Cycling Weekly's 2024 Race Bike Of The Year Awards.
They tested nine of the hottest high-end bikes on the market to crown our winner. With five categories, best climbing bike, best value race bike, best aero bike and the overall best race bike.
The Look 795 Blade RS won our best aero bike award, the Merida Scultura 9000 topped our best value category, the Giant TCR Advanced SL 0 took the best climbing title, the Enve Melee got us all aquiver so is deemed the most desirable bike on test. And now, drumroll please... Cycling Weekly's 2024 Race Bike of the Year is the Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8. What do you think of the winners, and which would you put on your wish list?
They tested nine of the hottest high-end bikes on the market to crown our winner. With five categories, best climbing bike, best value race bike, best aero bike and the overall best race bike.
The Look 795 Blade RS won our best aero bike award, the Merida Scultura 9000 topped our best value category, the Giant TCR Advanced SL 0 took the best climbing title, the Enve Melee got us all aquiver so is deemed the most desirable bike on test. And now, drumroll please... Cycling Weekly's 2024 Race Bike of the Year is the Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL8. What do you think of the winners, and which would you put on your wish list?
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SportsTranscript
00:00For the past few months Joe has been very hard at work testing the best bikes to bring you
00:05our 2024 winners for race bike of the year. Some of the best bikes on the market were tested
00:11across four different categories and a wild card bonus category too. Those being best climbing bike,
00:18best aero bike, best value bike and of course our overall race bike of the year. And finally
00:25after all of that testing we now have five winners. So without further ado let's get into them.
00:36So Joe talk us through the aero bike category. What were you looking for? Well I think a good
00:41place to start with this one is that actually every single bike we test now pretty much
00:47has seen some sort of aerodynamic design process. It's either been in a wind tunnel or it's seen a
00:52lot of computational fluid dynamics. So what separates an all-rounder from an aero bike now
00:57is slightly different. For me this award is going to be the bike that a sprinter would choose. So
01:03what would make Fabio Jakobsen choose a bike over what Taddy Pagaccio might choose for example? Okay
01:08so in that instance then and those being the parameters, to you what makes a good aero bike?
01:15So there's a few things. First of all stiffness. The aero bikes are generally ridden by more
01:20powerful riders and therefore things like bottom bracket stiffness is something that you're really
01:24going to be able to notice. That also can affect how planted a bike feels and the other thing there
01:29is confident handling. These bikes are often going to be handled at higher speeds and in bunch sprints
01:33for example and therefore it's imperative for them to be both stable and have quick handling. Okay so
01:39I think please put us all out of our misery. Who won and why? So this year's winner is the Look
01:46Blade 795 RS. Now this bike was released last year at the Tour de France and it's been ridden by
01:52Cofidis for around 12 months now and it really impressed me for a number of reasons. Now the
01:56first thing as I mentioned before is stiffness. This is 100% one of the stiffest bikes we had on
02:02test. Both sprinting and on climbs you really notice how well it accelerates and again that
02:07is something that I think is really important for bikes in this category. As well as that once you
02:11do have it up to speed and again this always feels a little bit subjective because we haven't
02:16had all these bikes in the wind tunnel but back to backing them you can tell that it holds its
02:20speed really really well and I think the component choice as well is really suited to that. So talk
02:25us through the component choice. What was on the bike you were riding? Yeah so I was really impressed
02:30by the Coroma wheelset. Now they're also quite lightweight so that allowed again for acceleration
02:35and sort of good top end speed. What was really brilliant though is the cockpit. It does a really
02:40good job of being nice and stiff which by the way for a lot of in-house cockpits is really not the
