The best team bike of 2015
(Image credit: Cyclingnews)
Trek Factory Racing's sleek new Trek Madone aero road bikes sure provide plenty of surface area for that bright red paint
(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Specialized's latest S-Works Tarmac carried Peter Sagan to victory at the UCI world championships in Richmond, Virginia this past September
(Image credit: Chris Riekert)
The new Specialized S-Works Tarmac is more an evolution of previous editions rather than a full-scale redesign
(Image credit: Chris Riekert)
The seatpost binder is sleekly hidden
(Image credit: Chris Riekert)
Team Sky got themselves a bunch of new Pinarello Dogma F8s for the 2015 season
(Image credit: David Rome / Immediate Media)
The new Pinarello Dogma F8 of Team Sky sports a number of subtle aero cues
(Image credit: David Rome / Immediate Media)
Aero road bikes have historically been exercises in compromise – if you want to go faster, you've got to give up something in the process, or so the thinking went. Trek Factory Racing's new Trek Madones, however, turn that attitude on its ear with an ultra-fast shape that cuts through the air but also coddles the rider. And now it's been voted the best team bike in this year's Cyclingnews reader poll.
The new Madone incorporates all the features you normally expect of a modern top-shelf aero road racing bike: a sleek frame with the latest Kamm tail tube shapes; highly integrated rim brakes that hide themselves from the wind; an aerodynamically efficient one-piece carbon fiber cockpit; and excellent weight and stiffness that make it just as good for climbing as chasing down breakaways.
The Trek Factory Racing team has little reason to shun the new Madone if the day's course is bumpy, too, as the frame incorporates Trek's incredibly clever (and highly effective) IsoSpeed 'decoupler' – a mechanical pivot at the seat cluster that essentially acts as a mini-suspension.
Dressing up the TFR team bikes is a full Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 group, Bontrager aero carbon tubular wheels, and Bontrager finishing kit – plus an eye-catching blood red paint job that's nearly impossible to miss in the peloton.
While the new Madone embodies the latest-and-greatest in terms of aerodynamics, the Specialized S-Works Tarmac of Tinkoff-Saxo is the epitome of the classic light-and-stiff chassis – a formula that Peter Sagan put to great use when he won the UCI World Championship in September. This latest iteration is more of an evolution of its predecessor rather than a distinctly new chapter with a greater focus on maintaining consistent ride quality across the full size range, new disc brake options (at the consumer level, at least), and neatly integrated seatpost binder.
Tinkoff-Saxo team bikes are fitted with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groups, Roval wheels, FSA cockpits, and Prologo saddles.
Rounding out the top three is Team Sky's Pinarello Dogma F8, a curvaceous bit of rolling sculpture that supposedly offers an aerodynamic advantage relative to the previous Dogma 65.1 Think2. The new bike also boasts a more purposeful shape that's more straightforward and businesslike than before and yet somehow still manages to exude that trademark Pinarello lustworthiness.
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Sky's bikes are outfitted with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 and carbon tubular wheels, fi'zi:k saddles, and PRO finishing kit.
