 Now, before we start this video, I've realized something. I have more American subscribers than any other country in the entire world, so in this video, and video is moving forward on this channel, I'm gonna be talking in the almighty USD, however, when it comes to grams and pounds, I'm gonna keep a blend going just for the time being. Additionally, if you've just landed on this channel, this is where I do weekly cycling videos, including road bike reviews like what you're gonna see today, so if you enjoy this video, or if you wanna go into the draw to win a road bike valued at thousands of dollars, which I'm gonna give you more details about shortly once I've negotiated a fair price with this brand, and I'm gonna give it to a lucky subscriber a week before Christmas. All you need to do is either be a subscriber or hit that subscribe button below. No names, no emails, just subscribe below and you'll go into the draw. So at the back end of last year, I had the opportunity or privilege to test ride a number of bikes, some in the two and a half thousand dollar category, and then others in the 10,000 dollar category, and it got me thinking, perhaps I should put a video together specifically surrounding what an extra seven and a half thousand dollars USD actually gives you. Now to set the foundation for this discussion, in my opinion, there are three core components to a road bike, and in order of importance, we have number one, the frame, number two are the wheels, and number three is the group set. Now I don't wanna take anything away from a nice cockpit and also a nice set of tires, however they are a distance fourth and fifth in my opinion. So I was thinking, how do we do this comparison fairly? So where as apples to apples as possible? You see, if I compared this road bike, which is mine, and it's only here for display purposes today, that's a Specialized LA Sprint, which is on this beautiful bike stand by Westwood, I'll link to their details below. So if we compared this to a Curve Cycling Belge Air or a Giant Defy, it would all become a little too focused on the frame because they're different frame materials, so we've got titanium, aluminium and carbon, and they're different geometries aligned to different riding styles. So the conversation would become massively confusing. So I thought what would be interesting here is why don't we pinpoint one bike from one family and simplify things? So for this battle, and this isn't sponsored by Specialized, they just give me access to their bikes, which enable me to do reviews like this. We're gonna go head to head with the Specialized Tarmac S-Works Disc versus the Specialized Tarmac Disc Sport. And I have some solid commentary from a Specialized HQ expert in Australia that I will share in this video about the differences in the frame sets. Now the recommended retail price of the S-Works is about $11,000 USD, and for the sport, it's $2,700 USD. However, I work with a number of bike shops through Bike Chaser, and I reckon knowing what bike shops are like if you caught them at the right time of year, or if you negotiated with them, you'd probably be able to walk out the door with the S-Works for around about $10,000 USD, and the Sport for around about $2,500 USD, hence the title of this video. So I've ridden the S-Works, yes it was the rim brake version, but I'm familiar with this brakes, and I recently took myself out to a Specialized dealer in the Sunshine Coast called CycleZone, and took the Specialized comp for a ride so I could deliver this video with credibility. Once again, the bike I test rode, that being the comp had Ultegra, but outside of Ultegra replacing 105 on the comp, it's the same bike as the Sport. So let's drill into each major component, the frame, the wheels, and the group set, and blend in riding experiences, and then at the end of this video, I'm gonna have a bit of a curly one for you, because I reckon we could potentially change the importance of frame, wheels, and group set too. Stay tuned. So the first major component, we're gonna talk about the frame set. And for the first part of this video, I'm gonna share with you a discussion I have with Nick Van Der Linden, who heads up the operational management side of the Specialized University here in Australia, and has a direct line communication with some of the key engineers that worked on the tarmac over in the US. Nick is gonna share with us three core frame differentiators. Number one being the carbon fiber use. So on the Sport, they use something called FACT 9R, and on the S-Works, they use something called FACT 12R. Number two is the D-shaped seat post, and number three is the seat tube and seat stay differences. And blended in between these three differentiators, we're gonna talk about riding experiences. So let's go across that conversation between Nick and myself now. So at the end of the day, we're talking the number itself as an internal reference point, but it's everything that you can't see. So if you think of it like a jigsaw puzzle, carbon fiber is a fiber itself, so it needs to be layered in a particular format, and then it basically becomes a