This is very true! For me at least and for keen, faster amateur cyclists that value a bit of aero due to average speeds sometimes over 35kmh. But for my wife the Aethos made sense because a) there were no integrated handlebars available for the SL8, b) it's lighter, c) she doesn't have high average speeds, but climbs well. d) quite a bit cheaper. I would still say that for most, the SL8 is the best choice, but in this case not so much.....!
I do mourn the loss of rim brakes on race bikes. They look the best, are lighter, simpler and offer just as good, if not better, braking torque (imo). In any case, stopping force is determined by tyre traction anyway. The main pro of disc brakes is you get full choice and no worries re carbon rims.
I do think the DA 9100 rim brakes were the pinnacle of the design are really excellent. 9150 disc brakes were quite poor. However, for context, the wife prefers the new discs as she lacks hand strength on long descents. And the new 9250 discs are now much improved.
wow impressive build! The weight is amazing. Your wife looks like a weapon on the climbs! The disc brakes and 28s are a big upgrade on the handling and long descents . I bet the bike is much faster overall.
@@CyclespeedTours ah, right, makes sense. Many thanks for the reply. Will you touch on the situation of late regards protests against tourism? Have read a couple of horror stories online from cyclists. I’m far away from it, and know nothing. My cosmetic level grasp though is that by rights, the tourism not benefiting wider society [trickle down], arguably should prompt more antipathy to others. Tourists are something of a scapegoat, being blamed squarely on the shoulders for something where rightly it should be directed closer to home local [National?] govt / major tour group operators etc. Apologies, and understand equally if you’d rather leave any opinions on the matter unsaid for the time being.
@@pakelly99 Firstly, most tourists are probably totally unaware of any issue as most are on the beaches at resorts, so life goes on as usual for them. But there are problems for locals, mainly the price of housing which has increased a lot. A good solution to this would be to build lots of cheap, subsidised, entry level flats (not attractive to tourists) on the edge of Palma where there is space, to give young locals a foot on the ladder. Cruise ships are a big problem because they digorge thousands of tourists in one go who contribute nothing other than people jams, so they could be taxed more heavily to deter this. Airbnb is already illegal and there is a push to reduce low cost and increase high cost tourism, but this is a bit elitist. Possibly limit or tax hire cars more. But even in August, you can still find a quiet beach if you lnow where to look!
Still looks like you have too many spacers under the stem. Should have gone with a custom frame builder. It's money well spent believe me. I'm so happy with the fit of my bike now I'll never buy off the shelf stock geometry bikes again.
That's an interesting idea that I have never tried, although I'm not sure exactly how you specify the geometry so as to get the agility / stability / comfort / stiffness that you need. I think the Sworks have this dialled in quite nicely. I don't think 35mm of spacers is too bad, I see many riders with similar.
@@CyclespeedTours 35mm of spacers is dangerous. Ideally you want your compression plug to insert low enough that it would be lower than the top bearing. So you take the stem clamp dimension plus the amount of spacers plus another 10 to 15 millimeters and that would be how long the compression plug should be. I think Specialized has already remedied this when they went through that recall a couple of years ago. I'm not going to say you have too many spacers because people do get away with it but I would never go more than 25mm myself. And I always use a compression plug that is minimum 80mm long so it reaches the bearing. These people that only use a 20mm compression plug like what comes with the ENVE fork are living dangerously. There's always the possibly that one time you hit a deep pothole you're going to faceplant the pavement.
@@charlesmansplaining Specialized state 35mm as the maximum (plus the 7mm top cap), so absolutely fine. If you remember the early days, carbon steerers had star nuts in them, which also worked fine, but could score the inside of the steerer. TOday's carbon steerers are extremely strong - I have an old video where I try to break one (without success!). At 45kg, I really don't think my wife will be putting anywhere near the stress on it required to fail. Many, many poeple use small bungs without issue,
Thanks! Frame 3200, Groupset 2000, Wheels 2300. Less than 8k everything which is substantially less than the 13k that Spesh want for the same bike, but with worse cockpit and wheels!
When discussing frameset weights, a wise man from Majorca once said - ‘not much point in getting an Aethos anymore, you may as well get an SL8’ 😉
This is very true! For me at least and for keen, faster amateur cyclists that value a bit of aero due to average speeds sometimes over 35kmh. But for my wife the Aethos made sense because a) there were no integrated handlebars available for the SL8, b) it's lighter, c) she doesn't have high average speeds, but climbs well. d) quite a bit cheaper.
I would still say that for most, the SL8 is the best choice, but in this case not so much.....!
Nice rig. Looks like it fits her well. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, she's very happy!
Very nice, between the pair of you, you have the same bikes as myself with both the Aethos and SL8, love both of mine 👌
It's a nice duo to have!
I do mourn the loss of rim brakes on race bikes. They look the best, are lighter, simpler and offer just as good, if not better, braking torque (imo). In any case, stopping force is determined by tyre traction anyway. The main pro of disc brakes is you get full choice and no worries re carbon rims.
