TARMAC SL4 Nothing is lighter and stiffer
CREATING THE WORLD’S BEST ROAD BIKE We had one goal with the Tarmac SL4 — create the world’s best road machine. Of course, we weren’t starting from scratch. Since its 2005 debut, the Tarmac has won hundreds of races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and the Tour of Flanders. Yet our engineers continued to push the envelope, and improved the SL4’s handling and efficiency even further ahead of all other bikes on the market. Nothing is lighter and stiffer.
MEASURING SUCCESS Our engineers have spent years quantifying ride feel. By working closely with the world’s best professional athletes — on the road and in the lab — we know exactly where and how a bike should move. Through exhaustive R&D, we achieved best-in-class torsional numbers (for better handling) and bottom-bracket rigidity (for superior pedaling efficiency) while retaining comfort through engineered compliance. We measure torsional stiffness and BB stiffness because they’re attributes that you can feel as a rider. These measurements define the frame’s performance.
TRIMMING GRAMS – NOT PERFORMANCE Bicycles are like human bodies — there is always a balance of performance and weight. Drastic weight loss will hinder performance every time. We shaved a few grams off the SL4 through careful engineering (a 56cm weighs a scant 875 grams), but refused to sacrifice performance. Again, the goal is a superior bicycle, not a flimsy weight claim.
Nothing is lighter and stiffer You may be able to find a lighter frameset than the SL4 — but that will come at a cost of reduced stiffness and lackluster performance. There is simply no other frameset on the market that offers the stunning performance of the SL4 in its weight class. More importantly, there is no other bike — at any weight — that rides like an SL4.
*Actual weights of purchased framesets
2012 s-works TARMAC SL4 Nothing is lighter and stiffer