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The new Tarmac feels familiarly like the Sl5r, just lighter and a little more compliant(Image credit: nickkova.com)
We got to ride the Project black prototype of the Tarmac with the engineering team behind the bike (Image credit: nickkova.com)
The dropped seat stays were shaped and designed in the wind tunnel (Image credit: nickkova.com)
The slender tubes, Kamm tail shaping and clean lines make the new Tarmac very different to previous models(Image credit: nickkova.com)
The roads and hills around Specialized's Morgan Hill HQ make for a formidable testing ground(Image credit: nickkova.com)
The roads and hills around Specialized Morgan Hill HQ make for a formidable testing ground (Image credit: nickkova.com)
The Tarmac impresses with just how well it copes over ruts and bumps for such a lightweight bike (Image credit: nickkova.com)
The Tarmac is one of the most impressive descending bikes we've tried (Image credit: nickkova.com)
Our test bike weighed in at an impressive 6.63 kg (with pedals, cages, garmin mount), for a size 58cm (Image credit: nickkova.com)
Our Project black bike was running new Dura Ace Di2, Roval CLX50 carbon clinchers and S-Works cotton clincher tyres(Image credit: nickkova.com)
The Project Black Tarmac is about as understated as it gets (Image credit: nickkova.com)
I recently got the chance to ride the all-new Specialized Tarmac on successive days, mixing in tough climbs, super technical descents and fast flowing rolling roads over a variety of tarmac, from mirror smooth major roads to frost and water scarred passes.
Specialized Tarmac specifications
Weight: 6.63 kg (with pedals, cages, Garmin mount), 6.39kg (no pedals/extras)
Size: 58 cm
Frame: 58cm S-Works 12r carbon
Fork: S-Works 12r carbon cut at 22mm of spacers +SL stem
Gears: Shimano Dura-Ace 9150 Di2, (50/34, 11-30)
Brakes: Dura-Ace 9100 direct mount brakes
Wheels: Roval CLX 50
Tyres: Specialized 26mm cotton
Tubes: Specialized 60mm Valve lightweight
Saddle: Specialized S-Works Phenom with carbon rails
Post: Specialized S-Works Tarmac D-post
Stem: Specialized SL Stem 110mm x 6 degree
Bar: Specialized S-works carbon Short and Shallow 42cm x 125mm drop x 75mm reach
Cassette: Shimano Dura-ace 9100 Cassette 11t-30t
Cranks: S-Works with compact 50t-34t Specialized chain rings (made by praxis) Carbon S-Works 110mm spider
Our Project black bike was running new Dura Ace Di2, Specializeds new power meter crankset, Roval CLX50 carbon clinchers and S-Works cotton clincher tyrres
The bike I rode was a Project Black final prototype, which features an S-Works grade frame and fork (albeit painted in plain black, not the superlight vapor paint) built up with a new Dura-Ace Di2 groupset complete with its auto-shift options (which I left alone on the first day, and checked out the semi-auto shifting on the second, where it shifts up or down two cogs at the rear to sync with shifts on the chainset).
The build is completed with the new CLX50 wheels shod with S-Works Turbo 25mm rubber. Specialized tells us that the complete S-Works models will ship in pretty much this spec.
The overriding feel of the new Tarmac is a familiar one. It's the same sharp, super nimble feel of the previous SL5, but every element of the bike's handling and road manners has been tweaked. Its power transfer is impeccable, and the combination of the lightweight chassis and light wheels makes for a bike that welcomes steep slopes, encouraging you to rise out of the saddle and dance on the pedals to best double digit gradients.
On descents, especially technical switchback descents littered with fast cambered corners and hairpins, the nimble nature of the steering response makes the bike easy to correct when you enter with a little too much vigor.
The Tarmac impresses with just how well it copes over ruts and bumps for such a lightweight bike
The CLX50 wheels make a fine companion to the Tarmac frameset, the aero profile copes well in gusty conditions, and the braking impresses in the dry. The only protests I got from the rims were at the end of a fast twisty descent with a sudden stop at the base at a T-junction where the gave a heat induced howl, but only for a second.
