S-Works Aethos
An entirely new model from Specialized is quite the treat, and is especially surprising given the impressive all-round abilities of their latest Tarmac. You could be forgiven for wondering what gaps were left to fill - but Specialized have been on a creative roll of late, and their new model reflects that desire to shake things up.
The new Aethos is what happens when the designers are set free with a completely clean sheet of paper to design a real "rider's bike". What does that mean? Well, it's incredibly lightweight, but that's almost a side-effect rather than the primary goal. Their aim is to create a bike that takes all the expertise and tech that benefits Pro race bikes, and to build it into "a bike built simply for the love of riding". So, handling and ride quality are paramount, and every aspect of the frame was reconsidered from scratch (and as part of the complete whole).
Roval's recently launched Alpinist wheelset, together with the Alpinist Bar/Stem combo, have hinted at a new level of lightweight componentry, and the Aethos makes the perfect platform for these (and also features a new Alpinist carbon seatpost - although the classic 27.2mm size means that you have many options open for custom builds).
Break The Rules
The creation of our Aethos road bike started with a question:
"What if?"
What if we built a bike focused around the purest imaginable road riding experience? What if we built a bike to maximize the timeless moments where everything disappears and human and machine become one.
We all know these moments, the ones where we lose ourselves in the reverence of dancing up a climb or telepathically carving through a turn, where we feel liberated from the constraints that surround everyday life and the miles just melt into hours.
The Aethos wears its high-tech design well. The overall shape of the frame is remarkably traditional at a glance, but beneath the surface Specialized have worked wonders with their carbon layup to reduce the number of stiffness layers required, without compromising on the actual stiffness. In fact it has been tested as significantly stiffer, and yet lighter, than the previous benchmark Cervélo RCA.
Those understated aesthetics are matched with unusually subtle logos and some of Specialized's typically gorgeous paint schemes.
Cutting-edge Design
The S-Works Aethos uses Specialized's stiffest, lightest FACT-12r carbon to achieve a painted frame weight of 585g in the lightest colourways.
A complete S-Works Di2 build weighs in at just 6kg in the Carbon/Chameleon Red Gold colourway.
The S-Works frames are flat mount hydraulic disc-brake only (no surprise there) and are also only intended for use with electronic groupsets.
The front derailleur hanger is removeable, and a cover is included to keep things neat and tidy for a seamless look.
The stock builds come with 26mm tyres, but there's ample clearance for up to 32mm (on 21mm rims, giving 4mm of clearance all round), as you'd expect for a modern performance bike.
Classic Details
With a threaded bottom bracket, 27.2mm seatpost and fit/handling identical to the perfectly poised and race-tested Tarmac SL7 the Aethos features a raft of welcome standards where required.
It's UCI approved, too, despite the potential to build it well below their weight limit, so you'll be safe to take it racing, whether pro or amateur.
Weights
Specialized know that on a bike like this we want to have some proper detail on the frame weights, and so they've broken it down by colour and by size.
The lightest colourway is the Satin Carbon/Jetfuel at just 585g. Other colour options add roughly 25g to the total (e.g. Satin Carbon/Chameleon Red Gold or Satin Carbon/Gloss Black Chrome) with the most lustrous (e.g. Gloss Clay/Flake Silver or Satin Flake Silver/Chameleon Red Gold) adding around 45g more.
The average production weight in their Satin Carbon/Jetfuel colourway is quoted as:
49cm - 550g / 52cm - 565g / 54cm - 575g / 56cm - 585g / 58cm - 623g / 61cm - 643g
S-Works Aethos
There are two S-Work complete builds available at launch, featuring either Di2 or eTap shifting. Both are priced at £10,750. It's also available as S-Works frame only, in a host of typically stunning paint options, at £4000 (including the new Roval Alpinist seatpost).
S-WORKS AETHOS - DURA ACE Di2
- Frame: S-Works Aethos FACT 12r Carbon, Rider First Engineered, Threaded BB, Electronic cable routing only, 12x142mm thru-axle, flat-mount disc
- Fork: S-Works FACT Carbon, 12x100mm thru-axle, flat-mount disc
- Bars: S-Works Short & Shallow
- Stem: S-Works SL, alloy, titanium bolts, 6-degree rise
- Bar Tape: Supacaz Super Sticky Kush
- Saddle: S-Works Power, carbon fibre rails, carbon fibre base
- Seatpost: Roval Alpinist Carbon
- Brakes: Shimano Dura-Ace R9170, hydraulic disc
- Shifters: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 Disc R9170
- Front Mech: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 R9150, braze-on
- Rear Mech: Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 R9150, 11-speed
- Crankset: Shimano Dura-Ace R9100, HollowTech 2, 11-speed, with Dual-sided Powermeter, 52/36T
- Cassette: Shimano Dura-Ace, 11-speed
- Front Wheel: Roval Alpinist CLX, 21mm internal width carbon rim, 33mm depth, Win Tunnel Engineered, Roval AFD hub, 21h, DT Swiss Aerolite spokes
- Rear Wheel: Roval Alpinist CLX, 21mm internal width carbon rim, 33mm depth, Win Tunnel Engineered, Roval AFD hub, 24h, DT Swiss Aerolite spokes
- Tyres: Turbo Cotton, 320 TPI, 700x26mm
S-WORKS AETHOS - SRAM RED ETAP AXS
- Frame: S-Works Aethos FACT 12r Carbon, Rider First Engineered, Threaded BB, Electronic cable routing only, 12x142mm thru-axle, flat-mount disc
- Fork: S-Works FACT Carbon, 12x100mm thru-axle, flat-mount disc
- Bars: S-Works Short & Shallow
- Stem: S-Works SL, alloy, titanium bolts, 6-degree rise
- Bar Tape: Supacaz Super Sticky Kush
- Saddle: S-Works Power, carbon fibre rails, carbon fibre base
- Seatpost: Roval Alpinist Carbon
- Brakes: SRAM RED eTAP AXS, hydraulic disc
- Shifters: SRAM RED eTAP AXS, hydraulic disc
- Front Mech: SRAM RED eTAP AXS, braze-on
- Rear Mech: SRAM RED eTAP AXS, 12-speed
- Crankset: SRAM RED AXS Power Meter, 48/35T
- Cassette: SRAM RED, 12-speed
- Front Wheel: Roval Alpinist CLX, 21mm internal width carbon rim, 33mm depth, Win Tunnel Engineered, Roval AFD hub, 21h, DT Swiss Aerolite spokes
- Rear Wheel: Roval Alpinist CLX, 21mm internal width carbon rim, 33mm depth, Win Tunnel Engineered, Roval AFD hub, 24h, DT Swiss Aerolite spokes
- Tyres: Turbo Cotton, 320 TPI, 700x26mm
Aethos Founder's Edition
As has become the norm with Specialized's premier model launches there's a special Founder's Edition bike to kick things off (pictured below). Limited to just 300 bikes worldwide, this is the lightest off-the-peg build, with an exclusive paint scheme (colour matched onto some of the components, too).
This dream build features a Shimano Di2 drivetrain, with the brilliant lightweight Roval Alpinist bar/stem combo and CeramicSpeed bottom bracket and pulley wheels.
The silver colourway is unique to the Founder's Edition, and sure to sell out almost instantly, but if you're after a dream build of your own we can custom create a unique bike to your requirements based on any of the standard S-Works frameset colours.
Whether you're after a stock or custom build, our S-Works specialists are ready to help, and to ensure the perfect fit - get in touch to order, or for more details.
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