Specialized Teases a New Road Bike

Days before Specialized officially unveils a new road bike, Daniel Oss teased us with images of the machine on his Instagram account. I've been riding this bike for a week now, but due to an embargo agreement I'm not allowed to talk about anything other than what we can glean from these images. You'll have to check back in a few days to learn the full details.

What's most striking is the lack of design elements that we've come to know as standard fare on road bikes: This bike appears to have no aerodynamic considerations. There is a (gasp!) normal cockpit with a round bar and stem completely void of proprietary parts and internal brake line routing. There are no dropped seatstays, nor can we spot any aero shaping on the fork or down tube.

Oss mentions in his Instagram post that he looks forward to riding this bike after the Tour de France finishes, and uses the hashtag #breaktherules, which suggests the bike isn't legal in UCI-sanctioned bike races. A quick scan of the list of approved frames and forks on the UCI website shows no new bike from the California-based brand. Based on the image of the Bora-Hansgrohe rider holding the bike aloft with one hand we might guess this new sled is far below the minimum weight limit of 6.8 kilograms. But we know there are production bikes made specifically for racing, like the Giant TCR Advanced SL 0, that weigh less than the UCI limit. So that alone wouldn't necessarily preclude the bike from racing. Furthermore, based on the profile, the new bike looks aggressive. We don't see signs of a high stack or short reach that may indicate it's more of an endurance bike.

If I'm being completely honest, the bike Oss is posing with looks exactly like what road racing bikes used to be before everything had to be aero and integrated. That begs the question: What can possibly be so revolutionary about a road bike with round tubes and standard parts?