I do think the DA 9100 rim brakes were the pinnacle of the design are really excellent. 9150 disc brakes were quite poor.
However, for context, the wife prefers the new discs as she lacks hand strength on long descents.
And the new 9250 discs are now much improved.
wow impressive build! The weight is amazing. Your wife looks like a weapon on the climbs!
The disc brakes and 28s are a big upgrade on the handling and long descents . I bet the bike is much faster overall.
Thanks, and yes she has taken many a male scalp on the climbs!! Brakes and tyres help keep her safe!
I reckon a proper endurance bike would fit her better. Aethos's geometry is still a proper race bike.
Maybe, but she enjoys the fast handling and we have the front end height we need now....
Lol, my wife is getting 10kg gravel bike, she doesn't like to ride drops and prefers 11kg hybrid :)
No problem with that as long as she's comfortable!
I did not like the aethos for myself. It rode a bit like a wet noodle. But im very happy with the sl8 now.
It looks gorgeous though! Well build!
I've heard similar before, but she is safe with her 45kg 180W I think! Thanks.
Probably save quite a bit getting a haircut? Lol
Preffer aethos over integrated sl8.
It's definitely a very clean, nice looking bike. And light!!
Am I mistaken or don’t specialized claim the aethos as being identical geometry with the tarmac? Or only in comparison with SL 7 / 8 🧐
yes, correct. But we went up a size to get a taller front end.
@@CyclespeedTours ah, right, makes sense. Many thanks for the reply. Will you touch on the situation of late regards protests against tourism? Have read a couple of horror stories online from cyclists. I’m far away from it, and know nothing. My cosmetic level grasp though is that by rights, the tourism not benefiting wider society [trickle down], arguably should prompt more antipathy to others. Tourists are something of a scapegoat, being blamed squarely on the shoulders for something where rightly it should be directed closer to home local [National?] govt / major tour group operators etc.
Apologies, and understand equally if you’d rather leave any opinions on the matter unsaid for the time being.
@@pakelly99 Firstly, most tourists are probably totally unaware of any issue as most are on the beaches at resorts, so life goes on as usual for them. But there are problems for locals, mainly the price of housing which has increased a lot. A good solution to this would be to build lots of cheap, subsidised, entry level flats (not attractive to tourists) on the edge of Palma where there is space, to give young locals a foot on the ladder.
Cruise ships are a big problem because they digorge thousands of tourists in one go who contribute nothing other than people jams, so they could be taxed more heavily to deter this.
Airbnb is already illegal and there is a push to reduce low cost and increase high cost tourism, but this is a bit elitist.
Possibly limit or tax hire cars more.
But even in August, you can still find a quiet beach if you lnow where to look!
Still looks like you have too many spacers under the stem. Should have gone with a custom frame builder. It's money well spent believe me. I'm so happy with the fit of my bike now I'll never buy off the shelf stock geometry bikes again.
That's an interesting idea that I have never tried, although I'm not sure exactly how you specify the geometry so as to get the agility / stability / comfort / stiffness that you need. I think the Sworks have this dialled in quite nicely. I don't think 35mm of spacers is too bad, I see many riders with similar.
@@CyclespeedTours 35mm of spacers is dangerous. Ideally you want your compression plug to insert low enough that it would be lower than the top bearing. So you take the stem clamp dimension plus the amount of spacers plus another 10 to 15 millimeters and that would be how long the compression plug should be. I think Specialized has already remedied this when they went through that recall a couple of years ago. I'm not going to say you have too many spacers because people do get away with it but I would never go more than 25mm myself. And I always use a compression plug that is minimum 80mm long so it reaches the bearing. These people that only use a 20mm compression plug like what comes with the ENVE fork are living dangerously. There's always the possibly that one time you hit a deep pothole you're going to faceplant the pavement.
@@charlesmansplaining Specialized state 35mm as the maximum (plus the 7mm top cap), so absolutely fine.
If you remember the early days, carbon steerers had star nuts in them, which also worked fine, but could score the inside of the steerer. TOday's carbon steerers are extremely strong - I have an old video where I try to break one (without success!). At 45kg, I really don't think my wife will be putting anywhere near the stress on it required to fail. Many, many poeple use small bungs without issue,
How do you make sure your house is not full of crap? Do you have a place where you store your bike stuff?
I have a Danish wife that keeps everything spotlessly clean! But yes, we have a garage too!
@@CyclespeedTours amazing, the house looks superb
@@barefeg thanks, been here 4 years now and really like it
Amazing bike. Total cost?
Thanks! Frame 3200, Groupset 2000, Wheels 2300. Less than 8k everything which is substantially less than the 13k that Spesh want for the same bike, but with worse cockpit and wheels!
@@CyclespeedTours Is that euro ?
@@DanTuber Yes