Monthly Archives: January 2025

Aero 111.

Breaking the bead off the rim on tubeless tyres is something else. Took me a while to get the rear tyre off, and even longer to break the seal on one side of the front, but damn it no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get the other side of the front tyre to budge. I googled and tried every trick in the book. No go. With broken hands and an air of defeat I dropped in to see Sam at CCACHE and within 2 minutes he had it off. Fuck!

Specialized did so well with the S-Works SL8 complete. The 26C tyres the bike came with are quite light at 236g. The new 30C GP 5000 on the rear weighs in at a hefty 299g and the 29C Aero 111 on the front weighs in at 285g. The Specialized inner tubes were pretty light at 80g each but with the weight savings from the Tubolito tubes at 23g for the front and 24g for the rear I’ve come out (just!) on top with a final bike weight of 6.65kg.

SPECS:

2025 S-Works Tarmac SL8 Gloss Dove Grey / Silver Dust Blurred Impasto / Black Pearl

Brake Rotors: Galfer E1 160mm/140mm (97g/79g)
Brake Pads: Absolute Black Graphen (40g)
Shift Levers: SRAM RED E1
Derailleurs: SRAM RED E1
Cassette: SRAM RED 10-33t
Chain: SRAM RED E1
Crankset: SRAM RED E1 with Power Meter 165mm
Chainrings: SRAM Red E1 48/35
Pedals: Xpedo Thrust SL Titanium (165g)
Bottom Bracket: SRAM DUB BSA 68
Front Wheel: Roval Rapide CLX II 51mm
Rear Wheel: Roval Rapide CLX II 60mm
Front Tyre: Continental Aero 111 29C (285g)
Rear Tyre: Continental GP 5000 S TR 30C (299g)
Inner Tubes: Tubolito 60mm Front, 80mm Rear (23g/24g)
Lockrings: Absolute Black (10g)
Stem: Roval Rapide Cockpit 380mm/115mm
Tape: CCACHE x NSTRMO Burgh Bartape
Saddle: Specialized S-Works Power with Mirror (203g)
Seatpost: Darimo 0mm offset (104g)
Computer Mount: MagCAD (18g)
Bottle Cage: S-Works Carbon Rib Cage III (24g)

WEIGHT: 6.65kg

Made in Spain.

68g lighter than the Specialized S-Works 0 offset post it replaces.

Darimo goods are the lightest out there, but also the most expensive. I tried my best to avoid the stuff and instead went for a Chinese Hylix seatpost on both my SL6 and my Allez. I just ordered one for the SL8 too but a few hours after buying it a guy who works for an LBS commented on one of my SL8 photos on Facebook and let me know he had a customer selling one. Price was too good to refuse so it’s now mine!

SPECS:

2025 S-Works Tarmac SL8 (Size 52)
Gloss Dove Grey / Silver Dust Blurred Impasto / Black Pearl

Brake Rotors: Galfer E1 160mm/140mm (97g/79g)
Brake Pads: Absolute Black Graphen (40g)
Shift Levers: SRAM RED E1
Derailleurs: SRAM RED E1
Cassette: SRAM RED 10-33t
Chain: SRAM RED E1
Crankset: SRAM RED E1 with Power Meter 165mm
Chainrings: SRAM Red E1 48/35
Pedals: Xpedo Thrust SL Titanium (165g)
Bottom Bracket: SRAM DUB BSA 68
Front Wheel: Roval Rapide CLX II 51mm
Rear Wheel: Roval Rapide CLX II 60mm
Tyres: S-works Turbo Rapidair 2BR 700x26mm
Inner Tubes: Specialized Turbo Ultralight 60mm Front, 80mm Rear
Lockrings: Absolute Black (10g)
Stem: Roval Rapide Cockpit 380mm/115mm
Tape: Supacaz Super Sticky Kush
Bar end plugs: Extralite (2g)
Saddle: Specialized S-Works Power with Mirror (203g)
Seatpost: Darimo 0mm offset (104g)
Computer Mount: MagCAD (18g)
Bottle Cage: S-Works Carbon Rib Cage III (24g)

WEIGHT: 6.66kg

Final weight.

