Are These Tech Trends Taking Road Bikes In The Right Direction?
There are hundreds of road bike manufacturers out there, and this results in road bikes which miss the mark for a multitude of reasons. All of these reasons end up with the consumer being left with a product which doesn't deliver the correct amount of value or just has inherent problems with the quality of the build. Sam Gupta takes a closer look at some road bikes which just should not exist. What do you think about his choices? Can you think of any other bikes which shouldn't exist?
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00:00In a world where there are hundreds of road bike manufacturers, there will of course be some road
00:04bikes that may not meet the needs of the consumer. From odd spec decisions to bizarre views on
00:10pricing, I've pulled together a bunch of bikes that I wish just didn't exist.
00:20The same generation of bikes that enjoy integrated cable routing, disc brakes and
00:24fancy carbon shapes seem to have a few occupants that also play host to steering stops. If you're
00:31unaware, steering stops are a mechanical feature often found within the head tube of a bike,
00:36which stop the bars turning after a certain point. The theory is that by stopping the bars
00:41from turning excessively, you reduce the risk of causing damage to the brake lines and you also
00:47stop the potential of the handlebars to swing into the top tube. However, there is a reason
00:52why steering stops have been included on this list, and that's because I have seen multiple
00:58cases where the handlebars have been turned with such force that the steering stops have then ripped
01:04into the frame itself, essentially killing it. Now, this rarely happens through normal riding,
01:10but instead it can happen when the wind catches the front wheel when the bike is lent up and
01:15stationary, or when you're putting the bike in the back of a car and then the fork catches
01:20something or perhaps an overzealous mechanic may yank on the bar slightly too hard and cause some
01:25accidental damage. Happily, some bikes that did adopt steering stops are already starting to ditch
01:32them. For example, the fourth generation of the Cannondale Super 6 lost them after they were
01:37debuted on the third generation of the bike. Also, as integrated cockpits evolve and cable routing
01:43methods improve, the positioning of those hoses can be threaded in ways that mean that oversteering
01:49won't damage the hoses. My view on this is quite simple. Steering stops should just be a flash in
01:56the pan of road bike tech trends and hopefully in the next few years will eventually disappear.
02:01Too many bike frames end up having to be warrantied after innocuous accidents. I'm
02:06sure that when manufacturers start to realise how much money the steering stops are going to
02:11be costing them, they'll be as fast to remove them as they were to install. Certainly one innovation
02:17to forget. We recently made a video about the biggest false economies in cycling and in that
02:27video I discussed the recent upsurge surrounding the incredibly cheap bikes that can be found from
02:32big generic retailers. Now I'm sure to some those bikes do serve a purpose, especially for those who
02:39don't want to or can afford to spend any more money on a new bike. However, I'm a strong believer that
02:46you should spend that same amount of money but on a second-hand bike instead. You'll get something
02:51that originally costed much more and you'll be giving a bike that already exists a new lease of
02:56life. Should you have any issues, most bike shops will be able to help you out. I believe that these
03:02bikes are awful for the environment. Bikes are supposed to last for many, many years but the way
03:08that these bikes are constructed and the components that they're kitted out with mean that you're
03:13essentially buying a disposable bike and one which will only last for as long as the rider can bear
03:19to deal with its problems. In my opinion, these bikes should just not exist and we should all be
03:25buying second-hand bikes when we can, especially if monitoring cost is a large contributing factor
03:32to your purchasing decision. Right on the other end of the spectrum, we are now seeing bikes hit
03:41the market that seemingly cost more than the sum of all their parts. In my opinion, this is a pretty
03:48big problem. I think it also shows that the shop increases and prices are far outpacing the rest of
03:55the price increases that we're seeing in other areas of the industry and there are a couple of
04:00pretty high profile examples of this. First is the Cannondale Lab 71 Super 6 Evo. It retails at £12,500
04:09here in the UK but I've been able to create an equivalent build for £11,000.
