BMC road bike range: range, details, pricing and specifications

BMC is proudly Swiss, shaped by the mountains and roads around the city of Grenchen where the company first began building bikes. This is still the home of its headquarters and in-house Impec Lab where it performs all its research, development and testing. The results are decidedly Swiss with all of BMC’s bikes striving to be at the forefront of what is possible in bike design through innovation and precision engineering.

Since 2001 BMC has been heavily involved with professional racing. It has supplied bikes to some of the world's top athletes who have gone on to win some of the most prestigious cycling races. BMC joined NTT Pro Cycling (previously Team Dimension Data) in 2019 who will be racing the prominent one-day classics and Grand Tours in 2020. 

Back in July BMC introduced the URS (UnReStricted), its first foray into the fast-growing world of gravel. The URS is unmistakably BMC and is packed with innovation and attention to detail that will no doubt make its mark on the gravel-grinding scene. This might have come at a cost, however, as BMC appear to have dropped the Crossmachine cyclo-cross range for 2020.

BMC’s road bike range explained 

BMC breaks its ranges up using a numbering hierarchy that is a bit complicated at first glance. Range’s are broken up using ‘01’ or ’02’ to specify the frame-level which is followed by ‘One’, ‘Two’ and ‘Three’ to denote the spec level. Lower numbers indicate a better bike with ’01 One’ being the top of the pile.  

BMC offers no women-specific geometry models or components such as shorter cranks, narrower handlebars and saddles. This will result in any female riders needing to budget extra to perform these upgrades aftermarket. For models which use an integrated and proprietary stem and handlebar system, such as the Timemachine Road, this will no doubt be a costly exercise. 

Scroll down to see Cyclingnews’ roundup of BMC road, TT/Tri and gravel bikes available to buy.

Designed with rigours of the grand tour in mind the Teammachine is BMC’s thoroughbred race machine. Attacking performance up climbs, pin-point control down descents and when maximising power during sprints the Teammachines are built to be the optimal balance of stiff and light.  

To achieve this, all Teammachine SLR frames benefit from BMC’s Accelerated Composites Evolution (ACE) technology. By exploring and analysing potential tube shapes, cross-sections and carbon layups using computer models (a claimed 55,000 frame variations) BMC can optimise frame designs and streamline the prototyping process. Not only benefiting weight and stiffness ACE has also brought the advantages of built-in compliance. Tuned Compliance Concept (TCC) brings road vibration dampening to the Teammachine using a dropped seat stay design, ACE carbon forks and a D-Shaped carbon seat post.

Following recent trends, for 2021 BMC has added a one-piece integrated cockpit - the new ICS Carbon - with stealth cabling to offer the clean aesthetic and aerodynamic efficiency that comes with it. The new ICS Carbon cockpit is a one-piece system that is said to be stiffer than the former ICS system, yet 105 grams lighter. However, for those who prefer the maintenance-friendly bar and stem, a new ICS2 is also available. 

While the frame certainly retains the DNA of the outgoing Teammachine, BMC claims that every surface has been changed. This is most apparent with the shape of the wider down tube that has been given a larger surface area and fewer edges to improve aerodynamics while retaining stiffness. At the base of which, BMC has also widened the bottom bracket area to increase stiffness and improve power transfer. In testing, BMC claims to have found the rear triangle to be 20 per cent stiffer than the former model, with an overall stiffness increase of four per cent. 

The Teammachine range is made up of SLR01, SLR and ALR subcategories. All are use disc brakes with only the lowest ALR One model still featuring rim brakes.

BMC Teammachine Range:

• BMC Teammachine SLR 01 One
• BMC Teammachine SLR 01 Two
• BMC Teammachine SLR 01 Three
• BMC Teammachine SLR 01 Four
• BMC Teammachine SLR One
• BMC Teammachine SLR Two
• BMC Teammachine SLR Three
• BMC Teammachine SLR Four
• BMC Teammachine ALR Disc One
• BMC Teammachine ALR Disc Two
• BMC Teammachine ALR One

BMC’s Roadmachine range has been designed to ride all day without sacrificing speed. By using ACE the Roadmachine gets the full Endurance Tuned Compliance Concept (TCC) experience to offer the most compliance to keep you riding in comfort all day no matter the road surface. All Roadmachine models feature disc brakes for powerful and dependable performance in all conditions.  

Roadmachine 01 uses BMC’s premium carbon to bring the best levels of compliance and stiffness. All 01 models get BMC’s innovative Integrated Cockpit System (ICS) plus electronic shifting from Shimano and SRAM.

Roadmachine 02 gets the same premium frame and fork as the 01 but misses out on ICS stem and features wallet-friendlier component groups. The range starts with a 105 groupset and tops out at mechanical Ultegra. The carbon Roadmachine frameset can fit a 33mm tyre (comes with 28mm tyres) to give a good balance of speed and comfort.

