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inCycle Video: Specialized McLaren S-Works Tarmac

published 11 August 2014

The latest innovation from the partnership between the car and bike manufacturers

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The frame graphics are micro-thin electroformed metal foil thats both super thin and very hardwearing (Image credit: BikeRadar)

The Mclaren Roval tubular carbon rims are 30g lighter than standard (Image credit: BikeRadar)

Specialized worked with McLaren on the paint - and it's the same color as Cav's car(Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)

Every frame is finished by hand at McLaren (Image credit: BikeRadar)

Jakob Fuglsang checks the forks on his Specialized McLaren bike(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Just 250 McLaren S-Works Tarmacs will be made (Image credit: BikeRadar)

Vincenzo Nibali wears the Specialized S-Works + Mclaren helmet(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

The McLaren showroom in Milan(Image credit: Specialized)

Ahead of the 2014 Tour de France, Specialized where confident of success on the road and in the mountains with Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) only for both riders to crash out of the race.

Specialized confirm long-term partnership with McLaren

Gallery: Boonen's Milan - San Remo Specialized Venge McLaren

First look: Mark Cavendish's Specialized McLaren Venge

Inside: McLaren and its partnership with Specialized

Video: Rigoberto Uran's new Specialized Tarmac

The £16,000 Specialized McLaren S-Works Tarmac revealed

Tour de France pro bike: Mark Cavendish's S-Works Venge

However Astana's Vincenzo Nibali claimed the overall victory on board a Specialized Tarmac and in doing so became just the sixth rider to have won all three grand tours — the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and the Vuelta a España.

Specialized has had a partnership with car manufacturer McLaren since 2010 and the two companies once again teamed up to produce another innovative frame. The result? The Specialized McLaren S-Works Tarmac which was revealed just days ahead of the Tour.

Eric Shuda, performance manager at Specialized, explained to inCycle how the bike was developed.

"Our engineers work very closely with the riders to gather feedback, gain insights and constantly work on product improvement, specifically on the Tarmac," Shuda said.

"We worked very closely with riders like Alberto Contador and he's constantly giving us feedback,. Some of the feedback he's given us from the Tarmac SL4, in his 54cm size, was that it felt very harsh on the descents and a little too stiff on the front end or through choppy corners or rough roads.

"At the same time, we had larger riders saying that they thought the bike could use a bit more snap to it, a bit more precise steering feeling and that sparked an idea of rider first engineered and looking at the frames on a size-by-size basis."