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More than just a
bicycle retailer, we're part of the community. |
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Each month we will feature a person, place or thing. In general, this section of our site will tell a story, bring you information you won't get anywhere else. Stay tuned for upcoming features that will educate, entertain and hopefully bring you closer to the Cynergy culture. |
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| Bicycling Magazine, Editorial Review |
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Specialized dubbed its Roubaix an "endurance performance" bike because it let cyclists ride all day without taking a beating from the road. At the time, BICYCLING hailed the creation of a new category, the plush bike. But over the years our enthusiasm waned, for two reasons. First, as Specialized and other companies continued to make plush bikes, refining them to be more and more luxe--softer rides, higher handlebars, shorter reach--snap and raciness was sacrificed. Second, pure race bikes have become remarkably more comfortable. Members of our test crew count the original Orbea Orca, the Pinarello Paris and Prince, and the Cervélo R3 as among the most smooth-riding, vibration-free bikes they've ridden.
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| Fourteen months after Specialized started on the SL, it also had a new Roubaix. Some of the SL technology is apparent, such as the massive bottom bracket, the shape of the chainstays, and the triangulation of the seatstays as they leave the brake bridge and meet the seat tube. Other portions of the frame, such as the oversize head tube and fork, are inspired by the SL2 but adapted to inject comfort into the stiff ride. Like the SL2 the Roubaix uses a 11 8-inch top headset bearing, but it has a custom, 13 8-inch bearing below. Along with the vibration-damping Zertz inserts in the seatstays and fork, the curvy seatstays are the most influential factor in the bike's mix of resilience and stiffness; you can see them flex to absorb shock during a ride, yet the rear never feels mushy or uncertain. |
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| Few riders have so much power that they can feel rear-end flex when sprinting or hopping through a pack at 35 mph, but on downhills it's noticeable: The stiffer rear end really does make it feel as if the bike is rolling on a single point, like the pure race bikes we've tested recently. There's no drift, no discernible hesitation between your input and the bike's reaction. There's no front and no rear. There's just bike. Yet the bike is also noticeably compliant, even cushy on rough pavement and dirt roads. (On cobbles, nothing feels smooth.) |
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| With the new Roubaix winning Roubaix, comfort is not a luxury, but a performance advantage. Comfort is the new speed. |
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| NASA has identified "vibration sickness" as a danger to pilots and astronauts, and occupational health studies say prolonged vibration exposure harms tendons, muscles, joints and nerves. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety says repetitive vibration becomes potentially harmful at a force roughly equal to that used to hammer a nail; it's easy to imagine a cyclist enduring such forces for five hours at a time. Studies of long-haul truckers in Australia have shown that low-frequency vibration causes changes in body metabolism and chemistry that increase fatigue. And a 2006 study in Clinical Neurosurgery found that Formula One drivers' heart rates rise as high as 200 beats per minute due to vibration, thermal loads and emotion. |
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| The 2009 Roubaix is the first bike that significantly drills into fatigue as a factor in performance. We will always want bikes that are snappy, stiff and precise. But pedal the new Roubaix once and you may never again be satisfied with a race bike that relegates comfort to an afterthought rather than a necessity. |
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Product Features
- Sizes: 42, 52, 54 (tested), 56, 58, 61cm
- Frame: Specialized carbon fiber
- Fork: Specialized carbon fiber
- Component Highlights: Shimano Dura-Ace levers, brakes, derailleurs, cassette (12-25); Specialized Roval 332X Roubaix wheelset, S-Works carbon fiber integrated crankset (50/34) w/ bottom bracket, carbon stem, bar and seatpost
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