Specialized announce new Shiv TT bike for Tour de France

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First spotted by Cyclingnews at the Giro d’Italia in May, Specialized have announced details of their all-new Shiv TT bike which will be used by Deceuninck-QuickStep and Bora-Hansgrohe at the Tour de France this Sunday.

The frame design, which was first seen last autumn, is now UCI-legal (just) and features a completely new tube design, cockpit system and seat post from the outgoing model. Specialized also say the frameset (frame, fork, cockpit and seat post) shaves off 500g from the previous iteration of the bike, allowing it to “attack the most technical time trial courses and drill the steepest climbs”.

Since being raced on at the Giro d’Italia in May, riders on the new Shiv TT bike won a stage at the Tour de Suisse and three national titles. The Stage 2 team time trial at the Tour de France will be its first official outing before the individual time trial in Pau later in the race.

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Like Specialized’s aero-specific road bike, the new Shiv TT is disc brake-only, electronic groupset-only, optimised for use with the Roval 321 Disc rear wheel and can be run in a 1X or 2X drivetrain setup.

Optimising the bike with the brand’s proprietary rear wheel, combined with the extremely low seat stays allows Specialized to lose the arch often seen in aero and time trial-specific frames, which contributes to lower weight and improved riding characteristics.

The company has also located the front derailleur mount to the rear of the seat tube and so when running as a 1X drivetrain setup, the front derailleur and mount can be completely removed and stay out of the wind.

While the Shiv frame shares the same aero seat post seen on the Venge road frame, the bike has an all-new and adjustable cockpit, which contributes to around 200g of the weight savings, according to Specialized.

The new down tube on the frame is designed to be as lightweight and stiff as possible, with Specialized saying the two factors are more important than aerodynamics for this particular area of the frame. Three bottle mount bolts are located on the down tube for optimal cage positioning.

Specialized say that when developing the bike, they wanted it to be the most aerodynamic bike in the world but have handling like a road bike, weigh less and be easy to work on and build. The brand say they have achieved these targets.

In a press release from Specialized, Deceuninck-QuickStep rider Bob Jungels said: “It’s a fantastic bike, even going uphill, downhill, it handles like a road bike. It’s a hg step forwards.

The Specialized Shiv TT will be available to consumers this winter as a frameset module or as a SRAM RED eTap AXS build.