02:47case, not always the case at all. It was good and stiff but it was also quite comfortable. Of course
02:52these are race bikes so perhaps you don't expect them to be the most comfortable but it's still
02:56really important. A lot of races are long and a lot of our riding on these race bikes as well is
03:01going to be long days in the saddle. Couple that as well with the fact that this is a two-piece setup
03:05and a very neatly integrated one at that and I thought it was worth shouting about. Okay that's
03:09great to know but are there any other key points that you thought were particularly good or maybe
03:13particularly bad? So I think two things. Firstly the bike climbs fairly well which by the way no
03:19aero bike in today's market really with so many all-round machines can climb badly and as I
03:24mentioned it's not too heavy so this build comes in at 7.48 kilos which is still I think respectable
03:30for a bike in its category and then the other thing is the handling is really good as well. So
03:33it was one of the probably the most stable bike on test 410 millimetre chainstay so slightly longer
03:40which means it doesn't feel quite so responsive as some of the other bikes on test but it does
03:45mean you can really get the most out of it on sort of more technical terrain and for example in a
03:50bunch sprint scenario. So obviously the Look won but how did it compare against all the other bikes
03:56that you were testing? Why did it win? So yeah this is a really important point. The main thing that
04:00the Look does incredibly well is acceleration. So for example the Enve was a super super quick and
04:06comfortable bike at high speed but in terms of how it got there it just wasn't quite as fast. Now the
04:12other thing to mention as well is it climbs better than other aero bikes I've tested as well. The
04:17Canyon Aeroad is a prime example. Brilliant bike and again fast but just has a slightly a slight
04:24numbness to the ride feel. It doesn't quite get up and go as quickly as the Look and that's where it
04:28really impressed me and that also which I think this is a massive consideration for anybody
04:33spending a vast amount of money on a new bike makes it a lot more fun too.
04:43Now this next category is one which I think a lot of you will be very interested in.
04:47I am myself, Joe. What determines good value? Right now this is obviously especially in today's
04:56market a really important question. Now for me a good value bike is one that performs as close to
05:02or the same as sort of some of the big brand names but of course at a lower price point. Now just the
05:08same as in all our other testing brand loyalty is totally left at the door. We rigorously back-to-back
05:14test all of these bikes and then go to the stat sheet afterwards to see which brand offers the
05:20most amount of bike at the lowest price. So really important what are your points of comparison when
05:27judging a category like this? So the main points of comparison are going to be weight, obviously
05:31super important. Geometry, that is something that so often we see more budget brands getting wrong
05:37so that's a real contentious issue. Features as well, sometimes on value models bike brands will
05:42choose specific components like handlebars for example to really skimp out on so we look out for
05:47that and of course stiffness, comfort and ride feel. So tell us who won? So the winner of the
05:53best value bike for 2024 is one you might not expect it's the Merida Scultura 9000. Tell us why?
06:01Why? Because that is a shocker. Now the Merida impressed me from ride one. The biggest thing that
06:06struck me initially was the bottom bracket is super super stiff. Now this makes for kind of an
06:12electric ride feel, really really quick to accelerate and it does all this at a price of £6,750
06:18which yes is a lot of money but compare that as a top level frame set to the likes of the
06:24Specialized, an equivalent bike from Specialized you're talking over £10,000. It's a real real
06:30saving. Wow I think the question that's on everybody's lips though and the one that's on mine
06:36the Van Rysel RCR. The super bike killer. Indeed I can't believe it didn't win. Why didn't it win?
06:42So a lot of you'll be thinking of course that bike's gonna win it came out £8,500 or £9,000
06:48for a world tour spec bike why didn't it win? Well we did test it and I did back to back test these
06:53two bikes in particular and the truth be told the Van Rysel I just couldn't fall in love with it.
