Aero Road Bikes—Are They For You?

Us road riders have shown a growing concern with aerodynamics since at least 1989 when Greg LeMond won the Tour de France over Laurnet Fignon by 58 seconds in the final stage time trial. Since then, the advent of aero wheels, helmets, and even clothing specifically designed for road racing as opposed to time trialing has grown exponentially. While many of the aerodynamic advancements have come from the world of triathlon, it wasn’t until fairly recently that road bikes themselves became more like their time trial and tri cousins. And while a certain multisport bike company brought what many see as the original aero road bike to market, now nearly every major vendor has an aero road offering creating yet another category of road bikes for riders to consider.

Let’s consider the aero road bike. First and foremost, it is a road bike. That generally means that we’re talking about a bike whose geometry is best suited not for extended periods in a “stretched out on aero bars” position, but one where hand and body position change given the terrain, rider preference, and ride or race situation. Similarly, the aero road bike doesn’t place a pure premium on aerodynamics, rather it strives to add aerodynamics to the balance of ride quality, stiffness—after all these are primarily seen as race bikes particularly upper end models—and weight, as in lightweight. Sure a given aero road bike could potentially be more aerodynamic but that would likely have to come at the expense of some other attribute that road riders can’t or won’t want to sacrifice. The aero road bike has to go fast in straight line for sure, but it has also got to corner at high speeds, descend, accelerate, and climb like any other road bike.

Cervelo's S5 is their latest aero road offering and the most recent descendant of the original aluminum Soloist.

Aero road bikes also have to meet certain requirements for the sport’s governing body. While the triathlon world thrives on technological advancements, road cycling has rules whereby bike shapes and tube sizes have to be within certain parameters. Whether out of tradition or to make sure that it’s the rider not the machine, those rules are what they are. If you’re going to race a national level or international event, your bike has to comply. As a result, manufacturer’s offerings are constrained to those requirements.

Of course, very few of us are ever going to race at a national level event, much less an international one. But, many of us not only ride on the road we may enter an area road race occasionally, like to compete in the local weekly time trial series, or do a couple of triathlons a year. Or maybe we’re passionate roadies and early adopters of new technologies and are willing to try a new product for the potential gain we’ll see in our performance on our local club ride. Any of these situations make the aero road bike an excellent alternative to another “standard” road bike offering.  Why? Because it’s basically two bikes for the price one.

Specialized's S-Works McLaren Venge is the pinnacle aero road offering from the Big S.

Like my favorite piece of Fall cycling clothing—the convertible jacket—the aero road bike can, with a little work, convert itself into a capable if not actual time trial or triathlon bike. Many companies’ aero road bikes not only take design cues for tube shapes from their TT and tri models but they also utilizes features that make the aero road bike model a capable machine against the clock. This, to my thinking, makes them ideal bikes for the passionate road cycling enthusiast. Sure the truly dedicated road racer that has a TT bike and who specializes in the late-race breakaway can likely benefit from an aero road bike. But the rider who has a budget for one bike, but wants to take on a Central Texas stage race, both road and tri races, or who simply wants another available means to go faster will undoubtedly gain more value from the aero road bike.

Stay tuned for some reviews and thoughts on our aero road bike offerings from Cervelo and Specialized. In the meantime, next time in you’re in the shop, take a look at Cervelo’s S series bikes or the Specialized Venge–you might be looking at your next bike.