Lok Shin

cb400bill

Pic assist.

LUW

Though you have to click on the link to see it, it's beautiful!
For me, unfortunately, no new bike yet .

Four By Six

Thanks for sharing the pic! I agree, it is beautiful

If that is the Comp in Bright Yellow, that is my fave as well. I've been looking everywhere in US for it, and cannot find this color in stock or warehouse anywhere. In the meantime, I've noticed that Spec has quietly bumped up the price on the Comp from $3200 to $3400 retail . Either it is more expensive to build than they thought, or it is very popular so they are jacking up the price. Probably the latter.

Lok Shin

Thank you. It is the Comp and it has exceeded my expectations. I'll submit a ride report and once I figure out how to load up images properly, I'll post some more pics of the bike in detail with some small changes I made. The saddle was first thing to go.

My bike shop has another one in 56cm, if that fits you.

Four By Six

Yup, I'm a 56. I'd PM you for the store name, but you have to have 10 posts to PM. Care to share the name of your LBS, or at least what city you live in? Maybe my LBS can do a store-to-store transfer. Thanks!

LUW

Went to my local SPZ dealer yesterday, and according to the owner, my order of a 56 Roubaix Elite is "official" with SPZ Brazil. But what does that mean? Exactly zilt . He still doesn't have the foggiest idea of when it will arrive.

Frustrating to say the least.

In fact, I'm almost thinking about getting the Diverge Comp instead. Though the Diverge is more expensive, I would end up paying something similar, since I would get the Roubaix upgraded with hydraulic brakes OTD. And to make matters worse, the store even has a beautiful pearl white Diverge Expert (56!) sitting on the showroom floor . A bit out of my budget but right there, no waiting for God-knows how long.

Lok Shin

Adventure's Edge in Eureka, CA. They still had it as of Friday afternoon. 56cm Comp in yellow/orange.

Lok Shin

There we go. Figured out the picture posting process.

LUW

Beautiful!

LUW

Got it!

After a gestation almost 6 months long, last Thursday I got my Roubaix. Unfortunately between work and the lousy weather I couldn't properly ride it yet, so I really can't say anything solid about the ride quality.


This morning I only managed to bed the brakes in my driveway, install a SRAM Garmin Edge support and trade the stock tubes for a pair of Conti's loaded with Joe's sealant, but I did manage to weigh it: 9430 g ready to roll.


At the store I swapped the original 26C tires for SPZ's Roubaix Pro 700×30/32C, and as you can see, the fit is TIGHT - 1 mm tight up front .



I got a really sweet deal on this Elite, since the owner will swap the stock 105 shifters for BR-785 hydro units and he will take my stock brakes back. The guy was awesomely cool, I wanted to leave the bike at the store until he received the units but he insisted that I could use the 105s until he got the 785. Plus, in the deal I got the best bike fit I ever had - absolutely top service!



Though I have this hydraulic brake fetish, after I bedded the stock Tektro Spyres I have to say that maybe I'm wasting money with the swap, because these brakes are very good. They are a lot better then the Promax mechanicals that came with my CAADX and are incomparably better then the last mechanical Tektro units I had on my old Giant Seek.

Tomorrow morning the weather should be dry, so I got my fingers crossed to finally being able to go out for a ride. And before you ask, yes, I'm too much of a sissy to put my brand spanking new bike to ride on wet & dirty pavement .

digibud

Good luck with those tires. While they fit in terms of being able to spin, the first time you get a wet piece of rock to cling to the tire it's going to come up and cut right into your fork. If a large enough piece gets stuck it will probably get knocked off when it hits the fork but personally I would never use tires that ended up being so close to the fork so good luck (not meant to be sarcastic!).

bikesailor

I'm a bit disappointed with that 32mm tire clearance, maybe you need to go with a 650b wheelset to allow larger tires for a little off road riding. I've been trying to decide between the new Roubaix and Trek's new Domane (SL or SLR). I've tested both but not enough to decide, however the disc Domane's defiantly have greater tire clearance. I looking for a comfortable high performance road bike that I can also occasionally use off road (with different wheelset for at least 32mm & hopefully 35mm tires). Did you guys that bought the new Roubaix also test ride the new Domane? I rode the Roubaix Elite and Domane disc SLR. They both were great rides and seamed to handled rough roads equally (IMHO) but for long distances couldn't say. Domane seams to have a more endurance oriented geometry (72 vs 73.5 head angle, longer wheelbase etc) but not sure of its actual impact on the ride, I just know I don't want a "twitchy" handling bike like my old race oriented Giant TCR. So why the Roubaix over the Domane or vise versa (wish Spec would put its head shock etc on the Diverge)?

