2020 Specialized Tarmac SL7

[Weasel]

That’s a beauty . I was concerned about the tight bends for the cable, but I guess it’s not an issue. As long as it stops as good as my rim brakes is all I need
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It is a bit of a challenge - more for the front than rear I would say. I found using the cheaper 'spiral wound' cable outer where the tight bends are helped - then joined to compressionless cable or elite-link in the straighter parts worked in the end. The compressionless cable doesn't like tight bends - I found that as well on a Shiv TT build years ago.

[Weasel]

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Also, I have a bunch of naysayers on FB. Do you mind if I show this to them?
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Yeah - no worries

[zappafile123]

$14000 for an off the shelf mass-produced bike is insane.

Those big WT team sponsorships have to be paid for somewhere I guess.

Pffft, thats nothing!
Wait till you pay the "Australia tax"
We get ripped off here on pretty much everything compared to what the rest of the world pays
S-Works SL7 with either Red AXS or 9270 is a cool AU$20100!

Yeah wow... 20k... for a Tarmac when in 5 years time they be flipped for 5k. Its sort of a joke. 20k back in the day would get you something utterly exclusive and unique... and it still does!

To dubiously extrapolate go off my own values... I reckon allotting a maximum of 10% of one's annual disposable income a year on cycling is within the bounds of being 'reasonable'. That means an individual should have an annual disaposable income of roughly $200,000 to be considered to be (economically) 'reasonable' when purchasing a 2022 Sworks Tarmac 9270.

In the end I am interested in the economics of the price hike. How is this affecting demand? Would Specialized be better off lowering the price so more people can buy more units? Or is this new era of hyper expensive Tarmac ushering in new wealth?

[Weasel]

The sl7 allows for mechanical shifting thus 4 cables in total. Why the 3d printed headset?

Partly to match the different stem, but mainly to add the brake cable opening at the bottom of the spacer, to give a gentler bend for the cable. The standard spacers bring the brake hoses in immediately under the stem, which would be too tight a bend for the cables. Hopefully the photos below show what I mean......

[kofsw4]

$14000 for an off the shelf mass-produced bike is insane.

Those big WT team sponsorships have to be paid for somewhere I guess.

Pffft, thats nothing!
Wait till you pay the "Australia tax"
We get ripped off here on pretty much everything compared to what the rest of the world pays
S-Works SL7 with either Red AXS or 9270 is a cool AU$20100!

Yeah wow... 20k... for a Tarmac when in 5 years time they be flipped for 5k. Its sort of a joke. 20k back in the day would get you something utterly exclusive and unique... and it still does!

To dubiously extrapolate go off my own values... I reckon allotting a maximum of 10% of one's annual disposable income a year on cycling is within the bounds of being 'reasonable'. That means an individual should have an annual disaposable income of roughly $200,000 to be considered to be (economically) 'reasonable' when purchasing a 2022 Sworks Tarmac 9270.

In the end I am interested in the economics of the price hike. How is this affecting demand? Would Specialized be better off lowering the price so more people can buy more units? Or is this new era of hyper expensive Tarmac ushering in new wealth?

I like your way of thinking about allocating 10% of disposable income to cycling (although I think even this is quite a lot but it depends on so many other factors) but even by your own figures, the s-works will cost you 15k over 5 years, ie 3k per year, and so you 'only' need to have 30k per year to 'afford' it.

[BigBoyND]

Aren't there only 3 ports on the headset cover for standard stems?

Edit: I'm super interested in this. I have a Venge on the way and assumed I'd have to get an electronic groupset. But this means I might be able to transfer my mechanical R9100 set over.

[Weasel]

Need a bit of help with figuring out the dusty blue pearl paint on the 2021 sworks frame. Are the logos matte on top of the clearcoat? Are they black or some other color?

Yes - it's a matte finish on the clearcoat - quite subtle.

[Andrew69]

In the end I am interested in the economics of the price hike. How is this affecting demand? Would Specialized be better off lowering the price so more people can buy more units? Or is this new era of hyper expensive Tarmac ushering in new wealth?

I guess we will probably never really know how the price hike effects demand other than we could take a guess that as long as prices stay this high, demand hasnt dropped off and Specialized is currently selling every bike it can get its hands on

[pmprego]

The sl7 allows for mechanical shifting thus 4 cables in total. Why the 3d printed headset?

Partly to match the different stem, but mainly to add the brake cable opening at the bottom of the spacer, to give a gentler bend for the cable. The standard spacers bring the brake hoses in immediately under the stem, which would be too tight a bend for the cables. Hopefully the photos below show what I mean......

They seem close to some of the ones in the photo

[Maddie]

The sl7 allows for mechanical shifting thus 4 cables in total. Why the 3d printed headset?

Partly to match the different stem, but mainly to add the brake cable opening at the bottom of the spacer, to give a gentler bend for the cable. The standard spacers bring the brake hoses in immediately under the stem, which would be too tight a bend for the cables. Hopefully the photos below show what I mean......

Your headset spacer works really will the Schmolke stem. Well done

[Maddie]

Aren't there only 3 ports on the stem cover for standard stems?

Edit: I'm super interested in this. I have a Venge on the way and assumed I'd have to get an electronic groupset. But this means I might be able to transfer my mechanical R9100 set over.

In contrast to the SL7, the last Venge is not ready for mechanical shifting, it's Di2 only. The problem is the front derailleur

[Weasel]

Aren't there only 3 ports on the stem cover for standard stems?

Edit: I'm super interested in this. I have a Venge on the way and assumed I'd have to get an electronic groupset. But this means I might be able to transfer my mechanical R9100 set over.

I'm guessing you mean the headset cover? I actually used the standard headset cover and drilled holes for the gear cables on either side (but a few mm further forward than the 'mechanical' one supplied). There are 3 openings then in front of the steerer tube, so the front hose/cable goes through the centre hole, and the rear one can go through either side.

I'm not sure how different the Venge would be though?

[Weasel]

They seem close to some of the ones in the photo

In the picture of the spacer kit - you can see the lower right one would sit immediately under the standard SL7 stem, and the port for the hoses and di2 wires is at the top, right under the stem. That works ok for hydraulic hoses, but the cables won't bend that tight, so I had to have a cable port at the bottom of the spacer instead, to give a gentler bend for the cables to then enter the headset cover.

It was quite a faff, but I had the Red mechanical groupset sat here, and was quite an interesting project during lockdown!

[Weasel]

Your headset spacer works really will the Schmolke stem. Well done

Thank you. I did have to go through a couple of versions to get it how I wanted though!

[pmprego]

They seem close to some of the ones in the photo

In the picture of the spacer kit - you can see the lower right one would sit immediately under the standard SL7 stem, and the port for the hoses and di2 wires is at the top, right under the stem. That works ok for hydraulic hoses, but the cables won't bend that tight, so I had to have a cable port at the bottom of the spacer instead, to give a gentler bend for the cables to then enter the headset cover.

It was quite a faff, but I had the Red mechanical groupset sat here, and was quite an interesting project during lockdown!

Looks very nice. And that weight is unbeatable.

I did something similar with a friend and his aethos. Was also a faff but due to the proprietary front caliper adaptor. We had to machine one. But it's working just fine at 5.6kg