As a former Category 3 road racer (that’s only two down from Category 1!) I should probably know this, but what is a “Zone 2” ride, and why would you want to wreck it?
Also, as a former Category 3 road racer (that’s only three down from PROFESSIONAL!) I knew that “S-Works” was Specializedseses’s (that’s an awkward word to make possessive) top-of-the-line race bike, but I had no idea they had wedged another tier in under that called “S-Level:”
The $10,500 S-Level offers the top-of-the-line SRAM Red groupset and integrated cockpit, just like the $14,000 S-Works. But the frameset, wheelset, and saddle differ. The major difference is the frame: the S-Level gets the same carbon-fiber FACT 10r frame as the Expert and Comp. At 822 g for a 56 cm frame, the FACT 10r is 135 g heavier than the FACT 12r used on the S-Works. Despite the weight difference, Specialized says the FACT 10r offers the same stiffness and comfort characteristics as its lighter sibling. Along with the frame, different wheelsets and saddles make the S-Level 500 g heavier than the S-Works. With bottle cages, a Garmin mount, and my preferred Shimano XTR XC PD-M9200 MTB pedals, the S-Level I tested weighed in at 7.98 kg. By way of comparison, my own road bike—a Gen 8 Trek Madone—weighs in at 7.71 kg.
I had trouble following that, so I fed it through an AI text-to-speech thingy, and this is what I heard:
Sounds about right.
The “S-Level” thing is clever though, because first you shock-and-awe customers with the insanely high S-Works price, then you hit them with the merely staggeringly high S-Level price, then you do a little gram-counting three-card monte, and magically it becomes a bargain.
But what really sets this bike apart from previous iterations of the Tramac is the “Win Fin,” and hold on to your chamois because it’s a real game-changer!
But the most visually striking change is the Win Fin. As the seat tube rises from the bottom bracket, it deviates from the vertical to follow the curve of the wheel as it approaches the seat stays. When riding with just a single water bottle on the downtube—common in pro races where a full bottle is just a team car away—Specialized claims Win Fin saves riders half a watt.
Half a watt?!?
Did I really just read that?
I guess this is so “middle-aged dudes with empty nests and disposable incomes” can get home a fraction of a second faster:
There are a few nits to pick. The reach to the brakes in the drops felt excessive on my first couple of rides, and I had to adjust them slightly to brake easily on descents. Also, I would prefer shorter cranks on the Tarmac. The trend among professional riders has been toward shorter cranks because it makes holding an aero position easier and reduces hip and knee flexion. To its credit, Specialized reduced the crank length from 172.5 mm on the 56 cm SL8 to 170 mm on the same-sized SL9, but I run 165 mm cranks on my road bikes and noticed the difference on the S-Level. One demographic that buys expensive road bikes is middle-aged dudes with empty nests and disposable incomes, and they are the ones most likely to appreciate shorter cranks.
Hey, wait a minute: if shorter cranks is the “trend among professional riders” then why are “middle-aged dudes with empty nests and disposable incomes” the ones most likely to appreciate it?
Oh, wait, I think I know the answer: because they want to copy the pros, right? By the way, I’m not impugning MADWENADI (that’s “middle-aged dudes with empty nests and disposable incomes”) in any way. In fact, I very much aspire to be a member of that demographic, and I’ve already achieved one (1) out of the three (3) qualifiers. (I expect to hit the second and third when my kids move out, get rich, and start supporting me.) So if you want to ride around on a $10,500 S-Level then you absolutely should, because by golly you’ve earned it–even though the S-Level really isn’t as good as the S-Works, the reviewer’s rationalization notwithstanding, which I feel compelled to mention because I’m bitter and spiteful and I know that it will constantly prey on the middle-aged S-Level rider’s mind.
[The prompt was “A middle-aged Specialized S-Level rider trying to convince his skeptical road riding buddies that his bike is just as good as an S-Works.”]
Sure, you can keep telling yourself it’s just as good as the S-Works, but deep down you know that if you’d only spent the extra $3,500 you’d have saved 135 grams.
Also, as a middle-aged dude with empty nest and disposable income, I too ride around on way more bike than I need, and I too emulate the pros–even if they’re the pros of 25 years ago:
Though as a middle-aged dude with empty nest and disposable income I do gain a lot more from the triple than I would from a “Win Fin.”
Speaking of getting old, I was watching one of Terry Barentsen’s latest videos, and say what you will about urban fixed-gear riding but at least the bikes remain as simple as ever:
I mean sure, there’s plenty of accessorizing, but the riders tend to reserve it for their own bodies:
[When the “alt bike” is you.]
However it all serves a practical purpose. For example, the lip ring is so his moustache doesn’t fall off:
Fixed-gear videography has also come a long way since the aughts:
You may remember this as the one where they ride haplessly around the city and touch buses for some reason:
It was truly the “Citizen Kane” of bus-touching movies:
Mama mia, so much bus-touching!
Nobody knows where this rider is now, but some say that shortly after the film he spent time in prison after being caught at a bus depot with his pants around his ankles.
Hey, AI says it’s a thing:
Mechanophilia was poorly understood in those days, but acceptance is increasing, and one day they may finally be able to marry the bus of their choice.
Meanwhile, other members of the cast simply vanished, or else went on to fabricate completely new identities for themselves:
Which is completely understandable when you took part in a movie in which the highlight was terrorizing a street fair as they were breaking it down:
[Fixie bro shredding under a chuppah]
Of course I didn’t participate in any of that, because I was too busy trying to make urban cyclocross happen:
Let the record reflect that when New York was in the grip of Fixie Insanity I was riding around on a bike with full fenders and cantilever brakes.
Okay, and a Fixie, but at least it was grotesquely practical–and also had cantilever brakes:
Yet despite my urban cycling bona fides you’re all upset with me because I commuted on an e-bike one measly time! And that’s fine. But how come nobody got upset when I tested an e-bike–from Specialized no less?!?
Was it because I at least rode a Platypus there?
Still, that Specialized media orgy was easily the second-sleaziest thing I did after testing the Rock Shox Flight Attendant:
Come to think of it I rode the Platypus to that too:
In retrospect my choice of bike was obviously a physical manifestation of my guilty conscience.
Still, in my defense, I did show those industry types real mountain biking, Forbidding Trails Behind The Mall-style:
In retrospect, I believe both of those tests happened within like a couple of months of each other, and I believe they also represent the last time anyone in the mainstream bike industry reached out to me as though I were a legitimate media outlet.
Oh well…