blueprint for the frame. And so that blueprint is tested and tested and tested and tested until we come up with a refined product. You know, carbon itself comes in many different forms, therefore it comes in many different price points, and also the jigsaw can get more complicated further up the chain you go. So the 9R platform and the 12R platform are basically different jigsaw puzzles. So the 300 pieces to a frame on the 9R perspective and then 500 pieces on the 12R frame. And those small nuances just mean we can add and actually take away, depending on its weight or add stiffness and very small right quality differences, which is whether the S-works can't make really comfortable time. So to give you some perspective, frame only, so the two triangles, it's just over 1,000 grams, so 10, 50 grams for the 9R frame in a 50, and 805 grams for the S-works. Price point, predominantly, there needs to be obviously a point that we get to that enables us to create the high-end engineering. A lot of it is the way that we construct the fibres of the carbon fibre. So the rounding post, which is like this here, at the seat clamp sits up on top as well, so it's a little higher than the top tube. And that enables us for a more simplistic production method, which of course keeps the prices overall a little bit lower. So we can hit that slightly lower target, and still have a really high-performing bike. So the carbon construction on the 9R frame is still, right in first engineer, it's still focused around each size as a different set of numbers to create the same experience. And then this guy here has that D-shape, where the seat clamp itself sits right on a flush on the top tube. So that engineering just there, what you pointed to that D-shape versus the round is actually a more expensive thing for you to develop and build. The tooling required also the actual lay-up schedule in here versus the round tube, which is obviously a little simpler to do. And carbon construction's been doing round tubes for years. So yeah, teaching the factories, teaching them all that sort of stuff to do with properties is a lot more intense. The other thing with the D-shape, we know that that is aerodynamically the best shape for that part of the bike. And so just referencing again, the drop seat stays increase the aerodynamics of the bike frame dramatically from the XL5, for instance. There's a 45 second difference between the S-works XL6 and the S-works XL5. Correct. So all of this system for here, think about straight line or even a crosswinds, that there has to be some sort of advantage to having everything all shaped nicely from an end-to-end perspective. This flat edge in the back means that we have a very, very thin trailing edge so the wind itself doesn't get caught up and it's no messy air at the back here. Yep, no turbulence. We're minimising the turbulence. I know it's not explained, but it does make a huge difference. Yeah. And obviously when you've got a wheel in here with a tyre and everything else like that, so it has an effect the whole time. But yeah, so just even simple things like this little cutaway, which brings the wheel closer into the frame is going to create a much more streamlined system that we've come through. Right, so that's not on the sport or the comp? It's a very, very subtle difference on this one down here. So I'll lift it up in a second. But the other thing about bringing the wheel closer in is obviously shortening the chainstays, which creates a much better handling bike. So the shorter it is, the more nimble it is around the lines. If you have the same set of wheels, the same end of a cockpit group set set up and the same rider and you put them in a straight line, so literally 15 seconds over 40K, which is dramatic. So before we head into the next section being wheels, I want to talk to you about the weight differences between the sport and the S-Works for a 56 centimetre. Now I did have to get a bit of a formula going for this because it wasn't as clear cut as I would have liked and I'll put the formula below, but we're talking about a 1.4 kilogram or three pound difference between two bikes. Now the next major component that I'd like to talk about is wheels. The S-Works comes with some Rovel CLX50 carbon wheels. The weight on the CLX50s is 1,450 grams or 3.1 pounds. On the sport, it has DT Swiss R4 70 disc wheels. Total weight, 1,670 grams or 3.7 pounds and they are alloy. Now these DT Swiss wheels looked awfully familiar to me. Aha, these wheels were on the Specialized Rubai Expert that I rode the entire length of New Zealand in mid 2017. Now I'll link to that video below for anyone that wants to check it out, but these are some seriously good wheels. They were robust, reliable. I really gave them a beating in New Zealand and they've got some speed too. They're a fantastic all round wheel. However, in comparison to the CLX Rovel 50s, there are a few things you're gonna miss out on four things actually. The first one is responsiveness and acceleration. You'll be able to saddle noticeably faster with more aggression on the CLX50s. Number two is you'll definitely have much