By dennismary.slave@gmail.com 
A few weeks ago, Si dusted off his old Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL3 from back when GCN started in 2013 to compare it to his 2023 Canyon Aeroad. Predictably, it was much slower, but we got lots of comments asking to test it again after fitting it with modern deep section wheels and fast tyres. So, that’s what we’ve done. Old bike with new wheels and tyres – how much faster is it?
00:00 Intro
02:12 Run 1 – 2013 Specialized
03:45 Riding positions
05:59 Run 2 – 2023 Canyon
07:49 Results
08:40 Analysis
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What other upgrades would you make to Si’s 2013 Specialized? Let us know in the comments below! 👇
Get off the road on your bike use the cycle lanes pillock
This test is just for marketing, no science behind it. It’s just an all out effort test. None of the components were held as control. It’s like comparing a 69 mustang to a current one. With similar wheels, tires, tubes, power level, rider position would show that the current frame is very close to the older generation interms of efficiency. Most aerodynamic drag is caused by body position and movement of legs. The speeds for road bike is too low for the cross section of bike and cables to make a marginal difference. Stiffness only matters when climbing and too stiff of a frame will cause the tires to compress/bounce under load hence these days as frames get stiffer they have increased the tire size to compensate. I believe with modern aero wheels tires and tubes an old dogma F8 can still win the tour
Flat course no different for the average rider!
I am guessing that to a casual/amateur biker, this comparison wouldn't be of tremendous importance.
Some mad video edition skillz at 4:00
I have a 2012 bike and started riding again and this video told me everything i need to know how to get back in the game again. Time to break the piggy bank then
Although I am known to be a sceptical person, I do not question the Canyon will be a tad faster by its more aerodynamic frame set alone, even if you equip both bikes with exactly comparable wheels, tires and inner tubes. What I doubt indeed, is the difference being that substantial.
Sorry but that Specialized with these deep Vision wheels looked a lot cooler than the Canyon! I was sad with my Tarmac SL6 but now I have confirmation that it is just a matter of carbon wheels.
I have just bought…. Drum roll…. A 2012? Cinelli Saetta with Campy Veloce, as an intro into cycling to see if I like it.
When the inevitable time comes to upgrade parts, can I 'bolt' new groupsets to it? Or is that not always compatible?
Also on this theme, would it be a good idea to upgrade an old frame or just buy a fitted bike off the shelf?
What tires were on each?
Have the Giant TCR 1 in green-purple from 1997, not worth changing it but then I saw the Wilier in darker green metallic, chosing a bike just because of the color ….. yes, I think so, but my TCR 1 can get carbon wheels from the Lotus bike designer, some say they arejunk, some say they are fast, at least they look fast 🙂
Peddle faster
This is popping up at a very timely moment…I’m debating the benefits of upgrading a 10 year old lightly used bike or buying new. I like the idea of continuing to learn more and improve myself on my current bike before really treating myself to a fully new bike.
Why wouldn’t you just ride each bike at say 275w for 10 min, and see data?
Could ya just pick up a narrow set of alloy bars for 60$ and fix the cable mess?
Do the same process but put some aero handlebars and aero stem!
Si, why didn't you ride to power?
What you call an old bike, is still too new to me. My definition would be, either as old as I am (59yrs), and older.
So. You say you don't like some new technologies on bikes and before you like them a lot. Hmm. I think there's only one thing possible. You're getting old, my friend.
10 years older haha good one. im 43 and i started like a month ago and already beating the younger ones haha. Genetics is the key, doenst matter ur 20 or 40, if genetics bad ur bad^^
I’d prefer the 2nd hand bike
Hey Si is that the same red Specialized Tarmac SL3 that you had in presenter’s bike video but repainted? Thanks.
Canyon pays the bill, of course it wins…
I have seen videos of the new supersix Evo being much better/faster etc but love my 2015 ultegra model although it's not aero and has rim brakes I can't really justify paying £4k to get the new version of it.
Another thing is the straight course is no coincidence and I am willing to bet that the wind was either behind him or from the front (probably the former since Si is, as I am, vain). Does Si mention the wind direction (I skimmed the video).
An "aero" bike has oval tubes which are aero when parallel to the wind. With a side wind the aero advantage decreases because the wind will be hitting the wider oval side. This comparison, to be fair, to be done on a course which is a loop, as are most of our cycling courses.
Still riding my 2015 Tarmac Comp with some 50mm Superteam wheels and feels great! I don’t take the sport as seriously as most do, but the way my bike feels, I don’t have any thoughts of buying a new bike for at least another 3 years. Still feels like a new $7k bike off the showroom floor to me.
2013 is not an old bike….
The Tarmac is so much slower because it is not be ridden in the style it was meant for. See Spartacus and compare Si above.
https://youtu.be/OqGZbbUdwx4?si=9JWxGP3lDOx8DfXS&t=296
When I want to try to ride my traditional raked back seat post road bikes (Trek Madone 5.2 / Look 386) at 40kmh I do so in the Sphinx pose, with elbows bent, and my hands on tops on either side of the steerer tube so that I am pointy at the front. I can do this because the raked back seat post allows me to pedal by pushing forwards from behind the crank, and have my centre of gravity over the saddle, so I do not need to put much weight, if any, on my handlebars. If you look at 1980s cyclists such as Merckx, he even sprints in this way, from the back seat.
However, if you are riding an aero bike which mimics the position of a time trial or triathlon bike, as Simon is, and you are opening your hips and pushing down and backwards with the seat post and saddle forward, in a superman position, however, you need to use hoods to support some of your weight. The more open hipped sprinty style has major advantages for sprints (of up to about 8km) and works well in a pace line where cyclists can take the lead for about 10 minutes at a time and turn any race into a sprint relay.
Fabian Cancellara was right to use wide handlebars. The wide handlebars were his bull horns and he only used their width when he wanted to turn. Ordinarily, when Spartacus was speeding along at more than 40kmh he used the tops
https://youtu.be/OqGZbbUdwx4?si=9JWxGP3lDOx8DfXS&t=296
Simon does not use the tops, but not because he forgets to use them but because his aero bike is forward offset and would be too cramped, and requires he puts some weight on the bars.
If you ride the Tarmac as if it were an aero bike then you are missing out on the highly aero Sphinx position that it facilitates.
You are also missing out on the bent double at the back position which Merckx and Anquetil used to remove even their thighs from the wind (at the cost of great pedalling difficulty).
I think that people like Merckz and Anquetil chose this method (again, not because they were primitive, stupid, nor unaware in their bike/pedalling choice but) because they were not part of a radio controlled pace line and had to cycle more of the course on their own.
Cycling alone is what most amateur cyclists still do, so for the amateur cyclists, getting into a bunched up at the back (thighs also hidden from the wind) Sphinx/pointy (hands on bars) style of pedalling may be faster than the style facilitated by extremely expensive aero-bike made for the modern pace-line, which one can only use on ones own effectively for about 8km.
It is still 5% faster, which is a lot.
I don't believe it. The frame would have to almost disappear to achieve a 5% speed advantage. I am guessing that, contra the position comparison early in the video, the older bike without modification (a long stem) with its tall head tube resulted in a slightly worse body position, which could easily have made a difference to the time. I think that the rider is about ten times the drag of the frame so a 1% improvement in rider position is equivalent to a 10% improvement in frame aerodynamics. Since one can not make the frame disappear, the aero bike is likely to result in more. aero ride position, and this should be mimic-able without paying for oval tubes and embedded cables.
In any event, a video which is sponsored by the bike being tested has conflict of interest issues.
I have found that ceramic bears in your wheel set makes a different.