STREAMLINED SPARRING
In days gone by, bikes forged from round tubes dominated, their lightness deemed a far greater gain than aero tubing whose curvaceous composition came at a weighty cost. Times have changed. Advances in material technology have shed grams but retained strength, meaning aero bikes are omnipresent at both professional and recreational level.
That much is clear. What’s less obvious is wading through the hyperbole as marketing teams are united by the soundbite, ‘Fastest bike in the world’. And the thing is, they might be as testing standards, protocols and apparatus vary between manufacturer, meaning that while they might be fastest in the tunnel with the wind face on (0-degree yaw and unrealistic in the real world) and shorn of rider, they might not be with the wind at 15 degrees (more realistic) and powered by a 90kg human.
That makes on-road testing vital. Cue this face-to-face between the original aero innovator Cervélo and German brand Cube. At touching four grand, clearly these bikes aren’t cheap. But they can arguably be deemed mid-range in
