THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE LATEST SPECIALIZED BICYCLES IN INDIA IN 2019

Specialized Bicycle Components (a.k.a Specialized) is one of the largest and most popular bicycle brands in the world. Founded in 1974 with the founder, Mike Sinyard, making a pair of highly durable tires so that he could stop punctures spoiling his ride, Specialized now produces a mind boggling vast range of bicycle, apparel and cycling spares and accessorie covering the entire gamut of cycling. They still make tires, and like everything else they manufacture – they are desgined and engineered keeping the rider in mind and to deliver a much better ride.

Specialized has been available in India since 2013 and because of the high quality of the product, have been the brand of choice for every serious cyclist in the country. From their bikes all the way to tubes – every category has been available to the Indian cyclist via the best bicycle stores across the country and exclusively available via our online site.

We have observed that the brand is steadily breaking the concept of “model years” and moving to more fluid release cycles to ensure they can iterate, innovate and deliver the latest and the greatest cycling products to cyclists across the world instead of being stuck in the so called “Model Years” which we feel is more manufacturing and marketing timeboxes vis-a-vis really enabling the rider to have the best product. This also ensures good product does not “expire” or devalue over time because of artificial timelines.

Here’s our introduction to the latest Specialized lineup that’s available in 2019. The product range is quite vast, and we’ve showcased a few items that we’re most excited about.

SPECIALIZED TARMAC

If you want to go fast, like go fast everywhere, this is the bike. This is the bike that’s made for everything from Grand Tours to your local community race, and with a ground-up redesign, a heavy dose of aero wizardry, and of course, disc brakes, our “most complete race bike” is, well, even more complete.

The Specialized Tarmac SL6 which was extremely popular in 2018 was the 6th generation Tarmac and we now have the disc version for 2019. This also shows the direction the company believes the market is headed for road bikes. The Tarmac has always been the go-to race bike for Specialized’s sponsored teams and for amateur racers and is a model of choice for every Indian looking to go faster! It’s an uber-popular choice with riders racing in their local club races as well as the high-performance pro riders, racing at the national level.

SPECIALIZED TARMAC SL6 DISC COMP

The Tarmac SL6 Disc Comp with FACT 9R Rider-First Engineered™ Carbon frame, the highly acclaimed Shimano R8000 Ultegra Shifting with Shimano R8070 hydraulic disc brakes and DT R470 disc wheels with sealed cartridge hubs.

SPECIALIZED TARMAC SL6 DISC SPORT

The more affordable Tarmac SL6 Disc Sport shared the same awesome frameset as the Tarmac SL6 Comp and similar specs. The major difference being the Shimano 105 R7000 groupset that is available on the Tarmac SL6 Sport.

SPECIALIZED ROUBAIX

The Roubaix, like the Paris-Roubaix race it’s inspired from, is a high performance endurance road bike – the light weight frame has been constructed from the highly acclaimed Specialized FACT carbon fiber with stiffness levels that are off the charts compared to the earlier iterations. You’ll experience a whole new, faster, and more efficient geometry. Through some sophisticated engineering, Specialized has managed to maintain the same fit, feel, and ride position that rides love from the older models. Rider-First Engineered™ construction is a key factor thru the entire lineup.

“How about that suspension thing up front?” Specialized calls it the Future Shock, and essentially, it’s a piston in the head tube with 20mm of travel. This technology was developed in partnership with McLaren Applied Technologies – how cool is that – and the result is a much smoother ride, a lot more comfort without really sacrificing on speed as much as other compliance technologies available across other brands – The Specialized Roubaix outperforms anything on the market.

For 2019, we have the Roubaix Comp and the Sport levels.

SPECIALIZED ROUBAIX COMP

The Specialized Roubaix Comp comes with a FACT 10r frameset, the highest-end carbon offering, an ideal blend of light overall weight and targeted stiffness with the Rider-First Engineered™ design that ensures every frame size has the same legendary responsiveness and smooth ride quality that you’d expect from every Roubaix you’re ever ridden. The all-new Future Shock “suspension” system at the cockpit delivers a revolutionary degree of comfort and control.

The bike also comes spec’d with the Shimano Ultegra R8000 no-fuss Ultegra shifting with hydraulic disc brakes that provides precise shifting and plenty of stopping power. The DT R470 Disc wheels feature reliable, sealed cartridge hubs, and 24 front and rear spokes that keeps weight low and durability high.