06:59Interesting so it was mainly down to a ride feel thing? Ride feel indeed so the Van Rysel
07:05boasts a real lightweight frame so you're talking 790 grams I think for a size 56 which is actually
07:12lighter than the Merida at 830 grams I think and in fact Van Rysel's goal when building that bike
07:17was to be able to build a bike to 6.8 kilos which actually as we mentioned the Merida comes in a
07:21little bit over that but the big thing here was that I just as I said I couldn't fall in love
07:26with it and as you said that comes down to ride feel so what do I mean by that? I think the Van
07:31Rysel was fast once you got it up to speed but it had just a slightly numb ride feel now by no means
07:38is this a slow bike I mean we can prove that because it's won summit finishes this year but
07:43I just don't think it was that exciting to ride and at the end of the day it is still £8,500
07:49there are no concessions for a £4,000 bike here it's not half the price as a competition
07:54so really we have to be rigorous and I think the biggest thing as well is if you look at
07:59the price points across the range Van Rysel slightly has Merida beat at the very top end
08:05but as soon as you get to that mid-range they start overlapping and actually some of the cheaper
08:09frame sets that Merida do are actually cheaper for the same spec than the Van Rysel. Wow that is
08:16quite surprising I won't lie it makes me more intrigued about the Merida though so tell us
08:21more about it. Sure so the first thing to know about the Merida I think it is still very much a
08:25climbing bike and it's one that's been out for a couple of years now but it really has stood the
08:30test of time plenty of world tour victories of course with Bahrain victorious but the first
08:34thing to note is that it's kind of arguably slightly outdated in terms of sort of tube
08:39profiles it's less of that sort of all-round ilk than other bikes in test but I think the climbing
08:44bike is still a formula that when executed well creates an incredible riding bike. Merida has
08:50also done a brilliant job of spec in the bike too so our bike that was on test was spec with
08:54SRAM Force and also had a really really nice cockpit as well so it was Merida's own cockpit
09:00it's relatively slim so still you know designed with aerodynamics in mind but also it did a good
09:05job of being stiff in the right places and comfortable as well and all round it just made
09:10for an engaging fun bike to ride which again spending this much money is really important
09:15but the key features about this bike it all starts with a fantastic geometry it shares the geometry
09:20with the Merida Reacto their aero bike a really stiff bottom bracket and head tube make it fly up
09:25the climbs and be really confident on descents too now couple all this with the price tag when it was
09:31going really toe-to-toe with some of the much more expensive bikes on test and it made it an obvious
09:36choice for the best value bike for 2024. Now then it's time to move on to our best climbing bike
09:47category before we get into our winner Joe I'd love to hear from you what makes a good climbing
09:53bike? Sure so I think the first thing I'll say is that this is a category I absolutely love to test
09:58I said before actually how good a climbing bike can still feel to ride I think for a lot of people
10:03out there if you don't want to go nuts with aerodynamics it can still be a really really fun
10:07and engaging bike to own now all that aside the big important points are obviously a very low
10:12weight bikes need to be stiff that goes across the board but another one is geometry now actually
10:17depending on how the geometry stacks up a bike can feel really different when you put it up on a steep
10:22gradient so some of these bikes feel a lot more responsive out the saddle and and really lend
10:26themselves to those steep climbs and others feel maybe just a little bit slower we're looking at
10:32stuff like chainstay length here. So who is the winner? The best climbing bike of 2024 is the
10:39Giant TCR Advanced SL0. Firstly I'd like to say I had an absolute blast riding this bike I think
10:45Giant have absolutely knocked it out the park so this is the newest bike on test released just a
10:50couple of months ago and it's the 10th iteration of the TCR so all the way back in the early 2000s
10:57when it revolutionized bike geometry with the sort of compact geometry brought over from mountain
11:01biking it's been refined over the years and this is actually potentially the last TCR we might see
11:07and I think if that is the case they're going out with a bang. So the frame weight has been dropped
11:11to 690 grams for an unpainted frame which is the second lightest on test they've also for this
11:17generation refined the aerodynamics slightly so cables have gone internal and the tube shapes
11:22have been changed slightly which actually brings this bike within five watts of the Giant Propel
11:28which is their aero bike. That for me is really why this bike wins this category. So other bikes
