels) and put $1,000 aero wheels on it? I bet it would be nearly identical to the S-Works (which is now $14k)
How about testing the Tarmac SL7 with added weight, getting it to the same weight as the SL6? Would be a good measure of how much the aerodynamics of the frame, cockpit, etc., except wheels, matter.
What would this test be like with an S-Works SL6 with normal clincher brakes, take all the fancy aero items off the SL7.. aero cockpit, wheels and moved them onto an SL6 S-works clincher frame? The S-Works SL6 with normal brake calipers is very light.... that would be the comparison. I would think you wouldn't need to buy the very expensive SL7 frame...
Aerodynamics have rotating discs, specially one right next to your wheels just at the front of your bike. Rim brakes SL6 would perform better in terms of weight and aerodynamics just because of that difference.
You answered my question about adding the aero wheels after watching the original comparison, but what would be the difference if the SL-7 weighed as much as the SL-6. How much of the remaining difference is weight vs aero?
Besides the carbon layup and hidden cables (cockpit), isn’t it the exact same frame or are there design or aero features that a different from the standard Tarmac to the S-Works?
I've just re-watched these two videos as I've just bought an SL7 frame, and what I'm wondering now, is if you did this test again, how much faster is the s-works over the Specialized Pro or expert models. Especially with the pro that has the aerofly 2 bars as the only difference is the weight. What's the effect?
Still has not the same bike weights, does it with a slammed cut stem vs uncut stem and doesn't normalize the difference in watts (less average watts should gain seconds of advantage). Really the differences are so minor is no question. Of course the first video talks about how great it would be to have a 2 minute advantage in a race where most of the guys are drafting each other anyway but the test is for a breakaway/time trial scenario. Of course you can sit on the $12k biker's wheel all day and keep those gains on your $1k bike.
Also you did a similar test with the felt (non aero) and the venge and there was not much of a difference... You should test the venge vs the tarmac vs the aethos
For buying the wheels you could have bought a trek madrone sl6 only 4500 dollars or bikes like Scott foil 30 something like that they are all aero bikes they could have beaten the Tarmac sl7
SL7 Expert -- $5000, plus spare wheels $2500 ...$7700 or just get Pro for $7200 -- it is that extra $5K now to go from that to S Works that makes your eyes water heck $7K makes my eyes water -- thus I Ride Up Grades -- that only makes my legs and lungs hurt
Can you confirm that the wheels used where the CLX Rapides intead of the old CLXs? The white decals in the riding scenes aren't avaliable for the Rapides...
