Tech from supercar and F1 manufacturer McLaren shaves weight from the already superlight S-Works bike from Specialized.
If you’re serious about your cycling, you will have come across one of the most respected manufacturers in the field, Specialized. Mark Cavendish, no less, started this year’s Tour de France in Leeds on his custom S-Works Venge. Based in northern California, this company has been turning out superlative bikes since 1974. So try, if you will, to imagine the possibilities when a company with 40 years of experience perfecting pedal power teams up with an F1 motor racing giant that has a reputation for pushing the boundaries of performance science. What you get is the incomparable McLaren S-Works Tarmac.
McLaren has partnered with Specialized before to great success. First with the S-Works McLaren Venge in 2012 followed by the S-Works McLaren TT helmet. But the £16,000 Tarmac is a whole new beast altogether.
Created with help from McLaren’s ultra-sophisticated data simulation technology, the bike was tested to its limits in virtual reality before it ever went into production. McLaren uses this equipment to model its F1 and hypercar designs so that all conceivable problems or weaknesses are eliminated before a single component is physically produced.
Here, McLaren has been busy on the bike’s carbon construction, using that F1 design software to help shave an impressive nine to 11 per cent of the weight off the standard S-Works Tarmac, depending on the frame size. If you want the detail, these savings have come about largely from McLaren using high-modulus fibres, which essentially means less material is needed, so therefore less weight.
Like the frame, the crankset, AeroFly handlebars and CLX40 carbon tubular wheelset all have a new carbon layup, too. Those new Roval wheels save 30g, the handlebars another 30g and the hubs boast ceramic speed bearings to reduce friction.
Amazingly, all this techy dieting means that you end up with a ridiculously strong frame on a bike that weighs under 6kg – a smidgen more than your average house cat.
But it doesn’t stop there. Realising, quite sensibly, that not all riders are equal, Specialized have made the McLaren Tarmac available in six sizes. The R&D team, through those computer simulations, discovered that the forces acting on these different sized frames changed greatly between the options, and also that the way the bike handled under more diminutive riders was not the same as when ridden by someone of a larger stature, and so has tweaked the design for each iteration.
And for fans of McLaren’s P1, you will be delighted to hear that the same Woking-based paint team that finishes this million-pound supercar also coats the bike in that exclusive “tarmac” and papaya livery. A finer finish could not be possible.
Here’s the catch: only 250 will be made, and worse still just 10 will be coming to the UK. So those looking for the ultimate in two-wheeled one-upmanship should register interest via the link below before 31 July. If you’re successful, not only will you get this exclusive bike built to your personal specifications thanks to a “Body Geometry” fit session, the good people at Specialized will throw in a custom-finished S-Works Prevail helmet and S-Works shoes, to boot.
Of course, if you just want to show the McLaren S-Works Tarmac off to jealous bipedalers rather than take it out on the open road – and who could blame you – a display rack emblazoned with your name and the edition number is all part of the package.
telegraph.co.uk
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