11:35on test such as the Factor O2 VAM climbed unbelievably well that bike is just 6.3 kilos
11:41for a full build by the way the Giant TCR coming in at 6.4 but it failed to do the other things
11:47quite as well. Now I tested the TCR as I did with actually every bike on test in a number of fast
11:53group ride scenarios as well as long rides and sort of specific back-to-back training loops
11:58and it was here that the bike actually really impressed me the most. You get a 6.4 kilo bike
12:02and you expect it to be quick uphill which by the way of course the Giant TCR is but what's
12:08amazing about this bike is when you get it in a high speed scenario how well it handles. It's a
12:12really dynamic bike to ride and in my local chain gang for example which is about 35kms and only 200
12:18meters of climbing so it's relatively flat I felt like this bike was absolutely not to my detriment
12:22it was still a really quick bike in sort of those high speed scenarios. So it's the combination of
12:27the fact that it climbed as well as any bike on test that's Specialized Tarmac, Factor O2 VAM,
12:33it climbed as well as any bike on test but it was quicker on the flat than some of the other
12:37climbing bikes and actually the geometry made it super fast handling as well. As we know with
12:42climbing bikes they go up incredibly well and it's great to hear that it's worked really well
12:46on the flats but on those longer descents does it still feel at home there and does it still
12:53feel balanced and poised? Sure so the first thing is I say yes it does now it's not the best
12:58descending bike on test I think actually if I were going to have to choose that would be a toss-up
13:02between the Enve Millet which we'll talk about soon and the Specialized Tarmac as well both of
13:07those have a real confident feeling but the bike handles really quickly so 405mm chain stays
13:13which as I mentioned makes it both great for dancing up climbs out the saddle but also makes
13:17it change direction really quickly which is brilliant and the other thing that Giant have
13:20done incredibly well is the stiffness in the headtube. Now one of the anecdotal tests I tend
13:25to do with all the bikes I ride is a test for headtube stiffness now I'll get the bike up to
13:29really quite high speed and then violently wiggle those handlebars in the drops sort of 40, 50, 60k
13:35an hour which isn't to be advised by the way I think it's worth we say but what it does is it
13:41gives that headtube a chance to sort of start oscillating and if a bike isn't stiff in the
13:45headtube you will start to notice that. Now the Giant was absolutely stable at those high speeds
13:50which I think is really impressive and it gives the bike quite a lot of confidence even though
13:55the back end is really short and it handles really well so yes it does go downhill it does
14:00feel slightly more precarious than as I said something like the Enve but I was really really
14:05impressed overall. Now show we do know that Giant does tend to be really good in terms of its value
14:11um so I'd be keen to hear your thoughts on the rest of the range because obviously the bike that
14:15you've tested is five figures so yes what do you think about the what else is available? Yeah so I
14:21think important to note that we this was a range topping bike and it felt absolutely brilliant but
14:26as you said Giant has been really good generally at trickling down that technology now while I
14:31haven't ridden any of the other bikes in the range I would still recommend it I think actually
14:36the fundamentals of stiffness and geometry tend to not change so much and actually it's worth
14:42remembering back to last year's race bike of the year testing where Stefan hailed the Giant Propel
14:46for having such good frame quality at around the two and a half thousand pound price mark so
14:51although you will forgo these lovely Kadex wheels which are so so fast by the way and you will forgo
14:57as well the different seat clamp design and run sort of a more standard seat post gain a little
15:01bit of weight on the frame the fundamentals are still there so I'd still recommend it and I'll
15:05say as well this bike ran our overall winner its closest race at the very start of this video I
15:17mentioned the fact that we were also including a wild card bonus category and that category
15:24is most desirable now this is a new category for us so Joe what does it mean? So a desirable bike
15:31of course has to be aspirational and it has to be a dream ride but really importantly it has to have
15:36a personality here we're looking for something a little bit different as well bit of panache
15:40something that's not quite so run-of-the-mill and I think other really important aspects as well
15:45it's got to be customizable and it's got to be ready to ride from the moment you receive it so
15:50here we're looking at sort of the dream ride experience rather than perhaps just the best
15:55race bike if I was going to go and try and ride the Tour de France. Gotcha so I think we can reveal
