Specialized Tarmac SL4

[lwrncc]

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/f ... sl4--30736

50 grams lighter. There were other changes, but this is WW so...

[DamoRider]

Why can't Specialized get it right and hide the damn battery

[asv]

Damnit, now my SL3 is obsolete!

I hope they don't put a McClaren sticker on the SL4 and try and charge $8000 for the frame.

[terrain]

2011 was not the year to buy a sworks Tarmac. The article mentions they took some cues from the 11 sworks Roubaix... makes sense. Look forward to seeing how many ride these over the venge at the tdf.

Note - I don't have an issue with battery placement on my Di2.

[prendrefeu]

Damnit, now my SL3 is obsolete!

I'll take your SL3 off your hands. I won't charge you for taking it, but I'll cover shipping in good faith.

[bushyv]

Shit, I wish they had stayed with standard cable routing...

[kgt]

Really... wasn't Specialized against internal cabling?

[kikkie]

Yay for cheap SL3's!

[newfy]

My SL3 comes in today glad I got it. Internal cables suck.

[djconnel]

I don't have an issue with battery placement on my Di2.

Special battery mounting hardware and kiss that 50 gram savings good bye. Then the substantial portion of the top end bikes sold with human-powered shifting eat the extra weight as well.

I'll pass.

[nitropowered]

Hard to tell for sure, but it looks like the cable routing is like the Roubaix SL3. Which means lots of friction and two hours to change cables.

[MARLON]

So hopefully the sl3 sworks stay in 2012 for less money .

[mattiTWOROADS]

All this talk of why manufacturers aren't hiding the battery... I'm wondering if it isn't a liability thing. A consumer (granted, even though most consumers of such a kit are knowledgeable about such things) having to access a battery in a tube of the frame seems like lawsuits waiting to happen...

just a thought... I'm sure everyone involved is simply covering their collective arses by keeping the battery external.

[Caveman]

We are continuing our partnership with McLaren to develop and build new products, so at the Tour the guys on SL4 will be on special McLaren project black versions that we will use to gather data and feedback to pass along to McLaren. Whether his gets used for a SL4 version is still undecided at this point, it is just a data and feedback exercise at this point to see what they can learn and if there are features they can use to make the bikes better as they did for the Venge.

It's also reported to have the same geo as the Venge, which means ~10mm shorter Headtube, which puts it about mid way between standard Tarmac geo and the old "team" geo.

[sawyer]

We are continuing our partnership with McLaren to develop and build new products, so at the Tour the guys on SL4 will be on special McLaren project black versions that we will use to gather data and feedback to pass along to McLaren. Whether his gets used for a SL4 version is still undecided at this point, it is just a data and feedback exercise at this point to see what they can learn and if there are features they can use to make the bikes better as they did for the Venge.

It's also reported to have the same geo as the Venge, which means ~10mm shorter Headtube, which puts it about mid way between standard Tarmac geo and the old "team" geo.

Good news if true. Headtubs on SL3s are too tall.