When
riding the hills recently, upon which I was unceremoniously dropped, I decided
that given my advancing years and the apparent immortality of my riding
companions, an ebike might be on my radar screen. Of the bikes I considered,
all had some common characteristics. All were Class 3 (offering pedal-assist
only, which ceases when the e-bike reaches 28 mph in the USA) with carbon fiber
frames, mid-drive (bottom bracket) motors, semi-wireless or fully wireless
electronic gear shifting, disc brakes and wide tire clearance. All were way on
the wrong side of $10,000. There is a myriad of choices throughout the
industry; most major manufacturers now offer ebikes and the numbers increase by
the month. However, they are extremely sophisticated
(that is, complicated) devices and I believe that maintenance and servicing are
issues for the foreseeable future. For this reason, I focused on Trek and
Specialized because both are excellent brands which have (hopefully) adequate
service outlets in Austin.
Marketing
hype requires the regular introduction of something new and therefore, by
implication, better. Both mountain bikes
(1970s) and gravel bikes (2000s) were introduced long after off-road events
such as Yorkshire’s legendary Three Peaks cyclo-cross race which dates from
1961 and which used bikes which had many characteristics of their two-wheeled
descendants. And now the term “endurance bike” has now been introduced. All
this pigeonholing is questionable. Bicycle designers have been experimenting
for over 150 years with different frame geometries and components to meet the
needs of different riders. “The Birth of Dirt: Origins of Mountain Biking”
by Frank Berto is a persuasive account of this phenomenon and should be
mandatory reading for anybody interested in the history of cycling, whether a mountain-biker
or not.
Confusing
terminology results in a challenge for any prospective customer and it is
necessary to delve into the specifications of a particular bicycle to ensure
that you end up with something appropriate to your needs. Using today’s
vernacular, I was looking for a “road” bike with limited “gravel” capabilities.
This idea is proving popular and some manufacturers are pushing their machines’
dual-purpose versatility, even at the high end.
Both
brands push their own components, Bontrager (Trek) and Specialized with the
main exception being the drivetrain which is either Shimano or SRAM, Campagnolo
having disappeared from the US market. I
assumed that the e-technology and the hydraulic disc brakes of both brands are equally
effective and, in any case, I am ill-equipped to evaluate any subtle mechanical
differences between them. Frame geometry is ostensibly more relaxed on a gravel
bike but here too, I assumed that the models that I looked at would probably
work for me.
Manufacturers
have experimented with various suspension systems initially designed for
mountain bikers such as Trek’s IsoSpeed rear pseudo-suspension system (located
at the junction of the top tube and seat tube) or Specialized’s Future Shock (front
suspension located below the handlebar stem). These innovations are now
appearing on road bikes. Other
components such as dropper seat posts have appeared. These allow for quick
adjustment of saddle height without requiring getting off the bike but would
seem to have little value on a road bike.
So, what
is left to think about?
Component
dimensions. Both
Trek and Specialized pre-determine these for a given frame size. For the
perfect fit with a custom frame, one would usually evaluate steer-tube
length/bar height, stem length & rise, crank length, handlebar
width etc. etc. To these, add tire width, depending on the bike’s intended use
and saddle width, depending on your anatomy.
The irony is that, except for Trek’s Project One, these
multi-thousand-dollar bicycles offer little or no true customization. The only
way to make this happen is to take off the stock parts, purchase the components
you want separately and then have them installed by the retailer. The steer tubes come pre-cut from the factory
so they can only by shortened ….. goodbye handlebar height.
Gearing.
There are several methodologies for expressing gear ratios. The one I
usually use is calculated thus: divide the chainring size by the sprocket size
(both determined by the number of teeth), then multiply by the bike's wheel
diameter in inches. The latter is a function of both rim diameter and tire
size. Some formulae also factor in crank length but that only changes the
results by very minor amounts. One of my custom 10-speed road bikes has a
53/42/30 triple crankset and the other has a 50/34 compact double. My cassettes
have varied from 11-23 to a 12-28 resulting of high gears of approximately 120
gear inches and low gears of about 28 gear inches. However, the introduction of ebikes changes
this dynamic as with the pedal assist, the need for very low gears is somewhat
mitigated. The most radical innovation in the mountain-bike gearing arena is
the widespread introduction of single cranksets with chain rings of 40 teeth or
lower and mammoth rear cassettes with up to 50 teeth. These set-ups, colloquially
known as a “one-by,” are now migrating to road and gravel bikes.