16:01the winner was the Enve Melee I'd be interested to hear though what other bikes were in the running
16:07for this category? So I think the Specialized Tarmac SLA had to be up there I think especially
16:13in that red paint job it just looks brilliant doesn't it but the reason a bike like that
16:18couldn't take the cake there's too many of them to be honest with you we're looking for something a
16:21little bit different here as I say all right I think the look is also up there I think it's a
16:24very elegant looking bike and of course aesthetics are totally subjective but yeah the Enve to me to
16:30be honest it wasn't even close I absolutely fell in love with that bike. So run us through why did
16:35it ultimately win? Where I'll start with this is when I first saw the release of the Enve Melee
16:40I was quite underwhelmed and I think you were too yeah yeah we looked at the press images and it
16:44perhaps didn't photograph that well due to that sort of matte paint job and I sort of you know
16:50when we got it in I wasn't maybe that excited about it I walked through the door and saw it
16:53leaning up in our workshop and I just thought wow that looks stunning it's understated it's classy
17:00I think the proportions are spot on for me as well it's the fact that everything on that bike is
17:05either Enve or Shimano there is nothing else even the Selle Italia saddle is branded up as Enve it's
17:11a collab piece I think that's just a really really nice touch. Okay so this does then beg the question
17:17how much weight does the name carry because if it wasn't Enve say it had come from maybe a
17:24a more run-of-the-mill better value brand but it was the same proposition
17:29would it have still won most desirable? Okay look I think yes it does carry some weight is the truth
17:37but for me it carries more weight in the componentry than it does for the frame set
17:42let's not forget Enve have only been making frames since 2021 so they're relatively new in that space
17:48but it's the quality of those components that really set this bike apart the handlebar feels
17:53spot on the wheels super fast and it's more the understated look elegance of this bike and the
17:59panache and more importantly the fact that it is sold as a rolling frame set and Enve will build
18:04you the setup however you desire it so that just makes this bike a bit of a dream build for me.
18:10So obviously it looks great but is it style over substance? Absolutely not absolutely not okay so
18:17this bike is okay it's not the lightest it's about seven and a half kilos definitely lends
18:22itself more towards the aero bike category I feel it didn't climb especially back to backing
18:27it with say the tcr it does not climb as fast as the tcr it feels a little bit more labored
18:32but it's really really versatile you can fit up to 35 millimeter tires it's even got mudguard mounts
18:37which seems crazy but of course doesn't affect the look at all but above anything it just has this
18:43sort of like magic carpet ride feel I think it's a combination of the wide tires and the geometry
18:48and the aero features that just make it sort of just sit at speed and I just felt like I could
18:53just do miles upon miles on this bike I was comfortable and the geometry was such that I
18:58could really push the descents and nowadays to be honest when when things go downhill I'm a little
19:03bit more excited that's why for me it was great fun comfortable and when I got to the cafe at the
19:08end of a ride I could just sit and look at it the time has come we are now going to reveal our
19:19overall race bike of the year winner for 2024 so joe tell us who won so the winner of cycling
19:28weekly's race bike of the year for 2024 is the specialized s-works tarmac sl8 but hold on because
19:36you're probably thinking this is an obvious choice specialized is the biggest brand it was
19:40the most marketed bike of last year why have you chosen this well let's give a bit of context around
19:46how we're ranking this bike for starters now how I was tackling the whole sort of race bike of the
19:51year testing and ranking was that if I was going to try and get around a pro race and I had all
19:57the equipment on the table what would I use to get me as far as possible this means a bike needs to
20:02be aerodynamic it needs to be good in high speed scenarios it needs to handle really quickly it
20:06needs to be stable as all these things we've mentioned in the bunch in sprint finishes when
20:11the race points uphill it needs to be fast and responsive and it needs to be comfortable too
20:16after all we're talking about sort of long rides for us or long races for the pros it can't be
20:20fatiguing either and truth be told the sl8 does all of those things unbelievably well so joe tell us
20:29why did the sl8 win so truth be told specialized have hit an absolute home run with this bike
20:36it does so many things so well the full build that we had on test weighs just 6.68 kilograms