04:16Unsurprisingly, there are some caveats to that price. Yes, that is by utilising the best prices
04:22that I could find all over the internet for all of the components. For example, I found the Dura-Ace
04:27groupset for £200 off at one retailer. Also, I didn't opt to spec the same wheels as the Lab 71
04:34stock build. Instead, I chose some Zipp 303S Firecrest which some may argue is actually a
04:41better wheelset. Also, I wasn't quite sure how much their Momo handlebars would cost so I went
04:47for an estimate and did a worst case scenario of £600. I did also factor in a £300 labour cost
04:54to cover the cost of having a mechanic build up the bike in its entirety. The Specialized S-Works
04:59Athos is another example. Here, I'm able to save about £350 over the cost of the stock build and
05:06it's worth highlighting that on this build, I actually spec some Zipp 353 NSWs which again,
05:13some would argue are a much better wheelset than the Roval Alpinist CLX wheelset that is found on
05:19the stock build. Also, I actually added in the Roval Alpinist integrated cockpit to really take
05:25the build to the next level. But if you weren't to upgrade the components and you were to mimic
05:30that stock build, you'd actually be closer to saving £1400. In the case of the Lab 71 Super 6,
05:38at full retail pricing of all the components, the build came in at £11,700 and that's still cheaper
05:45than the £12,500 asking price of the stock bike. So we really have to wonder, what are we getting
05:52for our money at this level? In the lower echelons, it is more like business as usual where
05:57the bike manufacturers are able to pull on their economies of scale and create bikes which we
06:03wouldn't be able to go out and create for less money. Perhaps even the bike manufacturers are
06:08struggling to buy things for the right price. We have no evidence to support this but it would be
06:13one explanation as to the obscure situation that some top end bikes have found themselves in.
06:19While I'm sure that there will be plenty of comments surrounding the fact that brands are
06:23just charging silly money for the sake of it, and you may well be right, I wouldn't be surprised
06:28if they need to sell at those levels just to maintain the margins that those products need
06:33to achieve to make them commercially viable. You cannot forget and disregard the impact that
06:38Covid, Brexit here in the UK and shipping issues will have had on the cost of some of those
06:43products. Pair that with a struggling world economy and you can have a little understanding.
06:50Plus, if there are customers out there who want to buy those bikes, who are we to stop them? While
06:54I understand that there could be reasons outside of the control of the bike brands meaning they
06:59have to charge such high prices, I don't think I'll be a customer for a bike that I know I can
07:04build up for less money and also enjoy the ability to spec some of my own parts.
07:14As I'm sure a lot of you know, not all bikes are created equally. Some are created by artisan
07:20frame builders who can spend weeks creating a bike which has been handcrafted to perfection.
07:26On the other end of the scale, we have bikes which maybe haven't quite seen that same level of care
07:31and attention. Much like my issue with bikes that are too cheap, bikes which are created without
07:37the appropriate amount of due care should not be hitting the market. They will always have
07:42inherent problems because if strict manufacturing tolerances aren't adhered to, the components that
07:48then get mated to that frame will never operate as they should. Happily, frame facing, which is
07:54the process of removing excess material from a frame to ensure that a flat surface is achieved,
08:00is something that can be done by most mechanics. Frame facing is something that's actually really
08:05important to do anyway because it ensures that when bottom brackets, headsets, brake calipers
08:11and the like are bolted to a frame, they are mated to a perfectly flush surface. Also,
08:17the process of re-tapping threads is something which can be done after a frame has been built
08:22if needed. But if the bikes have deeper, less rectifiable problems, that's when things get
08:29serious. The bottom line is when considering the energy and materials required to produce a bicycle,
08:36manufacturers should be ensuring that it does not go to waste.
08:45I love riding on semi-deep carbon wheels for so many reasons. They look good, they're generally
08:51pretty light, they sound cool and of course they help you go everywhere faster. It's rare for a set
08:58of these wheels to actually make the experience of riding your bike any worse. However, these tend
09:04to be wheels that you upgrade to, rather than having them on your bike from stock, unless you're
09:10spending a pretty serious amount of money. My issue lies in the bikes that come with alloy
09:15deep section wheels and I can understand why the brands want to fit those wheels to stock bikes.
09:21I'm sure that the brands would argue that the profile of the rims do offer a speed advantage
09:26over box section rims and I'd be inclined to agree with them. I'm sure that they also fit them so
09:32that the much larger tubes of a carbon bike don't look quite so unbalanced and odd against the wheel
09:39choice. And of course, by fitting alloy wheels they can sell the bike looking as they want it,
09:44but offer it at a more affordable price. And some may see this as a pretty fair exchange.
09:50For example, Oro sell the Venturi Evo in a 105 specification with Fulcrum DB800 wheels. And
09:58it's hard to deny that on the face of it, the bike does look fast. But to be honest, I would
10:04rather opt for a box section rim as it will be lighter and more practical in the short term
10:09before I have the chance to upgrade the wheels to something that I really want. Plus the extra circa
10:15300 grams that you'd have to carry around just to have something that numbs the ride and is harder
10:21to spin up just isn't a good trade off. Happily though, wheels are easy to change, so the problem's
10:27never terminal. Let me know down below what bikes or trends do you wish didn't exist? I've no doubt
10:35it's going to get pretty feisty down in the comments section. If you enjoyed the video,
10:39then please do drop it a like, subscribe to the channel for more content and I will see you again
10:43very soon.