The braking comes from the latest Dura-Ace units and the Tarmac is designed around direct mount brakes front and rear. The feel of the braking is superb. There's no vibration, heaps of feel, and the direct mount standard was used up front because it offers both stiffness gains and an aero advantage as the crown can be shaped for better aerodynamics with the twin bolt setup.
On the rear the seat stays aren't joined in the traditional way. Instead, they rely on the brake for rigidity; that and minimal superlight bracing spar that bolts on the back of the brake mounts, another tech touch that sets the Tarmac apart.
The dropped seat stays were shaped and designed in the wind tunnel
Where I really was impressed was with the balance the lightweight chassis exudes. Often with super-light race bikes when you hit a set of ripples or bumps in the road surface the bike can buck and bounce, forcing you to correct and slow down. The Tarmac, however, takes the initial jolt and then settles quickly meaning with every increase in mph you gain confidence and the more you acclimatise with its character the more confident you feel.
I haven't found this sort of confident handling in many race bikes, but the Tarmac feels every inch the equal of my all time favourites, Cannondale's Evo and BMC's Team Machine SLR01.
The ride position is pretty much the same as the previous Tarmac, and so it should be as the only tweak Specialized has made to the established geometry is to drop the bottom bracket height by 3mm to counter the switch to 25c tyres from 23s which were most popular when the SL4 debuted.
The new bike feels much more compliant at the rear, too. That's just as you'd expect from a design that matches super-dropped slender seat stays to the new D-shaped seatpost which has been engineered to offer some compliant flex - not as much as the radical CG-R post found on the Roubaix, but certainly much more give than your average carbon post.
The Project Black Tarmac is about as understated as it gets
Specialized Tarmac early verdict
In all the new Tarmac feels like an impressive achievement. Specialized has taken everything about the ride character of the SL4 with its massive bottom bracket shell, chainstays, and oversized tubing and managed to replicate that in a slender, delicate looking and radically different design, infused with a little more compliance just where you want it.
Does that mean the Tarmac is now the bike for all people? Well maybe, if you like your ride to be long, low and light. For long, long hours in the saddle over challenging surfaces I'd still head for the Roubaix, and aero fans may still opt for the Pro's fave Venge Vias.
If, however, I was heading for an Alpine adventure and some seriously challenging climbs then the Tarmac would be the ideal choice, with its featherweight of just over six-and-a-half kilos fully loaded (pedals, cages, Garmin mount) especially given the confidence it exudes when heading downhill. When the disc model arrives in early 2018 (its pretty much finished, we've seen it) then that could well be one of the truly great descending machines.
It's hard to rate a machine that you've only ridden in unfamiliar territory, and I for one can't wait to give it a try on home soil, but rest assured the Tarmac is going to be one to watch for 2018, and not just underneath some of the best pros riding the grand tours.
Specialized Tarmac specifications
Weight: 6.63 kg (with pedals, cages, Garmin mount), 6.39kg (no pedals/extras) Size: 58 cm Frame: 58cm S-Works 12r carbon Fork: S-Works 12r carbon cut at 22mm of spacers +SL stem Gears: Shimano Dura-Ace 9150 Di2, (50/34, 11-30) Brakes: Dura-Ace 9100 direct mount brakes Wheels: Roval CLX 50 Tyres: Specialized 26mm cotton Tubes: Specialized 60mm Valve lightweight Saddle: Specialized S-Works Phenom with carbon rails Post: Specialized S-Works Tarmac D-post Stem: Specialized SL Stem 110mm x 6 degree Bar: Specialized S-works carbon Short and Shallow 42cm x 125mm drop x 75mm reach Cassette: Shimano Dura-ace 9100 Cassette 11t-30t Cranks: S-Works with compact 50t-34t Specialized chain rings (made by praxis) Carbon S-Works 110mm spider