Tire
width. Back in the day, I used to run 19 mm tires
at 120 pounds pressure. Ouch !!! Now the
trend is towards wider tires at much lower pressures. Road tires are typically
28 or 32 mm whereas gravel tires are in the 35 – 45 mm range. As a roadie, one
important issue for me is not how wide a tire I can get on the supplied rims
but what the safe minimum width is.
Handlebars.
Road bike bars are usually quite aggressive in geometry. Gravel and
endurance bikes have a lower drop and sometimes use a flared design, not
dissimilar to the Rene Herse “randonneur” style. Without trying them, I do not
know if I would have a strong preference.
SPECIALIZED
Historically,
the company has used the following nomenclature: S-Works = Premium line (carbon
frame manufacture and high-end components), Turbo = ebike, SL = Super Light and
EVO = short for Evolution which represents a design or technology upgrade, usually,
but not always, applied to their mountain bikes.
On their
current website, Specialized listed three ebikes of possible interest to me:
(1) the S-Works Turbo Creo SL, identified by the manufacturer as a road bike,
(2) the S-Works Turbo Creo SL EVO, identified as a gravel bike and (3) the most
recent addition, the S-Works Turbo Creo 2 which claims to be a road/gravel
“combo”. All three are 1x12: Specialized
no longer offer any high-end ebikes with a double chainring.
The Creo
SL and the Creo SL EVO are being discontinued, replaced by the new Creo 2
which, as mentioned, is being sold as a road and gravel multipurpose bike.
However, I think that the Creo 2 strongly leans towards the gravel community:
it comes with a single 44-tooth chainring, a 12-Speed 10-50 cassette, flared handlebars,
and a dropper seat post. It is supplied with massive 47 mm tires although the
rims will accept any in the 28-47 mm range. The drivetrain is SRAM’s fully-wireless
Red eTap AXS. Thus Specialized no longer
offer a high-end, road ebike although some dealers still have a limited number
of the now discontinued Creo SL and Creo SL EVO models.
TREK
There
were two bikes on the current Trek website that were of interest: (1) the road-specified
Domane+ SLR 9 and (2) the gravel Domane+ SLR 9 AXS. In the company’s nomenclature, the Domane is
the series name, the + indicates an ebike, SLR = "Super Lite Race",
the 9 indicates a carbon frame (c.f. the 7 which is aluminum) and lastly, AXS (=
“access”) which is SRAM's component integration system that connects the electronic
components and software.
The two
frames are identical in terms of frame construction and geometry. Both use the
same motor, the TQ-HPR50 which is rated at 50 Nm, 250 watts maximum continuous
rated power and 300 watts peak power. The wheels/rims are the same though the SLR
9 comes with 32 mm road tires whereas the SLR 9 AXS comes with gravel-suitable
tires of 40 mm width. Both models come tubeless but the rims can take tubes.
The
primary difference between the two is that the Domane+ SLR 9 uses the semi-wireless
Shimano 2x12, Dura-Ace Di2 drivetrain with 52/36 teeth chain rings and an 11-34
cassette. The Domane+ SLR 9 AXS uses the fully-wireless SRAM 1 x 12, RED XPLR
eTap AXS single drivetrain with a 42-tooth chain ring and a 10-44 cassette.
Trek’s
Project One boutique program offers full components customization: chainring
size (within a 36 – 46 range on the SLR 9 AXS), steer tube length/bar height
(limited), stem length, crank length, handlebar width, tire width, saddle width
etc. can be individually specified. And there is a huge range of color options,
for a price.
AND
THE ANSWER IS …….. ?
Given
that my “need” for an ebike is not urgent, I will wait to see what the manufacturers
introduce for the 2024/2025 model years.
If either Specialized introduce a true road version of the S-Works Turbo
Creo 2 and/or Trek introduce a “one-by” 1x12 version of their Domane+ SLR 9,
then the market will become even more competitive.
