Wait a minute, some TOUR magazine readers might be thinking: The Specialized Tarmac SL7 is no longer one of the top bikes in the TOUR test. After all, the competition all-rounder performed Comparison test with the affordable professional bike alternatives in August 2022 with "only" 1.5. That's right! But the devil is in the detail - more precisely, in the spec of the Specialized road bike. For the test at the time, Specialized provided us with a Tarmac S-Works with the SRAM Red eTap component group.
However, the brakes of SRAM's top road bike group can no longer quite keep up with Shimano's new Dura-Ace Di2 The Dura-Ace road bike disc brake is easier to modulate and develops its full braking power more quickly in wet conditions. This makes it the current reference point on our grading scale, meaning that the SRAM Red is slightly worse. As a result, the SRAM version of the Specialized Tarmac SL7 loses a tenth of its overall score, while the Shimano-equipped Tarmac SL7 model shown here still achieves TOUR's top score of 1.4.
Specialised Tarmac SL 7 - top dog among all-round road bikes
The S-Works Tarmac is not only one of the best road bikes at TOUR, the Specialized road bike has also been taking one victory after another in the World Tour for years. Specialized pursued the seventh generation of the Tarmac was the first manufacturer to adopt the strategy of combining low weight and the best possible aerodynamics in one bike - the two most important criteria for a modern competition road bike.
Although the competition is slowly closing in on the Americans in imitating this strategy, the original is bravely defending its status as a pioneer among the race all-rounders. With the exception of the new Giant Propel no road bike under seven kilos is faster. For a place among the Top ten of the fastest production road bikes in the TOUR test However, the pedalling power of 210 watts at 45 km/h is no longer enough for the most demanding riders. Edgy aero bikes push the Specialized Tarmac SL7, which has a comparatively restrained design, down to 15th place.
However, the faster specialists are up to 900 grams heavier and cannot keep up with the agility of the US bike. The high level of suspension comfort perfectly rounds off the balanced handling of the Specialized Tarmac SL7, while the cotton carcass tyres provide first-class damping. Whether sprints, climbs or bumpy tracks: the Specialized Tarmac SL7 is still the most versatile road bike on the market, which every type of rider should be able to handle; the professionals who are allowed to ride it as a work tool will continue its success story in the new season.
Specialised S-Works Tarmac SL 7
- Weight: 6.9 kg
- Price: 14500 Euro
- Frame/fork/steering bearing weight* 857/374/63 grammes
- Frame sizes** 44, 49, 52, 54, 56, 58, 61
- Seat/top tube/head tube 500/560/163 millimetres
- Stack/Reach/STR*** 567/392 millimetres/1.45
- Wheelbase/caster 990/56 millimetres
Specialised Tarmac SL 7 - Equipment
- Drive/Circuit Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 (2x12; 52/36, 11-30 teeth)
- Brakes Shimano Dura-Ace (160/160 mm)
- Wheels/tyres (weights) Roval Rapide CLX 60/Specialized Turbo Cotton 26 mm (1134/1450 grams)
Measured values & individual scores
- Weight of complete wheel 6.9 kilos - Grade 2,0
- Steering head stiffness 98 Nm/° - Grade 1,0
- Lateral stiffness fork 53 N/mm - Grade 1,0
- Bottom bracket stiffness 58 N/mm - Grade 1,3
- Seatpost spring stiffness 156 N/mm - Grade 1,7
- Aerodynamics 210 Watt - Grade 1,7
* Weighed weights.
** Manufacturer's test size bold.
*** Stack/reach projected vertical/horizontal measurement from the centre of the bottom bracket to the top of the head tube; STR (stack to reach) 1.36 means a very stretched, 1.60 an upright riding position.
**** Wheel weights including tyres, cassette, quick release/threaded axles and brake discs if applicable.
Single noteswhich are weighted differently in the overall grade, are only partially printed for reasons of space. The grades are calculated with all decimal places up to the final grade; however, for the sake of clarity, all grades are shown with rounded decimal places.
Aerodynamics: Theoretical pedalling power required to overcome air resistance at 45 km/h, measured in a wind tunnel with a pedalling leg dummy.
Julian Schultz
Editor