LUW

This morning I (finally!) went for a 40 km ride and two words come to mind: FLYING COUCH. Smooth and precise, it delivered a very nice ride.

I totally misjudged the weather, and was dressed for a cold and persistent rain, but what I got was a humid heat that around 30 km was making me uncomfortable, so I cut the ride short at about 40 km. Still, I had chosen a route that I'm very familiar with, with hundred's of km worth of experience riding my CAADX (on 700×35C). So I think I was able to get a good idea of how the Roubaix behaves. There's a lot to tell, so I'll make this in a topic form to be more concise.

Future Shock: Honestly, the thing is smooth, both on not-so-good and also on terrible pavement. The first place I went was a 2 km section of (bad) cobbles and right there I could feel how good the suspension works. It's definitively not like a a full-blown fork suspension where you just fly over everything with only feeling a slight vibration, but you don't feel that high frequency buzz in your hands - however, you do feel the bigger stuff. On really bad and cracked asphalt I was able to go a lot faster because it wasn't uncomfortable to ride over everything at speed. And yes, when you're standing it does bob up and down, but believe me when I say that I only noticed this when I was paying attention. It's totally different from standing up on a mountain bike with front suspension.

Geometry: After the Future Shock, this is what most impressed me. My bike is a 58, and my previous road/CX bikes were 56 - my current CAADX is a 56 and it fits me like a glove (and all the 3 or 4 bike fits I did before sized me with a 56 frame). Back in September I had ordered a 56, since speaking with the store owner, who is only 1 cm taller then me (he rides a 56 Tarmac) we came to the conclusion that 56 was my size. However, he also rides a 58 Diverge, and last month, after I rode his bike on the parking lot and it felt right, that got us thinking. As luck would have it, the store received a 58 last Monday, and he called me to come over and check it out. I sat on it and it felt perfect, and then I was in doubt: 56 or 58? But I'm a 56! Three days later he received "my" 56 and I went over to choose. I did another bike fit that night (best bike fit I ever had!) and came home with the 58. The funny thing is that it's more "nervous" then my 56 CAADX, to the point I'm not 100% confident riding without my hands on the bars. Still, it's very comfortable, to the point I almost can say that it doesn't "feel like a race bike". Yeah yeah, I know it's an endurance bike and not a proper race bike, but don't forget that the raciest thing that I'm currently riding is a CX bike. So the geometry is really good if you're looking for something that doesn't make you feel miserable after a ride.

Frame: It's STIFF. I don't know how I can explain, but the impression that I had was that only the handlebars and the seat (to some extent) were compliant. I couldn't feel absolutely no flex in the frame when I hammered the pedals, and I did pay attention specially when standing and going full rock n' roll. I don't recall if I read this somewhere or if it was the shop owner who told me, but the Roubaix's frame is supposed to be Tarmac-stiff.

Tires: I think I have to admit that 30/32Cs are maybe overkill. I'm pretty confident that with the Future Shock + frame + geometry the bike is comfortable enough even on 28s. I can't comment on how much speed I'm loosing with the 30/32C compared to a 28C, and being honest that difference is NOT important for me, but with the myriad of options that you have with 28C my next set of tires will more then probably be 28Cs. And I don't even have to get different tubes.

Seat: My bike came with SPZ's Phenom Comp GT, and though I'm a fizik fanboy (my last two seats were/are Ariones), the jury is still out on this one. I came home without absolutely no sore spots, so maybe there's no need for an "upgrade" here. Let me get some more mileage with them.

Seat post: Interestingly, I felt that SPZ's CG-R seat post does indeed dampen some jolts, specially the lighter stuff. I was certain that I wouldn't feel much difference because I'm too heavy. So though not exactly attractive to the eye, it's nice to have.

105: I'm a big Shimano fanboy, I admit, and for what you pay I sustain that you just can't get anything better then the 105. Yeah, it's cool to have a full-blown Dura Ace or even Ultegra bike (who wouldn't like that?), but other then weight savings I can't imagine that you'll get the job done in a much superior way. Truly, if I was to upgrade here I would only consider getting an electronic set. Of course there's that little issue called $price$, but let a guy dream.