greater aerodynamic gains with these wheels, particularly noticeable in fast bunch riding or zooming down hills. And the third one, which kind of aligns to the aerodynamic nature is the ceramic bearings on the CLX50s are gonna mean you're on the pedals a little bit less, particularly when you're rolling in a fast bunch ride. And fourth, aesthetically, I don't think you can beat the CLX50 carbon wheels, particularly in comparison to an alloy clincher like the DT Swiss wheels. In fact, one of my subscribers, Pete Luttrel, recently bought the Tarmac Expert from Hampton Cycles and he swapped out the 32s for the 50s. A great decision which makes the bike look and feel a lot more purposeful in my opinion. But for all round purposes, say going off road, gravel, bike paths, packing your bike into a bike bag, I would take the DT Swiss wheels any day of the week. However, I think ideally, if we all had a shitload of money or if we won the lottery, we'd have the DT Swiss as our all round wheel. And when we wanna beat our mates around the block and go super quick, we put on the CLX50s. Now the third and final piece that I wanna talk about is the group set. Now the S-Works comes with Shimano Durace Di2 with hydraulic disc brakes, total weight, 2,389 grams. The Sport comes with Shimano Mechanical 105 with hydraulic disc brakes. Now the weight of these, and I did get lost into a bit of a weight weenies abyss trying to figure out the weight of the 105s with disc brakes, I think it's somewhere between 2,800 and 3,000 grams. If you know 100%, let me know below. So comparing these group sets, there are four call outs that I like to make. Number one, obviously the group set on the S-Works is lighter, about 500 grams or 1.1 pounds. Which is pretty significant. Once again, responsiveness and hill climbing, you're gonna feel it. Number two, you'll get smoother and more reliable shifting with the Shimano Di2. However, if you don't charge your batteries, you might get caught out, or occasionally there are some issues with the electronics and you could be left on the side of the road screaming Mendoza, while the man with Mechanical 105 goes rolling past you. Number three, we probably should talk about the brakes, but to be honest, I've test rode both bikes and really there's nothing to write home about here. So I'm gonna call that one even. And the fourth one is we should talk about the gear ratios on the different bikes. The rear cassette on both is the same at 1130, but you've got more of an aggressive bigger front chain ring on the S-Works. A 52, 36 versus a 50, 34 on the Sport. Ultimately though, I think the Shimano 105 group set is a great group set. I've got it here on my own personal bike. And if you're into road cycling, wanna bet your mates around the block or even race 105 is just fine. I race with it myself. And while I wouldn't wanna go anything less, it's reliable, the shifting is punchy enough for racing and the street cred is not bad with 105. In fact, if you wanna go 105 versus Ultegra versus Duraace or Electronic versus Mechanical, I've done two separate videos on it, which I'll link to below. And my wife, who's pretty particular, who bought a road bike recently, we've put her on 105 as well. So here's the thing, a $2,500 road bike can actually feel like a $10,000 road bike. The tarmac Sport actually feels quite like the tarmac S-Works. Out of the saddle, climbing, general cruising, the general characteristics are the same. It's just that S-Works is probably about between two, five, maybe 10% more in certain compartments. It's slightly more responsive. It's slightly stiffer. It will accelerate quite a fair bit better. And all of those characteristics really fall under the need to have something that is more aggressive. So the question you gotta ask yourself is, what type of riding are you doing now? I'm really drill into it. Will you get value out of those percentage gains that I talked about if you've got the money to invest in something like the S-Works? You see, for me right now, if I drill into my riding, I'm doing a little bit of fast bunch riding, cruising around with mates, but nothing overly aggressive. So I would be happy with the sport right now. However, if I was crit racing, I might just be able to justify that extra seven and a half thousand dollars. So the curly one I wanted to throw at you at the end here, let's just say you've got the sport on one side and the S-Works on the other, and you're trying to close the gap in terms of performance gain. Now the question I have for you is, would you swap over the frame? So would you put the S-Works frame onto the sport? Would you swap over the wheels? So put the CLX 50s over onto the sport, or would you change the group sets over? You see, for me, I think in order to close the gap, the closest, I think wheels would be your number one choice. Put those CLX 50s on the sport, and you would have a bike that's not far off an S-Works race machine. So I think in conclusion, if you're gonna spend two and a half grand on a bike, picking a bike that's within a family of a heavily engineered race performance machine could be the way to go.