Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7 £10,500 | 6.6kg
The Specialized Tarmac has long topped my list when it comes to the best ‘all-round race bike’. I’ve recommended it to countless clubmates and friends. It’s always been a responsive, quick-handling machine and in my opinion, the Tarmac SL6 perfectly hit the compliance/stiffness balance jackpot. But this isn’t a review of the Tarmac SL6. Enter the Tarmac SL7.
In the CW office we’ve nicknamed this bike the ‘Varmac’, because it’s very much an amalgamation of the longstanding Tarmac and the Venge aero road bike, first introduced in 2011.
It comes as a response to the way the Venge has been gradually encroaching upon the Tarmac’s well-established territory. Rather than letting the Venge erode away the relevance of its older sibling, Specialized