Brakes: VERY good. I can't compare the Tektro Spyres to good current rim brakes (my last road bike with rim brakes was almost a decade ago), but based on my experience with SRAM's X0 and Shimano's XT mountain bike hydro units I can say that the Spyres are good. As I said before, a notch above compared to the Promax that came on my CAADX, but not as "modulable" (is that a word?) as hydraulic units.

As you can see, I'm really pleased with the bike. I think SPZ delivers what it promises with the whole "rider suspension" concept without big sacrifices elsewhere. I didn't talk about how fast the bike is because I'm not particularly fast, but with the very good ergos and with how well the Future Shock works I at least will definitively be faster riding on ruff stuff. If I have to complain about something it would be about weight, since the bike is heavy. As I said above, 9430 g with the big tires and sealant, and I guess that will come down to 9200 g with dry skinny tires, which is still NOT feather weight in anybody's book. To make it lighter would demand a considerable investment or basically getting the (much) more expensive versions.

Other then that, no complaints whatsoever. But let me get some 500 km on it and report back after the honey moon.

lsberrios1 

What size? I may be able to help.

Four By Six

Congratulations, Luciano! I'm happy to hear your bike finally arrived and you did not have to settle for a bike you did not want. I'm also glad to hear you were able to try both frame sizes side-by-side. I also tried 56 and 58 frame sizes at my LBS before buying my Diverge, and the 58 was just to big a stretch and put my weight too far rearward. I have the same 30/32 spec tires on my Diverge, and they are huge and feel very floaty. I'm also looking at downsizing to 28's, as the gravel and single track I ride on are packed pretty good - not much loose stuff. Have fun, and keep us up to date with your impressions.

lsberrios1, as I wrote earlier, I'm a 56 size. I'm in no hurry at the moment, as I am struggling to figure out how to mount aero bars to the new spec hoverbar on the Roubaix. I'll probably have to replace the drop bars with aftermarket bars with a straight section near the stem.

Dan333SP

Nice review and nice bike, I just can't get over the aesthetics of those hydro shift levers. They're just so bulbous. I guess it's just as bad as the tall matchbox look of SRAM's hydro levers. Hopefully they find a way to slim those down in the future.

lsberrios1 

We have a 56cm in stock right now. We might be able to ship if you wanted it. We are in Atlanta.

Four By Six

I wonder if Spec considered Aero bars with the Future Shock. Imagine seat forward, elbows and forearms leaning on the aero bars. That's extra weight on the spring. Maybe the firmest spring would work, if the normal one doesn't.

LUW

Thanx!

I'm still a little baffled about the frame. Honestly, I was VERY resistant about getting the 58 until I was able to sit on both of them - even after sitting on the 58 and it feeling right. The LBS owner was totally convinced that the 58 was the bike for me, but I still wanted to be sure and only was at ease after sitting on both. This afternoon I went for a short F&F spin and once again I had the impression that the bike is very easy to flick around in corners, to the point I would almost call it "a little nervous". That just might be because I was so used to the CAADX, which is very sedated and easy going, but since the Roubaix is not supposed to be a race bike, I'm at least a bit surprised.

The 30/32 Roubaix Pros seem to be overkill on hard good pavement, and perhaps on soft stuff the lack of knobs won't make them good either - I haven't mustered the courage to get it dirty yet (), so I can't say how it behaves on the dirt. For me the upgrade was free of charge, so no problems there, but almost certainly my next pair will be 28s, but probably Contis. At least from what I have locally, though more expensive, I'll be able to get lighter tires from Continental then from SPZ.

LUW

Oh, one detail that is very important: SPZ will only honor their lifetime or 150 years frame warranty for riders up to 109 kg.
Almost soured the deal for me .

Four By Six

I think SPZ said they want to differentiate the Roubaix from all the other endurance bikes by making it a "racing" endurance bike - a more comfortable Tarmac. Sounds like they did just that with the latest. I agree nervous bikes can be tiring after a long ride, but it has been a long time since I've had a bike I can pedal hands-free. I guess I like nervous bikes.

vze23c3q

If anyone is curious about how the stem, future shock and steering tube goes together, this video explains it pretty well:

Technical Service Videos - 2017 Roubaix/Ruby Booster Spring Swap & SWAT Box Install on Vimeo

LUW

Awesome!

Thanks for sharing!

LUW

Though I never rode a Tarmac, that sounds like how I would describe the Roubaix: a comfortable Tarmac for long distances .