What Is The Best Road Race Bike In 2024?

What Is The BEST Road Race Bike In 2024?

This video contains product placement for MET helmets. Thanks to them for helping make Bike of the Year 2024 possible. Check out the link to learn more: https://www.met-helmets.com/en/

We have been testing the best road race bikes to determine which should be crowned our 2024 Race Bike of the Year.

The final choice came down to the Specialized Tarmac SL8 Pro, the Canyon Ultimate CF SL 8 Aero, and the Focus Izalco Max 9.8. but which came out on top?

Let us know what your choice would be in the comments!

#bikeoftheyear #racebike #cycling

Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:39 The Final Three Bikes
01:07 Price
03:02 Builds
06:29 Framesets, Geometry & Ride Impressions
09:15 Final Thoughts

Specialized Tarmac SL8 vs Canyon Ultimate | Which Is Best?
→ https://youtu.be/D1_tPOLLusw

Giant TCR vs Canyon Ultimate – Lightweight Race Bikes Do Battle!
→ https://youtu.be/oytGWoRFuBQ

Fastest Ever Focus! & NEW Van Rysel’s Budget Race Shoes
→ https://youtu.be/zfx_hSgtYvo

THIS Is The Fastest Road Bike Tyre In 2023
→ https://youtu.be/Vs1jOVdYgbc

THESE Are The Fastest Road Bikes in 2023
→ https://youtu.be/8YemrSZYRM0

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this is the best road race bike in 2024 that’s right the focus is Alco Max 9.8 is my road race bike of the year for 2024 and in this video I’m going to tell you why this is one of the best allround racing bikes available today beating out stiff competition from other major brands such as specialized and Canyon before we go any further though a quick thank you to Matt helmets for sponsoring bike Radars 2020 4 bike of the Year Mega test their support enables us to make these huge independent group tests possible so we can bring you the best Fike reviews on YouTube now I’ve ridden loads of bikes over the past 12 months but for bike Radars 2024 bike of the year I took three big hitters into the final round the specialized tarmac sl8 Pro Canyon’s ultimate CF SLA arrow and the focus is Alco Max 9.8 all three were excellent but they only be one winner to find out why this is the road race bike you should buy this year stick around to the end of the video let’s start with prices cuz there’s no denying that race bikes are incredibly expensive nowadays now I’m showing my age here but when I got into racing back in the early 2010s I bought a giant TCR frame set off of mate for 500 quid an altegra group set for about 400 and some fum aluminium wheels for another 300 or so I threw it all together with some aluminum I finishing kit and some Cony tires that I already had and that was it all in for less than 1500 quid in 2024 you’d be lucky to get an altegra group set for that kind of money let alone a bike that you wouldn’t mind turning up to a local crit or Chain Gang on the specialized tarmac sl8 Pro for example cost a whopping £8,000 or $85,000 you can look at that two ways on one hand that’s a lot cheaper than the 12 Grand World Tour spec SS Tac sl8 on the other 8 000 is still a huge amount of money especially if you’re going to be racing that bike and potentially crashing it at some point too in comparison the canyon ultimate CF SLA AO looks a relative bargain at just under £4,800 here in the UK now unfortunately that specific model isn’t available in the US so if you want a canyon ultimate with altegra di2 you’ll need to move up a level and get the ultimate CF SLX 8D I2 which cost just under $6,300 now the focus is Alco Max 9.8 sits between the two at just under £ 6,600 sadly Focus bikes aren’t currently available in the US but if you’re shopping in Europe then this bike will set you back just under € 6,800 whichever way you cut it these are all expensive bikes of course it is worth mentioning that all free brands also make cheaper race bikes you can get a specialized tarmac sl7 with a 12-speed Shimano 105 group set for less than half the price of the sl8 model that I tested for example in terms of builds I chose to test bikes that showcase what I think of as an ideal amateur racer spec so that means Shimano orra di2 or SRAM Force axis group sets rather than the prevel dura ace Oram red for example all of the bikes have AO Wheels good tires Carbon cockpits and the specialized in Canyon models also come with a power meter I know I’ve moaned a bit about prices already but I do think it is fair to say that you get a lot of bike for your money these days at least all three are a massive Step Up in every area on what I used to race on a decade ago where we see a Divergence of approach is at the cockpits though the specialized Tac and the focus isalo Max for example both use non-integrated cockpits with a standard stem in my opinion this is great as it allows a lot of customization the handlebars you get with both bikes are absolutely fine but if you want a different shape different width or whatever then you can change it and you’re not stuck with something that isn’t quite perfect on the canyon ultimate though you get Canyon’s proprietary full carbon integrated handlebar and that’s the only bar that’s compatible with its Fork now the reason for this is that while the specialized and the focus both have standard round steerers and take a normal stem the canyon has a kind of quill stem system and the canyon cockpit is the only thing that fits it it’s true that you do get the adjustable Wings on the canyon bar that allow you to change the whips and you know that’s a cool feature but the problem is I don’t think most people need an adjustable handlebar they