SPECS:

2018 Specialized S-WORKS Women’s (unisex) Tarmac SL6 Size 52 Satin Gloss Monocoat Black/Acid Purple/Rocket Red Fade
Frame: Hopp frame insert (2g)
Seatpost: Hylix 365mm (108g)
Saddle: Berk Lupina short padded (90g)
Stem: Extralite Hyperstem Stealth 100mm -12 degree (76g)
Headset Dust Cover Cap: Ceramicspeed (4g)
Spacer: Extralite 2.5mm (1g) + Extralite 15mm (2g)
Expander Plug: Extralite UltraStar 4 (5g)
Top Cap/Bolt: Extralite Ahead Top Cap (3g)
Bars: EXS R175 360mm (175g)
Bar Tape: EXS Airtape (30g)
Bar Ends: Lucendi (0g)
Out-front mount: Alpitude Stelvio (18g)
Shifters/Brake Levers: SRAM Red eTap (267g)
Front Derailleur: SRAM Red eTap (164g)
Rear Derailleur: SRAM Red eTap (245g)
Cranks: SRAM Red 167.5 (363g)
Chainrings: Extralite Mid Compact Octaramp 50/34 (93g)
Brakes: Cane Creek eeBrakes for SL6 +adapter (176g)
Brake Cables: Jagwire + black teflon coated inners + hardware (76g)
Pedals: Xpedo Thrust SL Titanium (165g)
Bottle Cage: CarbonWorks + cage bolts (9g)
Wheelset: Wheelsfar Feder 45mm Extralite hubs Sapim CX-Super spokes (1280g)
Cassette: ZTTO SLR Gen3 11 Speed ​​11-28 (110g)
Cassette Lock Ring: Extralite ExtraBolt 3.6 (3g)
Chain: Dura-Ace/XTR 12-Speed (230g)
QR Skewers: Extralite (29g)
Tyres: Panaracer Agilest Light 25mm (335g)
Tubes: RideNow TPU Road Light (71g)

Weight: 5.44kg

Burgh bar end plugs.

0 grams! These Lucendi bar end plugs were unfortunately too soft to hold the thick Burgh bar tape down so I put them on my SL6 instead and moved the Extralite bar end plugs to my SL8.

Extralite bar end plugs from my SL6 now on the SL8.

Lucendi bar end plugs on my SL6.

SL8 top cap and bolt.

Hopp carbon top cap and bolt.

In the past 2 weeks I’ve done about 250kms or so on the SL8 so I thought I’d chime in with some thoughts.

Initially I couldn’t get over the asking price. $21K AUD is a LOT of money for a bicycle, full stop really. There’s just no other way to get around that, but I’ve gone from “it’s not worth it” to “the SL8 is great”, and here’s why.

I love tinkering with everything; cars, guitars, bikes, you name it. I get a lot of satisfaction from making something “my own”, but going bananas on a complete S-Works SL8 makes little sense as it’s just so good as is.

For example; The 3D printed Specialized S-Works Power with Mirror saddle is heavy at 203g, it’s kinda ugly too, but god damn it’s comfy. As much as I love the Berk saddles (on my Allez Sprint and SL6) putting one on the SL8 made me instantly realise that light weight comes at a cost, and in this case it was comfort.

The bike is just so compliant, and that’s with 26C tyres with tubes pumped up to 70PSI. I’ve thought about replacing the Roval Rapide CLX II wheelset with a lighter and shallower wheelset but they behave so well in crosswinds, they spin up fast and hold speed well too, and hey, this frame was designed to be aero, so anything shallower than a 50/60 just seems illogical to me (not to mention this is a top shelf $4400 AUD wheelset!).

See what I’m getting at? The components the complete S-Works SL8 comes with are just so good it makes little to no sense to replace anything on it. In retrospect I should have gotten a frameset to build up, which was actually the original plan but by the time I was ready to buy one there were none in stock Australia wide so buying a size 52 complete was my only option.

I have some Tubolito tubes on order and I’m still contemplating a lighter 0 offset seatpost (if R2 had a Darimo in stock I would have pounced on it by now). The 115mm Roval Cockpit combined with the long SRAM Red E1 hoods makes for a more stretched out position (the slammed stem doesn’t help either) than my SL6. A 100mm x 380mm would be perfect but Specialized don’t make it so I’ll deal.

Specialized marketed this bike as the “one bike to rule them all” and fuck me, they’re not wrong. I’ve not ridden my Allez or my SL6 since. Even in the rain I’ve been taking the SL8 out.

I met a guy recently who had 15+ top shelf bikes in his man cave, we’re talking LOOK 795, Bastion Ti, Wilier Filante, Cannondale SSE Hi-Mod, Colnago C64, S-Works SL6 Sagan, you name it, he had it and whilst he also agreed that the S-Works SL8 wasn’t worth the asking price he said he’d still pick it if he had to choose only one bike. Same with MAAP Ambasador Jen Kay who inspired me to buy my SL6 as her SL6 was her “forever bike”. She also agrees that the asking price of the SL8 is too high, but hey, it’s all she rides now as her SL6 gathers dust.

Anyways, that’s where I’m at with the bike. What a brain dump! Better out than in though, right?!