Specialized Roubaix with custom-tuned progressive spring, low geo and direct-mount brakes
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Tom Boonen's new Specialized Roubaix race bike with a pro-only frameset and spring(Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
Will Tom Boonen make it five Paris-Roubaix victories on Sunday?(Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
Who doesn't love a custom bike? (Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
Specialized will be selling a limited edition Tom Boonen bike with this paint scheme, but in a disc brake version (Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
Shrink wrap keeps things tidy (Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
The choice to use rim brakes at Roubaix is so riders can get a quick wheel change from anyone, if needed, several team members said (Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
Boonen runs very narrow handlebars, considering his height (Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
Do any of your friends ride long cranks *and* narrow bars? Probably not (Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
Boonen is long and low on his machine, which has a lower front end than the consumer model(Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
This is Boonen's reach from the tip of the saddle(Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
And this is his saddle height from the center of the bottom bracket (Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
The bars are wider at the ends of the drops than at the hoods(Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
Specialized said the UCI is okay with them making a different version of the Roubaix for team riders (Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
The Hell of the North is new for Specialized (Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
Direct-mount brakes are a pro-only option on the new Roubaix. All the consumer bikes have discs(Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
The chain won't be this clean at the end of Sunday's race(Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
The Future Shock suspension cartridge sits atop the head tube, and the springs can be changed to tune the ride (Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
Ceramic Speed make Boonen custom jockey pulleys(Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
Tommeke is a fan favourite in Belgium and in France (Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
The Sprint shifter protrudes slightly from the thick tape(Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
Di2 was initially scoffed at as unworkable on cobbles (Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
Roval is Specialized's wheel brand (Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
53/44t for the win, Boonen hopes(Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
Boonen dropped his chain at with it his chances of a good finish at last week's Tour of Flanders(Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
The Roubaix's seatpost is clamped beneath the top tube for a little extra flex (Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
Specialized has notched six victories at Paris-Roubaix with the Roubaix bike — including four with Boonen (Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
With 20mm of travel, the Future Shock adds stack height (Image credit: Ben Delaney/Immediate Media)
Tom Boonen's name and photos have been plastered on the roads, stores, restaurants and hand-held signs across Belgium and into northern France all week, as the cobble-racing legend prepares to retire after his final Paris-Roubaix Sunday. Here is a look at the bike he will race from Compiegne north to the aging outdoor velodrome of Roubaix.
On Monday, BikeRadar reported on the pro-only edition of the new Specialized Roubaix that Boonen raced at the Tour of Flanders, and which world champion Peter Sagan raced Wedesday at Scheldeprijs. The immediately obvious differences to the consumer bike are the long-and-low geometry, the direct-mount brakes and — if you put a hand on it — the stiffer spring in the Future Shock suspension cartridge underneath the stem.
At closer inspection, Boonen's extreme geometry is also noteworthy, too. For instance, 38mm center-to-center handlebars for a 192cm / 6'3" man?
Specialized Racing's Chris D'Alusio explained to BikeRadar today that Quick Step and Specialized worked together to test a variety of different springs for racing on the cobbles. The final product was a stiff, progressive spring that ramps at both ends of the travel; it's harder to initially engage and harder to bottom out than any of the three stock springs, but relatively softer in the middle of the 20mm of travel, like a parabola.
The hits from the cobbles are so jarring that the stiffest of the stock springs bottomed out too quickly, D'Alusio said.
The Future Shock suspension cartridge sits atop the head tube, and the springs can be changed to tune the ride
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Boonen has Specialized's new Hell of the North tubulars in both 28mm and 30mm, but it is not yet certain which width he will race.
The Shimano Dura-Ace direct-mount brake calipers on the Roubaix offer plenty of clearance for the fat tubulars.
The consumer models of the new Roubaix are all disc brake bikes. Normal UCI rules state that bikes must be approved by the UCI and available for sale to the public in order to be sold. Specialized representatives said that since this new pro-version bike is only a change in brake type (and geometry), that the UCI was okay with it.
Specialized said the UCI is okay with them making a different version of the Roubaix for team riders
Team members also said that the primary driver for using rim brakes for Paris-Roubaix is so riders can get a quick wheel change anywhere on the course — from team cars, neutral support, roadside mechanics or even fans. Punctures are common at the rough cobbled race, and the top riders don't want to chance getting caught out with a potentially hard-to-change disc wheel.
Check out the gallery above for a closer look.
Do any of your friends ride long cranks *and* narrow bars? Probably not