20:43now that is ready to ride they've managed to get a frame weight down to just 685 grams for a painted
20:4956 frame that in combination with the finishing kit so the roval clx2s which are widely considered
20:55to be the industry standard just makes for a bike that is literally the fastest bike on flat
20:59that we had on test and a bike that climbs genuinely as well except for maybe the really
21:05steep gradients as the giant tcr wow okay so talk to us a little bit about the stiffness and how
21:10that played out in both climbing descending and on the flats sure so specialized increased that
21:15stiffness to weight ratio but that didn't just mean they lost weight the raw stiffness also
21:20improved now that is really this bike's party piece i think the bottom bracket and the head
21:25tube are just rock solid really really stiff okay if i was a sprinter i think if i had one gripe i
21:31think the bottom bracket when i really lent the bike over i could feel it moving a tiny bit but
21:35we have to remember that we're talking about a bike that's 6.68 kilograms here and particularly
21:39the head tube as well just means that when you're going uphill the handlebars just don't move around
21:44you can just dance around on the bike and when you point the thing downhill it's just so stable
21:49and i can just push it so hard it's also worth saying as well we've got the shortest wheelbase
21:54here and again 405 millimeter chainstays which just makes the bike change direction so quickly
22:00so how does that then play out on the descent does it ever feel twitchy or does it feel too fast
22:05or did you always feel like you're in control i did feel in control for sure i think
22:10potentially i would say for more advanced riders it's it's i would say it's maybe less easy for
22:16anybody to just jump on and feel secure straight away like the Enve for example was a little bit
22:22more confidence inspiring but if you're an experienced rider i think you can get the
22:26most out of the SLA now i think with a bike as good as the SLA it can be easy to get kind of
22:31rose tinted glasses and really enjoy all of the best bits about it but being as critical as you
22:38possibly can be what areas does the SLA actually have to improve upon going forwards yeah so there
22:46are a couple i think the first one which i briefly touched on is that bottom bracket stiffness now
22:51i hailed the bottom bracket for being super stiff for a bike which frame weight is only 685 grams
22:58however i think there's still a way they can go there my overwhelming opinion when i first rode
23:02the bike and this has not changed is that if i was a big bunch sprinter and specialized was saying
23:07right you can't ride the bench you can only ride this bike now i'd be a little bit annoyed and i
23:12think that's that's just they've got a bit of room there now whether that means maybe going the other
23:16way and slightly bringing up the weight or just improving the carbon layout further in future bikes
23:21i think that is one thing they can certainly improve on the other thing is the specialized
23:25cockpit so the geometry is absolutely fantastic it's super stiff and not too uncomfortable either
23:32which some bars you get a real horrible road buzz from but the biggest thing is i don't think they
23:37offer enough width choices particularly for 2024 you know we've seen a real move in the direction of
23:43narrow handlebars and i think we will continue to do so yeah and this is now the specialized sla is
23:48now an aero bike really right and i just think you know on our on our bike 42 centimeter handlebars
23:54for a size 54 i think it's too wide yeah so i think there's ways to go there in what they can
23:59offer but above anything else when you discard those things and actually remember that some of
24:03those are sort of slight personal preference as well i think this really has redefined my
24:08benchmark for testing bikes it makes me wonder then obviously it performed really really well
24:13was there anything else that came close so yes and no i think really other bikes on test only
24:20really came close in a particular category yeah so for example the look i think was kind of level
24:26or on a par with how fast the bike was on the flat but it didn't climb anything like as well
24:31and the tcr i think was maybe as i said on the real steep gradients just in front of it
24:37potentially really not much to choose between them there but then put the tcr on the flat and
24:42it just doesn't roll as quickly now i'm going to round things off here with a particularly hot take
24:46and it's one that no doubt will cause a stir in the comments section below but i think that when
24:52you consider the package as a whole i'm talking comfort aerodynamics stiffness handling geometry
24:58i think the specialized s-works tarmac sla is the best race bike ever made to date
25:05that is a very big claim well there you have it those are all of our category winners
25:11let us know down below what you think of joe's choices and more importantly which bike you would
25:18pick