just need the one width that’s right for them and that particular bike so for me as soon as I got the ultimate home I slammed the bar into its narrowest 39 CM setting and just left it there for good and what I really miss is the ability to adjust the stem length which can’t be done on this bike without changing the entire handlebar and what’s worse is that it’s not even clear if you can even buy a replacement handlebar to get a different stem length in the past Canyon has told me that you can but it isn’t listed as a spare part on their website so even if you technically can it’s not at all clear what sizes are available or how much it would even cost and for me these bike fit things are fundamental maybe I’m just being picky but on my road bik for example I run a 120 mm stem with a 36 CM handlebar the fact that I would never be able to do that on the canyon ultimate is just really frustrating and of course if you’re less fussy about your bike fit then maybe this won’t be a major issue for you and fit limitations aside it is a good cockpit I like the drop shape it looks cool it’s comfortable all of those boxes are ticked but it’s just not for me and I think that that last part is really key with Canyon because it’s a direct sales brand their business model incentivizes them to minimize the amount of customization on offer if everyone who bought a canyon bike got a choice of bar width stem length crank length gearing tires Etc well that’s just going to slow down the process of building each bike and ultimately cost Canyon money which they’ll want to pass on to us in the form of higher prices and to be clear I think that’s absolutely Fair one of the big reasons the canyon is so much cheaper than the other two bikes is because of that business model and the fact that you get these one siiz fits all solutions at the end of the day you have to decide whether you’re happy to make that potential compromise to save that bit of money or whether you’d rather spend a bit more to get something that’s more adjustable in terms of the frame sets and geometry all are as You’ expect fairly similar each uses a mix of truncated aerop for tube shapes with aggressive riding positions and steep angles designed to offer quick handling and a lively ride feel riding them back to back though there are some noticeable differences the tarmac sl8 Pro for example feels super reactive the stack is low and the steering is very quick meaning it feels great when you’re climbing or making small adjust ments to your line in contrast the focus felt relatively mellow for a race bike the reach to the bars is slightly longer and the head tube angle is a little slacker and as a result the handling is just slowed down a bit at slower speeds this can make it feel a little more sluggish than the tarmac but the payoff is that it’s a little calmer at high speeds the canyon ultimate splits the difference it’s not quite as Lively as the tarmac but it’s a little more nippy than the focus overall it represents a good balance in that respect though to be fair handling is quite a personal thing personally I think all free bikes handle really well it just depends on what you’re looking for if you do crits or group rides on twisty roads with lots of sharp Corners then the tarmac feels perfect for that but on the other hand if you’re a less confident bike Handler or you do a lot of long fast descents then the focus might be a marginally better pick in terms of things that I didn’t like well I’ve already spoken at length about the proprietary bar and the canyon ultimate so I won’t go over that again but beyond that the only thing that I could really crit ize is that it needs better tires the shb 1 tubless tires are fine but they are not the fastest this is a relatively easy problem to fix though I did also feel that the 50 and 62 mm deep rims maybe a Touch Too Deep for that bike they do feel fast on the flat but when you’re climbing they do make the bike feel just a little bit more sluggish than I had expected I also felt that the tarmac sl8 Pro could have benefited from 28 SE tires rather than the 26 SE tires that you get a standard main issue I had with that bike though was that the brake rotors were just so loud in the web now I don’t know what it is about sram’s cheaper paceline Motors but in my experience they are consistently the worst when it comes to brakes wheel in wet weather it got so bad at one point that I felt like I was playing Untitled Goose game whenever I was riding through quiet Villages again it’s not the end of the world break rotors are relatively cheap and easy to replace but still when I was testing that bike it was incredibly annoying with the focus on the other hand there wasn’t really anything to complain about the only obvious thing is missing from the spec compared to the other two bikes is a power meter if you’ve already got one then that’s of course no problem but if you don’t and you want one then it’s obviously something you’ll need to factor into the overall cost so if it was my money on the line then I would buy the focus is Alco Max 9.8 and while it’s fair to say that the paint job on this model is a little bit plain it’s incredibly hard to criticize the focus in terms of its spec its ride quality how adjustable it is and so on and that’s why the focus is alcomax 9.8 is my 2024 race bike of the year but what do you think have you ridden any of these bikes and did I make the right choice as always leave a comment below to let me know what you think and if you want even more race bikes why not check out this video