For those looking for something more versatile, BMC’s Aluminium Roadmachine X will happily take on some extracurricular routing should an offroad detour become too tempting. While not a true gravel bike the Roadmachine X has a longer wheelbase and slacker head angle for increased stability on rough terrain plus clearance for chunky 34mm tyres. Rack and fender mounts allow the Roadmachine X to easily turn its hand to commuting or long-distance touring as well.

BMC Roadmachine Range:

• BMC Roadmachine 01 One
• BMC Roadmachine 01 Two
• BMC Roadmachine 01 Three
• BMC Roadmachine 01 Four
• BMC Roadmachine 02 One
• BMC Roadmachine 02 Two
• BMC Roadmachine 02 Three
• BMC Roadmachine 02 X

Long and low, BMC’s Timemachine has only one goal: going as fast as possible. BMC has maximised aerodynamics by using advanced tube profiles, an Aero Integrated Cockpit System (ICS), Aero Module and the same Position-to-Perform (P2P) seatpost from BMC’s time-trial bike.  

Timemachine takes BMC’s ICS cockpit further. By combining a dedicated aero handlebar with a flattened ICS stem which minimises front surface area and gives complete stealth cable routing to limit drag. Drag is further reduced using an Aero module system that houses bottles on the frame and turbulence-reducing covers to shield the brake calipers. 

The Timemachine gets the Tuned Compliance Concept (TCC) treatment but not nearly to the levels of the Teammachine and Roadmachine where vertical compliance offers more benefits. Both the shallow height of the Aero ICS stem and the narrower TCC Speed fork legs offer compliance without sacrificing any transfer of power when riding hard.

Weighing in at 2.31kg, the same frameset is used across the Timemachine range which is specced with an Aero Module and ICS Aero cockpit with integrated cycling computer mount as standard. 

BMC Timemachine Road Range:

• BMC Timemachine 01 Road One 
• BMC Timemachine 01 Road Two
• BMC Timemachine 01 Road Three
• BMC Timemachine 01 Road Four

BMC has focused tits research and refinements to the requirements demanded by triathletes. The result is a bike that has maximised aerodynamic properties combined with a wide range of adjustment making it an ideal bike for time trials as well.

BMC has used what it calls 'P2P x SubA' to achieve its VMAX (Maximum Velocity) goal, to create a bike that is as fast as possible. P2P denotes the adjustability of the bike to allow any rider to find the perfect aerodynamic position that can be held until the finish line. SubA is the pursuit of optimising aerodynamic efficiency using three core features: tube shape, integration, and rider-specific components.

As a result, the Timemachine 01 has multiple cockpits options for a range of different pad heights, a third-generation hinged fork, two seat post positions offer a seat tube angle range between 71- and 81-degrees. Both pad positions and seatpost adjustment allows for UCI-legal positioning.

While the Timemachine 01 only comes as in a frameset option the Timemachine 01 Disc is available as a complete build option with SRAM Force eTap AXS and DT Swiss ARC 1650 wheels.

For those not ready to go so deep, the Timemachine 02 brings some of the P2PxSubA technology to a lower price point. BMC drop the integrated hinged fork for a standard stem which will make maintenance and cockpit adjustment easier. The Timemachine 02 still gets P2P dual-mount seatpost and SubA tube shapes and storage. With two price points, the Timemachine 02 offers an entry-level for those looking to seriously race TTs, triathlons and Ironmans.

BMC Timemachine Range:

• BMC Timemachine 01 (frameset only) 
• BMC Timemachine 02 One
• BMC Timemachine 02 Two
• BMC Timemachine 01 Disc

While most brands have been in the gravel game for a while BMC is only just making its debut in 2020 with the URS (UnReStricted). There is no playing catch up here though as the BMC URS is one of the most advanced and progressive gravel bikes currently available.

The Micro Travel Technology, which has seen success on its cross-country mountain bikes and cyclo-cross bikes, has now been utilised for the URS. By adding 10mm of travel between the seatstay and seatpost BMC has reduced fatigue-inducing vibrations and improved traction.

Geometry is progressive for a gravel bike with numbers that are more mountain bike than endurance road. A slack 70-degree head angle paired with a long top tube and short stem gives the URS a long wheelbase for increased stability while maintaining a comfortable reach.   

An Integrated Cockpit System (ICS) keeps cables tucked away, not only aesthetically cleaner but a big positive if you want to run handlebar-mounted bikepacking bags. The URS has more endurance friendly details, three bottle cage mounts, feed-bag mounts on the top tube as well as integrated dynamo hub cable routing on the fork. The frame and fork will clear a 45mm 700c or a 47mm 650b mountain bike-style tyre with all models coming specced with tubeless-ready 42c WTB Resolutes.  

Each bike in the URS range features the same premium frame although the Four misses out on the ICS stem. All four come with a 1x drivetrain starting with Apex for the URS Four, GRX and GRX Di2 for the Three and Two, while the range-topping One gets the SRAM Red eTap AXS treatment

BMC URS Range:

• BMC URS One 
• BMC URS Two
• BMC URS Three
• BMC URS Four