SPECIALIZED ROUBAIX SPORT

The Roubaix Sport hits a sweet spot between performance and value, spec’d with 105 11-speed mechanical shifting, hassle-free Tektro Spyre mechanical disc brakes, and DT R470 Disc wheels with Turbo Pro 28mm tires.

SPECIALIZED ALLEZ

If you think you know aluminum, think again. Like Specialized Senior Principle Engineer, Chuck Teixeira, once said, “If you haven’t ridden an aluminum bike lately, you haven’t ridden an aluminum bike.” Carbon fiber has known to hog the spotlight, but well crafted Aluminium has plenty to offer, at a great price point.

Whether you’re just getting into road cycling, commuting, or just looking for a new bike, the Specialized Allez is the perfect choice. Featuring a lightweight alloy frame, carbon fiber fork, and mounts for racks and fenders, it’s as performance-packed as it is versatile.

The Allez is a fantastic offering for most Indians since many of us are just starting to enjoy the sport of road cycling and love to give all experiences a shot – short/long club rides, a spot of racing, a shot at the local brevet scene, touring and commuting. The Specialized Allez has a very versatile frameset that allows for all these experiences and we’ve consistently heard this from our Indian rider base over the last 6 years.

While the Allez lineup is quite huge, we would like to focus on the Allez Sprint platform which is an aero frame, with innovative DSW welding technology that

Allez Sprint Comp

Climbs, corners, flat-out sprints—the Allez Sprint Comp does it all. Being the most advanced alloy road bike Specialized has ever made, the Allez Sprint is capable as a crit-racing weapon or an everyday road steed.

The Specialized D’Aluisio Smartweld Technology powers the heart of the Allez Sprint – strategica welding material where it’s needed the most. Basically giving us an aluminum bike that’s light, yet compliant and considerably stiffer that a lot of bikes ever made! How exciting is this?

The Allez Sprint Comp with Specialized E5 premium aluminium w/ D’Aluisio smartweld technology is specced out with Shimano R7000 105 11 speed shifting and DT R460 wheels. The bike also comes with a Specialized Venge Aero seatpost, FACT carbon and a S-Works FACT full carbon, size-specific taper. Small details, but goose-bump level detail for a seasoned rider. These are the small things that make us love this brand as much.

SPECIALIZED ROCKHOPPER

For those who want to ride trails or hit the dirt, the Specialized Rockhopper is the perfect ride for you to confidently enjoy the trail, with a high focus on reliable components, a responsive lightweigth frame and well finished with components that will ensure you master your local trails or the local community races.

New for 2019 is a redesigned A1 aluminum frame with cleaner optimized tube shapes, lower weight, and internal cable routing, a full Shimano drive train and Shimano hydraulic brakes. A custom SR Suntour XCT fork with the Specialized proprietory Multi-Circuit damping and 80/90/100mm size-specific travel, a fantastic uber comfortable Specialized Henge mountain bike saddle, Specialized lock-on grips and a Stout XC double butted handlebars, a great set of tires (Ground Control Sport on the front and Fast Trak on the rear) and a brilliant A1 aluminium frame – these are the things that make your ride a winner vs just choosing a bike looking at the rear derailleur.

SPECIALIZED CHISEL

Looking to plunge into XC racing or just love the concept of an XC race bike – light overall weight, incredible stiffness, and a race-oriented geometry – you got to to give the Specialized Chisel a shot. The bike features an XC geometry and D’Aluisio smart weld technology welds. The build on this Chisel features a Shimano SLX one-by setup for ease of use along with a wide range of gears, MT500 Deore hydraulic disc brakes and the renowned RockShox Judy fork with upto 100mm of travel.

Well, that’s it for the moment. We will be updating this post as an when more products roll into the country.

We’re super stoked about what we’ve seen till date – a fantastic product line that allows us and our riders to ride longer, ride faster and ride safer. Specialized might seem like an expensive brand, but the beauty is in the details and understanding how it will impact your ride. It’s critical to be able to understand the value a brand like Specialized brings to the table and to really figure if this is important to you or not.

Need help – talk to us! Our Bike Specialists are always ready to make sure your can make the best decision on the best cycling products to help you enjoy riding your bike even more.